Hearing what sort of infrastructure and services they have in the first world (even one that is on the other side of the world from EVERYTHING) really put our own situation into perspective for me. My boet has a 4mb line at home... for home use... privately. Our businesses are seen as super-advanced if they have that kind of speed!Australia is also improving their network speeds by rolling a full fiber-optic network. Back at home, I'm pleasantly surprised if my exchange stays online for more than two days running.
We also have a dearth of gadgets in South Africa. I've been meaning to start a podcast for a while now, and in the interests of such I'm trying to get my hands on a midlevel microphone. Something like the Samson Meteor... think I can find in SA? Think I can find something comparable? Think I can find a shop that sells ANY sort of microphone? If you answered no to all of those questions... you're both extremely cynical and absolutely right.I love this country, I think we have the best weather, people and scenery in the world... but I do sometimes wish we could catch up to the first world just a bit. Maybe just make the attempt? I'll take false hope, really... anything?
-Odd
"The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow" -Bill Gates
Dude. My friend recently went to namibia and their infrastructure is better than ours. :( depressing.
ReplyDeleteOne day, I believe, we shall catch up, and even surpass the first world. Well, probably not, but a man can dream can't he.
Indeed we can. "you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one".
ReplyDeleteSolidarity!!!
I guess it's my half saffa/ozzie accent that may have got some of the facts twisted here. My line at home is a little quicker than 4mb. My line is full ADSL2+ and rated at 20mb. In reality though the quality of the copper never lets me get that speed. I just ran speedtest.net and its sitting at just under 12mb. That's not too shabby for home use.
ReplyDeleteI guess the most scary thing is the fact that the technology exists (even in good old SA) for this. What prevents it is the near monopoly that Hellkom (oops sorry, Telkom) has on the market in SA. There is zero reason why SA should be still running (and falling behind) on such dated technology).
The new National Broadband Network (fibre) that you mention which is being rolled out in Oz is coming at a huge cost (upwards of A$35billion) that us joe taxpayers will ultimately have to foot because it is a federal government intitiative. When the NBN is rolled out though it will be impressive. My ISP is already talking about packages for up to 100mb. Like all such initiatives we balk at the costs at the time but the benefits manifest over many many years (think of the fantastic 5 lane highways in JHB - we would kill for better road infrastructure in Sydney).
Having said all that..... I will now pull a precious on myself and begin the throttling to save you the trouble.
B-)
Much appreciated :D
ReplyDelete