DSL Telecom - Blog #Telkom FUP

Here's Everything You Need To Know About Telkom Uncapped LTE

Tue, 10 May 2022 15:08:17 +0200

During the past few years, access to Uncapped LTE broadband has become as essential as water and electricity and if like so many South Africans, you have questions surrounding what LTE and specifically Uncapped LTE are, you've come to the right place.

In this blog, we’ll briefly review the background of LTE, delve into what Telkom Uncapped LTE is, the price of Telkom Uncapped Wi-Fi deals, what a fair usage policy is and we'll also review Telkom's FUP for their Uncapped LTE offering.

What is LTE?

The concept of LTE inspires a number of questions. What is LTE? What is LTE data? Can LTE be Uncapped? Is LTE broadband? Is LTE the same as 4G? In brief, while LTE is not technically the same as 4G, its evolution has occurred on 4G networks. LTE data is transferred faster and with lower latency than 4G.

We’ve all heard of 4G and 5G in cellular network technology, but you may have seen the term LTE and wondered, what does LTE stand for? The short answer is that LTE stands for “Long Term Evolution” and it is most commonly used in connection with 4G, the fourth-generation global wireless communication standard that was first defined in 2008.

What is Uncapped LTE?

Simply put — an Uncapped LTE or Uncapped Wi-Fi internet connection refers to a package where you never run out of data meaning you can use as much as you like and still stay connected without worrying about topping up or reaching data limits.

Some people ask what the difference between uncapped and unlimited data is and the answer is it's much of a muchness really as they are one and the same thing whereby your data has no limit and will not finish.

Can you get Uncapped LTE in your area? Click here to check your coverage.

How much is Telkom Uncapped LTE per month?

At this point, you're probably asking what the cost of Uncapped LTE is or what the price of Telkom Uncapped Wi-Fi is. Or you may be wondering a few things like: What is the cheapest LTE in South Africa? How much is uncapped data on Telkom? Does unlimited data cost more? How much does unlimited data cost per month?

Well we've already done all the searching for you and can confirm that Telkom's Uncapped LTE product range offers consumers the best value, widest choice and lowest prices for Uncapped Wi-Fi.

Customers can choose between Uncapped 10Mbps or Uncapped 20Mbps speeds at different price points, dependent on whether you pick a SIM-Only deal or a SIM + Wi-Fi router deal.

Take a look for yourself at the options:

Uncapped LTE 10 Mbps, SIM-Only at R449 per month.
Uncapped LTE 10 Mbps, SIM and a D-Link DWR-956M Wi-Fi router at R529 per month.
Uncapped LTE 20 Mbps, SIM-Only at R599 per month.
Uncapped LTE 20 Mbps, SIM and a D-Link DWR-956M Wi-Fi router at R679 per month.

What is Telkom's Fair Usage Policy (FUP)?

So often our customers ask us a host of questions about how and why Telkom throttles their Uncapped LTE connection, but there is a very good reason why. To ensure that everyone can enjoy the best experience using their internet service, Telkom Uncapped data deals are governed by Telkom's Fair Usage Policy which works as follows:

Telkom Uncapped LTE 10Mbps	Telkom Uncapped LTE 20Mbps
Up to 500GB of usage, you will be able to access the network at 10Mbps speed. After 500GB you will be able to access the network at a standard 4Mbps speed. Should you use more than 550GB, Telkom will then reduce the speed to 2Mbps.	Up to 600GB of usage, you will be able to access the network at 20Mbps speed. After 600GB you will be able to access the network at a standard 4Mbps speed. Should you use more than 650GB, Telkom will then reduce the speed to 2Mbps.

When it comes to Telkom's FUP, Telkom has the right to apply restrictions to an Uncapped LTE account if a customer's usage behaviour is deemed to be affecting the user experience of other customers on the Telkom network. FUP throttling or FUP usage is the intentional slowing of an internet service and is not illegal by any means. It's merely a reactive measure to regulate network traffic and minimise bandwidth congestion and that's why Telkom throttles uncapped LTE customers.

As you can see for yourself, Telkom Uncapped LTE is a truly unique product in that it offers unlimited data and value at pricing that's totally reasonable. Telkom in turn also protects you against the abuse of heavy internet users by imposing their Fair Usage Policy which ensures you can continue to enjoy your superior experience of web browsing, video and music streaming, email, VoIP and TV/Radio streaming.

Since partnering with Telkom in 2016, we at DSL Telecom have evolved to be recognised as the largest post-paid Telkom Authorised Dealer in South Africa and have subsequently won a multitude of awards for our record-breaking internet sales and our outstanding customer service and after-sales support. Choose to sign up through DSL Telecom and prepare to experience service that's second to none.

Sign Me Up

Telkom's 2022 Uncapped 10Mbps And 20Mbps LTE Fair Usage Policy Explained

Mon, 09 May 2022 10:45:11 +0200

If you're a Telkom Uncapped LTE customer, you may have noticed that even though your Telkom Uncapped wi-fi deal is a truly uncapped product, that it's still subject to an internet fair use policy. This begs the question: what exactly is fair use?

In an effort to ensure all its users enjoy a superior Uncapped LTE experience with fast speeds, Telkom wants to ensure that there are no heavy users that will ruin the experience for other users. Heavy or excessive users are generally those who use peer-to-peer downloads (P2P), NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) or file-sharing software. They are usually people who upload and download large files, such as torrented movies and music on a daily basis, reaching their FUP threshold.

These users take up excessive bandwidth, slowing the connection down for everyone else. Throttling restrictions are thus imposed to ensure that the best quality of broadband is available to the maximum number of customers.

Normal web browsing, video and music streaming, email, VoIP and TV/Radio streaming do not fall into the P2P/NNTP category and speed will not be affected. Speed effects are only dependent on the amount of data that you have used.

Telkom's Uncapped LTE Fair Usage Policies

With Telkom's recent introduction of both a 10Mbps and a 20Mbps Uncapped LTE product, their Fair Usage Policy monthly data allocation has been modified slightly and works as follows:

For the Uncapped LTE 10Mbps deal:

Up to 500GB of usage, you will be able to access the network at 10Mbps speed.
After 500GB of usage, you will be able to access the network at a standard 4Mbps speed.
Should you use more than 550GB, Telkom will then reduce the speed to 2Mbps.

For the Uncapped LTE 20Mbps deal:

Up to 600GB of usage, you will be able to access the network at 20Mbps speed.
After 600GB of usage, you will be able to access the network at a standard 4Mbps speed.
Should you use more than 650GB, Telkom will then reduce the speed to 2Mbps

Telkom Uncapped LTE All Hours is a truly Uncapped LTE product where you can use as much data as you want without worrying about hitting data caps or having to top up. We're sure it's now easier to understand that Telkom's Uncapped LTE internet Fair Use Policy is in fact extremely fair and is put into place to protect it's customers.

To view all Telkom's Uncapped LTE deals, click here 👉👉 www.uncappedlte.co.za

9 Tips to use less LTE data

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 11:15:31 +0200

We can access the wealth of the world's information from the palm of our hands ... or just stream some Netflix.

But if you do away from an uncapped LTE connection, it can end up costing you.

Thankfully, there are solutions to this. Through a combination of fiddling with your phone and desktop settings and being a little smarter about how you use data, you can avoid going over your limit.

👇 Here are 9 tips to help you reduce your LTE data consumption:

#1 : Set a data limit

For users on an internet plan with limited bandwidth, setting how much data you want to use on your PC is a brilliant way to reduce data usage. Let's say your internet plan's data bandwidth is capped at 20GB, and you don't want your PC to use more than 2GB per week, you can set a weekly data limit of 2GB on your computer. That way, you are in total control of your PC's data consumption.

#2 : Use data compressing apps

Various apps use compression technology to reduce your data usage. You might already use some of them, without realising the impact.

Google Chrome is one of the most popular browsers. It has a built-in feature that can significantly reduce data consumption.

When data compression is turned on, all of your traffic is passed through a proxy run by Google. Your data is compressed and optimised before being sent to your phone. This results in lower data consumption and also speeds up the loading of pages without any significant change in web content.

👉To use data compression on Android:

Open Chrome, tap on the 3-dot menu on the upper right corner, tap on Settings, and scroll down to Data Saver. There you can tap on the upper right corner to toggle Data Saver on.

Turning data saver ON also implements Chrome’s Safe Browsing System to detect malicious pages and protect you from malware and harmful content. You can revisit that settings panel in Chrome to see how much data you’ve saved over a period.

👉To use data compression on IOS:

Open Chrome, tap on the 3-dot menu on the upper right corner, tap on Settings, and scroll down to Bandwidth. There you can tap on the Pre-load web pages option and select Never.

This process can reduce data usage by 50 percent, as it both compresses and minimises HTML, JavaScript and CSS resources. Removing unnecessary whitespace, comments and other metadata not essential to rendering the pages, as Google previously explained.

#3 : Stop apps from automatically syncing

While you use your phone or desktop, a lot of activity happens in the background. For example, Google Play and Apple's App Store check for updates and your email app looks for new messages. Meanwhile, social media apps push updates to your phone - the list goes on.

All this data adds to your LTE internet usage. We're not even talking about apps updating, just the data and information they sync. Whatever apps you use with a regular requirement for data are costing you money.

👉 How to disable Android app syncing

You can disable some apps that sync at Settings > Apps & notifications. Here you'll find apps that sync various data, such as your contacts. Tap each one and check the data usage - if it's too much, tap Data usage, then disable Background data.

👉 How to disable IPhone app syncing

On iOS, you can disable native apps from syncing via Settings > [Your name/ Apple ID] > iCloud. All you need to do now is tap each service that you don't need to sync.

Almost all apps that require constant syncing will let you manage how data syncs in their individual settings.

#4 : Store music and podcasts on your phone storage

This solution is so useful, you'll wonder why you didn't think of it already. Instead of streaming audio from your preferred online service or app, just download it to your phone before you leave the house.

Most phones and desktops come with enough storage to store a collection of your favourite music.

While you might own a smartphone with low storage, Android phones commonly feature a microSD card slot for expanding space. The only difference is that you should copy the MP3s to this storage, rather than your phone.

Once you're done, use your phone's built-in audio player to enjoy your music---no internet required! Alternatively, upgrading to the paid version of Spotify, Apple Music, and other services lets you download music to your phone.

#5 : Don't stream in HD Video and limit your general use of streaming services

#6 : Disable geolocation from apps

Some apps will automatically geotag you, it will use a lot of continuous data as the app is constantly updating your location. For some apps there is no need to be geotagged and it will save you a great deal of LTE data.

👉 How to disable location geotag on Android:

Android phone makers often have custom menus, so the process for doing this might be different on a Google Pixel versus an Android phone made by Samsung or LG. But, it should be relatively similar across devices running Android P, the latest version of Android. Here’s how to stop apps from tracking you on Android:

Open your Settings, tap Advanced. Choose App permissions. Select Location. You’ll see a list of apps that have access to your location. Unlike the iPhone, Android only lets you turn permission on and off, instead of only while using the app. Turn off the apps that do not need to know your location for the app to work correctly. For eg. you might not want to turn off your GPS navigator app as you will need to manually turn it back on every time you would like to use it.

👉 How to disable location geotag on IPhone:

First navigate to your Settings > Privacy. Select Location Services. If you want to completely stop all apps from using your location, turn Location Services off. If you want to manage settings app by app, tap each app and choose “Never” or “While Using.” Make sure apps that don’t need your location, like most games, are set to “Never.” Other apps should be set to track your location only while you’re actively using and inside of that app. There’s no reason an app needs to track you all the time, unless you want to be tracked live without being inside of an app.

Reminder: Some apps need your location to work properly.

#7 : Kick out the malware

Not just the regular apps on your phone or desktop could be using your data, there could be other reasons why the data limit is getting exhausted so often.

Regularly scan your devices for malware with a good antivirus app. Malicious apps might be sucking your bandwidth in the background while sending your precious information to the attackers. Doing so will also help you speed up your devices.

#8 : Disable background app refresh

#9 : Take advantage of your Night Surfer hours

When downloading large files or updating PC and Console games, do the update during your Telkom LTE Night Surfer hours. Night Surfer data bundles can only be used between midnight 00:00 and 5:00am on any day of the week.

These tips should help you reduce your LTE data consumption. Unfortunately, some tips may inhibit the full potential of your devices. Today's devices are capable of amazing performance but this potential is often bound by data limitations. All the more reason to choose an unlimited data plan. Telkom offers 24 hours Uncapped LTE. Included in this plan is a wireless Voice service, so you get unlimited data and 300 on-net minutes.

Take a look at Telkom's Uncapped LTE packages here 👉 www.uncappedlte.co.za

Telkom's Uncapped LTE Fair Usage Policy Explained

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 16:03:13 +0200

In a nutshell, a Fair Usage Policy is a policy which is utilised internationally by broadband providers of all types of mobile internet to ensure that every subscriber uses their data in moderation. When subscribers use large amounts of mobile data, other users in the same network can be adversely affected. In order to prevent those few mass-data consumers from eating into the bandwidth of the other users, an internet service provider (ISP) may cap an abuser’s data speed.

Is a Fair Usage Policy actually fair?

Although a Fair Usage Policy may seem unreasonable, the logic behind this measure is practical and fair. ISPs implement a Fair Usage Policy to ensure that everyone can enjoy the best experience using their internet service. These providers may monitor your internet usage and if you go beyond your fair-use limit, they can restrict your network speed accordingly.

Telkom's Uncapped LTE FUP

In terms of the Telkom Uncapped LTE FUP, Telkom reserves the right to apply restrictions on an Uncapped LTE account if a customer ‘s behaviour is deemed to be affecting the user experience of other customers on the Telkom network. Examples of customer behaviour which may compromise Telkom’s network performance include, amongst others, causing congestion, running excessive concurrent internet sessions or accessing excessive bandwidth-intensive protocols such as peer-to-peer.

Restrictions which may be applied include throttling a customer’s throughput speeds and/or shaping a customer’s bandwidth to limit the use of bandwidth-intensive protocols and applications.

Here's what you can expect:

Telkom's SmartBroadband Wireless unlimited (All hours) FUP monthly data allocation is as follows:

Telkom Uncapped LTE 10Mbps	Telkom Uncapped LTE 20Mbps
Up to 500GB of usage, you will be able to access the network at 10Mbps speed. After 500GB you will be able to access the network at a standard 4Mbps speed. Should you use more than 550GB, Telkom will then reduce the speed to 2Mbps	Up to 600GB of usage, you will be able to access the network at 20Mbps speed. After 600GB you will be able to access the network at a standard 4Mbps speed. Should you use more than 650GB, Telkom will then reduce the speed to 2Mbps

So we're sure you'll agree that Telkom's Uncapped LTE Fair Usage Policy is indeed extremely fair and is only in place to protect it's customers.

Telkom Uncapped LTE All Hours is a truly Uncapped LTE product where you can use as much data as you want without worrying about hitting data caps or having to top up.

To view all Telkom's Uncapped LTE deals, click here 👉👉 www.uncappedlte.co.za