I ordered ADSL a few weeks ago. Actually I had to have a phone line installed before I could order ADSL, but the nice people at Telkom took down my ADSL order and thankfully processed it once the line had been installed. The first parts of the experience was relatively quick and easy, my new line was installed within a few days of ordering it, and my application for ADSL went in as soon as the line was in. Because I am a GEEK I opted for self-install, since it is cheaper, and is the difference between me plugging a modem in, and some other person plugging it in (Paid for installs don't touch your computer because they don't want to be held liable). A few days after my application went in I got a call saying my line would be activated within 7 working days, and I could go fetch my free WiFi ADSL router from the nearest telkom outlet. Wonderful experience so far.

7 Working days passed (actually around 12 passed because I was in Ghana for a week). I returned from Ghana hoping there would be a nice ADSL line at home, except there was not. It takes an average of about 13 minutes to speak to an operator on 0800DSLDSL. I know this because I heard Telkom hold music (which is among the worst in the world) about 8 times in the 22 days I waited for the line to be activated. It seems like the biggest stumbling block is the local exchange here, because the ticket on the system ended with it being transferred to the local exchange, and never progressed from there. In total I waited about 23 working days (when I should have waited 7 working days) for my line to be activated. But Internetting on that ADSL connection was sweet for the 12 hours before the power in my house went off (and remains off) (you have to chuckle).

What is the relevance of this (my own personal struggle)? SA has a long way to go if it takes almost two months from no telephone to ADSL connectivity (It would be great if the telephone part of the equation didn't exist, I don't need to pay another R100/month when I already have two cellphones available all day every day). Recent news suggests that we could see price drops as much as 65% when infraco is licensed. If that comes true, awesome, but it is a pipe dream until something is done about the fact that "South Africans currently paid 10 times as much for their broadband access as the world average, and 125 times as much as the level considered to be global best practice". I can believe this, my monthly fees of R370 buys me 3GB/month at 384kbits. In many countries 384kbit is not considered broadband, and 3GB/month is just about enough to support a conservative digital native. 3GB/month limits my online activity to text and image consuming and producing, but definitely limits video and voice to minimal levels. I figure 8-10GB/month is enough for a modest digital native.