What is ADSL?

• ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
• ADSL is connected (24/7) to the Internet. An ADSL connection comes with a data line (for internet connectivity) as well as an analogue line (used for normal voice and fax communications). These two lines can be used simultaneously, in other words, schools can make voice/fax calls while they are connected to the Internet.
• The school is not required to dial-up every time they need to connect to the Internet.
• It is much faster and more reliable then a normal dial-up connection.
• The schools only pay a set monthly fee for the connection and the time they spend on the internet does not affect their monthly fee.

Requirements for an ADSL Connection:

• Telkom ADSL line (with Telkom ADSL line rental)
• Internet Service Provider (e.g. Internet Solutions, M-Web, Telkom, Nashua, etc)
• Mail spooling service from ESN (E-School’s Network)
• ADSL Modem

Terminology used with ADSL:

• Gig: Gig (Gigabyte) refers to an amount of data. One gig is equal to 1000 megabytes. One gig is approximately 300 mp3 songs, 1500 average MS Word or MS Excel documents or about 10,000 e-mails depending on the attachments sizes.

• Cap: Cap size refers to the amount of data the school has available every month to browse the Internet and download email or any other data. ADSL is available in different cap sizes e.g. 1 Gig, 2 Gig, 3 Gig, 6 Gig, 9 Gig and so on.

• Bandwidth – Bandwidth refers to the data transfer capacity of a network. Bandwidth is measured in bits per second. The minimum recommended bandwidth speed for schools is 512 Kbps while 1024 Kbps line speeds are also available but at an additional cost. The bigger the bandwidth, the faster the connection speed of a connection.

ADSL Pricing structure (as at October 2006):

Once-Off Costs (VAT inclusive)
• Telkom line installation cost – R 437.40
• ADSL Modem Cost - R 700.00
(please note that the modem prices vary depending on the type of modem. The price above is the approximate price of the preferred modem to be installed on a Khanya network)

Monthly Costs
• ADSL Line rental (512 K) - R 361.73
• Analogue Line Rental - R 92.00
• Monthly ISP Fee (3 GB Cap) - R 217.67 (approximately)
• Mail Spooling Fee (ESN) - R 70.00

TOTAL MONTHLY COST    R 741.40

The above costing is based on a 3 GB CAP. If you want to increase the bandwidth to 6Gb or 9 Gb, please add the following to the monthly ISP costs:
 6 Gb add R 144.85
 9 Gb add R 271.38
The above costing is also based on a month-to-month contract and does not take into account the discount that schools might qualify for when applying for the e-rate.

SUMMARY:

ADSL connectivity presents an Internet connection that is always on and makes it easy for schools to budget for on a monthly basis. It is also much faster than the traditional dial-up connections. Schools that have an ADSL (or other broadband) connection can also schedule their servers to automatically download email on a regular basis (No intervention is needed from the LAN administrator at the school to download mail).

Schools can also use the same ADSL line for telephone calls. The schools can for instance use the Analogue part of the ADSL connection as a fax line (or any other existing analogue line), which will result in a monthly saving of R 92 on their existing fax line.