It seems like only yesterday we were saying "Happy New Year" - and now it's June. I am not a winter person - I am counting down the days until Spring when my toes can finally defrost.

Track your use

Softcap clients - if you need to track your total use to avoid going over the softcap limits, please contact our support team for a login to your user stats panel on our systems.

We're hard at work on speedy self-help systems for common requests like resetting a wifi password or troubleshooting your fibre / wireless connection. Watch this space.

Tech Talk

Streaming services. There is a LOT to say here, but I'm going to try keep it short.

YouTube: If you start up a YouTube video, there's an initial spike of traffic on your link, then it settles down to match the resolution you're watching. This pre-loads a part of your video and keeps the download a little bit ahead of where you are so it doesn't hang or buffer. You can see how it pre-loads ahead of where you are watching if you look at the bottom of your video.

DSTV: The main DSTV servers are located in Johannesburg, from where they send out their stream to your device or decoder. Although their support loves to blame the ISP for streaming issues, in most cases there are too many people trying to access that info at the same time, and it falls on its face. You have better luck at low demand times with channels that are less popular. You have absolutely no luck if there's a big rugby game on, because their entire connection speed is going to be taken up by demands for that stream all fighting it out.

Netflix, Amazon Prime and similar legal services. Most of these guys have "mirror" servers in each country, bringing the most requested content closer to clients (your home screen may list "Top 10 series in South Africa today" - based on how many people are viewing those locally hosted files). Some of them have file storage in both Cape Town and Joburg. We have direct fibre connections to where these are stored, so your videos are not being transferred from overseas when you stream on their services. However, these require a decent internet speed to run smoothly, as file sizes are large.

Many streaming services adjust your video resolution to your available internet speed. Here's a breakdown of minimum dedicated speeds needed for each resolution:

• 480p (SD): 1.1 Mbps
• 720p (HD): 2.5 Mbps
• 1080p (Full HD): 5 Mbps
• 1440p (Quad HD): 10 Mbps
• 4K (Ultra HD - 2160p): 20 Mbps

Your best option for any streaming service is to make sure you have a fast enough connection for the resolution you want, connect to your router directly with a network cable, and make sure you don't have other devices connected to your router using up all your connection's speed. Remember that we deliver a specific up-to speed to your router, but all devices connected to your router will share that speed and take a portion of it for what they are doing.

I'm not going to touch on VPNs that spoof your location, other than to say this negates all the hard work we put in to ensure direct fast connections to CDNs hosting content locally, and adds extra hops to your streaming traffic. There is very little available overseas that you cannot access locally and legally.

Last point - illegal streaming services & TV boxes. Don't use them. Carte Blanche had a super piece on these a while ago. They're not only illegal, but dangerous.

(Streaming trends in South Africa listed here if you're interested)

From the Archives

If you are ever interviewing for a technician's position at Cape Connect, the first question you will be asked is this:

"Are you willing to jump in a 4x4 in the middle of a storm with gale force wind and icy rain to climb a tower to fix the internet?

Or are you expecting a desk job?"

Once you're over your initial shock that working for The Internet does not involve sitting at a computer all day, there are a couple of essential certifications you'll complete once hired.

• Basic First Aid
• Work at Height (tower climbing safety)
• Fibre Optic Technician (fibre splicing)
• Snake Handling

Why Snake Handling? Because not all bugs in the system are electronic....

There is a certain complex (name withheld to reduce panic among the residents) that harbours a family of Cape Cobra. Babies pop up once a year in the manholes and comms ducts, are carefully captured and safely relocated to where they can happily live out their days. We will often run into puffadders and other slithery types on our mountain sites, and it's essential for our team to know how to handle all of these.

Another complex on our fibre network has a very serious bug problem. Routers generate a lovely warm environment, and more than once we have had to replace one that is completely infested with cockroaches. They climb in there, breed and short circuit everything. Best option for this is a sealed bag filled with half a can of Doom. In most cases routers go to internet heaven, having completely blown. Dare I even post a photo? Yup, why not.

With an outdoor network of cabinets we inadvertently create homes and shelter for wildlife. We have a standing rule that all cabinets get a few mothballs in them to keep spiders and insects at bay. Any site visit involves caution and bug spray - especially for those prone to developing wasp nests. Wasps and spiders love to sit over the warm IR sensors on cameras, which means a sudden fright when you check them and see a massive monster in your view.

And one final bug in the system. A router at the top of a mountain failed and a trek up was required to replace it. The old one hauled out, I handed it to my assistant to hold onto while the new one went in. I had only just turned around when there was a scream and the router came flying by. A small family of mice had moved into it through an open power port, sat quietly while we removed it - and popped out with "surprise!" straight at my assistant!

Perhaps we should add a Mouse Wrangling course to our training?

Contact details

A reminder of our contact details for each department:

• For sales or pre-installation queries: info@cape-connect.com
• For post-installation accounts or financial questions, including package changes: accounts@cape-connect.com
• For troubleshooting or on-site support: support@cape-connect.com
• Our Telegram and WhatsApp notification channels are linked on our website's Contact page. Please subscribe.

Shot of the month

We're often out on site at very odd hours and in very strange places - but this means we get some awesome views. Here's this month's picture perfect shot.

June-know it's going to be a good one.

Michelle Bainbridge

Chief Internet Artisan

Cape Connect Internet (Pty) Ltd

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