Tech companies thriving on our ignorance

During the discussions on a recent article on the Kenyan Internet Exchange Point (KIXP), I was comforted to see that even some of the techies do not understand some reasons behind decisions by ISPs.

For instance, if KIXP reduces costs, why is the cost of connectivity so high? This question was posed by someone who is considered to have a level of technical understanding.

Another one wondered why this information has not been communicated to the public, so that the level of local content can improve. If by improving local pages, the monthly connectivity costs will drop, I am sure more Kenyans will hook up and more will generate content.

So, why haven’t the ISPs developed a layered product where they indicate the costs for accessing local content within KIXP and international content, which incurs more costs?

The answer is simple, the lesser you know, the better for you.

With our ignorance, an ISP says that they have not generated enough numbers to warrant such tarrif tiers and that the costs will have to remain high to cover for the backhaul of international traffic.

The GSM companies have led the way, locked us to one network and made it so cheap to make such calls.

Granted our obsession to cheap services, an ISP that develops a product for local services at cheap rates would make money.

The main thing would be to say that your rates will be this much if you access the following services/sites. You will be shocked that most of us will struggle to maintain within such confines.

It may be argued that such a move would be limiting but its worth a trial. The collateral advantage will be that we generate more content.

Why not demand such a service?

Ends