Local Steam content server coming to WebAfrica!

[DAE_JA_VOO]

Now THIS is awesome:

STEAM content Server coming!
A steam content server is in the process of being setup and will be the 2nd service offering to be included in the FreeZone.

Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. It is used to distribute a large number of games and related media entirely over the Internet. There are approximately 788 software titles available for which Steam allows users to purchase any of these games entirely digitally. Instead of receiving a box, disc, or even CD key, purchased software is immediately attached to the user’s Steam account.

Web Africa ADSL subscribers will be able to download content, such as full games, from the Web Africa hosted Steam server without utilizing any bandwidth from their accounts!

I got this in an email from WebAfrica.

FREE steam content downloads!

[Firestrm_ZA]

Thats a damn good reason to open a webafrica account seems I may get ADSL soon then

[DAE_JA_VOO]

Man, I just cancelled my WA account 2 months ago And I've had such rubbish service from them, I really, REALLY don't want to use them as an ISP, but this is just awesome.

I'll buy a prepaid account from them

Hopefully they'll actually let me use this one

EDIT: Why is the word "cr@p" censored?

[Firestrm_ZA]

Just get hold of Jeff aka g0ldback.

He should be able to sort you out

[StarBound]

STEAM! LOCAL? Thats like saying we have electricity. Are you sure about this? I mean downloading 20gb locally sounds too good to be true.

[Xiphan]

Pity I've made the decision to terminate my contract early, I'm so fed up with WA that I'm going to pay the R600 fee to cancel my contract early. In only a few months I've had far better service (and latency) with Afrihost than I EVER had with the 1 year or so that I've been with WA.

I might consider using them for a 30Gb local only account otherwise their DSL Complete package has cost me more trouble (and money) than it was initially worth.

[Anakha56]

I'll buy a prepaid account from them

Seems I will be getting one as well . But this is very good news and hopefully other ISP's will join in.

[Xiphan]

But this is very good news and hopefully other ISP's will join in.

I doubt it, Web Africa's main reason for doing this is part of their upgrades in becoming a tier 1 ISP.

[Anakha56]

But this is very good news and hopefully other ISP's will join in.

I doubt it, Web Africa's main reason for doing this is part of their upgrades in becoming a tier 1 ISP.

I am allowed to dream aren't I?

/goes off to cry in corner because Xiphan shattered his dream...

But seriously this is a step in the right direction, we have Digichilli and Screamer offering uncapped solutions and now WA offering Steam and uncapped gaming. Things appear to be picking up...

[Moses]

I would be excited, but I already have uncapped. I think the industry should be moving towards getting everyone on uncapped, so we don't have to worry about the distinction between local and international. Of course, it will always be good for ISP's to host as much content locally.

[M1ke]

That's great news that we're getting a local content server!!!

Unfortunately a lot of us are with ISPs that rate both international and local bandwidth as the same thing (like Axxess), although nothing's stopping me from opening up a local-cap account with them.

[DAE_JA_VOO]

STEAM! LOCAL? Thats like saying we have electricity. Are you sure about this? I mean downloading 20gb locally sounds too good to be true.

Is this proof enough for you? Screenshot from within my browser of the email I got from them

That's great news that we're getting a local content server!!!

Unfortunately a lot of us are with ISPs that rate both international and local bandwidth as the same thing (like Axxess), although nothing's stopping me from opening up a local-cap account with them.

Yeah, you could just buy a 1GB account with WA and you're good to go!

[StarBound]

Telkom also had fibre optic coming since 1998. Its 2009 and almost 2010 already.

[Anthro]

Slightly [OT] I have on good sources that 8MB lines are being rolled out..

NN Ref NN0003993
Current Status In Progress
Notice Description Software - Implementation of the 8 Meg trial. All current 4Meg custormers on the 4 Meg sync profile will be upgraded to the 8Meg sync profile.
Date / Time Down 2009-11-13 23:59
Date / Time Up 2009-11-16 00:00
Estimated Time to Repair > 24 Hours
Site / Area Pretoria 4
Affected ADSL users
Impact Either increased service experience or degraded service due to line quality not supporting new sync profile.
Notice Logged by User ForeBL on 2009-11-16 10:25

Known Areas Affected

PRETORIA 4

(012) 321
(012) 323
(012) 324
(012) 325
(012) 326
(012) 328


NN Ref NN0003992
Current Status In Progress
Notice Description Software - Implementation of the 8 Meg trial. All current 4Meg custormers on the 4 Meg sync profile will be upgraded to the 8Meg sync profile.
Date / Time Down 2009-11-13 23:59
Date / Time Up 2009-11-16 00:00
Estimated Time to Repair > 24 Hours
Site / Area Constantia Park IMAX
Affected ADSL users
Impact Either increased service experience or degraded service due to line quality not supporting new sync profile.
Notice Logged by User ForeBL on 2009-11-16 10:21

Known Areas Affected

CONSTANTIA PARK IMAX

(012) 993
(012) 998

[M1ke]

All of a sudden my life just got a whole lot better.

First 8 Meg lines, and now the local steam content server. I can't wait to start saving money on their crazy weekend-specials now.

@Dae - I think that'll work better. Shot for the suggestion.

EDIT: It looks like WA prepaid local accounts use "FreeZone" as well - and don't cost anything for activation.

I'm going to check it out and report back.

EDIT2: Just set-up a WA prepaid account, purchasing 0GB of bandwidth. I can confirm, that the FreeZone website(s) do work! Meaning I can use this a/c to grab stuff from steam (provided I buy 1GB of international, to log myself in).

OT: Does anyone know of other Freezone websites?

[Interfan]

All of a sudden my life just got a whole lot better.

First 8 Meg lines, and now the local steam content server. I can't wait to start saving money on their crazy weekend-specials now.

@Dae - I think that'll work better. Shot for the suggestion.

EDIT: It looks like WA prepaid local accounts use "FreeZone" as well - and don't cost anything for activation.

I'm going to check it out and report back.

EDIT2: Just set-up a WA prepaid account, purchasing 0GB of bandwidth. I can confirm, that the FreeZone website(s) do work! Meaning I can use this a/c to grab stuff from steam (provided I buy 1GB of international, to log myself in).

OT: Does anyone know of other Freezone websites?

Only works with the international prepaid or will the local prepaid account also work??

Will use this for those great steam weekend specials.

[M1ke]

All of a sudden my life just got a whole lot better.

First 8 Meg lines, and now the local steam content server. I can't wait to start saving money on their crazy weekend-specials now.

@Dae - I think that'll work better. Shot for the suggestion.

EDIT: It looks like WA prepaid local accounts use "FreeZone" as well - and don't cost anything for activation.

I'm going to check it out and report back.

EDIT2: Just set-up a WA prepaid account, purchasing 0GB of bandwidth. I can confirm, that the FreeZone website(s) do work! Meaning I can use this a/c to grab stuff from steam (provided I buy 1GB of international, to log myself in).

OT: Does anyone know of other Freezone websites?

Only works with the international prepaid or will the local prepaid account also work??

Will use this for those great steam weekend specials.

That's what I'm not sure about. I think to log-in to Steam you need international so you can connect to their main server, although the content should be do-able on local only. And yeah - this will come mighty handy in specials, because deals like those often don't come around!

[Interfan]

Ok got some feedback from Jonathan from WA. According him both local prepaid and normal prepaid works but you need to have date available to use the freezone. You also need to insure steam uses the WA server, he is currently look at a how to implement this.

Sorry for posting a link to another gaming forum but it would be unfair in not posting the source.

That is correct however you must have available bandwidth on your account to access the FreeZone area.

Content downloaded from our Steam server would be free however it is possible that the steam engine fetches the data from multiple sources in which case data would be used outside our network and therefore charged.

One would need to ensure that the content is being downloaded from our steam server which is setup in the FreeZone in order to fully reap the benefit and which I am currently investigating

I will post updates on our forums (forum.webafrica.co.za) or the blog (blog.webafrica.co.za)

Jonathan WA reply

[WAJohnathan]

Hi everyone

FreeZone will only be accessible to Web Africa adsl customers that have some available bandwidth on their accounts and includes all our ADSL offerings, including prepaid, except the IS packages.

FreeZone areas currently include the following:

• Gaming on the WAGE servers

• Downloading content from the media section WAGE site http://www.wage.co.za

• Content downloaded from our STEAM content server which is intended to be a full mirror

Additionally we are enhancing gaming traffic for games not offered within the FreeZone range so that games played overseas will be more playable with lower latency, for example on a shaped @wadsl account WOW has been played at a nice low stable 198ms

Furthermore as Web Africa is now a Tier 1 provider (ie not reselling SAIX bandwidth) we have significant control over our package offerings and the quality thereof. Our offerings will be expanded upon and you should experience a significant decrease in latency and improvement quality wise all round here on moving forward.

If you are not getting the proper support and service you should be getting please let us know so that we can conduct a proper investigation and prevent recurrences from our side. If you would like to have a customer care manager to contact you please send an email to gamesmaster@webafrica.co.za and I will arrange for one of them to call you at a convenient time.

The steam content server is currently waiting on VALVEs teams to finalize the setup and will hopefully be operational within a few days

[M1ke]

Hi everyone
The steam content server is currently waiting on VALVEs teams to finalize the setup and will hopefully be operational within a few days

Let us know when this happens!!

[Xiphan]

Talk about making it difficult to decide whether I want to stay with you guys.

[M1ke]

Talk about making it difficult to decide whether I want to stay with you guys.

You can always use prepaid to try-it-out first. I am.

EDIT: This server better open up soon Steam just started a massive Holiday Sale. I mean, GTA IV for $7.49 ?!

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177443

With Christmas fast approaching, pretty much everyone has initiated a holiday sale of some sort. As usual though, Steam has outdone them all, heavily discounting games like Mirror's Edge ($4.99), Grand Theft Auto IV ($7.49) and S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl ($1.99).
Those games are just the daily specials, which are scheduled to expire approximately 36 hours from the time of this post. Valve plans to continue offering special deals into next year.

In the meantime, you can save 50 percent on Ubisoft's entire catalog, 33 percent on the 2K Games catalog, and 66 percent on the Unreal Deal Pack. You can find the complete list of available savings here.

The holiday sale ends January 3. Merry Christmas!

http://www.steampowered.com

[D3PART3D]

WAJohnathan, who are you, and what have you done with WAJeff?

[StarBound]

US price: $5.95 (4.95 for game, 1 for split of internet service)
RSA Price: $120 (4.95 for the game, 116.05 for the cap used to get it)

[M1ke]

US price: $5.95 (4.95 for game, 1 for split of internet service)
RSA Price: $120 (4.95 for the game, 116.05 for the cap used to get it)

And if the FreeZone Steam Content Server goes up?

Then we don't have to pay for the bandwidth used in downloading the game --> which was my point.