Would be cool if local wugs could link/peer with WebAfrica to make use of WAGE

If I may be so bold: How do I make use of the STEAM content server?

Gav

That would actually be a awesome idea! This will get a lot of the WUG players playing on the WAGE Server's meaning more DSL users will aswell.

In other words WAGE will have more gamers online than SGS making it the server to play one. If its possible I think WAGE Should seriously look into doing it even if its just to get WAGE off the ground :)

You would have to use a program called steamwatch as well as the IP for the content server. You would then have to set up steamwatch to connect to the WAGE content server and block all the other ones.

If you dont do this steam will automaticly assign you to any old content server which will not count towards freezone :(

Hi MDCore,

You will need a STEAM account which you can signed up here at http://forums.webafrica.co.za/showthread.php?t=... and you would want to download this application http://cdn.steampowered.com/download/SteamInsta... which will allow you to you download games, patches and other content from the STEAM content server. We are currently looking at some of the ways that customers can “lock” onto our STEAM content server without the use of 3rd party software. We will post an updates with all the required information closer to unveiling the server to the public.

Hi @johnathanEnslin, @edwinwatson. Thanks for the tips. Basically my “problem” is that I spent a fistful of dollars on the Steam holiday discount frenzy, and now I'd like to install some of the games. Steamwatch sounds like it might be the route to take if I'm in a hurry. But would it rather be worth my while to wait till you guys have a “locking” solution?

Hi Edwin,

You are correct in saying that steam will by default connect to multiple or random servers. That being said, we are looking for a simpler solution for our customers rather than using third party software. We will be sure to update all our customers closer to the time.

Hello Gerhard,

No promises yet however we will chat to our engineers and other teams to see what can be done :)

The tests conducted so far look promising :) You'll have to wait just a little longer as our steam content server is not currently available to the public. We will be releasing the server as soon as possible and will make an announcement and provide updates closer to launch.

Does the public mean non-WA customers? Because I'm a WA customer….

Web African ADSL subscribers will be able to take advantage of FreeZone access to the STEAM content server hosted by Web AFrica. This means that as a WADSL subscriber you will be able to download games and patches off the server without utilizing any of your cap:) The server will be made available soon however I'm sure the Web African customers will be the first to jump on the server :D

Hey edwinwatson,

Thanks for your input. Good stuff!

Hey guys,
Will all Steam offerings be available through the local server? EG, if I were to buy one of the more obscure games from Steam, would the download still come from the local server, and therefore not cut into my cap?

Hi Wrayth,

We have requested to a host a full content mirror server of all available English content. Once the server has synced all the content then, according to my understanding, one will be able to download any English game, patch or other exclusive content from the local server. The full content mirror for English content alone is around 3.5TB. :)

Any news on an ETA for the content server?

Hello Richard,

We are making good progress with the Steam content server. The process of negotiating better syncing speeds is well under way and an ETA will be provided in due course.

Thanks for the update Jonathan. The people organising the steam content mirror most probably want to scream every time they get asked for an ETA… I think WA customers are just afraid that it's not going to happen… I've read in the forums there wasn't enough HDD space and then you were waiting for the mirror to sync and then you were doing testing for steam client software to connect to the WA steam server without using special config software. – Why is it so difficult to setup steam servers in South Africa? Is steam only aimed towards US and EU customers? Do they view countries such as SA as small fry? I mean the potential sales through out Africa; if SA ISP's become predominant suppliers of ecommerce services such as steam; must be huge considering the future expansion of telecom infrastructure in SA and the rest of Africa.

It is definitely happening!

We actually wanted to release the server earlier however there are some technical hurdles which we have had to over come. The server fetches the content or rather syncs with a server in the united states and the full content is about 3.5TB in size which is costly to download and probably the main reason that there are less servers here in South Africa.

As time goes by and infrastructure improves I'm sure that there going to much more on the horizon :)

hi there,

will customers subscribing to the IS local packages qualify for the WAGE content?

Regards

Fray

Hello Fray1987

You will be able to access WAGE, but only people on the Web Africa Network will be able to make use of the FreeZone benefit.

The STEAM server will also be locked to only Web Africa Network IP's

To be honest guys, the Steam server does not even work properly for Web Africa Customers so don't even try if you are from another network :( You will just eat up all your cap !

Hello Recoil

We are still in the Beta testing phase, the engineers and developers are doing further testing at the moment. It is turning out to be rather tricky as we have to cater for all eventualities of how the STEAM client initiates connections.

We aim to have all these anomalies sorted out very shortly!

Regards, Christiaan

You know Christiaan, I do appreciate the complexities; I work in the IT space on a very senior level and therefore I do understand some of what you are facing with. However, what is inexcusable is promising features to your clients via the WAGE Initiative and FreeZone which I personally marketed by word of mouth to quite a few friends and a number of them joined. So now, in addition to it not working; WA not giving people feedback timeously and consistently; I look like an ass for saying that WA will change the face of gaming in SA. Looks like MWEB will be doing the face-changing after all the WA smoke and mirrors.

Hello Recoil

I am glad that the FreeZone features appeal to you and appreciate you marketing WAGE through word of mouth, we appreciate that very much! :-) That is awesome and what we are aiming for essentially.

I did paste some feedback in the Forum thread, unfortunately this hasn't been a quick fix and we are also waiting for feedback to update our Beta testers.

Initially I had the developers investigate the display interface, which was confusing due to how the FreeZone and normal traffic accounting got combined in a single interface. That was since changed to be more intuitive to end users. Post that the engineers performed extensive testing during which they could not find an issue in the setup. A traffic management issue was then identified, which related to a vendor issue, we should have feedback on that shortly!

Please keep in mind that this is still a Beta test is in no way indicative of the final product, we will only have the official launch when we are confident that everything is working 100% to the quality standards which we would like to offer Web Africa users.

Kind Regards, Christiaan