As many of our users may know, QuickShare is run at a major loss to the team but we do it because we absolutely love what we do. For a long time we have made our fair share of sacrifices to keep things running but with the incredible growth we have experienced over the last few months we have arrived at a place where we cannot keep things going with the current cost of bandwidth.
We are aware of the Seacom development and like many of you out there, we read every news article on the topic with bated breath, hoping to mine a little more hope out of the development. Having said that, it’s also more than likely that it will take a while before the cheaper bandwidth starts trickling down to us.
It’s extremely important to us that we maintain a high level of integrity with our users and that people who rely on QuickShare for backups or people who have given links to files in their CVs (and similar scenarios) can always access their data. After giving it a lot of thought, we have decided to do the following:
Our Temporary Solution
- We have disabled new uploads on all accounts while we continue to look for new ways to sustain QuickShare. Users will still have access to all the data that they currently have on the site.
Our Plans for the Future
- As the cost of bandwidth becomes more manageable, we will open up full functionality on the site again.
- As things progress even further, we plan to offer bigger (free) storage space and eventually introduce paid accounts to accommodate those who want greater storage and flexibility.
Other Thoughts
We ask for the support of all our users during this time. To give you an idea, even though we get our bandwidth and infrastructure at the most competitive prices available, our bills are quickly approaching the R10,000 per month mark. As mentioned earlier, this comes out of our own pocket and offers no return at this point. We have done everything we can to keep things going.
We knew this might happen, but we’re passionate about the idea and wanted to give it our best shot. We will be back and when we come back, we’ll be better, stronger and faster than ever.
We will be updating users from time to time using our newsletter option. To stay informed with developments on our side please make sure you’re subscribed to the newsletter in the My Account (requires user to be logged in) section of QuickShare.
Bye for now…
The QuickShare Team
I was wondering when this day would come. Its really sad to see another local site go down (image hosting ones go down all the time). Its really understandable though.
I’m sure you guys have tried getting sponsorship but I just cant see you surviving without it.
This is a real shame. Have you tried setting up a donation button that people who use the site regularly can maybe help?? I know that we cannot recieve money via Paypal in SA but perhaps use something like Moneybookers.
Di
P.S. You have over 2600 users. Even if just half donated R10 a month – that should take care of your problems
Damn, This is SAD..
I agree with you Di @ Legacy4Life.
Also if you make size smaller like 5mb and 50mb space per user with a limit traffic allowance per file then its still worth it.
I will pay also R20 per month to be a user.
I am new to quickshare but have made use of the service. I think R20pm would be freakin awesome deal…….i will pay happily.
Yes, I agree, local file sharing is like skeletons in South Africa, I always used Photobucket, but internet user’s that only use local bandwidth can’t see my images. But when I found Quickshare I was happy and my friends could see my images. I’ll be happy to pay for local services.
Should you reopen, even at a cost, please let me know on the above email.
Our UNISA study group found this site very useful for sharing resources (legal), course notes and assignments question research etc. I found this site very user friendly!
Perhaps consider offering subscriptions per, for example, 5 GB of space – rather than a set amount per month which might make the fees out of reach for some people. Our group are only using 10% of space available to us.
For groups such as ourselves, an annual/bi-annual fee might be better – we could club together and then pay a once-off fee for the duration of the acadamic year.
I see that Hetzner have dropped their hosting prices today… http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/9009.html
Hopefully the other hosting providers will soon follow suit!
Your efforts are appreciated. We can only pray that one day South Africans can enjoy cost structures which will allow for broad and open minded individuals like yourselves to continue your good work.
Thank you for now and God bless.