Telkom alternative available Right Now [Archive]

29-08-2003, 06:17 AM

Yesterday Sentech officially launched their Internet-via-VSAT product. 512/128kbps assymetrical, 50:1 contention end-to-end (not just to the DSLAM) to SA perring points and international peering with BT/L3 in London. NO BANDWIDTH CAP. Comes with 5 fixed IPs.

Costs R2999/month including equipment rental, ISP charges, mailboxes, etc. Works anywhere in South Africa, plus most of SADC.

tim

29-08-2003, 06:20 AM

And it is just 3 times as expansive as Telkoms service...

silversurfer

29-08-2003, 09:39 AM

OMG tim ... do u know how much a 512k NOCAP fixed IP telkom line
REALLY costs ??? Try R40,000 plus.

I am moving house in 2 months time, if i was already in my new
house i would be signing up for this deal, right this minute.

plug

29-08-2003, 09:54 AM

R2999 is a lot of smackers.

In the US or UK you can get this type of thing for probably $30-$50 per month.

VQuest

29-08-2003, 11:55 AM

Great service but very unrealistic price for an average person.

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ASF

29-08-2003, 12:20 PM

VERY good business solution...

NOT so good for individual users...

Technically I know VSAT does also have latency issues...

Having said that at least it's competition...

silversurfer

29-08-2003, 02:20 PM

gogolad and jj ... where does your source come from??? please
post a link or an email addy to back up your postings. We want to
get hold of the right people at sentech, so that we can talk to them.

please.

Thimee

29-08-2003, 02:35 PM

I just gave sentech a call, discovered that their head office in in the same office complex as me...

The VSAT solution is aimed mostly at rural areas, or places not covered by the Telkom network (those of you who cannot get DSL). It consists of a 1.2m satellite dish and transciever. Latency is not bad, in the region of 600ms to their London gateway, pretty much the same as ADSL at the moment. No port prioritisation, CAP etc, so perfect for a small business in a remote location.

There is even better news. Sentech are planning to release Broadband wireless in about 3 months time. Take a look here: http://www.sentech.co.za/products/?articles=28

Looks like just what the doctor ordered. NO payments for line rental etc, thus Telkom are removed from the loop totally. I for one am waiting in anxious anticipation ;)

Edit: Another interesting link in a similar vein:

http://secure.financialmail.co.za/03/0307/technology/atech.htm

bullstein

29-08-2003, 09:53 PM

Wow

This almost sounds like adsl when it started here.

Too good to be true.

kobie

30-08-2003, 11:42 PM

wait arn't you missing something here with all these i'd buy it right now statements. I'm certain that something was mentioned about 50:1 contention ratios. Now correct me if i'm wrong (please do i'm not sure on this point) but if all 50 connect at once don't we have something near as useless as capped ADSL?

Sorry if i'm a little less trusting after ADSL but this smells like a another ADSL deal...i've learnt if it sounds to good to be true take it as a lie. It just seems like a scam. You guys try it first then when www.myVsat.co.za starts up i'll come give it a quick read and see if it's for me.[:D]

Oh yes that direct to home wireless soloution by sentech may be a liitle more promising...any idea what kind of latency do you get on wireless?

SK33T

31-08-2003, 09:58 AM

Sentech is a commercially operated, state-owned enterprise. Sentech will operate a network facility for e-commerce, broadband and value added services.

Yeah STATE OWNED

bullstein

31-08-2003, 01:07 PM

The fact of the matter is this:

I would (probably in ignorance) agree that when all 50 connect at once you would have a fairly useless line. And all 50 WILL connect because you only get this kind of 24/7 connection if you mean to USE IT 24/7. Am I right?

So this is just another joke in Telkomland.

I personally feel that wireless will ultimately be the solution to the internet problems of the 3rd world.

brat

09-09-2003, 10:37 PM

I intend to agree with a few points. 50/1 makes it what.. less than a dial up 56k. With it being so cheap you can guarantee it will be full all of the time. Home users and business. BUT .. one good advantage is that if you stretch your pocket a bit, you could get triple the bandwidth available for the same price. What is it that we looking for? Cheap is Cheap... cant moan about Cheap Services. Our technology has advanced so rapidly in the last 10 years we are in some spaces more advanced than america. What is it that we want from connectivity, speed..? But without quality what is speed? If we use the wireless and satellite technology correctly we can get both quality and speed. No matter what.. it is here to our advantage.

tim

10-09-2003, 01:53 AM

Silversurfer, and that is exactly my point, too expensive, overall!

brat

10-09-2003, 08:35 AM

Guys phone **********. You can get all your questions answered
__________________________________________________ ____________

Unfortunately we can not allow any form of advertising on this site. I am certain your aims are pure, but one can just imagine what will happen if ISP’s realize they can simply post their adds under the illusion of helping MyADSL users. We encourage open discussion…but as SilverSurfer pointed out, you did post this number in multiple threads.

RPM

silversurfer

10-09-2003, 10:00 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by brat
 Guys phone 011 7925810. You can get all your questions answered
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Brad, you mind explaining your affiliation with them? I find it hard to believe someone can be SO pro one company. You have spammed their number in about 10 different threads. Their website has a total of only 400 odd hits... so they are obviously pretty new. How bout you tell us exactly what connection you have and how much it costs, and what throughput you get. Atm, i think most of us would rather put faith in sentech, as they have got the licence and have been setting up resellers all over SA.

silversurfer

10-09-2003, 10:02 AM

sorry, forgot to mention, i am suspect of their 3 year contract requirement on their VSTAR offer.

brat

10-09-2003, 05:52 PM

Silversurfer, affiliation is that I got my satellite connection from them. Nice bunch of people.They not so new and I phoned them today to query that counter. It resets weekly, so the figure u saw was for this week. I am not sure of Sentechs infrastructure and resellers. Sorry if overbearing with giving out number. It just sounds like a lot of people here are looking for alternatives and they one of them that can assist if anyone is interested.

silversurfer

11-09-2003, 08:37 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by brat
 Silversurfer, affiliation is that I got my satellite connection from them. Nice bunch of people.They not so new and I phoned them today to query that counter. It resets weekly, so the figure u saw was for this week. I am not sure of Sentechs infrastructure and resellers. Sorry if overbearing with giving out number. It just sounds like a lot of people here are looking for alternatives and they one of them that can assist if anyone is interested.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

no probs, your right. Many ppl are indeed desperately looking for another solution. It does open the doors for ppl to take advantage of that desperation. Hence the slight sceptism. Well i wish ya the best with your connection, atm you are prolly one of the lucky ones ;) Please keep us informed of your results.

Sparf

12-09-2003, 12:05 PM

back in the states you can get a Cable modem 512, runs all the time, has a ping of <100, no cap, no portgoofyness, over 6 years was down one time for 3 hours during a storm, installs in about 3 days of your phone call, includes 75-100 tv channels, 30 music channels and cost me $45 (~R350) per month.

when i moved here 11 months ago, telkom said i had no phone line, so i ordered a phone. after 3 months of waiting i just for no reason at all plugged a phone into the wall socket, i had a line the whole time. bills started comming, so all is good. then 5 days ago a crew in a truck came by, they were going to install the phone i ordered. eleven farkin months ago.

VQuest

12-09-2003, 05:08 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Sparf
 back in the states you can get a Cable modem 512, runs all the time, has a ping of <100, no cap, no portgoofyness, over 6 years was down one time for 3 hours during a storm, installs in about 3 days of your phone call, includes 75-100 tv channels, 30 music channels and cost me $45 (~R350) per month.

when i moved here 11 months ago, telkom said i had no phone line, so i ordered a phone. after 3 months of waiting i just for no reason at all plugged a phone into the wall socket, i had a line the whole time. bills started comming, so all is good. then 5 days ago a crew in a truck came by, they were going to install the phone i ordered. eleven farkin months ago.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Welcome to the world we call Telkom.

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