Temporary Internet for UK students in Klerksdorp?

buffalobill

buffalobill

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
861
Reaction score
34
Location
Joburg, South Africa.
Hi folks
There's a group of 40 architecture students coming over to Klerksdorp next week for a project that will take a month. They're going to need internet connectivity for this time and I was wondering what the options were. I figured that 3G would probably be the way to go but I've never bothered with it myself (too expensive) so I'm a complete noob here.

Do you think it likely these students will have 3G enabled phones and if so, I guess they can buy prepaid to go with the prepaid SIMs they will buy? If not, can one rent 3G modems? Any input would be much welcome.

I'm posting in this forum because I can't see any better place.
 
In my experience, most phones these days will give you some degree of access, sometimes only at GPRS or EDGE speeds but depending on what they want to do that may be adequate; so I wouldn't think the phones arean issue or that they would need to rent modems.
Vodacom and MTN aalow you to buy data bundles on prepaid - note that these expire after 30 days and anything not used is lost. This works out cheaper than the per meg rate with these networks.
An alternative is to buy a Virgin sim and use that because then you pay 60c per meg, regadrless of how many megs used, so if they are not planning to use a lot it may be a cheaper option. Only EDGE speeds though.
Hope that helps...
 
I'd suggest getting a place/room/building which has ADSL access.

Switch the Router to Pure Bridged mode LLC and let each student buy prepaid GB's.

I'm inclined to say WebAfrica, but for ease of usage, I'd suggest Axxess.

You can head over to www.axxess.co.za and find a location where you can purchase 1GB Prepaid. It's usually at an Engen or Pick n Pay, think it's R70 per GB.

You take the slip/voucher and create a PPPoE dialup connection on each computer with the details and connect. If the data is depleted, go to Engen or Pick n Pay again and get more.
 
divv said:
In my experience, most phones these days will give you some degree of access, sometimes only at GPRS or EDGE speeds but depending on what they want to do that may be adequate; so I wouldn't think the phones arean issue or that they would need to rent modems.
Vodacom and MTN aalow you to buy data bundles on prepaid - note that these expire after 30 days and anything not used is lost. This works out cheaper than the per meg rate with these networks.
An alternative is to buy a Virgin sim and use that because then you pay 60c per meg, regadrless of how many megs used, so if they are not planning to use a lot it may be a cheaper option. Only EDGE speeds though.
Hope that helps...
Click to expand...

Thanks. However, I wouldn't wish Virgin EDGE on *anyone*.
 
teraside said:
I'd suggest getting a place/room/building which has ADSL access.

Switch the Router to Pure Bridged mode LLC and let each student buy prepaid GB's.

I'm inclined to say WebAfrica, but for ease of usage, I'd suggest Axxess.
Click to expand...

Thanks also. I don't know if they will have ADSL access, though. They're staying at a local Catholic conference centre. I'll phone and see if they have Internet there. I use Axxess from time to time when I run out of bandwidth over weekends and I can't top up with my ISP.
 
buffalobill said:
Thanks also. I don't know if they will have ADSL access, though. They're staying at a local Catholic conference centre. I'll phone and see if they have Internet there. I use Axxess from time to time when I run out of bandwidth over weekends and I can't top up with my ISP.
Click to expand...

I think it's going to be sorted easily. It looks like there's an ADSL line in the conference centre, so all that's needed is a wireless router. This is going to be easier than I thought - even the Catholics are wired these days!

Wonder what connection God's got?
 
buffalobill said:
Hi folks
There's a group of 40 architecture students coming over to Klerksdorp next week for a project that will take a month. They're going to need internet connectivity for this time and I was wondering what the options were.
Click to expand...

Poor things. Our 56k-like speeds & usage prices here are going to be quite a bomb shock for them compared to their proper Broadband at home! :o
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X