Choices in a choiceless country

[twixt]

Hi all,

I'd like to get a "broadband" connection. Broadband in quotes as I don't beleive that any of SA's solns are real broadband. My choices are ASDL, MyWireless or IBurst as I'd like it to be a 24 hour connection.

My first choice would be MyWireless as I spend a lot of time moving around Durban and Johannesburg (I have both a PC and a laptop) and I could use MyWireless from my flat, my parent's place, the Durban office, the Johannesburg office and the hotels I stay in - all of which are covered by MyWireless. My choice would be the 12 month contract (256kb) with the modem bought up front - a bit more expensive - but a lot less binding and if something better comes up at the end of the 2005 - I am free.

My problem is that I've heard MyWireless is absolutely *****e for gaming. I don't really play FPS games and I can't see myself ever really getting into them multiplayer, but I am absolutely addicted to RTS and RPG games and I can see myself really getting into MMO's. I played World of Warcraft beta for a while and it was awesome.

Can MyWireless cater for this? or am I doomed to getting ASDL at home and never being free from telkom? My understanding is that for internet gaming that latency is the issue and not download speed and for that matter can shaped ASDL provide this? (I can afford normal ASDL but unshaped is a little too high for my liking)

Any comments, advice, solutions? Please and thanks.

[Razer0]

Hi twixt

Im currently on MyWireless 128k and firstly unless you're a download demon, dont bother with the 256k package becasue they limit at 8k international these days (for 256k that is.. its 4k for me :( ). Then again i dont know how much BW WOW takes but if its more than 4k then yea, get 256k :)
You are right about latencies, the lower the better but in RTS and RPG's its not such a biggie. I used to play local Diablo 2 for a long time with the occasional War3 and i found that it worked just fine with my 110-150 ping. You get about a ½ second delay sooo..
Concerning overseas pings i played US west coast with ~400 ping, you could see the difference but it was playable. I hear shaped ADSL is !crap! for international gaming, unshaped obviously much better.
Seeing as you're always on the move, i say go for sentech 256 or 128 whatever.. up to you. Hmm I would have recommended iburst if it wasnt for their pre-launch problems and 3gig cap.

Good gaming, and seasons greetings :)

[bb_matt]

Get ADSL.

You can use your ADSL account in some circumstances to dialup with a standard modem, obviously at dialup speeds - I know that Telkom offer this. Of course, you'll be charged for normal phone usage as per a dialup.

MyWireless is NOT broadband. It's not even close to broadband. In fact, it's laughable to call it broadband.

iBurst I have no idea about, having never used it, all I know is that it's still in testing/rollout phase and when it officially launches, the only benefit over ADSL is mobility - not forgetting that it's also unproven technology, is still reliant on buying bandwidth - the cost of which is controlled by you know who. What happens if they get too many customers and not enough bandwidth to go around ?

Get the 384 ADSL solution, and buy your own DSL modem. Get the actual ADSL enabled line installed in the place where you'll be most the time, then make sure that your account offers dialup facilities for other places you'll be at - I would imagine your laptop has a built in modem.

The benefit is that you'll be on a month by month basis and you can watch the telcomms situation until something comes up that suits you - who knows, maybe iBurst will be a winner in 2005, but for now, I highly recommend you steer clear of wireless.

The other benefit of ADSL is that your not locked into one ISP - you can chop and change and still use the same hardware.

With MyWireless and iBurst, your locked into a proprietry solution.

IOW, go with proven tech until you know what will be on offer.
Right now, telecomms in SA is very much up in the air and the only truly reliable broadband service is ADSL.

I'll admit, I'm not in your situation of moving from place to place, but having been burned by Sentech and managing to get out of my contract, I'm very wary of getting burnt again.

You have no guarantee that the network will be available at any given time.

I'm really happy with the 384 ADSL I have, if only because it's reliable and is true broadband. Sure, it costs too much and the 3gig cap sucks, but I can change anytime the situation improves - I'm not locked into a contract.

[Chris]

Razer0, I haven't been on the BF1942 servers for over a month, but what is your ping?

[Razer0]

Razer0, I haven't been on the BF1942 servers for over a month, but what is your ping?

With MyWireless its sitting between 110 and sometimes spikes as high as 220 but normally maxes at 180.
Not too fantastic at those high pings but very playable when its 120 or so :)

DSL is obviously in the 10-40's but anyway lately the server is very quiet, a lot say because of the holidays or maybe the new patch thats been released (lot fewer internationals). Its still great fun tho! :D

[ic]

...I could use MyWireless from my flat, my parent's place, the Durban office, the Johannesburg office and the hotels I stay in - all of which are covered by MyWireless...twixt, just curious, how do you know that all of those areas/places have usable MW coverage? If you are relying on Zone Locator being accurate, you are shooting yourself in the foot. You can only be reasonably sure once an on-site signal test has been done (not by Sentech) by a professional like bdt, who actually brings a laptop out along with an IPWireless modem.
...My choice would be the 12 month contract (256kb) with the modem bought up front - a bit more expensive - but a lot less binding and if something better comes up at the end of the 2005 - I am free...My advice, do not take out a 256K 30 day contract, rather START with the 128K package, if that is sufficient for your needs then you have saved some cash, if you think 256K will improve your MW experiment you can always upgrade from 128K to 256K.

Another thing to keep in mind, with Telkom's ADSL, there are allegedly ADSL WiFi hotspots that you might be able to connect to here & there...

Like others have already said & you have concluded, do not sign a 24 month contract, go for a 30 day notice contract (sorry I forgot, that only applies to ADSL & iBurst, MW don't offer 30dn contracts).

[mbs]

IOW, go with proven tech until you know what will be on offer.
Right now, telecomms in SA is very much up in the air and the only truly reliable broadband service is ADSL.


Another thing to keep in mind, with Telkom's ADSL, there are allegedly ADSL WiFi hotspots that you might be able to connect to here & there...

Second this. Recommend you go with ADSL - forget the Sentech/WBS non-options. Another potential consideration is Telkrap's WiMax future offering sometime next year...

[twixt]

Thanks for all the help and advice guys...

I am thinking that from the sounds of things ASDL is the way to go. Pity, I really liked the idea of wireless access.

Does anybody know if there's any price increase when going from DSL384 to DSL512?

Also what are the opinions out there on the latency for DSL384 especially when pinging International Servers?

[ic]

On the upgrade fee, according to Migration Fee is a joke (http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=16550), I would say at this moment in time no, there is only a downgrade ripoff fee.