Best Internet Connection Option for Traveler to Cape Town

Hi,
I am planning on traveling from the U.S. to Cape Town come July, and I will be living there for 3 months while my girlfriend and I do some volunteer work.

I would REALLY like to have an internet connection so that I may also do work for my job back in the U.S. through our VPN.

I will be staying at a complex on Woodford Ave in Camps Bay that has a phone line but not ethernet.

I have a laptop that I will bring. Can anyone tell me the best option for an Internet connection while I am there? I am open to going to an Internet cafe, finding a free hotspot, or perhaps signing up for iburst..? (I've heard that this might be a good option...)

I'm looking for the cheapest way to get Internet that is fast enough for me to do work over my VPN back in the U.S., and is in the Camps Bay area or nearby.

Any help in this would be appreciated,
Thank You

No definite answers, but some temporary advice...

Both Telkom (ADSL provider) as well as WBS (iBurst provider) offer 30 Day Notice contracts, all other broadband is either 12 or 24 month contracts. So, for a 3 month period you really only have 2 options: ADSL & iBurst.

If you are prepared to use an Inet Cafe for a short while, then do not rush into anything - I suggest that you take a bit of time to investigate the possibility of sharing an existing ADSL connection & costs with someone who might already have it in the complex, i.e. a WiFi setup.

I don't recommend getting ADSL installed from scratch as it might take a while for Telkom to accomplish, and depending on what you mean by "cheapest", by our standards ADSL is not cheap at all - certainly not startup-costs, but remember the exchange rate is still in your favour The url for ADSL is www.telkom.co.za/adsl, but I recommend using caution there - come back to MyADSL & ask the people that use Telkom's ADSL & know all the hidden costs.

Also find out if there is iBurst coverage in the complex - I don't know about coverage in Camps Bay - your best bet is to post a Camps Bay coverage thread in the iBurst forum here on MyADSL.

On the iBurst side, things are not going particularly well at the moment, however WBS only officially launch in April, and there are a lot of issues that have no definite answers.

My advice, keep in touch - even after you arrive in SA in July, a lot of regulatory things are set to change [we all hope] from 1st February onwards.

BTW, welcome to MyADSL - we like participation from everywhere & it is refreshing to get broadband opinions from outside SA.

ic, i am most impressed. You've actually used your knowlewdge to arrive to a rather constructive and refreshing observation. Now, if i was the guy asking this question, not only would i be impressed by the knowldge displayed by a South African. I would also think it rather nice to come to country where someone actually gives you relevant information in such helpfull manner. Well done ic. You make me proud.

Thank you

Thank you for the informative response ic. It sounds like I have alot to consider.
Thank you also for welcoming me to the forum. My girlfriend and I have been doing alot of research towards our stay in SA coming up, and have found that almost every South African we've talked to have been VERY helpful and friendly. I have a good impression of what my time will be like over there, and I haven't even been there yet!
I will try posting on the forum you suggested. It would be helpful to get information from someone in the Camps Bay area probably.

On another note, I'm just curious how the technology industry is going over there overall? I am a System Admin myself and am just wondering if IT is an advancing industry there or not? From what I've read it seems Telkom is choosing to stay behind the times and charge alot for it??

Thanks ic,

Camps Bay is on the "wrong" side of the mountain from the CBD site so I can say almost for certain there will be no iBurst coverage.

No problem

dbillmark said:

...From what I've read it seems Telkom is choosing to stay behind the times and charge alot for it??

Click to expand...

Generally speaking, I think IT is advancing, there is a huge skills shortage (not just IT) amongst the previously disadvantaged, however these things do take time & proper broadband would go a long way to facilitating up-skilling - especially at school level.

Those that have IT skills are usually up to standard with the rest of the world and IMO are self-motivated people that teach themselves as opposed to purely relying on training courses etc.

In terms of broadband, as you have observed, Telkom is holding back progress and overcharging exorbitantly for old-tech ADSL512K, while the rest of the world moves forward & broadband becomes cheaper everywhere except in SA. As an example of how Telkom is holding SA back - there are a lot of people who had ADSL-512K at home, and due to Telkom's overcharging, people downgraded to the slightly less expensive ADSL-384K - shortly after it (HomeDSL384) was introduced (in 2004). IMO, most small businesses are still on 56K dialup or 64K ISDN.

Government is still Telkom's largest shareholder with ~40%, and the revenue obtained from Telkomonopoly is not only from shares, but also from Value Added Tax (14%), so the more Telkom overcharges consumers, the more money the government gets in VAT (as well as dividends from its shares).

It isn't all bad, things are starting to change, and it looks like some cracks are starting to appear in Telkom's monopoly - mainly as a result of government bowing to pressure to deregulate & starting to change the laws to allow competition to the already privatised Telkomonopoloy.

Despite the appearance of some local broadband competitors, Telkom still monopolizes our international bandwidth via the submarine SAT-3/SAFE cable systems. MyADSL has IMO taken the lead in proactively forcing change by focusing on the big picture SA broadband issues, it is rumoured that Telkom fears RPM's press releases

<PS></PS>

Yep

Google indeed. As a System Admin, Google is my best friend.