30Gb from the SAIX News Server in one month?

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DarkWhisperer

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Hi,

Im on 384k ADSL. Im considering getting a 30Gb local bundle, to download from the SAIX News Server. There's mixed opinions on what type of speeds & performance you can actually expect to get from these servers. But my basic question is, if I'm downloading all the time from the server, how much can I expect to get in a month, as a ball-park figure? For the sake of simplicity, lets assume that the content is not buffered. I'm trying to see what I can get. If I load 30Gb, and get 25Gb, awesome. If I load 30Gb, and get 3Gb, not awesome.

Thanks!
 
I think i get 38k/s max on 384k from SAIX

136.8mb per hour

So its more than possible but will you be downloading cached items only? otherwise 6 to 6 for you, but still will reach about 49.2GB
 
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Yip, easily possible. I only download every so often and never during the day as the computer is taken into the office and used for work. I have a 384k line and manage to use the 10Gb allocated on my 1Gb all access and the 20Gb on my 3Gb all access if I set my mind to it! :) The biggest problem is actually finding stuff to download after a few months... and storage space! ;)

And SAIX is quick even if it is not cached. Right now on Grabit my downloads are showing 38.5KB/S...
 
Well, on a 4mbps line, even uncached stuff goes at like 240KB/s, so don't worry about that. :p

You'll always get full speed on a 384kbps line - at night, and on weekends anyway.
 
general_koffi said:
Well, on a 4mbps line, even uncached stuff goes at like 240KB/s, so don't worry about that. :p

You'll always get full speed on a 384kbps line - at night, and on weekends anyway.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if that's very accurate
 
Worst case scenario is downloading uncached content, and only at night.

Lets say you are getting 20kb/s for 12 hours a day then you are looking at around 850mb's a day so you can easily get 25gb's a month. Also on cached Items you are pretty much guaranteed full speed.

I would say it is worth it.
 
Do you get a 30gB SAIX Unshaped account (For Access to news servers the entire day)? 3GB Telkom package gives you 20GB Local but you can only download from the News server at night. Very slow during the day.
 
Just for reference. Last month I managed to download 19GB (cached during the day, uncached at night) in about a week on my 384K, so it's definitely possible to go through the 30GB at a leisurely pace.
 
iceman23 said:
Do you get a 30gB SAIX Unshaped account (For Access to news servers the entire day)? 3GB Telkom package gives you 20GB Local but you can only download from the News server at night. Very slow during the day.
Click to expand...

Yeah, most of this post is now based on a poor assumption on my side - that the Openweb/Webafrica 30Gb is SAIX based. I now know that it is IS based.

I am curious if one can get the 5Gb international with 30Gb local with a 384k line from Telkom. If not, I'll have to settle for 3Gb with 20Gb local. (do2 + Line Rental = R389 p.m.).
 
The most i could do with my Telkominternet account and the saix news server was 12gbs. Maybe im not a hardcore downloader, but it ran pretty slowly.
 
DarkWhisperer said:
Yeah, most of this post is now based on a poor assumption on my side - that the Openweb/Webafrica 30Gb is SAIX based. I now know that it is IS based.

I am curious if one can get the 5Gb international with 30Gb local with a 384k line from Telkom. If not, I'll have to settle for 3Gb with 20Gb local. (do2 + Line Rental = R389 p.m.).
Click to expand...

Yes, but I think you have to do it seperately (stand to be corrected though):

line rental + adsl line + 5GB = 131 + 152 + 239 = 522. which means that you paying an extra R133 for 2GB blended + 10 GB Local. Not worth it in my opinion

Rather get a 5gb int account from afrihost or a 30GB local only account from OpenWeb with the R133 difference.

I am looking for a 30GB SAIX local only account that will give me access to the news servers all day. Anyone know where I could get this?
 
Hi Iceman23,

My thinking is to get doBroadband2, get into the local ASAP, and just get international from AfriHost as I need it. 20Gb local is satisfactory for R389 p.m.

There's some disagreement regarding the performance of the SAIX News Server, but there is pretty much total agreement that the IS News Server is very poor. And since the local from WebAfrica/OpenWeb is on the IS network, I'll only be able to access the IS News Server.
 
Thats what I was doing. I had the 3GB/20GB local from telkom. I foolishly cancelled. Will take it up again soon. The only problem is that it was heavily shaped. You couldn't download from the SAIX news server during the day. If I can't find a local only unshaped SAIX account then will I have to go back to Telscum unfortunately.

And yes the SAIX server has a lot more content than the IS server. I have so much IS local bandwith but most stuff I need is not cached. On my 384 line it takes forever.

Oh and do broadband 2 is probably the best option for you as well IMO.

I also have a Billion 7402GX modem and am able to split news server traffic easily :D

I load both ISP accounts (Afrihost intl and Telsum local) on the router (It allows up to 4 accounts).

I then I setup the static route for news.saix.net to only use the local connection so I dont need to use route sentry any more (Although it is a fantastic program)
 
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No one really seems to have made a comment on the state of the IS News Server other than Srack0verflow. Is it really that bad with un-cached content on that server? Note that Im quite happy to let it download at night only. The shaping doesnt really bother me.
 
SAIX local only is not ever shaped. Yes, access to the news server may appear shaped etc due to congestion but there is no concept of "local unshaped" when talking about SAIX local only bandwidth.

Oh and IS and SAIX provide exactly the same content as they are both proxies to Giganews (with caching). Use the 1/10GB products from Telkom Internet. A lot of hassle but it is the cheapest access you will find to news.saix.net currently. I'm not aware of anything that beats R6/GB...
 
Yep shaped is the wrong word. Its the news server that is actually "shaped".

Uncached items on SAIX, downloads at full speed only between 6PM and 8AM. It downloads on very limited inconsistent speeds between 8AM and 6PM.

Uncached items on IS downloads slow ALL the time.

IS and SAIX do have the same content (newsgroups) but SAIXs retention span is greater. It also allows you to download uncached content at full speed during certain times of the day (or rather night).

And agree re Telkom account but I would opt for the 3/20 GB product personally. Will get one next month.
 
Let me put it this way. I finished my 30 gigs of Telkom local on the 11th, and I've got about 150 gigs queued in grab-it. My 384 kbps line would probably max out at 80 gigs a month (local only), and I could find a lot more than that to download if I tried. My Mikrotik allows me to download local only day and night; you'd be surprised how often you reach full speed during the day. Average usage - 2 gigs per night, 300 megs per day (+ weekends:)). 30 gigs is NOT a problem.
 
Drunkard #1 said:
Let me put it this way. I finished my 30 gigs of Telkom local on the 11th, and I've got about 150 gigs queued in grab-it. My 384 kbps line would probably max out at 80 gigs a month (local only), and I could find a lot more than that to download if I tried. My Mikrotik allows me to download local only day and night; you'd be surprised how often you reach full speed during the day. Average usage - 2 gigs per night, 300 megs per day (+ weekends:)). 30 gigs is NOT a problem.
Click to expand...

On uncached items from SAIX News?

Ok maybe something not right with mine then. I never ever get full speed during the day except for cached content.
 
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