What's the best "Broadband" option currently?

[FunnyWan]

Wasup everyone? :)

It's been a while since i last posted here and I just wanted to get your latest opinions on what currently is the best "broadband" option in S.A.?

My requirements (wishlist more like it...:D ):
1) Not prepared to spend more than R1000 to R1200 per month in total.
2) Need to be able to download via PTP.
3) Need at least 20GB to 30GB cap INTERNATIONAL (or as much INTERNATIONAL bandwith as possible).
4) Fair reliability (i know, i know...none of them are that reliable but i mean "Fair" in the context of S.A. ;) ).
5) Gaming (latency) is NOT a major priority.

Could you please give your opinion (and why) on what "broadband" solution you would choose given the requirements above?

Also, please let me know if you think that no current solution is worthwhile given the above requirements and that it is just better to wait a few months to see how things unfold in the market.

Thanks everyone,
FunnyWan:cool:

[JStrike]

ADSL and All You Can Eat as an ISP

Pity you need 20-30gb pm, otherwise Sentech would have been a better choice

[FunnyWan]

Thanks JStrike.

I could get by with 15GB but would prefer at least 20GB.

In what way would Sentech have been better had i needed less?

[lindito]

That's almost exactly my requirements. I can't believe i'm going to have to spend $200 US on internet alone, when in UK, US, and even SENEGAL, i got cable/satellite tv AND internet AND telephone service for that price.

This is some BS.

I'm going to have an aneurysm when I get my dialup bill, I'm sure of it. Especially since I work from home and therefore have to be online from the house during the day.

(I have that package with the R150 for 150 hours of internet added on -- but I can't remember if those are 150 hours for the whole month, or just during callmore and I'm stuck paying 52 cents a minute during the day?)

[LabAnimal]

well - I'm on the slowest (gawd forbid) DSL192 and i'm paying for line & DSL sub R470. then you add your ISP. AYCE is R680 for 30gig - good option as i can polish 30gig easily with this slow DSL if your DSL was faster, i suppose you would just get there faster!. (My HTTP downloads runs around 25 - 40kb/s, average 33kb/s)

the other alternative is take less cap - 20gig pm, Sentech. If you buy the modem, you only pay R700 a month (put the modem on your credit card over 2 years - i'm sure it would work out cheaper than having to sign a contract and get caught with them for 2 years) (2 year contract is R850 pm)

i dont know if i'd recommend Iburst, sentech just seems better.

the there's the beast 3Gig @ R249p/m and you don't quite know when you'd be capped either at 3Gig or you might even get 120Gigs out that month - you just never know. the DSL installation is DAMN expensive, but at the end my Bill settled to R470 (with call block @ R30)(and i don't use the phone for anything else anyway)

I've heard nothing really that bad about Sentech in a wile - but i've heard nothing fantastic either. the community seems quiet. and at this point i'm even looking into this as i'd like to pull away from making Telkom richer!

[FunnyWan]

I know that a while ago ADSL was considered to be the best of the several bad options but are there any competitive alternatives since ADSL is so damn expensive:mad: (if you want a package that is anywhere near decent)?

Everyone seems to agree that wireless is too unstable and slow.

So....is that it?....ADSL or bust?:eek:

Then the question becomes, which ISP do you go with? I know All You Can Eat is offering 30GB @ R680 p/month but is this 30GB of international bandwith? How is the general performance? Also, how is PTP?

Currently, I'm looking at going with HomeDSL 384 (R359 + R93) with All You Can Eat (R680) which comes to R1132 p/month. Will this be good enough for my requirements [see first post in thread]? Especially PTP?:confused:

Oi vei:rolleyes: .....decisions, decisions. What would you do?

[FunnyWan]

well - I'm on the slowest (gawd forbid) DSL192 and i'm paying for line & DSL sub R470. then you add your ISP. AYCE is R680 for 30gig

Howcome R470 for DSL line? I checked Telskom's website and it is listed as R270 p/month including VAT.

EDIT: Im pretty wary of Sentech. About 2 years back I managed a small company network which was using Sentech MyWireless (512) and the speeds were a total lottery (most of the time they were pathetic) and the connection was intermittent and unreliable. To make it worse, they often did "routine maintenance" without notifying customers so i used to spend hours trying to find the problem on our side when in fact it was a Sentech issue 99% of the time.

Also, the so-called "technical support" call centre was an absolute joke......totally uselesss! All they can do is follow their four-questions-and-answers script - like speaking to a robot.

[Scooby_Doo]

384 K connection with a hacked account


Ahhh we do love criminals... And this one has an ad... Anyone wanna try them? :rolleyes:

[Silent_Bob]

dont go with sentech, dsl has better reliability IMO

[FunnyWan]

Thanks for your input everyone!

[LethalChicken]

ADSL for transport mechanism as it will give you best latency.

As far as providers:

1) AYCE (cheapest 30Gb option)
2) Nukecap
3) OpenWeb
4) SAOL
5) WebAfrica

Are the best known on this forums. There are others, maybe you can find a site which lists some of them ;)

[LabAnimal]

Howcome R470 for DSL line? I checked Telskom's website and it is listed as R270 p/month including VAT.

Because my Line Rental with Telkom is about R100(have to have this), Call Block is R30 odd(because I will NOT make any calls on my line & i don't want some wirepulling telkom techi making calls on my line, paying for my horrible Marconi Modem about R70 odd(yes i was stupid) then ofcourse DSL 192 is R270.(no comment)

=R470 and some change PM.

[SteveV]

384 K connection with a hacked account
Ahhh we do love criminals... And this one has an ad... Anyone wanna try them? :rolleyes:

OMG! Did Jeeva actually post that? And, checking his sig, I see that he's advertising lusion.co.za
I signed up with them, spend three days battling to get nameserver and other info out of them (emailed, phoned, left messages on cellphone) before giving up in disgust. Stay well away from this dude.

[FunnyWan]

Thanks for the heads up SteveV.

So I have decided to go with ADSL now i'm just trying to decide on the best ISP to go with based on which package is the best value for money but still meets my needs.

BlobNow: Thanks for your list of recommended ISPs.

For AYCE (30GB option), do you know how good/bad the performance is for PTP and VOIP? Also, how is the 30GB allocated between local vs international traffic? I.e. is it 20GB local and 10GB international or what? I tried looking it up on their website but couldn't find it.:confused:

Most important things to me are mail, browsing, PTP and Server downloads &, if possible, need to be able to at least browse and receive mail after i've reached my cap. Secondary is VOIP. I'm prepared to spend about R650 to R700 (max.) on my ISP account and want as high a cap as possible.

Which packages would you guys recommend?

[LethalChicken]

AYCE is 30GB for whatever you want (ie: local and int)
Most IS based packages are total 30GB but only a portion of it is international ... usually between 3-10GB is for local / international ... the remainder is for local only.

People like openweb have 'proxy' services which let you get some international after the cap.

For your browsing and mail ... AYCE is fine. For VOIP/Skype, well ...
SAIX providers are generally worse for VOIP then IS due to the shaping, but IS goes via satellite so you also get some latency with that, but without so much packet loss.
If you do your VOIPing after hours and not too close to the end of the month, you should be 'ok' either way. If you looking for very good quality voice, I recommend someone like nukecap with their VPN.

You will have to do a bit of trial and error. I use stratight SAIX connection for VOIP to my friends, if I call my grandparents I have to use the VPN as they are half deaf and need crystal crear voice.

[FunnyWan]

For me, VOIPing is more of a nice to have so "ok" quality is fine.

PTP is more important to me. Also, don't want to run into a situation where i've used up the "international" portion of my cap on local bandwith.

Based on what I've seen so far, AYCE seems like the best option right now.

[FunnyWan]

Ok, so i've decided that I'm going to order ADSL today. I'll only order an ISP account, modem, etc. when the Hellkom techie calls to confirm an install date (assuming he does;) ) - i'm just planning ahead for now.

Was thinking of going with the following package:
* HomeADSL 192......................= R360 p/month (R270 + R90)
* ISP as AYCE 30GB account......= R680 p/month
* PayVPN (from NukeCap)..........= R60 p/month
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TOTAL COST...........................= R1100 p/month :eek:
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Do you think the package above is best suited for my needs (i.e. general browsing, lots of p2p and occasional VOIP) or could i achieve the same results with a cheaper package (or even with a different package for around the same cost)?