beware!!!!

[daysleeper]

Hello! I have been reading these forums for weeks and find them to be the most honest information around.

I "upgraded" from a ISDN 64k to a wireless 64K because my ISDN line was giving trouble, CRCs ect.

The provider of the wireless service is , they suck. The connection set up cost around R2000. The antenna belongs to them. They power their whole service with ADSL lines and then transmit through highsites.

My pings are all in excess of 500 and sometimes 600. The best part is two months into this thing they have completely banned p2p. I mean nothing works (DC hub, Torrents, Kazza, mule, bearshare ect.)

Now this uncapped 64k things at R400 a month. If i can get a 100mb per week it would be a lot.

The moral of the story is the contract is watertight, the service is intermitend and now I have to go back to telkom for DSL.

BUYERS BEWARE!!!!

[martin]

That's unfortunately the kind of risk associated with WISP's. Thanks for the heads up.

[ic]

...the contract is watertight...

I think they would cancel your contract in the blink of an eye if you threatened to report them to either Telkomonopoly or ICASA for acting as a WISP across public boundaries. Use this as a threat, and only act on it if they refuse to be reasonable.

[daysleeper]

You see the problem is, cancellation aside, there are many of these opening up in this area, other than iburst, sentech and 3g. This could amount to a scam because, lets say you have the equipment installed and they let you have bandwidth for a month or so and then drop you. So effectively you loose your money because its their best effort guarantee.

They could have 1 ASDL line and 40 users, if the users aren't happy then they just collect the equipment and install it on the next customer's residence or business. I really hope that their aren't to many other people in my limited legal position because this could be the next wireless nigerian internet scam!

[ic]

daysleeper, my point is that the WISP you are using is NOT licenced by ICASA, which makes it an illegal enterprise as far as ICASA is concerned, so you do have leverage over them if you want to get out of the contract.

NB: Sentech, WBS, Vodacom are licenced.

[telkomsuig]

I am all for derugulation and opening up the market as widely as possible...BUT i think there should be some regulation in this industry...especially given the fact that the spectrum all these guys are operating within is limit and should actually in my opinion only be used for private and commercial uses (ie within homes and offices).....these guys are using up the spectrum providing ****ty service and giving the the goverment and ICASA amununtion to over regulate.

[skydog]

daysleeper- if they giving you bad service expose them tell the world who they are so people don't fall into the trap

there are some good WISPs out there and some bad just like any industry you get the good and bad companies...

Expose them i say

[captainwifi]

Well I just looked at www.wo.co.za
They are talking obvious rubbish. What are the contention ratios on the quoted
bandwidth?

[daysleeper]

There are many of these folks, they are under every rock. I also think 802.11 g/b is meant for homes and offices aswell. These people are just taking a gap in the market because of the price of DSL. Meanwhile its a wolf in sheep's clothing because it just costs the consumer more at the end of the day.

I think that the problem in my case is bandwidth. The network works 85% of the time i do get my 8kb/s but the problem is that

1.) the more users the slower it will become
2.) The ADSL used by the ISP could also possibly be "shared"
3.) There could be router and access point limitations
4.) In busy times when all the users are on line, and adsl is slowest big problem
5.) users feel bound because they lose money if they leave
6.) fees are prepaid and no discounts for downtime
7.) service uncapped except that there is no p2p
8.) unreliable, days spent without email = business problems


again the point is just check these folks out, there sales skills outweight there computer and networking knowledge!

thats IT for you

[sawireless]

As I can see, there are a lot of you that are unhappy with Wisp’s in South Africa. I believe if you are not happy with the Wisp’s companies that you are using, then you must put there name here on the forum so all can see, the companies that are given a proper service to users and companies are get dragged down by these fly by nights. Do not sigh more than a 6 months contract, try and get a month to month contract or when there is no servers for a day, then you do not pay then for the days that you are off.

I have done this with my clients that they pay per month.

As I agree there must be a Wisp board just like ISPA that regulates the Wisp’s in South Africa that report back to ICASA?

make sure that to get
time=6ms

skype me for more info:

ID: sawireless
on till 23:00 all nights

sorry for the S/G

[def]

Howdy,

I am from the Strand,WC and have signed up with a WISP (snowball.co.za) and am very happy with the service. They provide very good personal service and I have had no problems with my connection.

Seeing that everyone is complaining, I thought I'd say something good about someone.

I own the equipment I payed for.
No contract.
No cap to worry about.

It's all good

[RichardP]

I find it hard to see contracts that are so tight... ;-) its called 'Services Rendered' I have already had a day in court over this issue.

If you Pay X for service Y and Y is not being delivered, the Contract is NULL and you should be able to cancel on 'Breach of Contract' ...
BUT

You have to remember!!!! HE Who alledges, must prove!.. the responsibility is up to get all the proof that service is not rendered.

e.g. If you buy a RED car that can do 200KM/H and dealership delivers a Ferrari with a Ford engine and it only does 100KM/H .. you only discover this at a later stage - its called 'Misrepresentation' and the contract was signed under false pre-tenses.

The legal world uses the phrases "Would the common Man" and "Good faith".. all contracts are signed 'in good faith' and you trust the opposite party.

Richard

This is no-where near legal advice, just explaining my views after I had a fight with a supplier on a similar issue

Hello! I have been reading these forums for weeks and find them to be the most honest information around.

I "upgraded" from a ISDN 64k to a wireless 64K because my ISDN line was giving trouble, CRCs ect.

The provider of the wireless service is , they suck. The connection set up cost around R2000. The antenna belongs to them. They power their whole service with ADSL lines and then transmit through highsites.

My pings are all in excess of 500 and sometimes 600. The best part is two months into this thing they have completely banned p2p. I mean nothing works (DC hub, Torrents, Kazza, mule, bearshare ect.)

Now this uncapped 64k things at R400 a month. If i can get a 100mb per week it would be a lot.

The moral of the story is the contract is watertight, the service is intermitend and now I have to go back to telkom for DSL.

BUYERS BEWARE!!!!

[daysleeper]

I recently went over to a new WISP. Things could not be better. The service has not been down for 1sec over the passed month. And outside of peak hours the speed is breath taking!

From a contractual point of view. In South African law we have a principle known as the sanctity of contract. This implies that the agreement is adhered to. So when the service contract contains the clause, that the equipment will always belong to the provider, even in the event of breach of contract the equipment remains theirs. Thus by terminating the contract you still loose the installation fee and the administration fee.

So you have to sue them to get your money back for their poor service. But again we refer to the contract which states best effort and no guarantees and no liability for service being unavaible ect.

Its not that straight forward. However I know for a fact that I'm not the only person who has had these problems. Many Mywireless and Iburst people feel the same and those are Legal WISPs.

I do have a point!

However according to my friend DEF and my own experiences you do get good ones.

Still be ware and try and get a free trail. That is good practical advice!

[Hunted]

I recently went over to a new WISP. Things could not be better. The service has not been down for 1sec over the passed month. And outside of peak hours the speed is breath taking!

Sorry, I'm going to be off topic, but who is your WISP?

[GoGGA]

Please. Please.

Who is your old wisp & new one?