Uninet in Stellenbosch?

[sparklehorse]

Anyone in the Stellenbosch area using Uninet ? I'm wondering how reliable they are.

[Clipse]

Well from what I know about uninet, its terrible and everyone that I know who used it either complaining or cancelled(with some hassle)

[dominic]

Well from what I know about uninet, its terrible and everyone that I know who used it either complaining or cancelled(with some hassle)

i know folk in CT using it happily for some time now...may be that it is good for some uses, i.e. u should check your usage profile against what they offer

[captainwifi]

yes dominic that is because you know David very, very well. These WISPS are
all scams, they can't provide QoS. They operate in legal limbo, Icasa confiscates
their highsite equipment. We need to do our own thing with a direct satellite
link and use a single ADSL line for VOIP between 20 users.
I believe on can get a Wimax basestation of R40 000 and
connect 100 users to it. A wimax modem is around R3000. With wimax you can install
the basestation antenna on your roof. LOS is not that critical. So here arrives the Icasa goonsquad with their plastic bags and confiscation order. They are not allowed to open the wimax basestation box. The person at home simply swaps around the wimax basestation with a dummy box . This dummybox is sealed and when Icasa leaves
you resume services. Dominic I await your insults to this idea.

[sparklehorse]

thanks captainwifi - so basicly you are saying they are not reliable?

[dominic]

yes dominic that is because you know David very, very well. These WISPS are
all scams, they can't provide QoS. They operate in legal limbo, Icasa confiscates
their highsite equipment. We need to do our own thing with a direct satellite
link and use a single ADSL line for VOIP between 20 users.
I believe on can get a Wimax basestation of R40 000 and
connect 100 users to it. A wimax modem is around R3000. With wimax you can install
the basestation antenna on your roof. LOS is not that critical. So here arrives the Icasa goonsquad with their plastic bags and confiscation order. They are not allowed to open the wimax basestation box. The person at home simply swaps around the wimax basestation with a dummy box . This dummybox is sealed and when Icasa leaves
you resume services. Dominic I await your insults to this idea.

keep waiting - i don't have a problem with your ideas and certainly not with the ethic behind them; i am not however convinced that they are based in reality (not a techie so cannot comment) so when you have something up and running be sure to let everyone know; your legal knowledge btw is probably at an equivalent level to my wifi technical knowledge

sparklehorse - s'true i do know the guy who runs uninet but my post was based on friends who have used the service for more than a year without problems. if you do some research on the forum you will be able to find a great deal of info on uninet and other offerings...bottom line is do a lot of prep work before choosing and if you are not going with one of the big boys then insist on a month by month deal

[G2V]

Well from what I know about uninet, its terrible and everyone that I know who used it either complaining or cancelled(with some hassle)

You should maybe try their service before relying on hearsay. I have been using Uninet/Gin for 12 months now in Somerset West, and with the exception of the odd problem a few months back their service is almost perfect (128 package, no cap ).

Even more important for me is the fact that I do not have to support Telkom with their outrageous pricing policy. It's companies like Uninet who will bring the broadband industry forward in South Africa. Even although they may be operating in a grey area, at least they are taking the risk and trying to move something instead of only complaining about the Telkom monopoly.

Where would we be today without legal or "perceived illegal" (Illegal only in the eyes of Telkom) competition?

In addition my international call costs have dropped by over 90% using VoIP over their network.

[CreepyCrawley]

Well... I thought about trying Uninet... and I might have...

But in my opinion a company that doesn't respond to three emails saying "Here I am, here's my money" isn't worth bothering with.

As far as I'm concerned that's an indication of the service you can expect from them once you are connected. First impressions last.

[sparklehorse]

@G2V
Sounds good. I'm also looking at snowball, so opinions from customers are valuable.
How much data do you normally download in a month? Is it really 'no cap' or is there an unofficial limit
Do you know where their transmitter is?

[G2V]

@G2V
Sounds good. I'm also looking at snowball, so opinions from customers are valuable.
How much data do you normally download in a month? Is it really 'no cap' or is there an unofficial limit
Do you know where their transmitter is?

I normally download 2-5 Gig per month and no there is no cap, although I have not pushed them to their limit.

Their transmitter is almost on the top of the Helderberg covering most of Somerset West.

[Clipse]

You should maybe try their service before relying on hearsay. I have been using Uninet/Gin for 12 months now in Somerset West, and with the exception of the odd problem a few months back their service is almost perfect (128 package, no cap ).

Even more important for me is the fact that I do not have to support Telkom with their outrageous pricing policy. It's companies like Uninet who will bring the broadband industry forward in South Africa. Even although they may be operating in a grey area, at least they are taking the risk and trying to move something instead of only complaining about the Telkom monopoly.

Where would we be today without legal or "perceived illegal" (Illegal only in the eyes of Telkom) competition?

In addition my international call costs have dropped by over 90% using VoIP over their network.

Maybe I should have been more direct... Uninet is like sentech and iburst, It seems some get decent performance and other NO PERFORMANCE.

Does this clarify things? Point of the argument, unreliable.

Btw. Sitting next to guys(yes more than 1, about 9 people I personally know) and seeing how they suffer does make me a valuable and reliable source as to their random performance.