MegaSurf Anyone?

Hello,

Does anyone here know how the MegaSurf network performs, and if they are any good to use ? I don't like paying R2000 installation fees and afterwards coming to the conclusion that that I cannot use them.

http://www.megasurf.co.za/wireless.htm

Thanks!

Megasurf Review

Ok everyone, I installed Megasurf, the installation cost was R2000. Installation was good, network quality excellent, my ping is around 20 to 50ms.

Now for the bad news, I am a bit disappointed and expected a lot more . Initially I decided to use their network because of their uncapped packages. I decided to take the 4mb/s shaped account.

Surfing speed are excellent until you start to download, then your account gets shaped to a 130kb/s line (download speeds of 13kb/s), which is of course ridiculous. At R1100 per month this is not NEARLY worth the money. Compared to ADSL uncapped packages I would never recommend this one.

I feel like I was being misinformed because on their website they said the line gets shaped. Per definition shaped does not mean they totally eradicate your connection to ashes, it means they reduce your speed when the network gets congested. I may be wrong though but I feel they should put actual numbers and figures on their websites to warn potential clients who does not expect a 4mb line to get shaped to a 130kb line. In theory what they are doing is the right thing to protect their capped users, but yet again they should CLEARLY send the right message to the customer. Just saying it is shaped can mean anything.

The CEO told me the ADSL uncapped clients also gets shaped like this at Mweb. I know for a fact that this is not true, would appreciate it if anyone here could second me on that. I know three people personally who are happy with their ADSL uncapped shaped accounts at MWeb.

Ok so now I switched to a normal account. R300 per month (R342 incl vat) for a 3gb package at 1mb/s connection speed. Not too bad if you only use that 3gb package a month. The problem comes when you need to top up extra bandwidth. R120 per gig(excl vat) is a bit expensive in my opinion. Compared to ADSL it is a total rip off when you look at companies like Axxess and Afrihost.

Using a capped account you get what you pay for at least. My current speed test gave me a ping of 25ms and a speed of exactly 1mb/s which is excellent for a wireless connection.

If their top up prices gets reduced to under R100 I would be a very happy customer, but as of now I will have to monitor my bandwidth usage like a hawk.

But I guess you pay for a quality connection. Will test their network for the next month to see if it stays that way.

Just an honest review from my side

Hi

Thanks for the honest post. After your phone call to me I have send a mail to my website designer to give more info on the site about the best effort shaped uncapped accounts. We will update it ASAP. The top up prices we did increase for clients to choose the correct account from the word go as clients was taking the small wireless 201 accounts and then top up 5 time a month making the accounts and invoicing a problem. Clients then query invoices and that make life a problem. We want clients to be on the correct account and only have to pay 1 invoice so that there is no confusion when it comes to payment.

I also see that you compare us to other service providers. I am not in a price war with Wisp’s out there but you pay what you get. We don’t want to sell you just bandwidth we want to sell you a service as well and a stable connection. Clients rather pay more of service then pay less for a crappie unstable network. As you told me you were with other service providers and had problems with them on the network ect .

Please feel free to contact me again if I can help you.

I like the fact that they have their support personnel's cell number on their website and not just one or two numbers as well.

They are a bit price though. Saidar, are you using your connection for online gaming? Those pings look pretty good, but what about spikes and stuff?

Hi SharkBait

We are trying to learn from other WISP’s faults and don’t do the same.

Thanks

Hey Sharkbait.

I'm a gamer myself and play COD 4 on igame servers with a stable ping of between 35 and 70, depending on how busy igame's servers are. On the Saix servers I have a constant ping of between 32 and 37. Attached is a print Screen of HLSW of all the servers I currently play and I've made a print screen so you can see what time of day it is aswell. I also play MW2 with gr8 pings. I have friends with Megasurf that play PS3 and XBOX with no complaints and I play Cod WAW on the WII with not very gr8 pings, but its international so I didnt expect more to be honest.

http://www.wispweb.co.za/HLSW.html

SharkBait said:

I like the fact that they have their support personnel's cell number on their website and not just one or two numbers as well.

They are a bit price though. Saidar, are you using your connection for online gaming? Those pings look pretty good, but what about spikes and stuff?

Click to expand...

Hey, no I don't play online gaming I need fast pings for instant executions when trading stocks and forex online. So far pretty good, I had a little spike once with a ping of 120 but that only lasted for a minute and then returned to normal. Cannot say for sure how stable the network is as I have only been using them for a week now. My ping is around 25 - 35.

By the way the prices on their site is excluding vat so it is R342 per month for 3gb not R300 and R136.8 per gb and not R120.

Wispweb said:

Hey Sharkbait.

I'm a gamer myself and play COD 4 on igame servers with a stable ping of between 35 and 70, depending on how busy igame's servers are. On the Saix servers I have a constant ping of between 32 and 37. Attached is a print Screen of HLSW of all the servers I currently play and I've made a print screen so you can see what time of day it is aswell. I also play MW2 with gr8 pings. I have friends with Megasurf that play PS3 and XBOX with no complaints and I play Cod WAW on the WII with not very gr8 pings, but its international so I didnt expect more to be honest.

http://www.wispweb.co.za/HLSW.html

Click to expand...

Those look pretty good. Which product are you using?

The Wireless 201 Capped Package with 1024Mb Line Speed.

Sharkbait Megasurf compares to ADSL in quality which few wireless providers can say, but their pricing is between 1.5 and 2 times more expensive for uncapped accounts and top up data between 1.5 and 3 times more expensive. So if you can get ADSL it will be a better option but if you cannot get ADSL like me then go for Megasurf.