4mbps in my area?

S

StNick

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I've recently ordered DoBroadband3. The Telkom call-center tell me that my exchange only supports 512kbps, HOWEVER, they will do a conformance test to double-check. Now I've heard rumours of this before, and usually it ends well (ie. they are just covering their a55es, and it should support 4mbps) but I'd love to hear some real-life stories to put my mind at ease. :(

I am in the New Germany area (031705xxxx).
 
The max speed you can get may differ from exchange to exchange. Some aren't upgraded to 4Mbps yet due to either no subscribers, lazy technicians or whatever reason.
 
Well, I shall remain positive. I refuse to believe that I am the only person that would have 4mbps ADSL in New Germany.
 
what happened to the old Germany? Do they only have those rotary dial thingumies?
 
StNick said:
Well, I shall remain positive. I refuse to believe that I am the only person that would have 4mbps ADSL in New Germany.
Click to expand...

You know there's like an exchange every 2km, right? So I doubt there's only one in your area... but you're only connected to one of those.
 
Ok i suppose there a few exchanges in New Germany, i use to live there and had a 4meg line. but that was quite a while ago.

As far as i know New Germany is one of the main DSL exchanges. I could be wrong. Because Vryheid, Newcastle & Melmoth in Northern Natal are all routed via New Germany and they have 4meg lines :confused:

Where as Pietermartizburg, Richmond, Ixopo and Hilton all seem to be routed through Durban North Exchanges...

This is what i have noticed from IS reports. as it stats your main DSLAM.
 
It's so frustrating dealing with these people... Right now, I am still waiting on my "conformance test" to see whether I am definitely unable to get 4mbps ADSL. Thought I'd give them a shout again anyway, just in case there has been any progress.

The call-center person I spoke to this time doesn't seem to have any idea what a conformance test is, because according to her system, my line is only capable of 512kbps and I have to wait now for them to upgrade the infrastructure, lay new cables etc...

Furthermore, in her words, "If *I* had taken your order, I would have given you 512kbps and then put in a request for an upgrade afterwards so that you would at least have some form of ADSL for now."

Not a half bad idea, I wish the first person I'd spoken to had suggested that. :(
 
I caved. Spoke to another technician who strongly recommended that I PLACE the order for 512k right now, thereby securing the port on the exchange. Once that's done, then I should just immediately request the upgrade, so that at least I have access. It makes sense unfortunately. :( Only problem is, it costs me R10 MORE than DoBroadband3, can you believe it.

But rather this than waiting for the test, only to find out I can't get 4mb anyway.

Still, annoying. Do I have to pay for the upgrade?
 
Nope, upgrade will be free, but you'll likely be charged "pro-rata" from the moment of upgrade. So all's good.

Congratulations, btw and welcome to the world of "THE INTERNET" - prepare to be introduced to a new-found dent in your bank account :)
 
Thanks Lycanthrope. :)

As a matter of interest, I am not new to this "THE INTERNET" that you speak of. I currently have Wi-fi access (big antenna on my roof). This is effectively 2mb uncapped. Sounds great, and yes, when it works, it IS great.... But unfortunately, there's a massive tree in my LoS which retains water every time it rains, and then my signal degrades terribly.

I've been thinking about changing to ADSL for some time now, it was just a matter of getting off my a55 really.
 
hmmm... :/

Giving up 2mbps uncapped for 512kbps capped sounds... horrible :(

Have you considered slicing off the offending parts of the tree? (Making sure no amingnals be inhabiting said parts of tree first :p)
 
Believe it or not, the tree in question is on Telkom property, I ***** you not.

Lol, this is a long story really, so I'll make it short. I actually got permission from Telkom to cut the tree down, but it turned out to be quite an endeavor (It's BIG) so I lost interest. I paid a couple mates off in beer to help me remove a few branches with a chainsaw, but it only helped for a couple of months before mother-nature came back with a vengeance.

And although the service is uncapped, I am not unreasonable. The ISP I am with is small, and my traffic goes out over their SAIX ADSL lines. So he pays for what I use, and we have a gentleman's agreement that I do not abuse it (which I don't). I would guess that I have never used more than 5GB, so I am hoping to get by with a Telkom 3GB account (~4.5GB).

512k is a downgrade, but the intention is to get 4MB. Also, I do quite a bit of online gaming, so I am looking forward to a stable latency. Currently, everytime it starts to rain, my pings go to *****.... Very annoying.

So all in all, this is the right move for me, PROVIDED Telkom can give me what I really want.
 
You scare me. I seem to use between 100-250MB a day and that's without gaming online.

But yes, I can understand the ping thing - latency ftw :D

Out of curiosity - why not settle for 384 in the meantime? The difference between 384 and 512 (speed-wise) isn't really significant, whereas price-wise it's a stab.

384kbps rent - R152
512kbps rent - R326
4Mbps rent - R413

There's a 114% difference in price between 384kbps & 512kbps, yet only a 26% difference in price between 512kbps & 4Mbps.

So, you're basically paying 114% more for a 33% increase in speed?

*cough* Unless my maths is failing me after all these years :o
 
Whoa, your maths looks spot on... That IS a big jump in price. :(

I dunno though, if I hadn't already placed the order, and if I wasn't this lazy, and if I didn't think that 256k upstream would benefit me somewhere along the line, I'd do it....

I guess deep down, I am hoping that this 512k thing is very temporary.
 
StNick said:
Whoa, your maths looks spot on... That IS a big jump in price. :(

I dunno though, if I hadn't already placed the order, and if I wasn't this lazy, and if I didn't think that 256k upstream would benefit me somewhere along the line, I'd do it....

I guess deep down, I am hoping that this 512k thing is very temporary.
Click to expand...

I'll most definitely be holding thumbs for you.

If it makes you feel any better, I reapplied for my line last year... August? July? Somewhere there. I was told that my exchange might not support DSL or might be incompatible or whatever. I shrugged and kept my faith. They sent someone out 3 days after placing the order and my DSL was activated :)

However, I had problems with my DSL - I'd get 400kbps speeds on my 4Mbps line during the day and at night I'd never get more than 2000kbps, regardless of the fact that it was synchronising correctly and that my attenuation/SNR was also pretty good. Also had horrible latency.

So, at the end of November I cancelled my line for a number of reasons - most importantly, I was paying a bucketload for a 4meg line which wasn't a 4meg line.

In January, I started having withdrawal symptoms, went to Telkom and asked to have my line reinstalled. That was done in the second week of January. Since then I've had proper 4mbps speeds averaging at 3,500kbps, so I'm as pleased as punch :)

Anyway, I hope things work out for you.
 
Thanks again for the help / advice... Hopefully I'll have an experience similar to your SECOND attempt and not the first. :)

Will keep you posted here when I've heard more.
 
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