ADSL ADVICE NEEDED

P

Prof.

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Hi, my fellow myBB fans! Can anyone give me some advice on a decision I will be making in the near future.

I am planning to quit my current Vodacom 3G modem, primarily because of it costing R1049 per month for just 5 gigs. So I am considering doing the following:

1) Get a 4 megabit line from Telkom. (R413)
2) Buy Screamer's 384k uncapped ADSL offering for movie and game downloads. (R399)
3) Buy a 3 gig account from Afrihost for browsing. (R87)

Do you think that that will work? Also, is Afrihost or Screamer good ISPs?
Feel free to post :wtf:/:sick: advice.
 
Why do you want a 4mb/s ADSL line if you want to DL at 384kb/s? Just for quicker browsing?
 
moggie said:
Why do you want a 4mb/s ADSL line if you want to DL at 384kb/s? Just for quicker browsing?
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Yes, for quicker browsing. Also, I don't have to go through Telkom again to upgrade my line speed when cheaper offers for high-speed uncapped comes out in a year or two.
 
Shayd said:
yeah just get the 499 deal from SAOL. 4meg useless in your scenario
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I originally planned to get the SAOL deal that includes the line, but I just worried about the browsing speed. How long does it take to load a page like News24's homepage on 384k? My 3G takes about 5 seconds to load everything. I just want the 4meg for browsing on an Afrihost account.
 
I can wait for Steam game downloads to complete and "content" from torrents, because I can wait for a whole game or a movie to download, but I don't want to wait ages to load the next page on MyADSL.
 
It's your budget - your initial choice costs less than your current package with more cap. So if that is your aim, go for it!
 
moggie said:
It's your budget - your initial choice costs less than your current package with more cap. So if that is your aim, go for it!
Click to expand...

Okay, so once my regular telephone line is installed, I can just go to SAOL and sign up for their "Simply Uncapped" deal?
 
Prof. said:
Okay, so once my regular telephone line is installed, I can just go to SAOL and sign up for their "Simply Uncapped" deal?
Click to expand...

IIRC you have to get your ADSL line via SAOL to qualify. Careful here....
 
moggie said:
IIRC you have to get your ADSL line via SAOL to qualify. Careful here....
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Yes, I noticed that on their website. It takes 21 days to transfer your line back to Telkom if you plan to switch to a new ISP, that is a con, but I will just have to live with it.
 
Prof. said:
Yes, I noticed that on their website. It takes 21 days to transfer your line back to Telkom if you plan to switch to a new ISP, that is a con, but I will just have to live with it.
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And you have to pay telkom for another installation fee.
 
Moggie is right. SAOL requires your line to be with them. Considering you will have the 4meg line, watch the DigiChilli threads closely. Their service is far from perfect right now but it is burstable. I've heard of some guys (on 256kb/s) getting around 300KB/s. If the network improves, you should go with them:)
 
Kaufies said:
Moggie is right. SAOL requires your line to be with them. Considering you will have the 4meg line, watch the DigiChilli threads closely. Their service is far from perfect right now but it is burstable. I've heard of some guys (on 256kb/s) getting around 300KB/s. If the network improves, you should go with them:)
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Thanks, I'll watch a few DigiChilli threads to find out if it is getting better in the following month, because my 3G is on MWEB month-to-month now, and Telkom really gets fussy with their line installations.
 
Honestly, you don't see much of a browsing difference from 384kbps to 4mbps. Assuming it's just gonna be one person using the line at a time...

The main advantage with 4mb is the download speed.
 
general_koffi said:
Honestly, you don't see much of a browsing difference from 384kbps to 4mbps. Assuming it's just gonna be one person using the line at a time...

The main advantage with 4mb is the download speed.
Click to expand...

Thanks, then I'll go with SAOL or Digichilli.
 
general_koffi said:
Honestly, you don't see much of a browsing difference from 384kbps to 4mbps. Assuming it's just gonna be one person using the line at a time...

The main advantage with 4mb is the download speed.
Click to expand...
You notice the difference from 384kbps to around 1Mbps. From 1Mbps to anything faster (4Mbps?) you only really notice a big difference for things like streaming video or large images/downloads. Youtube wont buffer as much, for example
 
Prof. said:
I originally planned to get the SAOL deal that includes the line, but I just worried about the browsing speed. How long does it take to load a page like News24's homepage on 384k? My 3G takes about 5 seconds to load everything. I just want the 4meg for browsing on an Afrihost account.
Click to expand...

Now that depends. While downloading on a 384kb/s browsing is EXTREMELY slow. I pause my downloads when I want to do other stuff like surf or game, if you are happy to do the same then you will be fine as the browsing speeds are fast.
 
ponder said:
Now that depends. While downloading on a 384kb/s browsing is EXTREMELY slow. I pause my downloads when I want to do other stuff like surf or game, if you are happy to do the same then you will be fine as the browsing speeds are fast.
Click to expand...

That's a good point. It's impossible to download at full speed and browse. If you're willing to pause everything is fine:)
 
I'd go with 384k initially. You can easily upgrade if needed, but downgrading is painful.

Also grab a gig of axxess prepaid cap in case the afrihost goes down. R70 & carries over for 12 or 24 months depending on purchase method.

You might also want to throw in a bit of WebAfrica cap so that you can use their steam servers.
 
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