ADSL misunderstandings

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Geek_wannabe

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Something is bothering me. Now, of anyone has read any of my previous posts, then you will know that I wish to upgrade to adsl. Only one thing is bothering me.

I have a normal telephone line, now I am reading something about Line Rental. what line rental is this? Do i need a special adsl line or something? :confused:

From what i read on MWEB's join page for ADSL lite, it will cost R329 per month for adsl with a 3 gig cap.

Here is something else I read on there:

Additional charges:
- Telkom line rental: 192 Kbps at R329 per month OR 384 Kbps at
R449 per month OR 512 Kbps at R599 per month.
- Telkom line installation charge (once off): R404 (incl.VAT)
- Modem (once off): approx. R799 ( but if you sign a 24 month line rental
contract with Telkom, you will receive a free modem ).
- Please note: all Internet call charges are included in your Telkom line
rental.
Click to expand...

Now, the first one, Line rental. what is that. That is what I asked earlier.

That leads me to the line installation...do i need a special line installation...

The modem. Now, I wish to switch to Linux pretty soon aswell. Now I have experince in the field of knowing that Winmodems don't work nicely with Linux. Or, actually, it is just a PAIN to get it to work. Now, will ANY adsl modem work with Linux, even a telkom one?

Please help me. I am lost. :(
 
Line Rental is R80pm since you can make and receive phone calls on your ADSL line.
This charge is not optional.

On top of that is the ADSL service on this line charged depending on which speed package you took.

Your "normal" phone is converted to an ADSL capable line when you sign up for the service and they charge you an installation fee of R440.

Also bear in mind that Telkom charges 30 days in ADVANCE so your first phone bill is going to be shocker of R1500 or more.
 
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Please help me. I am lost.
Click to expand...

Wow, you sure are !

No prob, this is the place to come for help.

First off, Telkom have to convert your existing Telephone line to allow for the ADSL link.
This involves putting a special card in the telephone exchange that's closest to you. You need to be within 5km of an exchange to get ADSL.

Telkom charge you R404 once of to do this.

Once you have your ADSL line installed, Telkom will charge you a monthly rental, this is the Quoted information you posted above.

Once you have your ADSL line installed, you need an ADSL modem and an account with an ISP (Internet Service Provider) who offers ADSL services.

These start at around R250 a month.

So, in order :-

Call Telkom and start the process of getting your ADSL line installed, this can take up to a month and there is no gaurantee you will be able to get ADSL for various reasons.

Should your application for ADSL line installation be successful, Telkom will install the line and the rest is up to you.

Get yourself an ADSL router (ethernet is best)

Get yourself an ISP account

Your done !

Costs are the line rental + the ISP charges.
 
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Line rental works like this (if for example you're buying 192k ADSL) :

R329 (ADSL port charge, often referred to as ADSL line rental)
+ R89 (Your standard monthly line rental)
+ ISP Account (This ranges depending on who you go with and how much bandwidth you buy)

Pretty much any Ethernet ADSL Modem will work with Linux and Windows. If you don't have a network card you can get a USB modem but then you may have issues with Linux. Rather just buy a cheap network card and use the Ethernet modem.
 
Geek_wannabe said:
oh goodness.......that sounds very expensive. Oh dear. I wonder if I can afford that... :|
Click to expand...

adsl is very expensive!
 
Well, I can afford that monthly paiments, considering my 56k connection is costing me around R900 a month, including all my other calls, which areminimal. It is just that first bill of R1500 which kinda scares me.
 
Indeed. not to mention Skype will be a big help. i mean what with cheap calls. So, if my calculatrions arwe correct my telephone bill should become a lot less. BEcause:

Internet usage: R600 per month
Other calls: R300 a month (mostly international)

Now, after adsl, I will say pay R500 per month for the telephone people. Then all my international calls I can just use SkypeOut.



One more thing. This line rental thing(i dont know if anyone has answered this), why is there even such a thing. It sould be banned. IN FACT! I JUST THOGH OF SOEMTHING!
These REDICULOUS costs should be banned! In fact, i think I just said something philisophical! :D
 
This has been discussed ad nauseum if you read through the forum ;) The recent 4 day ICASA hearing tackled this very issue.
 
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