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Question of the Day: Which is the most hair-raising South African mountain pass you've driven?
risingtide
Senior Member
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With the urban sprawl in this country this is not surprising at all. Imagine the cost of running a cable to a farm 10 km outside of town. The cost of installation will never be recouped from that user.
I am surprised that this fixed/mobile subscriber ratio is even considered to be new worthy.
I am surprised that this fixed/mobile subscriber ratio is even considered to be new worthy.
pkid
Expert Member
And September has the nerve to say "No ADSL price drops for you!" Telkom is really just pathetic.
AirWolf
Honorary Master
@rpm, do you have more info on MTN's subscriber numbers, sign-ups per month etc. because it would be interesting to compare the total wireless vs wired trend?
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HSDPA is only really available in urban areas so this isn't much of a factor. Even in dense urban areas ADSL's losing to HSDPA.
The thing for me is, will HSDPA be ever afordable for a heavy user? I dont think so! They have ripped us for ages with interconnecting fees and high voice calls. Data's gonna be no different.
Its like my Ferrari at home. I can only afford to drive it once a month to the beach and back. I wish hehe
Its like my Ferrari at home. I can only afford to drive it once a month to the beach and back. I wish hehe
AirWolf
Honorary Master
Yep exactly.
Anyone ever try to take their laptop and adsl line on a holiday/business trip?
HaltAndCatchFire
Senior Member
The thing is any wireless technology doesn't matter what has some drawbacks, like latency and service uptime, speed and even connectivity drops due to weather. Obliviously connection ratios plays a role with all access types, i think vodacom is cutting it very close with regards to their connection ratios at the moment, I remember a couple of years ago, just when hsdpa became available i organised HSDP for a friend, it worked great for him he downloaded at very nice speeds, and the latency didn't bother him at all, then a year or so later his speed dropped consistently and is now very sporadic one day fast the other slow, I assume as more people adopted the service. Does anyone know what vodacoms connection ratios are? anyway.
Then there is price factor, as I see it ADSL is still the cheapest option, in terms of speed and usage, especially in terms of price per gig and high usage, if the mobile industry lets Isp's sell bandwidth on its networks maybe we will see more competitive prices, and i am not talking resell like, Nasuha and Atlantic etc, I am talking selling their own bandwidth and using vodacom/mtn or even ADSL as the access medium, a type of use your bandwidth on any medium. Say you buy 10gigs of bandwidth, you can then use the account on your adsl, hsdpa or wifi. But this will not happen any time soon because there is no transparency in the market, we don't know where the money goes to.
Then there is price factor, as I see it ADSL is still the cheapest option, in terms of speed and usage, especially in terms of price per gig and high usage, if the mobile industry lets Isp's sell bandwidth on its networks maybe we will see more competitive prices, and i am not talking resell like, Nasuha and Atlantic etc, I am talking selling their own bandwidth and using vodacom/mtn or even ADSL as the access medium, a type of use your bandwidth on any medium. Say you buy 10gigs of bandwidth, you can then use the account on your adsl, hsdpa or wifi. But this will not happen any time soon because there is no transparency in the market, we don't know where the money goes to.
I think a major contributing factor to HSDPA figures is businesses handing out 3G modems to their employees to be able to VPN onto the company's network from home etc .. My company and I know of another company as well gave everyone a 2gb 3G HSDPA package . It's allot faster and cheaper to do than to organize everyone an ADSL line etc
What is the definition of an "HSDPA subscriber"?
Someone who takes out a data package with MTN/Vodacom? Or is it anyone with a 3G cellphone?
Theoretically, anyone with a 3G cellphone has broadband in their pocket! (Except if you're with CellC/Virgin lol)
Someone who takes out a data package with MTN/Vodacom? Or is it anyone with a 3G cellphone?
Theoretically, anyone with a 3G cellphone has broadband in their pocket! (Except if you're with CellC/Virgin lol)
Pyro
Expert Member
ADSL still trumps 3G/HSDPA for quality of service. If I could have consistent sub 60ms pings for games, and consistent speeds it'll be great. Not likely to happen though 
If they would allow their bandwidth to roll over, that would be another nice bonus. Having 20MB left could leave you in the strange position where you could either lose the 20, or risk going 20 over you limit... I also didn't see anywhere you can add something like a 100MB bundle onto your package in the middle of the month, so you're forced into paying R200 for bandwidth you knew you'd need. Errors on the service page are also WAY too common.
The infrastructure between buying additional bandwidth for ADSL is very well laid by now. And roll-over is available. Base price for just a line is around R260, With your first gig available around R280. R370 bags you 3gigs, at a pretty consistent 38KB/s. Setup costs is around R700, and includes a 4 port adsl modem/router.
Quick check on vodacom's side... R350/month for 500MB, R599/month for 1gig. R220 activation, and 24 month contract IIRC.
"But it's faster"
I'm rarely get more than 40KB/s out of my Huawei E630. Most I've seen was 80KB/s. A few uploads got dropped midway, and speed was horrible... It's mobile, but it's not great.
Telkom took 2 months to install my ADSL, that's the only reason I'd take 3G/HSDPA - While waiting for a proper line. 2 months of bolt-on packages on my phone supplied me with enough connectivity do my work.
If they would allow their bandwidth to roll over, that would be another nice bonus. Having 20MB left could leave you in the strange position where you could either lose the 20, or risk going 20 over you limit... I also didn't see anywhere you can add something like a 100MB bundle onto your package in the middle of the month, so you're forced into paying R200 for bandwidth you knew you'd need. Errors on the service page are also WAY too common.
The infrastructure between buying additional bandwidth for ADSL is very well laid by now. And roll-over is available. Base price for just a line is around R260, With your first gig available around R280. R370 bags you 3gigs, at a pretty consistent 38KB/s. Setup costs is around R700, and includes a 4 port adsl modem/router.
Quick check on vodacom's side... R350/month for 500MB, R599/month for 1gig. R220 activation, and 24 month contract IIRC.
"But it's faster"
I'm rarely get more than 40KB/s out of my Huawei E630. Most I've seen was 80KB/s. A few uploads got dropped midway, and speed was horrible... It's mobile, but it's not great.
Telkom took 2 months to install my ADSL, that's the only reason I'd take 3G/HSDPA - While waiting for a proper line. 2 months of bolt-on packages on my phone supplied me with enough connectivity do my work.
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LazyLion
King of de Jungle
Just glad that I have access to both!
Just glad that I have access to both!
+1
That is, when 3G is working and somebody hasn't stolen my phone line.
lilGr
Expert Member
In rush our traffic it is
charlie_82
Expert Member
I suppose it helps not having wait 3 months for an HSDPA connection :-\
Besides, Telkom is a rip-off. That's what happens when the govt is involved
Besides, Telkom is a rip-off. That's what happens when the govt is involved