SpecialYouth,
Be weary of MyWireless if you are in an area with dense service penetration. Like ADSL, MyWireless is shared bandwidth, but the contention ratio seems to be much worse. On MyWireless, the bandwidth seems to be shared between all users on the same AP.
With the advertised contention ratios, the 128kbps MyWireless connection is only guaranteed to run at the same speed as a 14.4kbps modem. The 512kbps connection is only guaranteed to run at the same speed as a 33.6kbps modem.
ADSL users on the same DSLAM also share bandwidth. Usually, the DSLAM has a 2MBps connection to the SAIX network. If you are in an area where very few people use ADSL, you will be getting supreme bandwidth. Basically, if there are only four active users on your DSLAM, you can expect the full 512kbps transfer rate at all times.
Verdict, basically the two services are more or less identical in terms of availability and speed. Meaning, if you have either and you live in an area where many other people are using the same service, don't expect much of it.
In terms of capability, it depends what your highest priority is. If you are looking to download huge amounts of data, the standard internet over ADSL offerings definitely aren't for your. You could also go for the TelkomInternet 4GB unshaped offering, but that's a small difference in terms of traffic volume when compared to the normal 3GB package. The huge price difference and hard lock capping (you are totally disconnected after 4GB) make this option unacceptable.
If you are looking to spend some money, you could go for DataPro's business ADSL offering. Rental and line included it will cost more or less R2000 per month. This gives you uncapped and unshaped ADSL a nifty server installed on your premises and managed by them.
If the price on DataPro's offering is too steep, you could look at MyWireless. The 128kbps offering, if you are lucky, will give you speeds comparable to dual ISDN, for under R700 per month. For the same maximum possible throughput as ADSL, you will need to go for the 512kbps option, which will put you back about R1500 per month. MyWireless is not limited in terms of total traffic volume, but is limited to 1GB of incoming transfers per day.
If you need a service with relatively low latency to local servers and minimal packet loss, MyWireless is not for you. Generally, latency is high and packet loss can occur at random, slowing bulk transfer connections and severely disrupting real time connections like video conferencing. You might also find that service varies depending on the time of day, temperature, etc.
Long range (over 500 meter) wireless connections can suffer from disruptions due to changes in the ionosphere, the temperature in the lower atmosphere and frequent geomagnetic storms caused by solar flares. Powerful geomagnetic storms (caused by flares rated X5 and above) will knock out your connection completely for at least 12 hours. These occur at least once every two years.
If I might provide some advise, if your area is extremely densely populated by heavy internet users who make use of any of the services, don't purchase either of them. Instead, stick to ISDN.
I am very lucky to live in Bloemfontein, we have no MyWireless coverage here and ADSL is not advertised in local papers or billboards, as it seems to be in some centres.
Large scale ADSL adoption in Bloemfontein has been limited to businesses. DSLAMs in the industrial and financial districts are heavily overloaded and bandwidth during peak hours is rarely better than 64kbps ISDN.
In residential areas however, the service has been remarkably unsuccessfull in Bloemfontein. Even in the northern suburbs where the most well off Bloemfonteins reside, it doesn't seem to have made an impression.
Mostly, Bloemfonteiners are not willing to spend much money on home internet connections. Spending R100 per month on a dial-up account seems excessive to most. Those who do want permanent connections usually just find a job where the employer has ADSL installed anyway.
The consequence of this is that in the area where I live, Universitas, the DSLAM seems to be severely underutilised. Even in peak hours, I do not seem to share the 2MBps the DSLAM can provide with many other users. At most, I estimate that there are 8 very active users on the Universitas DSLAM. This means, even in peak time, my maximum throughput rarely drops below 250kbps. [}
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Willie Viljoen
Web Developer
Adaptive Web Development
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