ADSL Woes, Upgrade or switch?

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TayeedzSA

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Hey Everybody,

Just needed some help on a matter please. I've had an Mweb 4mbps Standard Uncapped Line (Line rental through Telkom which alone is R700 a month.... I don't get that?) since the beginning of 2014. Everything was fine and dandy but as of now, I think I've realized that it's time to upgrade it since the rolling day threshold is pretty low and my family is nearing the limits. Nobody likes a throttled connection... :cry:

4 people use the internet in the house and everyone downloads(Videos etc, hardly torrenting), streams(Youtube), browses and does plenty of updates for PC, consoles and cellphones. Not to mention visitors also come and connect as well. Over the past year I've seen from looking at monthly data that we've gotten significantly heavier on net use over time. Now with us getting more devices and downloading more, I think an upgrade is due.

So I've been doing a bit of poking around and I've come down to a few options which I must propose to my dear Mother. I want to see which is best.

  • Upgrade to Mweb 4mbps Premium (Easiest and least cumbersome but we're still with Mweb...)
  • Try out Afrihost Business line (Way more expensive and moving companies which Mum will fuss about but no one will complain about the net ever again.)
  • Maybe look at Axxess or Openweb
  • Leave the line as is , take foetal position and fear the throttling

I'm thinking Mweb Premium would be the best for us in terms of the rolling day threshold and the fact the we're already with Mweb and it would be a hassle to switch companies, something which Mum doesn't want to do..

What are your opinions?

TL;DR : My famalam downloads too much, Mweb 4mbps low threshold :cry:, check the list, which is better, thanks.
 
My piece of advice is stay away from Openweb. You can still consider the rest, but keep in mind Afrihost also had their own serious issues towards end of last year for both capped and uncapped accounts, I think they have resolved their issues now (Every ISP has it's dark days sometimes).
 
TayeedzSA said:
Hey Everybody,

Just needed some help on a matter please. I've had an Mweb 4mbps Standard Uncapped Line (Line rental through Telkom which alone is R700 a month.)
Click to expand...

You should get that checked out, line rental is R300 for a 4Meg line.
 
kianm said:
My piece of advice is stay away from Openweb. You can still consider the rest, but keep in mind Afrihost also had their own serious issues towards end of last year for both capped and uncapped accounts, I think they have resolved their issues now (Every ISP has it's dark days sometimes).
Click to expand...

Why stay away from Openweb? Apparently Mweb is also having its dark days as well judging from the Throttling threads I was reading. I'm thinking maybe I should just stick with them but upgrade to Premium. You just can't win with internet these days :whistle:

Rickster said:
You should get that checked out, line rental is R300 for a 4Meg line.
Click to expand...

I was pretty suspicious of that in the past. Adsl line rental from what friends have told me is meant to be about R200. I phoned Telkom multiple times in the past, been to the service centres and they told me the line rental is double that. I'm still pretty confused about it but I don't know what to say
 
TayeedzSA said:
I was pretty suspicious of that in the past. Adsl line rental from what friends have told me is meant to be about R200. I phoned Telkom multiple times in the past, been to the service centres and they told me the line rental is double that. I'm still pretty confused about it but I don't know what to say
Click to expand...

Check

Maybe you spoke to an idiot.
 
TayeedzSA said:
Why stay away from Openweb?
Click to expand...

Check the Openweb Feedback Thread part 2. They basically are selling adsl accounts to multiple users, e.g. your Mweb account gets to be used by a couple of different people. Lots of other stuff as well, better stay clear.

Could you show us at what speed your line is syncing? That price is more than I pay for 10mbps with 150GB data cap combined.

BTW, that is more than you would be paying for a 40mbps line: http://www.telkom.co.za/sites/athome/productdetail/&productname=Elite Plus @ R599.
 
I think I'll ask my Mum for a Telkom bill later and analyze it.

@Jonathan56 , Good grief..... Thanks for the warning! How do I check the line syncing? Through Speedtest?
 
No, you have to log into the router and check the sync stats. Start > CMD > type in "ipconfig" > look for Default Gateway (Should be in the top Paragraph) > type in the number on the right into browser, e.g. in my case it is 192.168.1.1 > Log in, if the default password hasn't changed it should be admin, admin or admin, password or admin 123456. Look around there for it, would help if we knew what router/manufacturer.

Speedtest would tell you at what speed your internet package is, not the line itself, though your internet speed can be limited by the line speed.
 
Johnatan56 said:
Check the Openweb Feedback Thread part 2. They basically are selling adsl accounts to multiple users, e.g. your Mweb account gets to be used by a couple of different people. Lots of other stuff as well, better stay clear.
Click to expand...

With Afrihost you get 100% assurance that doesnt happen, because the clientzone lists all numbers that have connected to that account.
 
Mmmmm - R700 doesnt sound right.

I pay R797 - line and sub with Afrihost Business - I do around 450Gb per month.
Their clientzone website is pretty good
And I am quite happy.
No throttling and business optimization option on CZ BTW.

OW - you will battle with daytime connectivity and support is not great

MWEB - I left because of the throttling and pi$$ poor support staff.

Line sync - you should be able to log in from web browser - what router do you have?
 
Johnatan56 said:
No, you have to log into the router and check the sync stats. Start > CMD > type in "ipconfig" > look for Default Gateway (Should be in the top Paragraph) > type in the number on the right into browser, e.g. in my case it is 192.168.1.1 > Log in, if the default password hasn't changed it should be admin, admin or admin, password or admin 123456. Look around there for it, would help if we knew what router/manufacturer.

Speedtest would tell you at what speed your internet package is, not the line itself, though your internet speed can be limited by the line speed.
Click to expand...

Managed to log into the router but I'm trying to find the sync stats. I'm using the Mweb Fon Router ( Technicolour TG589vn v3.)
 
Didn't know what to copy so I just copied everything

Link Information

Uptime: 5 days, 7:52:58

DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.5 Annex A (ADSL2+ over POTS)

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1.023 / 10.239

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [GB/GB]: 1,74 / 22,38

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12,0 / 429496723,6

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 8,5 / 14,5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 13,3 / 14,1

System Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ----

Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote): BDCM / BDCM

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote): -

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 314.525 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 31 / 505.655

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 21 / 326.830
 
@ R700 a month I think its the bundled deal? Line + data. With all ISP,s you have your dark ages. Stick to the popular ones. For 100 bucks more you can get 10meg uncapped line. Just do some reading on the forum on which one you prefer.

My experience:
Telkom - mostly fast and stable.(have capacity problems at the moment but they in the process on upgrading in week or two)(cancelled)
Openweb - fluctuate a lot. (Cancelled)
VoX - very good so far but its unshaped though (current account)

Only cancelled the others for I received 2TB VoX data mahala with smart tv's i recently purchased.
 
TayeedzSA said:
Boom

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4071958517
Click to expand...

You could check out Afrihost capped bundles: https://www.afrihost.com/site/product/capped_dsl_bundles , they are unshaped on everything. You could also elect to keep your line at Telkom and then get a data account from someone else. If you feel you need uncapped, look at the business Afrihost lines, they are quite a bit more but are unshaped as well. If you can live in a data limit, pick the capped option. Afrihost is running a double data promotion currently.

Other options would be Webafrica, but I think they shape on most products, so the experience won't be quite the same.
If you feel you need an uncapped account, if you don't torrent or can keep your torrents to past midnight, check out webafrica's business.

Side note: Bundle = Line + data with ISP, does not include voice line.

Oh just price difference Afrihost Capped and business bundles:
a 10Mbps business bundle = R1297, which you should only take if you use more than 200GB a month, else rather take the Capped. I am currently on the 10mbps 75+75 option for R668.

EDIT: 3rd option, Take a 10mbps standard from Mweb @ R539 for the line only, throttling starts at about 250GB instead of the 110GB of 4mbps standard.

Whatever the case, get your line checked, you are paying way to much for it, or check an actual invoice (Edit: Sorry), they might not be sure what they are paying for.
 
Last edited:
stephannel77 said:
@ R700 a month I think its the bundled deal? Line + data. With all ISP,s you have your dark ages. Stick to the popular ones. For 100 bucks more you can get 10meg uncapped line. Just do some reading on the forum on which one you prefer.

My experience:
Telkom - mostly fast and stable.(have capacity problems at the moment but they in the process on upgrading in week or two)(cancelled)
Openweb - fluctuate a lot. (Cancelled)
VoX - very good so far but its unshaped though (current account)

Only cancelled the others for I received 2TB VoX data mahala with smart tv's i recently purchased.
Click to expand...

Don't think so, the line sync is different from the data account.
 
I'll speak to the Queen when she's back from work.

Now it makes sense.... Telkom you slick individuals...

Gonna stick with Uncapped since many people in the house use the net, also visitors. I had Telkom capped internet in the past but it was an outright nightmare to monitor usage.

One of my bros and I download and stream anime along with Youtube and also upload onto Youtube while my other bro usually does iTunes. Torrents we don't really do as much but we don't mind doing them past midnight. We're pretty happy with the speed and reliability that Mweb offers, it's just the throttling now I'm worried about.
Is the Mweb 6mbps Premium any good? 600gb threshold and 6mbps line for the same price as an Afrihost business line seems tempting.
 
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