Advice for ADSL newbie

[brendan42]

My parents-in-law are currently on dial-up with @lantic and are looking to move to broadband. Any advice on what is needed and how to decipher the wide range in South Africa please. I'm based in the UK and have no real idea of how to go about it. Some of the needs so far:
Would like to avoid the 24 month tie-in if possible.
Wireless router? Do they come as part of the package?
If they use someone like @lantic, do they take care of connection/install etc?
Monthly cap can be as little as 2GB, mostly e-mail and some Skype
Speeds? No idea what is out there?
What are best deals out there at the moment?

Any help appreciated

 

[Paul Hjul]

to get the router for free you will pretty much need to go the contract tie in route. Telkom are actually pretty good as an ISP and you'd be able to get a simple solution:
https://secureapp.telkom.co.za/camp...n&utm_content=home_banner&utm_campaign=simple

However with less than 5Gigs of data usage 3G solutions may be more cost effective.

If you want to give Telkom as little business as possible the Afrihost is awesomeness although they are having a bit of a hard time lately.
www.afrihost.co.za

Or you can ask @ltantic what they can do.

 

[bekdik]

You should also check that their hardware includes a NIC. Without it you can't use a networked ADSL modem. If they have a USB port, you could go that route.

 

[Tim the Techxpert]

Hi there
If the router is part of the deal then you are locked in to the contract. Routers here are going for about R500 so an addled connection could be good. Have a look also at the mobile providers as there is a bit of a price war on relating to data and the dongles have also dropped in price. Afrihost will also manage the Telkom side of the line so your parents will not have finger pointing when it comes to issues

Regards Tim

 

[Pada]

@Tim the Techxpert:
AFAIK you can get a month-to-month contract with Telkom, that includes the router+modem unit. Apparently you can even cancel after the first month and then keep that router that is valued at like R500.

My brother took that Telkom deal and got the D-Link DSL-2750U router.
I think it is the deal that Paul Hjul gave a link for... but I'd recommend the OP to just make 100% sure that it is on a month-to-month basis and NOT a 12 - 24 month contract!

 

[I O U]

My parents-in-law are currently on dial-up with @lantic and are looking to move to broadband. Would like to avoid the 24 month tie-in if possible. Wireless router? Do they come as part of the package? If they use someone like @lantic, do they take care of connection/install etc?
Monthly cap can be as little as 2GB, mostly e-mail and some Skype
Speeds? No idea what is out there? What are best deals out there at the moment?
Any help appreciated

If they've been on dial-up, then the slowest ADSL via Telkom now is 1Meg.
That's more than fast enough for Skype (not video, I suspect) - probably a 2Meg. line would be better for that.

My suggestion would be for them to get Telkom to add the ADSL part to their line (better to not do it through a specific ISP, should they want to move ISPs in future. ) They can order that by either going to a Telkom Direct shop or via 10219.
http://residential.telkom.co.za/broadband-internet/broadband_services/adsl/order.html

They'll need to decide whether or not they're capable of doing a self-installation or relying on the Telkom tech. to do it for them, at an additional cost of about R600 added to their existing tel a/c. Sure you already know that it's not that difficult, but if they know nothing then if they can get someone they know to help them out, it'll save on that cost.

Next step would be, after the tech.'s come out to get the ADSL line sorted, to cancel the Dial-up with @lantic.

Depending on where they live, there should be retail shops near them that sell D-Link modems/routers (either basic wired for about R200 or wireless for about R500 to R600).
D-Link are in Pretoria on Tel No.: 012 661 2025 - they can suggest nearest shops.

My suggestion is to sign up also with @lantic for the Capped HOME option :
https://www.lantic.net/connectivity/adsl/capped-adsl/adsl-gig4gig#
1st GB each month is free & additional Gigs are a very reasonable R15/Gig incl. VAT.
(they may even just transfer them across to it, without all the forms, as they've got the details already for Dial-up).

Should they thereafter want a very reasonable Uncapped Bolt-on option :
https://www.lantic.net/connectivity/adsl/uncapped-adsl/adsl-uncapped-bolt-on
Though not mentioned on the above pg. that I see, it's also all weekend from Fri 6pm to Mon 6am

I (and others) can testify to both the above, now @lantic have sorted out their data usage to billing problems of a few months ago.
Particularly read the last few posts on the following link, but there's a whole history prior to now (in preceeding pages), where things needed to be sorted out - I can safely say that the Uncapped Bolt-on is now 100%.
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/434391-lantic-R59-uncapped-bolt-on-feedback/page21

I find I get full line speed (1Meg.) through @lantic (my line's with Telkom, though) regardless of the time of day. @lantic don't throttle, from what I've experienced.

 

[JV_011_]

to get the router for free you will pretty much need to go the contract tie in route. Telkom are actually pretty good as an ISP and you'd be able to get a simple solution:
https://secureapp.telkom.co.za/camp...n&utm_content=home_banner&utm_campaign=simple

However with less than 5Gigs of data usage 3G solutions may be more cost effective.

If you want to give Telkom as little business as possible the Afrihost is awesomeness although they are having a bit of a hard time lately.
www.afrihost.co.za

Or you can ask @ltantic what they can do.

Good advice but you dont need to sign a contract with telkom. i signed up for the closer 2 deal and cancelled it after a month because i wanted mwebs uncapped acc. R499 for 10GB, 500MB 3g, router and free installation

 

[SpoonTech]

My parents-in-law are currently on dial-up with @lantic and are looking to move to broadband. Any advice on what is needed and how to decipher the wide range in South Africa please. I'm based in the UK and have no real idea of how to go about it. Some of the needs so far:
Would like to avoid the 24 month tie-in if possible.
Wireless router? Do they come as part of the package?
If they use someone like @lantic, do they take care of connection/install etc?
Monthly cap can be as little as 2GB, mostly e-mail and some Skype
Speeds? No idea what is out there?
What are best deals out there at the moment?

Any help appreciated

Get the following:
Telkom 1MBPS ADSL Line @ R165 p/m
Telkom Voice Line @ R148.37
Afrihost 4GB @ R58.00

The Afrihost 4mbps can be swapped with doBroadband (Telkom) if you wish to receive everything on the same bill (Afrihost - unshaped/ doBroadband - Shaped)
As a tip, I'd also recommend moving them to a Gmail address, a lot of oldies here get sucked into staying with an ISP to keep their email address they've had for 10 years. If they are desperate to keep the address then they can use @lantic as an ISP.

Total: R371,37 per month.
Buy a router seperately to avoid any contracts. Any basic router (DLink / Netgear / Billion) will do however I'd recommend the Netgear N300 @ +- R700.