Amobia users: please give your comments re usage and experience

[MFour]

I know this has been discussed elsewhere (sort of) but I'm hoping to get more views from Amobia users out there.

I have spoken to Amobia a couple of months ago about their 3 Mbps Uncapped option, trying to find out what restrictions / limits are placed on the account. I was told that they make use of MWEB for the uncapped accounts (this has me worried). I currently have a 2.2 Mbps (long story) ADSL line, using a 512 Kbps Shaped Uncapped MWEB account. In short, it is not what it used to be, and frankly is only slightly better than a "browse as much as you like" type account.

I mainly use NNTP (news servers - Supernews / Astraweb) for my downloading needs, which is absolutely horrible on MWEB currently. I have been toying with the idea of dumping Telkom and their utter incompetence and going wireless. Now installation costs a bit so it is not something I can afford to just try out for a bit, just to find the same type of restrictions I have with MWEB currently.

The Amobia rep suggested I ask here about users experience with the product, hence my post. Any thing you might have to offer would be good, but specifically I would like to find out about your NNTP download experiences, or I guess torrent experience as well.

Thanks for reading

 

[Vin]

I am on the 2mbps uncapped option, and have no complaints with regards to speed and\or reliability. I am also trialling their VOIP offering, as I dont have Telkom lines in my complex.

Cant give you performance on NNTP as I download all Astraweb data to my VPS server in the US (it downloads at 10 MBytes/s). From there I use FTP to download locally and I usually get a constant 245 KB/s.

Amobia are probably using the MWEB Business uncapped, which should give better performance than the MWEB residential uncapped offering.

They have a 3 day moving time window acceptable usage policy of 7GB on the 2 mbps uncapped option, and I think its 10GB on the 3mbps uncapped option.

If you cant get ADSL then Amobia are the next best thing!

 

[MFour]

Brilliant, thanks for your comments. You might have a point with the business uncapped bit, I have not thought of that.

 

[sergie]

I'm on the 1mbps uncapped package. So far I've done 70GB this month. I mostly use News servers where things download at 90-100% of the line speed most of the time (doesn't look that there is shaping).
Occasionally I also use torrents but I noticed that there is some shaping at times so it's not my protocol of choice.

Overall I am pretty happy with their service, they respond quickly to my queries and the internet is fast 95% of the time.

 

[MFour]

Thanks sergie, things are looking up indeed. It would be a good day if I can kick Telkom and get good constant speeds at the same time.

 

[Techrat]

Someone said in another thread that they stopped the rolling threshold, not sure though.

 

[MFour]

Someone said in another thread that they stopped the rolling threshold, not sure though.

Yup, that's what I thought as well. Regardless, this sounds like a good way to go for me, so far.

 

[jacksback]

Yup, that's what I thought as well. Regardless, this sounds like a good way to go for me, so far.

Just be prepared to be billed by Telkom for the next few months after cancelling. I cancelled my 384kbps ADSL in July. My monthly bill then was R500 including phone and calls. TWO Months later it was still around the R450 mark!! I then cancelled my phoneline at the beginning of October and have a final R400 bill to pay at the end of this month, for WHAT??? I don't friggin know. They seemed to have found a way to continue to bill me long after I cancelled each service.

God I hate them!!!

 

[Bluink]

Hey guys, I am currently with mweb uncapped and soon moving to Amobia. Got a 512 connection ATM because Telkom can't offer me anything faster in my area. That's where Amobia come in to save the day, spoke to them today and they said they no longer have the rolling threshold which made me even happier. Hope they are as good in the long run as they sound.

 

[jacksback]

Hey guys, I am currently with mweb uncapped and soon moving to Amobia. Got a 512 connection ATM because Telkom can't offer me anything faster in my area. That's where Amobia come in to save the day, spoke to them today and they said they no longer have the rolling threshold which made me even happier. Hope they are as good in the long run as they sound.

In Cape Town they are awesome. Best decision I ever made!

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

In cape town (blouberg) i'm getting this after coughing an extra R700 for a grid antenna ...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1109672113.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1110705551.png
http://www.pingtest.net/result/32192042.png

This is on 3mbps uncapped, needless to say i am NOT a happy camper, have a ticket open with support, here's hoping this can be fixed :'(

 

[Rouxenator]

Dang!!!! That is very bad!!!
Can you ask them to make your account a capped one for a day or so then you can see if that helps ?

 

[jacksback]

In cape town (blouberg) i'm getting this after coughing an extra R700 for a grid antenna ...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1109672113.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1110705551.png
http://www.pingtest.net/result/32192042.png

This is on 3mbps uncapped, needless to say i am NOT a happy camper, have a ticket open with support, here's hoping this can be fixed :'(

That's disgusting! How far away are you from the closet high site? I'm 7km's away (Edgemead) and get full speed. I'm connected to the Tygerberg high site

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

That's disgusting! How far away are you from the closet high site? I'm 7km's away (Edgemead) and get full speed. I'm connected to the Tygerberg high site

Closest high site is 10.5km away, eastward from me, maybe Tygerberg, who knows, but upon installation the techies said there was an issue and now connected to the next closest high site which is more north, koeberg hill, 13-odd km away.

hence the grid antenna, i did ask before i committed that the connection would be good enough for a reliable 3mbps service, got the confirmation

Support has been quite responsive at least, they had me run quite a few tests, the results of which are now with their "senior technicians" ... but yeah, max speed i've seen is 1.5mbps and only for a short burst, hovering at 0.5mbps mostly and my pings shot through the roof earlier, > 800ms

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1110827579.png

 

[jacksback]

I think from Blouberg you might be connected to the original high site I was connected to. It was identified back then as a problem site due to congestion and other cowboys in the area illegally boosting their equipment which caused interference. Ask them if that is the case and if they plan on building a new high site because there was a major improvement when I moved over.

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

Dang!!!! That is very bad!!!
Can you ask them to make your account a capped one for a day or so then you can see if that helps ?

they eventually suggested this on their own, my first > 2mbps test ... yay?

still; nowhere near 3mbps and this is capped of course ...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1111020897.png

 

[jacksback]

they eventually suggested this on their own, my first > 2mbps test ... yay?

still; nowhere near 3mbps and this is capped of course ...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1111020897.png

Much better. I was on the 3meg package but recently downgraded to 2meg due to there being NO difference in browsing speed. Mweb seem to shape the hell out of everything, http included. Torrents fly though which is really odd?

 

[Rouxenator]

I spoke to a friend of mine that went to Amobia a few months after I did. For years he has been on 3mbps capped and he told me that he did try 3mbps uncapped after it was introduced and immediately switched back. Apparently is not as fast as capped (for everything even emails, according to him) and since he runs a small office on it he needs speed. I guess Amobia uncapped is just plain wireless re-badged Mweb uncapped based on that and what NarrowBandFtw has found out.

 

[jacksback]

I spoke to a friend of mine that went to Amobia a few months after I did. For years he has been on 3mbps capped and he told me that he did try 3mbps uncapped after it was introduced and immediately switched back. Apparently is not as fast as capped (for everything even emails, according to him) and since he runs a small office on it he needs speed. I guess Amobia uncapped is just plain wireless re-badged Mweb uncapped based on that and what NarrowBandFtw has found out.

Yes it is Mweb. I also got a shock when I first changed over from capped to uncapped but on my 3meg connection I was able to pull 30gb a DAY. I just had to get used to slower browsing speeds. On 2meg uncapped now and it's actually pretty decent.

 

[Rouxenator]

Do they still moan if you do more than 100GB a month?