Andrews Antenna the ultimate solution?

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skirret

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Greetings from a "desperate" new list subscriber..
With semtech (sic) for a mere 5 weeks, 128 unbundled.
Promised prior to contract : an excellent signal strength for my "tested" grid ref. in Pretoria but some how I experience an average 5% signal strength and a signal to noise ratio which always exceeds -100+ !!!
Also promised: great connection speeds but not told that " shared" on 128 can mean between 15 subscribers ultimately delivering a download of an 8kb local e-mail message in 1min 16secs !!!
Forgive me if I ramble on however...the solution to "my" problem...or so I am promised... is the installation of an " Andrews Antenna" to "stabilise" my signal (and prevent the dropout) !!.

I am humbled in the knowledge that Sentech is not failing to deliver its advertised service to me, on the contrary it is I ...the mere customer..., who is expecting far more than than is reasonable from the company ! Also I shouldn't forget that no refund is payable on any thing if the contract is cancelled.
Is this truly the answer to the problem ( which is obviously one of my own making since my requirements are
apparently greater that most) and can any kind soul give me an idea of the costs involved please ?

Many thanks...with frequent flyer miles ..of course .
 
two solutions to your problem.

Solution one.
Hammer your sentech modem until its dust... cuz you can have a farking 100% signal 0% noise your International speeds WILL drop to MAYBE 4KB/s

Solution Two.
Bullet through the brain of Winston Smith and everyone else their at Sucktech.

Sorry Skirret... but welcome to the... I have been fycked up the ass by Sentech Forum...

Seriously dude... big mistake.... BIG farking mistake...

Sentech are possibly the worst ISP on the planet... sorry dude... but I am beyond hope with this crowd of pigfyckers. Sentech are fycking cocksuckers of note...


myWireless 128, 64, 48, 16 - depends on its mood.
 
skirret- lots has been said (some of it even acutally valid and useful!) about what to do regarding a proper antenna solution to get MyWi to work properly in the event that signal is apparently not all it is coulda/woulda/shoulda been. It's entirely possible that what seems to be a dire situation may be recoverable- scratch through the forums a bit to get an idea.
-bdt
 
You can start here:
http://www.myadsl.co.za/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3806


_________________________________________________________________________
custenna, variable 8 - 13 signal, ber 28% - 42%.<i> "I am the only one with this problem." </i>
 
Get your signal strength and ber up by using a well installed dish and or other antenna. Worked for me. Don't go the route of patch or cantenna antenna. They work, but you will eventually get to a dish after spending a lot of money, so rather go direct to a dish and enjoy the experience.

Generally I do not have a problem with downloading when using multi threading.
 
You were an idiot for signing up in the first place, to be honest. Return the modem and cancel the contract - if they refuse to take their modem back, threaten to sue them.

Problem solved.
 
skirret I think I was a bit harsh in my reply post.

I know for a fact certain people are getting good speeds with international
and local. It just doesnt make sense though...

But then alot of things with Sentech just dont make sense...

If you getting the advertised speeds then you are one thos fortunate few and if you are willing to put some more money into it then do.

All I can say is from experience Sentech does not seem to understand the word consistency at all... a great example is the fact that you seem to be getting good speeds and others arent, like me :(

Their service is appalling... and their support shouldnt be called support. Maybe non-suport is a better description. I only hope for your sake you never have to phone them and get some useful information out of them.

I am interested in a few things though.

When did you get Sentech?
What firmware did your modem come with?
Which area and tower do you connect to?


myWireless 128, 64, 48, 16 - depends on its mood.
 
Tks for your 2nd. reply :
to clarify... If the advertised speeds to which I am entitled, with a 128 unbundled package, exceed the equivalent to a normal analogue

dialup then NO I am not receiving anywhere near it.

I have been signed up to them some 5 weeks and never had a "reasonable" connection without dropout happening sometime within any half hour period.
My current Signal strength (12:28) is 4% at 2518000khz connected to Base Nr. 36 I have an RSCP -106dbm and ISCP -100dbm

My connection speed throughput is currently 2160cps which ,I am told, is equivalent to a connection speed of 16,800 bps.

and a`speedcheck through www.speedanywhere shows 70 kilobits p.s.!
My firmware is 5.01.62
and the bootloader version is 4.2.1.8

As I inferred on my posting; Sentech claim that they are providing
their advertised service to the full...I wonder why the speed test on their website proves faster than anyother site test?

The Techies have told me that I alone consider their service to be below par and if I decide to cancel the contract they have a no refund policy. Since ( now that I have fronted the R3500) the modem is mine!

So , now I need some constructive advice please as to what to do...they suggest an Andrews antenna...OK how much? and from where...they cant(wont ?) tell me.

It's all a very sad and a seems to be somewhat imorral way of dealing with their customers.

Tks again.




<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by vowthorn</i>
<br />skirret I think I was a bit harsh in my reply post.

I know for a fact certain people are getting good speeds with international
and local. It just doesnt make sense though...

But then alot of things with Sentech just dont make sense...

If you getting the advertised speeds then you are one thos fortunate few and if you are willing to put some more money into it then do.

All I can say is from experience Sentech does not seem to understand the word consistency at all... a great example is the fact that you seem to be getting good speeds and others arent, like me :(

Their service is appalling... and their support shouldnt be called support. Maybe non-suport is a better description. I only hope for your sake you never have to phone them and get some useful information out of them.

I am interested in a few things though.

When did you get Sentech?
What firmware did your modem come with?
Which area and tower do you connect to?


myWireless 128, 64, 48, 16 - depends on its mood.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
 
With a signal strength anything below 12% you are going to be disconnected a number of times a day. If you use your cellphone, and you are in a dodgy area, you can sometimes talk and other times not. Same principle.

Contact bdt(he posted earlier) and maybe he can help you
 
I get a signal strength under 12% sometimes - I've been connected fine at 6% without any "drops"

Not that it matters one little bit, the difference between a 10% signal and a 100% signal is absolutely fsck all when the speeds suck so badly.

I thought I was onto a good thing again for about 5 to 10 days recently - I had average 8k, but for the last 3 days it's FSCKING SUCKED. Just like it always does.

<b>skirret, if you can, CANCEL right now and tell EVERYONE you know how bad Sentech is, because the sooner they go out of business, the better for the industry as a whole.</b> However, if your in the same boat I'm in, without a landline, then you have no other choice if you want to be connected at home.

Sentech truly truly do Suck badly - there's no two ways about it. vowthorn is 100% correct in his indication of how bad Sentech really are.

There's been **** since April and there's still **** - the promised "fixes" during September were a bunch of bullcrap marketing **** and Scumtech know it.

Basically, the service is being run by incompetent absolute arseholez and nothing will change that short of firing all the top level managers lazy backsides and hiring people who actually know how to run an ISP.
 
I just wanted to add, don't waste any more money on this service if you can get an alternative, like ADSL - heck, dialup is usually better for international speeds !

Buying an Antenna may improve your disconnection issues, but it won't do anything for the speed woes. On the 128k package At best, over a month you'll average 56k modem speeds internationally.

You'll also go through what we've all gone through - elation at finally getting decent speeds, only to have you hopes dashed when you sit under 4k per second internationally for weeks on end.

I really can't stress enough that you should seek an alternative to MyCareLess.
 
skirret, I think you fall in the 14 day (or was it 5 day) clause where you can return the modem and cancel without any penalties. do it now, dont look back... do it

trust me, you will never get the speeds advertised. it will be cheaper and faster to stay with 56k dialup. if you seriously need 24/7 connectivity, learn to live with adsl, at least till iburst releases and you can waste you money on a privately owned company that actually cares what their customers think and not wait 6 months before even looking into the problem

<font size="1">
Selling my soul to Telkom for better internet speeds.

Person Me = New Person();
while (Me.Alive)
{
try
{
Me.Drink(Alcohol.Any);
}
catch (HeaveException h)
{
Me.PrayToCeramicGod();
Me.Promise("Never again");
}
}
Me.Dispose();
</font id="size1">
 
btw, just read your post entirely... take it on the chin bru. it was stupid of you to sign up even AFTER all the bad publicity sentech has gotten. I'm one to speak, but I didn't sign up with an idea sentech would be so utterly useless...(i signed up in january)... you however, should have tried making a more informed decision, especially forking over 3.5k cash for this useless piece of ****

<font size="1">
Selling my soul to Telkom for better internet speeds.

Person Me = New Person();
while (Me.Alive)
{
try
{
Me.Drink(Alcohol.Any);
}
catch (HeaveException h)
{
Me.PrayToCeramicGod();
Me.Promise("Never again");
}
}
Me.Dispose();
</font id="size1">
 
skirret,

You may have sensed the resignation in this forum[;)]
In amongst the very bitter commentsabove, there is some good infoand advice.

1. If you are being disconnected frequently, it is often because you signal strength is low and it can vary from time to time. Some people claim that your signal needs to be 12% or more, but I've used a modem while travelling and have had situations where even a signal of 3% is quite stable. Many theories as to why this is the case, from dust in the atmosphere to leaves on trees to the effect of wind and static on the panels of the tower. Nobody has a definitive answer but if you are being disconnected often, a good antenna will make a huge difference. You can try some temporary solutions to make a small difference as well, e.g. a pringles can on the modem antenna sometimes can give up to 6dB gain (i.e double the signal strength) but your results may vary. There are also some recipes for homemade parabolic reflectors that you can find on the web (as a rule, if it works for WiFi/802.11b it works for MyWireless as the frequencies are similar - 2.5GHz vs 2.4GHz), these usually work quite well, but obviously not as well as a professionally installed dish or grid which can give over 19dB of gain. I don't have personal experience but it seems that the poynting grid is an excellent solution.

2. That said, an antenna will do F@ck all for your speed. The speed you are receiving is not dependent on signal, or SNL. Sentech's bandwidth "management" policies are entirely to blame....and history indicates that it will not improve. For the six months that I subscribed to Sentech, I had all of 5 weeks of acceptable service.

3. If you do decide to cancel, and want to get a credit for your modem, I suggest that you go to the small claims court. You have a case to claim for a reversal of the contract and a refund of the modem costs on the basis of misrepresentation. Check out Donn's website for some backup info as well as www.poopband.co.za. The good news is that Sentech are not allowed to send a lawyer to court, only a suitably responsible person to represent them.


<i>Sold my soul to the great Satan: Telkom ADSL. Yes they're evil but still better than Sentech</i>
 
But, as I recall the contract indicates that ANY issues regarding contracts shall fall under the jurisdiction of the Magistrates court ? ...
 
they can come suck on my jurisdiction....

<font size="1">
Selling my soul to Telkom for better internet speeds.

Person Me = New Person();
while (Me.Alive)
{
try
{
Me.Drink(Alcohol.Any);
}
catch (HeaveException h)
{
Me.PrayToCeramicGod();
Me.Promise("Never again");
}
}
Me.Dispose();
</font id="size1">
 
Regardt,

The purchase of the modem is a separate contract of sale, and is not included in Sentech's pseudo-legal usage contract. As the modem was sold as being able to provide a certain function, and it is unavle to do so due the seller's (sentech) incompetence, you should be able to get the contract of sale reversed. i.e. refund.



<i>Sold my soul to the great Satan: Telkom ADSL. Yes they're evil but still better than Sentech</i>
 
its amzing...

One would think Sentech knew they needed a watertight contract because they somehow knew that
their service would be crap... but I think they didnt count on many users being pissed off about it
and I wander if anything can be brought to the media's attention again or if it is even worthwhile.

it seems sentech only ever jump when faced with media coverage of their shocking service.

I know one thing though... if ever I get the opportunity to expose the latest service of Sentech I aint going
to give them the opportunity to cover their asses... they will need to do their own media release...

so anyone know how much it costs to get a sky plane to write Sentech Sucks over Johannesburg?


myWireless 128, 64, 48, 16 - depends on its mood.
 
Dear Skirret

Judging from what others have said, the first thing you need to do is log a new complaint every time you get disconnected or the service stops, even if very briefly. This is going to cost you a lot of calls to the 0860 number.

When you speak to tech support, be polite, but firm. ALWAYS take down the techie's name and ALWAYS ask for a ticket number. Make a note of each call and what the outcome was. Also, run the Sentech Speed test every time you phone. the 1MB or 2MB option is best. Note the result, too.

By building up a history of complaints with them, you improve your chances of cancelling your contract. Make sure your phone account does itemised billing, so you have documentary proof of all the calls made.

Before you buy any antennas, extension, etc, do a bit of research. Find out where the tower is. I managed to improve my signal from 2-3 bars to 3-4 bars (8% to 15%) just by putting the modem 2m to the right in the same room. All it "cost" me was a USB extension cable that I already had. I was about to try to install it in the ceiling when I discovered the easier spot.

If tech support insist that you buy an Andrews antenna, ask them to loan you one. Also ask them to guarantee a refund of the cost of both the MW modem and the AA if it doesn't improve in 30 days.

If you don't get any improvement out of them in 30 days, call Winston Smith personally.

&gt;&gt;&gt;
Winston Smith
Product Manager: MyWireless
Sentech Ltd.
Tel: +27 11 691 7000
Fax: +27 11 507 5178
Mob: +27 82 324 2763
Email: [email protected]
&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;

Explain to him that tech support isn't helping, and that you have made over ?? calls and logged ? tickets. Invite him to send someone to come and inspect your installation.

Also ask for a refund of your entire contract to date, or at least 50%.

If they refuse, then take Winston Smith/Sentech CEO to the small claims court. Sue him/her for the cost of the <b>support phone calls</b> only. This has nothing to do with the contract, and they may well be willing to give you a full refund to make the problem go away.

Once you have stabilised your connection and are still unhappy with the speed, get creative about how much bandwidth you could possibly use up in a day (when you aren't busy). Install a proxy server like FreeProxy (www.handcraftedsoftware.org) and make it an open proxy. Use DynDNS.org to create a dynamic address for your connection, and then invite any friends you have who use ADSL to use the connection when they run out of their 3GB cap.

Get a download manager like FreshDownload and set it to repeatedly download some large files from http://tucows.is.co.za such as OpenOffice or something on those lines.

The idea is to try to download over 10GB in a month. Then Sentech will start calling you. That's when you can begin negotiations about improving the service you are getting. By then it will be February and you can reconsider all your options.

Also, check out my web site for other ideas [;)]

<hr noshade size="1">
Donn Edwards <font size="2"><div align="right">MyWireless: Diva-style reliability, dial-up performance (or worse)</div id="right"></font id="size2">
<font size="1">“If our government ever goes bad, as sometimes happens in a democracy... As we extrapolate our [surveillance] technologies into the future, if the incumbency has that political advantage over their opposition, then if a bad government ever comes to power, <b>it may be the last government we ever elect</b>.” See http://privacy.4mg.com </font id="size1">
 
It's not worth the effort for him Donn, maybe for those of use who have no choice right now and have been screwed for over 5 months with bad connections (my trouble started in May, signed up beggining of April)

I've had the worst run in a few weeks lately - 4th day of Int. under 5k per second.

I can't even be bothered phoning, as I know it doesn't make an ounce of difference.

Skirret, cancel ASAP.
 
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