BitCo Consumer Review

richard.cumming said:
I was wondering if this is still a Bitco review thread?

If so it has been almost 2 weeks since my installation was completed. When I asked about it I was told that they are busy configuring my router. Really? It takes 2 weeks to configure a router? Give me the IP address and I will configure my own router in a minute.

So right now....not to much over the moon.
Click to expand...

HI richard.cumming, We have sent you a private message. Please reply with the details so that we can assist.
 
Hey Guys!
After moving to a new house I discovered that my relocated ADSL dropped from an awesome 10Mb to a max of 6Mb. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that it constantly ran at under 1Mb and I was literally on the phone every week reporting the fault to Telkom. I actually had 2 technicians on speed-dial. It became so infuriating that I cancelled with them and opted for BitCo based on the very positive experience of 2 of my co-workers.

I was thrilled to hear my new home had line of sight and they installed without issue. I opted for the 10Mb package. It ran like a boss for about 3 days...and then I came home one Monday to find it limping along at Telkom speed. I'm LUCKY if I break 1Mb/s. At the lowest point it was running at 0.008mb/s...no kidding. So guess what...now I have to email support EVERY DAY, only to be told my link is running at full speed. Then I have to send screenshots of my speed test results. Then I'm told my router is off when it's definitely on. I don't know what to do anymore.
 
BitCo said:
HI richard.cumming, We have sent you a private message. Please reply with the details so that we can assist.
Click to expand...

So I feel that I need to say a few things to stay with the spirit of this thread.

Firstly I did not expect a reply so soon seeing as this thread is a few months old. That is a big plus.

Secondly the service that I have received from Bitco thus far has been brilliant. From the answering my insistent questions to the installation. In fact the person that did my installation came out to my place to do LOS testing while it was drizzling and rainy. And then also waited for the rain to stop and then did the installation. Also very professional.

So my only gripe, and the reason I posted here, was because I was sent this link by a colleague and I saw that most people were talking about a 2 to 4 day turnaround time on their installations.

However I would/will still recommend and punt Bitco to everyone I know as an alternative to Telkom. Infact several of my colleagues are waiting with bated breath to see how my installation performs before they order from Bitco.

Anyway. Just though I had to say this so as not to give a negative against Bitco which was not my intention.

I am also very excited (jumping out of my shoes) to be getting proper internet after struggling for a year and a half with stupid telkom and WA.....so.....come on Bitco :)
 
DevonMeerholz said:
Hey Guys!
After moving to a new house I discovered that my relocated ADSL dropped from an awesome 10Mb to a max of 6Mb. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that it constantly ran at under 1Mb and I was literally on the phone every week reporting the fault to Telkom. I actually had 2 technicians on speed-dial. It became so infuriating that I cancelled with them and opted for BitCo based on the very positive experience of 2 of my co-workers.

I was thrilled to hear my new home had line of sight and they installed without issue. I opted for the 10Mb package. It ran like a boss for about 3 days...and then I came home one Monday to find it limping along at Telkom speed. I'm LUCKY if I break 1Mb/s. At the lowest point it was running at 0.008mb/s...no kidding. So guess what...now I have to email support EVERY DAY, only to be told my link is running at full speed. Then I have to send screenshots of my speed test results. Then I'm told my router is off when it's definitely on. I don't know what to do anymore.
Click to expand...

You maybe FUP'ed - and no I am not swearing at you!

Ask what your current FUP profile is ... might be interference on your link as well.

@BitCo Mike?
 
CriticalConsumer said:
Hi Sparky:

Here are power consumption details for the different components of the BitCo system:

Cisco SF-300-8 switch supplied by BitCo consumes 7.1 Watts http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/produc...ess-smart-switches/data_sheet_c78-610061.html

PoE injector can use up to 60 Watts
http://www.hedindata.se/dokument/C-POE-173_s.pdf

Linksys E900 WiFi router consumes around 5 Watts
http://www.tpcdb.com/product.php?id=2023

So total power consumption is around 80 Watts. You would need a 160 Watt UPS max for this setup however the size of the batteries will determine how long the UPS will run.

A good indicator can be found here on how to calculate run time based on power draw - this is an APC product page and is calculated based on their UPS's:
http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=27&tab=models


Edit: I just became a casualty of "load shedding" and my APC BackUPS Pro 1500 with extended battery indicates on its LCD that I have 941 minutes of power remaining. I am posting this using that power...and it drives my internet / networking setup.
I also have an APC BackUPS Pro 1200 and it has 196 minutes of power remaining - this unit is over two years old...

The aim this updated post is to give you an idea of what you can do with the UPS for the equipment from BitCo...
Click to expand...

eddief1 said:
Your 80watt esimate seems incorrect and awefully high for a simple microwave link...our link into the house here uses 8watts for rocket m5 on roof and with router it is no more than 20watts...very simple to power for a very long time using a dc ups.

What device is the poe injector powering?
Click to expand...

Been looking at this same issue, albeit for different reasons.

It's my understanding that the PoE injector is used to power the radio transceiver on the back of the Ubiquiti parabolic dish. I believe BitCo typically use something like the Ubiquiti 30dBi "RocketDish" with a matching 5GHz Rocket M5 radio, which is rated (see datasheet) to consume 8W at 24VDC as supplied by a "pseudo-PoE" power injector - exactly as eddief1 says.

It seems that on the RocketM5 at least, Ubiquiti have opted for a somewhat non-standard power arrangement at 24VDC - the IEEE 802.3af and 802.3at standards that define Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) provide for a voltage of between 44 and 57VDC at 350mA. (Quite why Ubiquiti did that, I don't know - some of their other Rocket radios do use a standard 48V PoE setup.)
Unfortunately this probably means that one can't use a standard PoE switch (like the Cisco SF302-08P) to power the radio - you'd have to use the separate 24V/1A "PoE" injector that Ubiquiti supplies with the M5 radio instead. This is a 24V/1A unit (see RocketM5 datasheet again), and although it's rated to supply up to 24W (24V @ 1A), the radio will typically consume less than a third of that.

As an aside : The Planet PoE injector that CriticalConsumer detailed is quite a beefy unit that has two PoE device ports and caters for both the original 802.3af PoE standard (max 13W per port) and the newer 802.3at standard (25.5W per port) - hence the hefty 60W maximum power rating (2 x 25W at about 85% efficiency).

So going back to the power "budget" as first outlined by CriticalConsumer :

Device________________________Typical____________Maximum
PoE injector (ie RocketM5 radio)____8.0W_____________24.0W
Cisco SF300-08 switch____________7.2W_____________7.2W
Linksys E900 router______________4.7W_____________7.5W (12V/0.5A adapter @ 80% efficiency)
Total__________________________19.9W____________38.7W

Hence, a 40W (or 80W) power supply will be plenty, but actual power consumption should typically be around half that figure. So providing backup power for a BitCo internet portal is a pretty low-power affair - the PCs that use the portal, not so much .... ;)
 
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jcheek said:
Been looking at this same issue, albeit for different reasons.

It's my understanding that the PoE injector is used to power the radio transceiver on the back of the Ubiquiti parabolic dish. I believe BitCo typically use something like the Ubiquiti 30dBi "RocketDish" with a matching 5GHz Rocket M5 radio, which is rated (see datasheet) to consume 8W at 24VDC as supplied by a "pseudo-PoE" power injector - exactly as eddief1 says.

It seems that on the RocketM5 at least, Ubiquiti have opted for a somewhat non-standard power arrangement at 24VDC - the IEEE 802.11af and 802.11at standards that define Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) provide for a voltage of between 44 and 57VDC at 350mA. (Quite why Ubiquiti did that, I don't know - some of their other Rocket radios do use a standard 48V PoE setup.)
Unfortunately this probably means that one can't use a standard PoE switch (like the Cisco SF302-08P) to power the radio - you'd have to use the separate 24V/1A "PoE" injector that Ubiquiti supplies with the M5 radio instead. This is a 24V/1A unit (see RocketM5 datasheet again), and although it's rated to supply up to 24W (24V @ 1A), the radio will typically consume less than a third of that.

As an aside : The Planet PoE injector that CriticalConsumer detailed is quite a beefy unit that has two PoE device ports and caters for both the original 802.11af PoE standard (max 13W per port) and the newer 802.11at standard (25.5W per port) - hence the hefty 60W maximum power rating (2 x 25W at about 85% efficiency).

So going back to the power "budget" as first outlined by CriticalConsumer :

Device________________________Typical____________Maximum
PoE injector (ie RocketM5 radio)____8.0W_____________24.0W
Cisco switch____________________7.2W_____________7.2W
Linksys E900 router______________4.7W_____________7.5W (12V/0.5A adapter @ 80% efficiency)
Total__________________________19.9W____________38.7W

Hence, a 40W (or 80W) power supply will be plenty, but actual power consumption should typically be around half that figure. So providing backup power for a BitCo internet portal is a pretty low-power affair - the PCs that use the portal, not so much .... ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks dude for getting the exact figures...I didn't have time to get the PoE specs for the ones used by BitCo so I made an assumption based on the Planet device. My cabling and hiding away things for neatness in ducts is an OCD thing :whistle::p so I couldn't get to the PoE injector.

I would still over engineer rather than not - considering (like you rightly said) a PC will be needed to use the un-interruptible internet.

:)
 
jcheek said:
Garthvs / BitCo

Out of interest : What's BitCo's current state/take on IPv6 ?
Is the current BitCo system IPv4 only, or does it support both ?

I realise that IPv6 is probably still a long way off for the internet world at large, I'm just curious.
Sometimes all this NAT and port-forwarding (aka anti-NAT) stuff is really wearying!
Click to expand...

BitCo said:
Hi Jcheek,

I will let Garth answer this one :-)

Mike
Click to expand...

Garth, Garth ... come in Garth ... ? :D
 
DevonMeerholz said:
Hey Guys!
After moving to a new house I discovered that my relocated ADSL dropped from an awesome 10Mb to a max of 6Mb. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that it constantly ran at under 1Mb and I was literally on the phone every week reporting the fault to Telkom. I actually had 2 technicians on speed-dial. It became so infuriating that I cancelled with them and opted for BitCo based on the very positive experience of 2 of my co-workers.

I was thrilled to hear my new home had line of sight and they installed without issue. I opted for the 10Mb package. It ran like a boss for about 3 days...and then I came home one Monday to find it limping along at Telkom speed. I'm LUCKY if I break 1Mb/s. At the lowest point it was running at 0.008mb/s...no kidding. So guess what...now I have to email support EVERY DAY, only to be told my link is running at full speed. Then I have to send screenshots of my speed test results. Then I'm told my router is off when it's definitely on. I don't know what to do anymore.
Click to expand...

I'm pre-empting BitCo Mike's repsonse... so please PM him your details.
 
richard.cumming said:
So I feel that I need to say a few things to stay with the spirit of this thread.

Firstly I did not expect a reply so soon seeing as this thread is a few months old. That is a big plus.

Secondly the service that I have received from Bitco thus far has been brilliant. From the answering my insistent questions to the installation. In fact the person that did my installation came out to my place to do LOS testing while it was drizzling and rainy. And then also waited for the rain to stop and then did the installation. Also very professional.

So my only gripe, and the reason I posted here, was because I was sent this link by a colleague and I saw that most people were talking about a 2 to 4 day turnaround time on their installations.

However I would/will still recommend and punt Bitco to everyone I know as an alternative to Telkom. Infact several of my colleagues are waiting with bated breath to see how my installation performs before they order from Bitco.

Anyway. Just though I had to say this so as not to give a negative against Bitco which was not my intention.

I am also very excited (jumping out of my shoes) to be getting proper internet after struggling for a year and a half with stupid telkom and WA.....so.....come on Bitco :)
Click to expand...

Hi Richard

Sorry we have taken long to activate your link. We have really had a tough time with the load shedding + weather + some staff on leave. Individually these interruptions would not be an issue but all at once has caused havoc with our scheduling and teams.

Garth
 
garthvs said:
Hi jcheek

We have not implemented IPv6 yet, but I can confirm that our entire network is IPv6 capable and will be starting our implementation next year.

Garth
Click to expand...

Thanks, Garth.
I see that one or two local ISP's have slowly started to roll out so-called "IPv4v6" implementations where both protocols are being supported in parallel. I'll continue to watch IP developments (and this thread in general) with interest.

Cheers
 
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