BitCo Consumer Review

Will Bitco be part of any free speed upgrades? E.g. When Telkom eventually upgrades 2 -> 4mbps later this year, will Bitco do something similar, otherwise it will be even more overpriced. Shouldn't packages move say from 5 - 8/10mb and 10 - 15/20? And 2 -4/5?
It would make sense, considering how cheap ADSL is becoming.
 
There was some rumours earlier this thread about new speed's coming soon, but no direct feedback on pricing for existing packages.
assuming most is contract based, so they would prefer to keep pricing as si for existing contracts as long as possible.

can only hope for a belated bitco xmas present :-p
 
Out of interest, does anyone know how long the UPS advertised by Bitco will keep the Bitco equipment running?
 
karele said:
How is the bitco service for online streaming, I am not a heavy downloader but we do watch streaming services as our main source of entertainment.

My only reason at this point for moving is the on-going ADSL line synch problem and exchange congestion that is getting worse month by month. I can no longer wait for Telkom to possibly, maybe, one-day in the future or never upgrade the exchange etc in our area. Seeing that it is not an affluent enough area I am not hopeful at all.
Click to expand...

On a 5MB line and the trial FUP, SD will work endlessly. HD you will be limited to say plus minus 2 simultaneous movies then you will be throttled down to 2MB and you won't be able to stream HD at all.

To return back to HD, you would have to pretty much not use the internet for 4 hours then the throttling will be lifted

I am the same, not a big downloader but use streaming mainly.

I have been away for just over a month so lets see if anything has changed now
 
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Well another day has passed and I see no reply to my PM at all which was simply a request for meeting halfway on an alternate scenario to allow me to get a site assessment done.
I do see that the person that I sent the PM to has been active responding on threads over the last 2 days.

I am also in the process of moving one of the companies from Rosebank to Rivonia that I work for, now I will consider the only 1 out of 5 companies that bothered to respond to a simple query for tomorrows first meeting on the ICT move.
I always rate a companies support on how they treat the smallest customer before I even bother to consider them for a corporate client of mine. Its a sort of a you can tell what type of person you are by how you treat your dogs and elderly scenario.
 
Viashen said:
On a 5MB line and the trial FUP, SD will work endlessly. HD you will be limited to say plus minus 2 simultaneous movies then you will be throttled down to 2MB and you won't be able to stream HD at all.

To return back to HD, you would have to pretty much not use the internet for 4 hours then the throttling will be lifted

I am the same, not a big downloader but use streaming mainly.

I have been away for just over a month so lets see if anything has changed now
Click to expand...
Why do you say 4 hours?? Mine is definitely 1 hour and it's back to full speed.
 
Sparky_za said:
I have to agree... mmm... I have no problem with the current FUP but that has a lot to do with me being on the 10Mbps connection. An hour to wait is not much, but 4 is rough.
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Very much so, I also have no problem with them protecting their network and preventing abuse etc. We are the ones that land up suffering in the end for not being the abusive on the network. Ironic don't you think lol
 
Well i signed up.
just waiting to hear when the guys will be coming around to do the site test..
here is hoping they are able to :)
 
Viashen said:
On a 5MB line and the trial FUP, SD will work endlessly. HD you will be limited to say plus minus 2 simultaneous movies then you will be throttled down to 2MB and you won't be able to stream HD at all.

To return back to HD, you would have to pretty much not use the internet for 4 hours then the throttling will be lifted

I am the same, not a big downloader but use streaming mainly.

I have been away for just over a month so lets see if anything has changed now
Click to expand...

well, no need to be watching HD movies all day everyday?
My scenario will be watching movies in the evenings, and possibly downloads after midnight.

But i think a more detailed explanation on the FUP, once implemented, is in order.
Eg consider this scenario :
watch one movie, HD, for 2 hours. For the next hour, just basic browsing and maybe some gaming(neither will use the full line speed). After that, i watch another movie for 3 hours. Will i be still throttled 1 hour in?

If its a leaky bucket system, i would assume they hopefully work as follows:
on a 5mbps line(1.8GB per hour), bucket starts with 7.2GB which is refilled with 3.6GB every 4 hours. Once you hit zero before that 4hour period, your line is throttled for 4 hours.


really hope more details is provided .. cant wait to enjoy Bitco awesomeness
 
Neo_X said:
But i think a more detailed explanation on the FUP, once implemented, is in order.
Eg consider this scenario :
watch one movie, HD, for 2 hours. For the next hour, just basic browsing and maybe some gaming(neither will use the full line speed). After that, i watch another movie for 3 hours. Will i be still throttled 1 hour in?

If its a leaky bucket system, i would assume they hopefully work as follows:
on a 5mbps line(1.8GB per hour), bucket starts with 7.2GB which is refilled with 3.6GB every 4 hours. Once you hit zero before that 4hour period, your line is throttled for 4 hours.

really hope more details is provided .. cant wait to enjoy Bitco awesomeness
Click to expand...

Hear hear ... my sentiments exactly (and many others' too, I suspect).

The only FUP description I've seen appears here, which is just not precise enough to cut it :

20140109 BitCo FUP.jpg

If BitCo can implement a FUP, then they should be able to describe in quantitative terms how it works ...
 
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Neo_X said:
well, no need to be watching HD movies all day everyday?
My scenario will be watching movies in the evenings, and possibly downloads after midnight.

But i think a more detailed explanation on the FUP, once implemented, is in order.
Eg consider this scenario :
watch one movie, HD, for 2 hours. For the next hour, just basic browsing and maybe some gaming(neither will use the full line speed). After that, i watch another movie for 3 hours. Will i be still throttled 1 hour in?

If its a leaky bucket system, i would assume they hopefully work as follows:
on a 5mbps line(1.8GB per hour), bucket starts with 7.2GB which is refilled with 3.6GB every 4 hours. Once you hit zero before that 4hour period, your line is throttled for 4 hours.


really hope more details is provided .. cant wait to enjoy Bitco awesomeness
Click to expand...

If you can sacrifice HD then you should be fine, In my scenario i use a projector setup in my lounge so without HD you might as well be watching VHS quality with massive blocks on the screen. My screen size is 120" to give you an idea

On the usage, Netflix's guid lines for example are as below

Auto
Low (basic video quality, up to 0.3 GB per hour)
Medium (standard video quality, up to 0.7 GB per hour)
High (best video quality, up to 3 GB per hour for HD, 7 GB per hour for Ultra HD)

So you in for about 3GB an hour when streaming HD

My package stated i could stream Uninterrupted HD when i took it but that has never materialised. Wish someone could tell how one could achieve that
 
Viashen said:
If you can sacrifice HD then you should be fine, In my scenario i use a projector setup in my lounge so without HD you might as well be watching VHS quality with massive blocks on the screen. My screen size is 120" to give you an idea

On the usage, Netflix's guid lines for example are as below

Auto
Low (basic video quality, up to 0.3 GB per hour)
Medium (standard video quality, up to 0.7 GB per hour)
High (best video quality, up to 3 GB per hour for HD, 7 GB per hour for Ultra HD)

So you in for about 3GB an hour when streaming HD

My package stated i could stream Uninterrupted HD when i took it but that has never materialised. Wish someone could tell how one could achieve that
Click to expand...

If you want a service that is capable of doing that, then you will need a business grade 1:1 internet link.
Now I doubt that you are prepared to pay for that quality for your usage scenario (around R15000+ per month depending on link speed). Having said that, your scenario is unique and not common across the spectrum of users. 99% of users use a TV / PC screen to watch media content and not a projector.

In my opinion you cannot blame the link for the streaming quality for the type of screen / projector you have. The other unknown factor is how far away are you sitting from your project's screen...

Many people buy an extra large screen and plonk it down in their lounges then sit about 1-2m away and expect HD not show the pixels.
 
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Am not sure why the FUP is such a big issue...

I have said on many occasions I am on the new trial FUP and have been on the old FUP...I have no problems watching content in high quality video.

Firstly why would you want to watch TV all day? Streaming content in HD is nice but totally unnecessary in many cases. Downloading content (P2P) on the other hand is more likely to attract a FUP application.

If you look at the ADSL ISP's that provided Uncapped Unshaped data initially had no issues with their networks however have now applied stricter FUP's and network management tools just to cope with the demand - so much so that many customers are looking for alternatives to ADSL. Many of us were those clients!

I would rather have a high quality network where measures are put in place from Day 1 to ensure happy customers that can perform a multitude of tasks using their links. These point to point links are 1:1 from your premises to the high site. Thereafter the bandwidth is contended in the core network.

Where do you get that kind of service on ADSL or LTE?

Disclaimer: I do not work for nor am I involved in any form with BitCo.
 
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Streaming HD is the norm these days (unless you still have an old box tv). I'm fine with FUP's but really think it should lighten after 5pm and should not exists between 12am-6am

CriticalConsumer said:
If you want a service that is capable of doing that, then you will need a business grade 1:1 internet link.
Now I doubt that you are prepared to pay for that quality for your usage scenario (around R15000+ per month depending on link speed). Having said that, your scenario is unique and not common across the spectrum of users. 99% of users use a TV / PC screen to watch media content and not a projector.

In my opinion you cannot blame the link for the streaming quality for the type of screen / projector you have. The other unknown factor is how far away are you sitting from your project's screen...

Many people buy an extra large screen and plonk it down in their lounges then sit about 1-2m away and expect HD not show the pixels.
Click to expand...
 
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CriticalConsumer said:
If you want a service that is capable of doing that, then you will need a business grade 1:1 internet link.
Now I doubt that you are prepared to pay for that quality for your usage scenario (around R15000+ per month depending on link speed). Having said that, your scenario is unique and not common across the spectrum of users. 99% of users use a TV / PC screen to watch media content and not a projector.

In my opinion you cannot blame the link for the streaming quality for the type of screen / projector you have. The other unknown factor is how far away are you sitting from your project's screen...

Many people buy an extra large screen and plonk it down in their lounges then sit about 1-2m away and expect HD not show the pixels.
Click to expand...

My service i took was supposed to be able to do HD uninterruptedly. Are we not supposed to get what we pay for ?

Regarding the contention ratio, on Bitco's website under FAQ's you get the below. Unless it was misrepresented perhaps ?


What is your current contention ratio for the home product?
1 : 1

When i stream HD on the projector it is perfectly fine, good image and sound quality. SD on the other hand is a no go

I do 120" on a 16:9 screen with projector 4.5 meters away

I sit roughly 4 meters away from the screen

I did a lot of research before going the projector route

The native resolution on my Optoma HD20 is 1920 x 1080 so i actually have that many pixels displaying on the screen

With HD you cannot see any blocks at all, SD you see plenty
 
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