Neo_X
Expert Member
Really amazed at the level of feedback (Positive vs Negative(Sorry Wikkels 
) - Bitco seems to be looking at providing a level of service/internet which we need in RSA.
I am however a bit worried once they hit their target subscriber / Over subscriber ratio's - eg what will they do should links start performing slower than advertised. We have been "conditioned" to accepting that our ADSL service will almost never perform at the speeds they are sold at.
I am however optimistic at their easily understood Throttle plan, since it makes much more sense - no need to put traffic shapers in the path, just look at usage, and throttle for an hour should the usage be over a limit.
I would, however, like that bitco relaxes the policy for midnight surfers. Since the network is idle from lets say 12am to 7am, why not change the limit to only throttle after 3 to 4 hours of full speed during that period.
50% throttle is a very acceptable speed though, as many would confirm that a pure 2.5Mbps (max 5Mbps) link can handle 720p content from any provider.
That being said, a 24 month contract on any ISP provider is a big risk with the current growth in internet technologies (remember Afrihost pushing the ADSL market down to half price not so many years ago...). I understand a company needs to look at growth and a stable income, but if we as contract customers cant know that we will benefit from new speeds/technologies during the contract, we are stuck as well.
what the solution would be - eg keeping the customer happy - that i wont know.
My personal view is that i will prefer month to month , but the R4500 installation cost is crazy - especially since the hardware will be unusable with other ISP's ( not like an ADSL router which i can join any other network with). Can Bitco not have a buy back policy? eg 50% of the price after 6 months?
Clean unshaped internet with excellent customer service is the other side of the coin - which is also preferred.
Will definitely keep a subscription on this thread. Keep the feedback coming guys!
) - Bitco seems to be looking at providing a level of service/internet which we need in RSA.I am however a bit worried once they hit their target subscriber / Over subscriber ratio's - eg what will they do should links start performing slower than advertised. We have been "conditioned" to accepting that our ADSL service will almost never perform at the speeds they are sold at.
I am however optimistic at their easily understood Throttle plan, since it makes much more sense - no need to put traffic shapers in the path, just look at usage, and throttle for an hour should the usage be over a limit.
I would, however, like that bitco relaxes the policy for midnight surfers. Since the network is idle from lets say 12am to 7am, why not change the limit to only throttle after 3 to 4 hours of full speed during that period.
50% throttle is a very acceptable speed though, as many would confirm that a pure 2.5Mbps (max 5Mbps) link can handle 720p content from any provider.
That being said, a 24 month contract on any ISP provider is a big risk with the current growth in internet technologies (remember Afrihost pushing the ADSL market down to half price not so many years ago...). I understand a company needs to look at growth and a stable income, but if we as contract customers cant know that we will benefit from new speeds/technologies during the contract, we are stuck as well.
what the solution would be - eg keeping the customer happy - that i wont know.
My personal view is that i will prefer month to month , but the R4500 installation cost is crazy - especially since the hardware will be unusable with other ISP's ( not like an ADSL router which i can join any other network with). Can Bitco not have a buy back policy? eg 50% of the price after 6 months?
Clean unshaped internet with excellent customer service is the other side of the coin - which is also preferred.
Will definitely keep a subscription on this thread. Keep the feedback coming guys!
. Maybe a solution would be to lesser the dent on the innitial setup in maybe taking the R 4 500 in 3 or 6 month payments with the first few months. Example: R 699 2Mbps line + R 1500 for the first 3 months. 
Too many trees in my area. 
Garth do you know which speeds you'll be testing? and which speeds you'll offer? as im looking for a speed of 15Mbps and up..