BitCo Consumer Review

BitCo said:
Hi Grasmuis,

Our technical team is correct, the Helderkruin Tower is plagued with interference and we are very strict with the links we approve onto this site.

We find many illegal operators working in and around this area due to their being more than 5 towers on that mountain.

I am sure you will receive feedback from our team on if we can or cannot install your link

Good luck and hope you get approval

Mike
Click to expand...

Unfortunately my order was declined.
 
louispires said:
I am really getting tired of this ****!!

My line refuses to go back to normal speed on the same day! Look at this screenshot of the last 6 hours for my router, after 1 hour of streaming I hit the FUP and this isn't even at full line speed. Max I hit during this stream was 377KB/s and for a 5Mb line that is not the max line speed.

So has the FUP changed from the following basics that I'm aware of?:
*Use the line at close to maximum throughput for an hour and you will be reduced to half the line speed for a similar period of time.
*Streaming should not trigger the FUP.

View attachment 236651
Click to expand...

DUDE, I am sorry to say that regardless of whatever commitments Bitco makes, where the FUP is concerned, they have zero regard for the home users. When I signed up (2 odd yrs ago) they were good value, good speeds and FAIR. Now they are only good speed and even then for only 50min.

I have noticed that ANY speed over 51% triggers the FAP. Then about 60min later a brief spike (I suppose to see if I still want the speed I pay for) and then back to FUP.

This AM I read about the top bandwidth users and seeing 900Gb numbers (per month), for 4mb uncapped. Made me sick of Bitco!

If you want proof that all the commitments made to us mean zip to Bitco, simply read the updated (today) FAUP. Read below...


Customer behaviour which may cause an Internet service to be shaped or throttled includes using bandwidth intensive protocols such as peer-to-peer , network news transfer, or performing unattended downloads of large files. Throttling may also occur when a customer downloads at near 100% of the line capacity for approximately 1 hour. The throttling is then automatically removed after the excessive usage has stopped for a similar period of time.
During peak network traffic times BitCo may also block bandwidth intensive protocols such as peer-to-peer or network news transfer to ensure the user experience of other customers on BitCo’s network is not effected.

"I would print it out but my printer can not spool this sh1 either!!"
 
OCD said:
This AM I read about the top bandwidth users and seeing 900Gb numbers (per month), for 4mb uncapped. Made me sick of Bitco!
Click to expand...

So by this logic, because other people have found ways to abuse their providers network, Bitco must simply allow it? :wtf:


OCD said:
If you want proof that all the commitments made to us mean zip to Bitco, simply read the updated (today) FAUP. Read below...


Customer behaviour which may cause an Internet service to be shaped or throttled includes using bandwidth intensive protocols such as peer-to-peer , network news transfer, or performing unattended downloads of large files. Throttling may also occur when a customer downloads at near 100% of the line capacity for approximately 1 hour. The throttling is then automatically removed after the excessive usage has stopped for a similar period of time.
During peak network traffic times BitCo may also block bandwidth intensive protocols such as peer-to-peer or network news transfer to ensure the user experience of other customers on BitCo’s network is not effected.

"I would print it out but my printer can not spool this sh1 either!!"
Click to expand...

As far as I know, that has always been their FAUP, nothing looks different to me.

If your intention is to torrent or download 900GB a month, then maybe Bitco isn't the right solution for you. No one is pointing a gun at your head forcing you to use them. Personally I would love these "900GB a month" individuals to move to other networks so that bitco can remain fast, but that's my personal opinion.
 
I had BitCo installed in Rustenburg because of the great reviews. It seems that if you use your Internet for gaming, Bitco is the way to go...
For anything other than gaming...DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES USE BITCO!!!!!! I had slow internet when I was on Telkom ADSL, but BitCo is TERRIBLE.

You cannot use Facetime, you cannot use Skype, so how come they say video streaming is prioritised? And please don't fall for them telling you they don't throttle you after hours, I have done numerous tests and my P2P connecfions only run at ~4mbps on 5mbps from 12am to 1am, then only 2mbps for the remainder of the night so the throttling is 24hrs. Even opening simple website is slow.

When you contact helpdesk, they tell you that they only accept speedtest.mybroadband.co.za's tests, this is the only site working perfectly on this rubbish internet. When you try to open the forums page you get an error message that the page and any other page cannot be opened not even Google, I had to connect to MTN to open this forum. I did a speedtest on speedtest.mybroadband.co.za and got 3.4mbps and immediately afterwards tested on speedtest.net and only got 1mbps, so obviously speedtest.mybroadband.co.za gets priority on BitCo. At times everything works fine, but the majority of times everything is a sruggle.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't be a fool and sign a 2 year contract before you are 100% sure that BitCo's service is better in your area.

I never thought I would say it, but I miss my Telkom ADSL!
 
Dude read my post again please. Note my unhappiness with my ISP. Also note that the instance of uncapped usage refered to was 100% within thàt ISP's Fair Usage Policy.

I could point out that I checked all facts before posting. Incl Bitco FAUP. But that might take away some of the bliss.....

Fyi.There is a big growth in ADSL data use in South Africa, with the top users consuming terabytes of data each month.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/adsl/132466-biggest-and-baddest-adsl-data-users-in-south-africa.html
 
Last edited:
I'm in Durban and i have had bitco for over 2 weeks now and i am happy with the service. i dont use it for torrents, mainly for streaming and surfing the net and it works very well. I have no problem getting 1080p and even 4k streams running from youtube with a 5sec buffer at the start and then no interruption going forward and this is off a tv with wifi connection. What i have noticed though is that if i use youtube for 3-4 hours in a stretch i get majorly throttled, e.g. i normally get a ping of 12ms and download of 4mbps; after 3-4 hours when youtube starts to buffer alot or not work i get 0.3 mbps; this is not 50% as per AUP; then i noticed with every hour the speed more than doubles and in 3 hrs i am back to 4mbps.

i am not happy with this but i dont generally watch tv for longer.
 
I am extremely sad that I'll be parting ways with Bitco in the next few months. The new property is not within their coverage and I'll miss this service immensely. Only other service provider where I'll be going is some no name brand I have never heard of. They have a tower right on top of the Magaliesberg mountains. Is there any way I can convince Bitco to install on that tower? Maybe even a promise of a few clients signing up to that exact tower?

I have 3 close friends staying on those plots too. And they would love the service.

I'm dreading the day I need to cancel Bitco :cry:
 
Murmaider said:
So by this logic, because other people have found ways to abuse their providers network, Bitco must simply allow it? :wtf:




As far as I know, that has always been their FAUP, nothing looks different to me.

If your intention is to torrent or download 900GB a month, then maybe Bitco isn't the right solution for you. No one is pointing a gun at your head forcing you to use them. Personally I would love these "900GB a month" individuals to move to other networks so that bitco can remain fast, but that's my personal opinion.
Click to expand...

Man am I glad I had no LOS with Bitco going by this thread... My service provider allows 1.5TB on a 10Mbps line before speed is halved. I don't torrent or use news servers at all so I can't comment on that but general downloads are fast and I can stream the crap out of my link day in day out without having to worry about quality drops after an hour of viewing.
 
Hey guys I'm also in the Florauna area any news on the high site I'm waiting for techs to come out hopefully not the same issue. There are a lot of people in Florauna area wanting to go go bitco if there is no signal this is an issue. What are the chances on a new high site in the area..?
 
sturshel said:
Howzit guys. My place is in pta north, Florauna to be exact. My place is right on the mountain facing north, looks like one of the towers might be south (behind me, on the other side of the mountain) ? Any body fom my area on Bitco?

I cannot suffer Telkom anymore, basically 2 meg max!

I NEED THE 10 MEG SERVICE :twisted:
Click to expand...

I have the same issue there are numerous people in Florauna including me that want to go the bitco route but if there is no signal this will be an issue. Hopefully this might get them to install a new high site.
Please bitco help us out. Myself and neighbours are ready to switch...
 
mmmmm way too many people complaining about Bitco's service now:wtf:

Problem is what are the alternatives ...
 
Sooo.... After I was initially declined, no LOS, a new High site was made active in my area. I saw Bitco installing at the house across the road asked them about it. Sent my mail and 4 days later my line was handed over. :p

I have my line for roughly 2 weeks now, and I must say I like it a lot (I am coming from 3G, LTE no adsl available in my complex).

The only thing that bugs me so far is when I am playing Dota2. I have a ping of say 38-45ms, then randomly will have spikes of high 200+ms, its only irritating me, but not a major concern atm.
Regarding the rest... I am happy. I have watched countless youtube vids. Rest of the family successfully streamed a movie or to, something I never would have been able to do on my 3G (mosly because of the cost).

One last thing... Will it help to say limit my steam dl speed to 400kbps , because when I download a new game I get throttled. I understand this as using the lines full capacity for more than an hour... just wondering. Any pointers?

PS: Sad to see you go Pitbull, even though I have not commented on here that much as 3 post I was reading here a lot
 
Grasmuis said:
Unfortunately my order was declined.
Click to expand...

HI Grasmuis,

Sorry to hear we couldn't help you.

We hope to build more towers in your area soon, its so difficult to cover that area to the density of trees & tall buildings

We shall keep you posted

Mike
 
OCD said:
DUDE, I am sorry to say that regardless of whatever commitments Bitco makes, where the FUP is concerned, they have zero regard for the home users. When I signed up (2 odd yrs ago) they were good value, good speeds and FAIR. Now they are only good speed and even then for only 50min.

I have noticed that ANY speed over 51% triggers the FAP. Then about 60min later a brief spike (I suppose to see if I still want the speed I pay for) and then back to FUP.

This AM I read about the top bandwidth users and seeing 900Gb numbers (per month), for 4mb uncapped. Made me sick of Bitco!

If you want proof that all the commitments made to us mean zip to Bitco, simply read the updated (today) FAUP. Read below...


Customer behaviour which may cause an Internet service to be shaped or throttled includes using bandwidth intensive protocols such as peer-to-peer , network news transfer, or performing unattended downloads of large files. Throttling may also occur when a customer downloads at near 100% of the line capacity for approximately 1 hour. The throttling is then automatically removed after the excessive usage has stopped for a similar period of time.
During peak network traffic times BitCo may also block bandwidth intensive protocols such as peer-to-peer or network news transfer to ensure the user experience of other customers on BitCo’s network is not effected.

"I would print it out but my printer can not spool this sh1 either!!"
Click to expand...

Hi OCD,

As i said before in my previous post our network is not designed for unattended downloads, we focus on delivering the highest quality bandwidth.

If you want to torrent 24/7 and use 900GB+ per month then a best effort service like ADSL is the way to go for you

I am sure some of the other ISP's who offer highly contended bandwidth would be happy to tolerate this kind of usage

Mike
 
Hey Mike,

I'm a total noob so excuse the stupid question. How would my browsing experience differ from my Bitco connection to a ADSL connection (assuming both are running at the same speed)? At what stage does line contention have a noticeable effect on browsing and streaming experience. Will I notice the difference between your 1:1 service and eg. a 1:4 service?

thanks
 
Murmaider said:
So by this logic, because other people have found ways to abuse their providers network, Bitco must simply allow it? :wtf:




As far as I know, that has always been their FAUP, nothing looks different to me.

If your intention is to torrent or download 900GB a month, then maybe Bitco isn't the right solution for you. No one is pointing a gun at your head forcing you to use them. Personally I would love these "900GB a month" individuals to move to other networks so that bitco can remain fast, but that's my personal opinion.
Click to expand...

Hi Murmaider,

Thanks for the post

We feel the same way, users trying to bypass our FUP and do large unattended downloads typically ruin it for everyone.

I wish we didn't have to enforce any form of FUP but the amount of abuse we experience on a daily basis is scary and abusive proposals ruin it for everyone.

Many users are upset me have implemented a DPI (Deep packet Inspection) but this has completely optomized the network and the feedback from the gamers, streamers and general users has been fantastic

Mike
 
jvjaarsveld said:
I had BitCo installed in Rustenburg because of the great reviews. It seems that if you use your Internet for gaming, Bitco is the way to go...
For anything other than gaming...DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES USE BITCO!!!!!! I had slow internet when I was on Telkom ADSL, but BitCo is TERRIBLE.

You cannot use Facetime, you cannot use Skype, so how come they say video streaming is prioritised? And please don't fall for them telling you they don't throttle you after hours, I have done numerous tests and my P2P connecfions only run at ~4mbps on 5mbps from 12am to 1am, then only 2mbps for the remainder of the night so the throttling is 24hrs. Even opening simple website is slow.

When you contact helpdesk, they tell you that they only accept speedtest.mybroadband.co.za's tests, this is the only site working perfectly on this rubbish internet. When you try to open the forums page you get an error message that the page and any other page cannot be opened not even Google, I had to connect to MTN to open this forum. I did a speedtest on speedtest.mybroadband.co.za and got 3.4mbps and immediately afterwards tested on speedtest.net and only got 1mbps, so obviously speedtest.mybroadband.co.za gets priority on BitCo. At times everything works fine, but the majority of times everything is a sruggle.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't be a fool and sign a 2 year contract before you are 100% sure that BitCo's service is better in your area.

I never thought I would say it, but I miss my Telkom ADSL!
Click to expand...

HI jvjaarsveld,

This is quite concerning as we have 100's of happy customer in the North West.

All of the protocols listed above are prioritized on our network so i assume there is something horribly wrong with you connection.

Can i ask you to PM me your full name & if you can the ticket number you received when E-mailing [email protected] with the details on the problem you experienced.

i am confident we will resolve this for you as we have a large network team in North West

Mike
 
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