Broadband Ratings Report: First Draft

[aman]

well done... very good report. the comparison to overseas products is a nice touch... maybe someone at Telkom who can read might catch the hint

 

[Charles]

Broadband Ratings

Great - One comment though I would include New Zealand in the international ratings as they compare most to SA in terms of the possible economies of scale achieved by telecommunication providers. E.g. they have the roughly the same amount of people as SA earning a non-subsistence wage.

 

[jamieb]

link to main site

rpm, please place a link to the doc on the main site. thnks.

 

[rpm]

Second draft

Hi folks

I have uploaded the second draft of the broadband ratings report. The link is:

http://home.telkomsa.net/rudolph/bbr.pdf

There were only a few small changes from the comments in this thread. You are welcome to further comment on the report as the final report will only be released after the weekend.

Regards,

RPM

 

[brian finch]

home dsl 384

Hi folks

I am glad to announce that the first draft of the March Broadband Ratings Report is now available. It can be downloaded from: http://home.telkomsa.net/rudolph/march_br.pdf

Your comments/suggestions will be of great value. The last time your feedback ensured a good final product, so please comment on the report!

Regards,

RPM

the support offered by telkom is, in my experience, almost non existent since their call centre number 0800375375 is so poorly serviced. I have waited for 30mins + without reply.
I have written to Telkom Customer Care Manager Bonolo Namane on 2 occasions (in Feb and March) but have yet to receive a reply.
Have other users had similar experience ????

 

[Gaz{M}]

Much better! I get a general 'feel' from the report that although the DSL offerings are pretty good, they are still horribly overpriced. The international section is brilliant as it truly reflects how poor our broadband is in comparsion to other countries. And best of all, there's no way that Telkom can bitch about you comparing us to '1st world countries' as you have egypt and brazil in there. The whole 'SA is far from USA/Europe' excuse is also killed by the australian offering. Well done to the report team!

 

[ic]

Have any questions? If you have any queries regarding this report, the ratings or general broadband services, simply head over to our forums on www.myadsl.co.za or www.mybroadband.co.za. Our knowledgeable members are always willing to give you a straightforward and honest answer to any questions you may have.

I feel it is important to extend the text a little by mentioning that the report cannot be expected to state every big & small difference (ITO Pros & Cons) between the various broadband services, therefore it is essential that broadband newbies do ask forumites to confirm whether any particular service will meet their own individual expectations & needs. - this is where forumite expertise is soo beneficial - helping newbies to make the right choice first time, rather than finding out that the service they chose does not do everything they signed up for.

I am going to be a bit two-faced here on the whole analog line thing, and suggest that the report mentions that Telkom's ADSL services give you a telephone number and the ability to make/receive ordinary telephone calls, although it is a separate compulsory monthly rental fee. I say this bcos there will be many broadband newbies that are confused about whether you still get to keep your telephone line and number when converting to ADSL.

This is advised since it gives better value for money and subsequently lifted the overall percentage of this service from 73% to 74%.

I'm not too sure about the wording here bcos the overall Local percentage rating shows 73% in the ratings block. Perhaps this should read something like:

A 3GB ADSL ISP account is advised with HomeDSL384, and lifts the overall HomeDSL384 2GB percentage from 73% to 74%.

I know this is nit-picking, but in the interests of consistency use the same headings throughout:

• Who should get it?
• Who should use it?
• Who should get this?

I know this is also nit-picking but I personally would prefer "potentially always on" instead of "always on", otherwise the impression is that uptime is always 100%, and broadband newbies might be confused and not understand that one can disconnect at will.

Sentech’s MyWireless 128 provides you with always on, mobile Internet.

From what forumites have posted, the ability of MyWireless to maintain a connection on the move is questionable - perhaps it does not do automatic tower switching like a Cellular phone does (or allegedly iBurst) or perhaps a coverage issue. This is supported by the numerous comments about losing the connection if the IPWireless modem is moved even 1cm, as well as poor coverage which generally requires purchasing expensive external antenna solutions or making a cantenna. MyWireless seems fine for a sustained stationary connection that can be moved to another location with coverage - I hope that makes sense. I think this is important bcos anyone considering MyWireless might be under the impression that they can make a VoIP call with a laptop whilst on the move - and without having the connection drop. Perhaps the text should also mention that coverage is not as good as it should/could be.

While it is not as well priced as the MyWireless 128 service,

Probably better if it was worded:

While it is more expensive than the MyWireless 128 service,

One thing I feel strongly about is mentioning that the minimum contract period with Sentech MyWireless is 12 months (although some resellers do allegedly offer 30 Day Notice options), and that WBS iBurst does have a 30 Day Notice contract option or 24 month contract. Knowing that one does not have to sign a 24 month contract is actually a very important thing that broadband newbies need to know - especially where Telkom is concerned, so perhaps the availability (or unavailability) of a 30 Day Notice contract needs to be stated for every local service.

Also, in the Sentech MyWireless128 and MyWireless256 rating blocks, I suggest changing the Pros from:

Price, unlimited usage

to:

Unlimited usage, Price

My motivation is that it underscores the fact that the unlimited usage is the reason why the price is comparatively good.

On page 6 under Vodacom 3G, I think it is essential to mention the following mobility aspects of the service:

• The Vodacom 3G service is a truly mobile solution due to the ability to automatically fallback to GPRS in areas that do not yet have 3G coverage.
• International Roaming - this is the only broadband service that actually allows you to be on the move & connected beyond the borders of South Africa.

In the "GRAPHICAL RESULTS SUMMARY" column, under "Monthly Cost" there appear to be 3 unnamed services - not sure which is supposed to be MW128, iBurst and DSL512s[haped].

Lastly, please accept my apologies for only making these comments now - I started reviewing the 1st draft and never really finished due to work pressures .

On the whole this is an excellent report with great content and presentation that makes for quick & easy access to comparative broadband service information - extremely well done RPM & Beyers .

PS: There was something else that I have now forgotten - methinks related to MyWireless - if I remember I will post it .

 

[ic]

Hi RPM & Beyers

I was just wondering if you could confirm how much of an effect the iBurst 3GB cap had on its overall rating% - if you get a moment I would appreciate it if you could run the numbers through the formula for:

• iBurst 3GB cap on international traffic, but totally uncapped local traffic .
• iBurst totally uncapped on both international and local traffic.

This is in no way important or urgent - just curious to see if we can get WBS to see how their rating would improve...:evilconsumergrin:

 

[beyers]

Hi ic

Since the rating system is a comparison between the relative performance of the various broadband offerings, changes in some of the factors may have an influence on all the services' ratings (for the local comparison at least). Hence we should be very careful with hypothetical situations.

In any case, I had a check. If iBurst is made uncapped, its percentage is 50% (other services' ratings drop just more than 1 percentage point).

 

[ic]

...
http://home.telkomsa.net/rudolph/bbr.pdf
...

Hi RPM

Just wondering if that url is the latest/final version of the March 2005 report?

Regards

ic.

 

[rpm]

Indeed