Business broadband pricing compared: ADSL versus Fibre/Microwave

[jes]

Business broadband pricing compared: ADSL versus Fibre/Microwave

ARC Telecoms recently launched a Microwave/Fibre broadband solution aimed at the SME market, but can it compete against ADSL?

 

[Joe Average]

Eish !

 

[Johand]

I guess it is a difficult comparison because it is a business product. Most business do not really download a lot (e.g. torrents) they just want their network to be fast and reliable to maximize the productivity of their employees. Though the per GB charge is important I doubt if it is as important as it is for your average consumer. What I find promising is the symmetric nature of the connection, which might make VPN connections into the offices quite a bit better.

In general I think this product should rather be compared to Telkom's SDSL instead of ADSL.

 

[SomeoneEls]

I've never understood why a company would make there higher capped accounts more expensive then the basic account + out of bundle

100GB R8,932
30GBB R5,341 + 70GB OOB R3150 = R8491

Am I missing something here?

Bonded ADSL does seem to be a better deal unless you need a synchronous connection.
Wouldn't Neotel Fibre fall in this sort of SME price range and better value than all of the connections listed in the article?NeoBroadband fibre

 

[system32]

The problem with ADSL is the contention ratio in Telkom's infrastructure.
They advertise 20:1 as an allowed contention ratio.
http://www.telkom.co.za/products_services/dsl/conditions.html

ADSL regulations as per Government Gazette no:29141
The contention ratio for ADSL is 20:1.
Contention ratios are an international norm and all Telkom's make use of it.
The contention ratio does not remain constant as it fluctuates as the service grows and more customers and infrastructure are added.

So Telkom only guarantees 0.2Mbps on a 4Mbps ADSL.
The contention / congestion excludes any ISP contention / congestion.

My 4Mbps ADSL drops to 0.2Mbps during peak times - i.e. when I need to use it - I can't.

 

[valmore]

I've never understood why a company would make there higher capped accounts more expensive then the basic account + out of bundle

100GB R8,932
30GBB R5,341 + 70GB OOB R3150 = R8491

Am I missing something here?

Bonded ADSL does seem to be a better deal unless you need a synchronous connection.
Wouldn't Neotel Fibre fall in this sort of SME price range and better value than all of the connections listed in the article?NeoBroadband fibre

The out of bundle data is shaped

 

[jammio]

My 4Mbps ADSL drops to 0.2Mbps during peak times - i.e. when I need to use it - I can't.

+1

 

[Tomtomtom]

I'd estimate multiple redundant/bonded ADSL lines a better guarantee of reliability than a piece of paper with "SLA" written on it.

Or better yet, have both.

Further, I'm not sure it's a good bet that SMEs in general value reliability and symmetry over value and performance.

 

[MickeyD]

The problem with ADSL is the contention ratio in Telkom's infrastructure.
They advertise 20:1 as an allowed contention ratio.

So Telkom only guarantees 0.2Mbps on a 4Mbps ADSL.

Ummm... wrong. http://www.telkom.co.za/products_services/dsl/conditions.html

minimum 640kbps, maximum 4096/10016kbps

 

[SomeoneEls]

I'd estimate multiple redundant/bonded ADSL lines a better guarantee of reliability than a piece of paper with "SLA" written on it.

Or better yet, have both.

Further, I'm not sure it's a good bet that SMEs in general value reliability and symmetry over value and performance.

The multiple redundant lines is a good idea but there's still going to be a single point of failure at the exchange.

I think I read on this forum that MTN data provide a fibre service with ADSL backup which you only pay for when the fibre is down (the +-R413 line I assume you'd have to pay for no matter what)

Ummm... wrong. http://www.telkom.co.za/products_services/dsl/conditions.html

That's the speed your line sync's at not what you're guaranteed to get over it.

If his speed tests drop to 0.2Mbps consistently throughout the day then it's most probably one of two things, either your exchange has almost no backhaul and gets congested easily or your ISP account is pretty crappy, have you tried a different account maybe?

 

[MickeyD]

That's the speed your line sync's at not what you're guaranteed to get over it.

640kbps is the guaranteed DL speed on a 4096mbps line.