"cheap" unshaped ADSL

[sybawoods]

Apologies for starting yet another thread about unshaped / uncapped ADSL - new ones seem to be proliferating each day

I know quite a few people are interested in uncapped ADSL, but for those of you who are more interested in unshaped ADSL (i.e. low international latency), this may be of interest.

I have been using TELKOM's unshaped ADSL since launch and have posted before that - aprt from price - I am very happy with the performance. The cost is excessive though - R870p/m for 4 gigs.

I have been in contact with who sells unshaped accounts in 3 gig increments starting at R399p/m (as opposed to TELKOM's R870pm for 4 gigs)
I am particularly interested in the 6gig unshaped offer for R650pm - still cheaper than TELKOM. (http://www.saol.com/adsl.asp)


In email correspondence I asked them:

I currently own a TELKOMSA unshaped ADSL account (cost R870 p/m). I am very tempted to convert to your unshaped offer of R650 for 6 gigs of traffic.

Please can you tell me:
- whether your account is identical to the TELKOMSA one in terms of performance (i.e. same backbone?)
- are there any value added services (email, web-space etc)?
- does the cost include VAT?
- does it offer concurrent logins or would I need to use Internet Connection Sharing?

... and received the following reply:

Thank you for considering saol.com as your Internet Service Provider. I take pleasure in providing
you with the following solution.

Solution 1: 6 Gig ADSL Connection
Package : ADSL 6 Gigs Unshaped
Download Speed : 512 Kbps
Upload Speed : 256Kbps
Mailboxes : 5
ISP Price : R 650.00 per month (Inclusive)

Website Domain Registration, Hosting & Spooling
Domain Style : www.domainname.co.za
Registration Fee : R 299.00 Once Off
Annual Fees : R 114.00
Website Hosting Fees : R 114.00 per month (10Mb)

Our ADSL Connection runs on the same backbone as Telkoms. Therefore, the performance is identical to that of Telkom. Depending on the router you have installed you can connect up to 2 users simultaneously, provided that all of them are connected to the same router via cable/wireless.

So, prices include VAT, and they run on the same backbone as TELKOM, and it appears that no contracts are required (have emailed to confirm this, see no mention on the web-site or the quote regarding contracts).

On paper, seems like a relatively good deal to me, and may try it for a month. Sharing the info for anyone desperate for unshaped. They also offer an uncapped service.

One can't help but feel that something better - I'm an eternal optimist - is around the corner from TELKOM. There are far too many good deals springing up everywhere, and it is unlike TELKOM to allow more competitive offerings to be run over there backbone. R650pm for 6gigs unshaped vs R870pm for 4 gigs unshaped is a bit of a no-brainer for me. I have contacted TELKOM to ask if they can beat or match the offer and received the following enlightening reply:

Good day,

Thank you for your correspondence regarding ADSL. I have escalated your email to a relavant department a consultant will contact you shortly.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for any assistance.

cheers
Syba

 

[Celemasiko]

Unfortunately only 6 GB.... for 40 GB I would go for them..*gg*

*scream* unshaped, uncapped ....1700 Rand....aaaaaarrrgh....

 

[lewstherin]

Sybawoods, does one gets disconnected from the ADSL network once you reach your cap of 6GB, or can you still surf at full speed locally?
Cos if they offer 6GB unshaped + uncapped local (like normal Telkom 3GB accounts), then R650 is even more of a bargain - since one gets disconnected after 4GB on the Telkom unshaped option...

I am very interested about how saol is managing to do this from a technical perspective...

 

[stoke]

Thanks Syba. I completely forgot about SASOL's stuff. Please keep us informed.

 

[sybawoods]

Sybawoods, does one gets disconnected from the ADSL network once you reach your cap of 6GB, or can you still surf at full speed locally?
Cos if they offer 6GB unshaped + uncapped local (like normal Telkom 3GB accounts), then R650 is even more of a bargain - since one gets disconnected after 4GB on the Telkom unshaped option...

I am very interested about how saol is managing to do this from a technical perspective...

Good question lewstherin, never thought of that - will ask. I actually exceeded my 4 gig cap for the first time last month (March), 3 days before month end, after sharing my account with a desperate family member, and was pleasantly surprised to see that I in fact was *not* cut from the network. International was throttled like the basic shaped accounts, and local continued as usual. May just have been a TELKOM oversite though, someone else on the forum with the basic 2 Gig shaped account had the same experience in March.

 

[GougedEye]

Any further news on this? Looks quite nice at first glance. Anyone using it?

 

[sybawoods]

Any further news on this? Looks quite nice at first glance. Anyone using it?

Uurrgh, sorry GougedEye... I've been pretty lethargic with this. I actually just got a mail from these guys today asking about whether I would be processing the application form they sent me. Thing is, my gut feel is that TELKOM themselves will be releasing some cheaper packages within the next month or so, so I may just hold out to see how the cards fall. There's too much going on in the market and I'm sure TELKOM will respond soon (don't quote me ). I don't smaak the hassle of changing ISPs now, only to revert back again in another month or so... then again, maybe it's time to finally use that Gmail account and change ISP's on the fly. Decisions, decisions.

I "tested" an uncapped UUNET account about 2 or 3 months ago at a cost of R800+ with disappointing results, and am a bit jaded about risking another such test. Someobody else's turn

 

[Tinuva]

I use uunet for everyday stuff. Then I have a SAOL 3gb unshaped account just for playing WoW. Ok I got email with it and stuff which I do not use. But the unshaped performance is excatly that of telkom, just for a lot cheaper. It took like a few hours for my online application to go through. So far I havent had any problems really. I like this service and for international gaming its perfect.

 

[killadoob]

everyone should use gmail i think its the its the only web based email that you can get into outlook or for me thunderbird is that correct?

can you do that with yahoo?