Communication between WBS & iBurst Customers

[Mayh3m]

Just had another disconnection even though I was running a ping. I was getting very bad pings, the lowest about 300.

The "Continous Ping Solution" has never worked for me - in fact I seem to find the disconnections more frequent when using it. Might just be bad luck, but it is definetly not a solution!

 

[guest2013-1]

Mayhem, I won't be suprised that they thought people (or virus software) was the cause of the constant pinging, and to curb that, installed something to disconnect you in case it did happen.

Mmmmm conspircies!

 

[Jerry]

http://www.iburst.co.za/networkstatus.php

Wow, well what do you know...thanks WBS!!!

 

[Grimsqueaker]

Good point....... I will cease the silliness forthwith.

 

[TheRoDent]

Alright. Here's the next bit of advice:

Stop messing with your modem's MTU's, stop looking at getting antennae, stop running 24/7 pings, and stop theorizing about tower synchronisation issues.

It's should be quite clear to you at this point that Shaun Green's only role here is to placate people a little bit, feed them tiny pieces of information (just enought to keep them happy) whilst not divulging any actual details of the problem or when progress is going to be made.

Sit back, and wait until it's fixed, or do something else with your time. There is nothing you can personally do to help the situation except bitch at Shaun Green. And all he's going to be doing is to try and pacify you some more. It would probably be more effective to pray to Buddha on behalf of the Kyocera staff.

The problem is WBS's. NOT YOURS. If the reason you're posting here is to try and share your experience, then good. That's what forums are for. But if you're here under some malformed impression that anything you can do will help, or make the problem go away faster then rest assure that you are probably wrong.

Note though, that I think what WBS are doing from a "customer PR" point of view with Shaun's involvement is a great thing. This is an unprecedented move for an ISP and should be applauded. Just realize that the corporate entity behind him is paying him to do this, and that WBS is simply protecting it's public image and trying to negate the bad press. It's all a game.

Again, look at the service from a personal perspective. It's now February. They've been testing for almost a year. It's still not 100%. Is it worth it?

 

[Karel_01]

Dunno where else to ask this and have not really found anything (may have missed it) but has anyone tried using the autoconfiguration on the iBurst UTL it has set my connection to MTU 1468, MRU 1468 MSS 1428 is this just some thumb suck value or is it actually communicating with the BS and setting itself up correctly??

 

[Gatecrasher]

Again, look at the service from a personal perspective. It's now February. They've been testing for almost a year. It's still not 100%. Is it worth it?

Mine is 97%. Not perfect like your ADSL, but cheaper and faster.

 

[TheRoDent]

Mine is 97%. Not perfect like your ADSL, but cheaper and faster.

Cheaper? Really? Go do your calcs on DSL384 and you'll see that it isn't actually cheaper at all. We can debate the "faster"...

If email and browsing at 1mb/s is your trip, then awesome. But if you're a serious internet user then http and smtp is simply just not enough, and 64k for "everything else" sucks.

 

[Gatecrasher]

At the other end of the spectrum is my Burst-i, and my gut feeling is that I need to switch to anything more reliable (i.e. Telkomonopoly's HomeDSL384), again a personal opinion .

Yep, I don't know how you've stuck it out so long. I wish your experience was my experience, because ironically it was mostly your comments on this forum (Pre-January) that convinced me to get Iburst.

I've had frustrations, but on the whole its been very, very good, especially since I moved my modem outside.

I suppose it is quite right that to make things better we must focus on the bad. But I can't help but get miffed when those who are not even using the service descend upon us, selectively pick up on people's frustrations, ignore anything good, and tell us (indirectly) how superior their opinions and choices are, and what a f**ked up service we have. It's a gut reaction I get, which I'm mostly able to ignore, but not always...

Now I don't go onto the Sentech forum, or the ADSL forum and pan those services, because frankly I have no personal experience of them. All I can do when I go there is read and learn. (And when I do I am usually quite thankful that I am with Iburst.)

I think there has been some significant progress this week. There are still 6 weeks to launch. My connection has been up for 1 day and 10 hours now. I'm getting 1100+ on the Telkom speed tests. I'm getting 120-130KB/s D/Ls. latency is good. I haven't been overbilled.... yet.

Is it worth it? Yes! I was spending just as much on a crappy ISDN 64k, with line rental, ISP, and call charges. I'm now doing it all 16x faster, 24/7. Of course it's worth it. For me.

But just as it's important to take WBS to task over sloppy service and poor communication, it is also important to know that the technology can and does work.

It really is a great product, but maybe WBS isn't such a great company.

There are many variables that determine whether each individual user is getting a decent service and their money's worth. More variables, I think, than any company can handle. Take the actual location of evey single user, for example... Its not like selling soda pop.

Where I think this forum should be going is sharing actual experiences to help each other get the most out of Iburst, despite WBS.

SO IT REALLY IS about finding the right location for your modem, using the best software. Relfectors, antennas, MTU tweaks and configs, the works, etc. That's what makes forums so great.

I don't think I've bought a hi-tech product in the last couple of years where I haven't been to an on-line forum and gotten so much more out that product.

However tempting it is, we just can't blame WBS for everything. At the end of the day, they offer a product. It may be what you need. It may not be. They can only offer it. You have the choice to take it or leave it.

And once you have it, it is also your responsibility to get the most out of it.

Now I'm rambling on. It must be this fantastic Ardbeg single malt I'm busy quaffing.

So to sum up, we can't just blame. We also have to put something in in order to get something out. Success or failure is our own responsibility.

Ultimatley, the problem IS YOURS and MINE, Not WBS's.

So if you want to sit back, do nothing, and wait for everything to magically come right, I can recommend a very nice Scotch...

 

[TheRoDent]

/me shakes head.

Now I don't go onto the Sentech forum, or the ADSL forum and pan those services, because frankly I have no personal experience of them. All I can do when I go there is read and learn. (And when I do I am usually quite thankful that I am with Iburst.)

Just remember that the theme of this site is broadband connectivity in general, and me toting ADSL as a reliable option in this forum isn't out of line. In fact, it's EXACTLY on topic. So don't try and create a little iBurst niche in this forum for iBurst users only. Anyone is allowed to comment. It's called cross-posting, and if it get's out of hand it can be irritating, but in general it is perfectly allowable.

Where I think this forum should be going is sharing actual experiences to help each other get the most out of Iburst, despite WBS.

Can't agree more on that. It appears that indeed you can make sense at times.

SO IT REALLY IS about finding the right location for your modem, using the best software. Relfectors, antennas, MTU tweaks and configs, the works, etc. That's what makes forums so great.

I'll take some of that Scotch you're having because it's obviously going to your head. Sharing those technical details is exactly why these forums exist yes. But one can only usefully investigate tweaks and config when there is a STABLE base to work from. When you tweak an unstable system, all you're going to be doing is to create more instability and more questions for yourself.

This is why I said that attempting to find problems at the end-user, at this point of WBS's game, is pointless seeing as there is no stable base to work, or test from. The problem is 100% WBS's. They've even frigging ADMITTED IT!

And once you have it, it is also your responsibility to get the most out of it.

Jeesus. How would you feel if Eskom told you that it's up to you to get the most out of your power, you have to filter the AC power into your house yourself using expensive rectifiers at your own cost, and that the voltage may fluctuate wildly between 300 and 4000Volts, but that's OK, because you can get the most out of it yourself?

Do you have any inkling how ridiculous your statement is?

Now I'm rambling on. It must be this fantastic Ardbeg single malt I'm busy quaffing.

Ultimatley, the problem IS YOURS and MINE, Not WBS's.

Less malt, more sense please.

I think it's perfectly fair to blame a service provider for providing a service that doesn't work as advertised.

 

[rudids]

Is it just me or does anyone else here realise that you get faster speeds with dialup? I mean all the iBurst is good for at the moment is for browsing the myADSL forums (due to the fact that I am sure they are caching it at WBS already) and iBurst.co.za (which is only because its hosted locally at WBS). Other than that it really is good for nothing.

At the moment I can't check my mail, use MSN or make calls using SKYPE which are three of the main reasons I got it (personally).

I am currently testing iBurst for 3 major corporates and I must tell you that the report is going to be extremely damning. Anyone even considering iBurst at the moment should be lined up and shot.

 

[guest2013-1]

its so damn slow..... cant even stream a 12kb radio station from a local source (posix)

 

[TheRoDent]

file:     star.trek.enterprise.415.hdtv-lol.[BT].avi                                   |
| size:     366,606,336 (350 MB)                                                         |
| dest:     /root/star.trek.enterprise.415.hdtv-lol.[BT].avi                             |
| progress: ###################_________________________________________________________ |
| status:   finishing in 1:43:47 (25.8%)                                                 |
| dl speed: 50.2 KB/s                                                                    |
| ul speed: 62.4 KB/s

That's from an int'l torrent.

 

[fergus]

TheRodent: Could you kindly inform me how to download torrents from the shell like that? I know there's a python script for it but I can't remember what its called.

 

[TheRoDent]

The client is called bittornado. It has a curses based front-end.

 

[koffiejunkie]

fergus, also look at ctorrent - http://ctorrent.sourceforege.net

 

[slimothy]

yeah I like ctorrent because its compiled, only problem is its based on an older version of the protocol, so you might get an error on a few new trackers

 

[BCO]

ic, you are one patient SOB. I woulda given up on iBurst a long time ago if I were you.

 

[TheRoDent]

If that doesn't work out then I'm ordering ADSL.

May as well apply now....

 

[Mayh3m]

Shaun, please could you give us an update:

• Disconnections - some iBursters still experiencing disconnect problems (after 2005-02-17) on the Midrand & Roodepoort base-stations. Please could you get someone to unclear those base-stations as resolved on the iBurst Incidents page.

• 
  
  IC - This may be resolved on the Roodepoort towers. No disconnections experienced last night. Was connected for 11 hours straight. Let's give it till the weekend when I usually leave it connected 24/7. Then I will have a clear indication it has been resolved, but def looks better so far.