Confused by ADSL options

[Genesistt]

Hi guys

I'm a newbie when it comes to ADSL. I'm sick of my dial-up and want to go faster, but I'm in a bad area for wireless. I don't have a laptop, so 3G isn't optimal for me. That leaves ADSL.

So I went to Telkom to find out about their Do Broadband and it sounds great on paper, but I've been burned by stuff that sounds good on paper and then it costs me a fortune in reality.

I want to use the ADSL for downloading music, games and video and general surfing. I don't want to start out with a 10gig account. I'd rather check out my actual usage in an average month and then I can always upgrade. I don't have a pain paying for extra gigs in the meantime if I go over my limit.

But I'm still stuck on who I should go with and how that will influence my Telkom account.

Also, I've read that people say you shouldn't sign a 24 month contract. Rather buy the modem and work month-to-month. That sounds good, but do you have to take their modem that the ISP offers you or should you get your own? And if so, which is the best? And how much do they cost?

I'm so confused and I'm hoping someone here will have some advice for me, before I sign my life away to some ISP and can't get out of it again.

 

[.Froot.]

It's really nothing to lose sleep over with. If you only want something for general surfing, get something in the line of a 384kbps line, obviously faster if you are willing to pay more. 384kbps-->R150pm. Then comes the router/modem. A 4-port adsl router is the best and actually doesn't cost much more than an ADSL modem. You can buy almost any of the available ones, but the Netgear and DLink are good.
Don't even consider 24-month contract. You might shoot yourself. I was lucky to get a free modem without having to sign a contract (they had a DIY installation special). Month to month doesn't cost more either.
For ISPs, you have a vast range. Assuming you only want international (ie same price for local and intl) and are happy with shaped (http and ftp and mail have speed preference to p2p, etc), you can get something like a 3-5GB account. It usually goes for around R65-75/GB, depending on the size and the ISP. OpenWeb are very popular, Imaginet is pretty cool as well. Not really familiar with some of the others. TelkomISP does have the advantage of getting 10GB local free per intl GB, but Telkom is Telkom. Useless.

 

[fz1]

I would definitely not sign any contracts.

I am also of the view that you should be free in choosing the "components" of your connection yourself. In other words, you should be able to choose your line, ISP and your modem/router independently.

If you just want to "get your feet wet" with regards to bandwidth products, I would recommend trying prepaid bandwidth from www.axxess.co.za You get instant access and it does not expire. There's three products available: Shaped, Semi-Shaped and Unshaped (in order of increasing price). I think the semi-shaped is the best balance of the products as it provides quicker international speeds (at least on a 4Mbps line) and lower latency than the shaped offering. Not to say that shaped is bad, though. For general browsing it's fine. Once you decide on shaped vs. semi-shaped vs. unshaped, shop around at some of the other ISPs to see which offer the cheapest monthly packages with the amount of bandwidth you think you will need (this will typically work out to be cheaper per GB than continuously buying prepaid bandwidth): www.webafrica.co.za ; www.nexus.co.za ; www.openweb.co.za are some of the best, in my opinion...

As for how this "influences your Telkom account" - I'm not sure what you mean? You can get your line from Telkom and then use anyone as an ISP. Heck, you can even get your (ADSL) line directly from an ISP and not Telkom if you want to...

You can use any modem/router you like. You don't have to take the one Telkom or your ISP offers. I don't know if there is one that is "the best" but I have always used Netgear (specifically the DG834GT) and it has been great. Other people on here have great experiences with it too. It's a little pricey at about R1000 but it includes a wireless router and built-in ADSL modem which is convenient. I think typically, though, you are looking at between R500-R1000 expenditure for a modem/router.

Hope this helps...

Also see: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=54472