Help me choose my adsl modem + ISP please

H

Happy Camper

Expert Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
1,510
Reaction score
3
Location
Randburg
Finally taking the plunge and getting adsl, decided to quit Multichoice and go strictly online, not sure if that's a great move or not, will have to see... :D

As the title suggests I need some help choosing an adsl solution that will be good for me, I have the telkom line at home already and it is convertable to adsl and does support 4mb speeds according to telkom support desk.

I am in Randburg, what adsl modem should I go for (going for self install option on 512 account) and who will stock these (and approx price if possible)?

Besides for the modem is there anything else I will require for the self install?

I will mainly be using the account for downloading media (mainly video files from youtube, torrents etc etc), which ISP should I choose? I'd preferably like to go for an uncapped option (pro's cons?)

Is it better to go line rental with telkom and buy bandwidth from an isp or rather go with an all inclusive deal from one of the isp's who offer this :confused:

Thanks a stack for any advice offered, much appreciated. :o

Regards
 
You definitely came to the right place for some advice.

I haven't used a lot of routers to be able to recommend which would be absolutely best but at the moment I have experience no problems using my VOX Adsl router/phone (it goes for a once off of R300 then a monthly R45 excluding calls for the VOIP ability with the phone.) It doubles as a wireless router which works like a charm to connect my 2 laptops as well as my Wii. There is no contract so you should be able to opt out of the R45 a month billing and just use the router ability of the phone.

As for ISPs I would HIGHLY recommend Mweb. They do not punish you for downloading a lot and with all the recent international downtime they still managed to offer a fantastic backup service. They will shape your downloading during office hours so you should see speeds of around 50-150kb/s during the day and then speeding up to 150-line speed at night. Although if you're going to use torrents to download please make sure you get PeerBlock to stop nasty agency of monitoring your downloads and sending you some annoying warning/legal letters. I would also recommend paying a few rand extra and getting a service called Downstorm. How it works is that you buy space on their server, you download your torrents to their server (avoiding those nasty letters again) and then download your torrents full line speed through normal HTTP downloads. I easily get 400kb/s + per download going through this method. You have unlimited bandwidth and will only be limited to the amount of space you buy on their server.

I would not recommend taking the ADSL Line + ISP bundle setup, since if you want to move your line again it is a hassle and will take plenty of time. For the few rands you'll be saving it will cause you issues later if for example the ISP you're going with starts causing problems.

Lastly if you do choose Mweb, signing up via phone is much faster then over the internet. Have your ID + Telkom bill handy to email to them (for RICA purposes) and you'll be good to go in no time!

Just some information extra information on the other ISPs and their uncapped offerings. Most use the IS network and will offer basically the same service, although there has been plenty of complaints on line speed and throttling. If you want to pay R1000+ you can look at the Axxess express++ options or some Business uncapped accounts which work pretty well!

Hope this helps!
 
Happy Camper said:
Finally taking the plunge and getting adsl, decided to quit Multichoice and go strictly online, not sure if that's a great move or not, will have to see... :D

As the title suggests I need some help choosing an adsl solution that will be good for me, I have the telkom line at home already and it is convertable to adsl and does support 4mb speeds according to telkom support desk.

I am in Randburg, what adsl modem should I go for (going for self install option on 512 account) and who will stock these (and approx price if possible)?

Besides for the modem is there anything else I will require for the self install?

I will mainly be using the account for downloading media (mainly video files from youtube, torrents etc etc), which ISP should I choose? I'd preferably like to go for an uncapped option (pro's cons?)

Is it better to go line rental with telkom and buy bandwidth from an isp or rather go with an all inclusive deal from one of the isp's who offer this :confused:

Thanks a stack for any advice offered, much appreciated. :o

Regards
Click to expand...

Also looking for a cost effective modem/router. Only looking to connect max 3 computers all wireless. Live in a small flat, so range is not an issue. Looking for something that will work first time - planning to do self install.
 
I forgot to mention you will need an ADSL filter for your self-installation. You can buy it from quite a number of stores, especially telkom outlets.
 
I use a NETGEAR DG834G modem/router. No issues so far, though it tends to run a bit hot. ADSL, networking and wireless worked out the box.
Cost R900 something. I don't see the point of just getting a modem, you're bound to add more devices later. This came with an ADSL fliter in the box.

Don't get any bundles, keep your line with Telescum.
Probably Mweb is your best bet currently for uncapped. I've used axxess uncapped and it was total cr@p. They have dropped it from their offerings. (Edit: That is, they now only offer their original uncapped express accounts)
 
Last edited:
Cisco's Linksys WAG120N is awesome... Should set you back around R600 and has 150Mbps wireless-N.
 
Vonnii said:
You definitely came to the right place for some advice.

I haven't used a lot of routers to be able to recommend which would be absolutely best but at the moment I have experience no problems using my VOX Adsl router/phone (it goes for a once off of R300 then a monthly R45 excluding calls for the VOIP ability with the phone.) It doubles as a wireless router which works like a charm to connect my 2 laptops as well as my Wii. There is no contract so you should be able to opt out of the R45 a month billing and just use the router ability of the phone.

As for ISPs I would HIGHLY recommend Mweb. They do not punish you for downloading a lot and with all the recent international downtime they still managed to offer a fantastic backup service. They will shape your downloading during office hours so you should see speeds of around 50-150kb/s during the day and then speeding up to 150-line speed at night. Although if you're going to use torrents to download please make sure you get PeerBlock to stop nasty agency of monitoring your downloads and sending you some annoying warning/legal letters. I would also recommend paying a few rand extra and getting a service called Downstorm. How it works is that you buy space on their server, you download your torrents to their server (avoiding those nasty letters again) and then download your torrents full line speed through normal HTTP downloads. I easily get 400kb/s + per download going through this method. You have unlimited bandwidth and will only be limited to the amount of space you buy on their server.

I would not recommend taking the ADSL Line + ISP bundle setup, since if you want to move your line again it is a hassle and will take plenty of time. For the few rands you'll be saving it will cause you issues later if for example the ISP you're going with starts causing problems.

Lastly if you do choose Mweb, signing up via phone is much faster then over the internet. Have your ID + Telkom bill handy to email to them (for RICA purposes) and you'll be good to go in no time!

Just some information extra information on the other ISPs and their uncapped offerings. Most use the IS network and will offer basically the same service, although there has been plenty of complaints on line speed and throttling. If you want to pay R1000+ you can look at the Axxess express++ options or some Business uncapped accounts which work pretty well!

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Thanks for that mate, much appreciated! ++

:)
 
My pleasure Happy Camper, good luck getting everything setup! And just shout on the forums if you need help, there's plenty of people here who has gone through most of the issues already. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X