Home Connect vs Cool Ideas

[User52]

Hi guys,

So we are getting fibre installed by Link Africa soon, and I need to decide on an ISP. I am concerned about the international speeds on CISP, as this is quite important to us. If any of you have speedtest results to local and international servers on CISP or Home Connect that would be great.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[User52]

Apologies, this should have been in ISP discussions...

 

[wtg]

We have both ISP's in my complex.
I have not had issues with HomeConnect. My friend staying in the complex is moving from Cool Ideas to HomeConnect due to issues(packet loss IIRC).
I can confirm from my experience that HomeConnect is reliable and their service is better than most ISP's. I've got a 50/50 line

 

[blunt]

We have both ISP's in my complex.
I have not had issues with HomeConnect. My friend staying in the complex is moving from Cool Ideas to HomeConnect due to issues(packet loss IIRC).
I can confirm from my experience that HomeConnect is reliable and their service is better than most ISP's. I've got a 50/50 line

What fibre line provider are you on and what kind of usage to you do monthly?

 

[User52]

What fibre line provider are you on and what kind of usage to you do monthly?

I’m on Link Africa. Attached is an image of all ISPs they have on their network.

Usage is around 1 TB per month, but sometimes more. Looking at 100/100 mbps service, but I spoke to Link Africa and they say 200 mbps is possible on CISP and MWEB as well. Not yet sure of Home Connect.

I was set on CISP as I had heard good things about them, but I have searched through these forums and seen people complaining about international speeds. This is my concern, as we use many services hosted in Europe.

 

[User52]

We have both ISP's in my complex.
I have not had issues with HomeConnect. My friend staying in the complex is moving from Cool Ideas to HomeConnect due to issues(packet loss IIRC).
I can confirm from my experience that HomeConnect is reliable and their service is better than most ISP's. I've got a 50/50 line

This sounds good. Any chance you tested international speeds to Europe/ UK recently?

Looks like Home Connect is the winner.

 

[wtg]

I stream on Kodi quite often - no issues or buffering (1080p).
I also use Nvidia gamestream now and then - the ping is around 90ms. Download speed internationally is between 85 to 99% of line speed consistently.
If speed is your concern, I think you will be fine with HomeConnect.

 

[sand_man]

Much of a muchness. Switched from CISP to Home-connect about 4 months ago. From 200/200 to 1000/100 so I can't really compare.

 

[blunt]

I've been in CISP for about a year now and push +- 1TB / month and have had very few issues. I don't game but the pings are always pretty good when I see gamers asking for people to ping certain servers etc.

I think a lot of issues are ISP+Line provider specific. My line provider is MTN and it's been fairly smooth sailing.

 

[User52]

Ok thanks guys, appreciate the input.

If you had the choice of 200/200mbps from CISP or 100/100 from Home Connect which would you choose?

I’m leaning towards getting the 200/200, just don’t want to be disappointed by international speeds. Tough decision.

I understand there is no 200/200 from other service providers (except MWEB) on Link Africa just yet. Probably soon I would think.

 

[PBCool]

Ok thanks guys, appreciate the input.

If you had the choice of 200/200mbps from CISP or 100/100 from Home Connect which would you choose?

I’m leaning towards getting the 200/200, just don’t want to be disappointed by international speeds. Tough decision.

I understand there is no 200/200 from other service providers (except MWEB) on Link Africa just yet. Probably soon I would think.

We haven't had any packet-loss related issues on Link Africas network as yet. All of the packet loss related issues always lead to the FNO.

 

[chefdude98]

We have both ISP's in my complex.
I have not had issues with HomeConnect. My friend staying in the complex is moving from Cool Ideas to HomeConnect due to issues(packet loss IIRC).
I can confirm from my experience that HomeConnect is reliable and their service is better than most ISP's. I've got a 50/50 line

I have 4 issues with Home Connect and I haven't signed up yet.

1.They only accept debit order payment.

2. I had to switch off Kaspersky to proceed on sign up page.

3. The bottom off their sign up page says 2016 & not 2019.

4. There isn't a rep on mybb.

The 2016 year at the bottom of page is concerning. They are an ISP, how do you not update your website.

@Jan Why do I have to switch off Kaspersky to continue on Home Connect sign up page & was is 2016 at the bottom page, instead of 2019?

 

[Jan]

What warning did Kaspersky give?

 

[wtg]

I have 4 issues with Home Connect and I haven't signed up yet.

1.They only accept debit order payment.

2. I had to switch off Kaspersky to proceed on sign up page.

3. The bottom off their sign up page says 2016 & not 2019.

4. There isn't a rep on mybb.

The 2016 year at the bottom of page is concerning. They are an ISP, how do you not update your website.

@Jan Why do I have to switch off Kaspersky to continue on Home Connect sign up page & was is 2016 at the bottom page, instead of 2019?

I've not had any issues regarding their website...or with their customer service. Also, you sign up on their portal, not their main website.

 

[Herbivore]

Hi all.

I'm also trying to decide between these 2 ISPs.

Vodacom recently installed fibre in my area. My choices for ISP are Cool Ideas, Home-Connect or Vodacom themselves.
As far as FUP and price goes, Cool Ideas and Home-Connect are front-runners.
I have emailed both of them on Friday asking for some details on their 10/5 uncapped options, Home-Connect has replied but Cool Ideas has yet to reply.

I am leaning towards Home-Connect because of their free installation and unlimited free calls (in RSA) VOIP service (add on to the normal VOIP subscription).
But Cool Ideas seems to have a lot more satisfied customers.

Is Cool Ideas so much better than Home-Connect that it is worth the additional R 1500 for installation?

Also does anyone use their VOIP services?
If so, how is the quality of service and customer support?
Is there any reason one of the Android softphone apps would not work on the ISP provided VOIP service?

 

[sand_man]

But Cool Ideas seems to have a lot more satisfied customers.

Based on? Definitely not Hellopeter and have you seen CISP feedback threads on this forum?

 

[de0n]

Hi all.

I'm also trying to decide between these 2 ISPs.

Vodacom recently installed fibre in my area. My choices for ISP are Cool Ideas, Home-Connect or Vodacom themselves.
As far as FUP and price goes, Cool Ideas and Home-Connect are front-runners.
I have emailed both of them on Friday asking for some details on their 10/5 uncapped options, Home-Connect has replied but Cool Ideas has yet to reply.

I am leaning towards Home-Connect because of their free installation and unlimited free calls (in RSA) VOIP service (add on to the normal VOIP subscription).
But Cool Ideas seems to have a lot more satisfied customers.

Is Cool Ideas so much better than Home-Connect that it is worth the additional R 1500 for installation?

Also does anyone use their VOIP services?
If so, how is the quality of service and customer support?
Is there any reason one of the Android softphone apps would not work on the ISP provided VOIP service?

Cool ideas wont charge the R1500 if you already have a vodacom fibre line installed. Accelerit is also on vodacom.

 

[orin76]

I have 4 issues with Home Connect and I haven't signed up yet.

1.They only accept debit order payment.

2. I had to switch off Kaspersky to proceed on sign up page.

3. The bottom off their sign up page says 2016 & not 2019.

4. There isn't a rep on mybb.

The 2016 year at the bottom of page is concerning. They are an ISP, how do you not update your website.

@Jan Why do I have to switch off Kaspersky to continue on Home Connect sign up page & was is 2016 at the bottom page, instead of 2019?

1. Are you sure about the debit order requirement. I've been with them for just over a month and I've been paying by EFT. Two payments made and no debit orders executed on my accounts.
2. I use ESET/NOD32 and had no issues signing up on their page. Maybe your issue is unique to Kaspersky.
3. Well spotted
4. If your support works well, you don't need a rep on MyBB. I've just had a slow speed issue and it tool less than an hour for them to call me after I logged a ticket on the customer portal. I had regular feedback via telephone throughout the day and the issue was resolved before I got home from work. I also got a phone call the next day checking if everything was still OK. Definitely 10/10 for support.

I have alot of respect of Cool Ideas, but I think they grew too quickly and are now struggling to maintain their initial service levels. We;ve seen it before with OpenWeb, WebAfrica, MWeb etc. HomeConnect is still small enough to keep service levels high. I hope they are able to keep it up as they grow more and more popular.

 

[SeaSickMama]

We haven't had any packet-loss related issues on Link Africas network as yet. All of the packet loss related issues always lead to the FNO.

That is a lie and i have posted the graphs to show it, mates on Ocotel, Vuma, Openserve and myself on MFN would drop at the exact same time this past weekend and had record packet loss of 10% on the final node overseas but use my vodacom 0% packet loss. So tell me thats the FNO only. Packet loss was non existent on the first 4 hopes and as its breaks out on your transit bam its there

I never have streaming issues etc with my line twitch works like a charm so no congestion where i am this was CISP issue. Plus a ticket thats logged on Saturday night still has no answer on a Tuesaday night. Afrihost would at least get back to you with something in a hour or so. Support is key in this business and yours sucks need a rep on MYBB to even handle some of it. Had Rodent once get one your staff to phone me due to their piss poor response they sent me so even he isnt up for it

 

[Napalm]

Remember gents. Just as any business fibre link.. People are paying for the uptime on these links and the bandwidth/data.

I think people must start putting pressure on the Fibre ISP's and the Company's who are linked to the Fibre links. If something is up with the fibre link, it must be resolved ASAP. Specially if multiple people are having issues. If there's speed or bandwidth issues with not sufficient capacity. people are paying for good quality speed.

Once the ISP see's things are getting congested or capacity is hitting that 80% and 90% marks even for 5min to 10min at a time in any given hour. Capacity must be upped. It means someone had speed issues somewhere rimming that last 10%.

Only when people are takes to task, is when things happen. If you see your ISP not coming back with good answers or making empty promises. The writing is on the wall. Time to move on.