I HATE Telkom - Last Mile Alternatives

J

jacksback

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2009
Messages
369
Hello my fellow South Africans

Like so many of you, I HATE TELKOM!!!! :mad: They are a monopoly so are greedy, uncompetitive, lack vision, and by their unwillingness to allow competition, are actually stalling digital growth in this country. It’s scary to think that after all these years not one executive at Telkom can understand the negative impact they are having on this country as a whole, probably because they too busy counting our hard earned Rands!

Luckily for us, there are some alternatives to Last Mile.

Hello AMOBIA!

Just signed up with them and are extremely happy so far. Got their 2meg/2gb package for R299 a month. That’s right! R299 a month for a 2 meg connection. Compare that to Telkom’s Do1 “384kbps + analogue line rental” and I’m getting 6 x faster at the same price plus I get an extra gig of data. Now I know that some of you might need your phone, lucky for you Amobia are busy trialling a VOIP service which, when rolled out, will set you back roughly an extra R50 a month. I’ve been told their local and international calls will be cheaper than Telkom as well and you'll have your own local number, 021, 011, etc.

Voice prices here -> http://pbx03.amobia.com/tariffs.php

Now for the catch! You do need an antenna which costs R1999 including installation. They are however willing to take 50% upfront for the equipment and the remainder in Month 2, so you can split the install over two months. Another bonus is that their equipment is future proof, they in fact won the contract to supply internet connectivity to the FIFA reporters. Each one was given a “GUARANTEED” 9meg connection. Unfortunately their service is only available in Cape Town, Johannesburg and PE for now. I should also mention that I paid my installation fee on Saturday and they installed on Monday, awesome service!

Here is my speed test I did at 9pm last night - I’m currently 6kms away from the base station and got an impressive 47ms ping.



And here are some downloads I did

224KB/sec
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=TsDwjsr

266KB/sec
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gx8Axr9

Now don’t get me wrong, there were some dips in the speed but apparently my base station is congested and a new one is getting activated within the next two weeks. When the new one goes live, I can look forward to constantly fast downloading speeds.

Anyone else have some recommendations for last mile?
 
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W

wheunis

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
971
And yet... another company with ZERO coverage in Mpumalanga...

This crap is getting old, fast.
 
J

jacksback

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2009
Messages
369
Like any newish networking business, these things take time. Maybe someone will respond and suggest another group local to yourself.
 
H

Happy Camper

Expert Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
1,510
Scuse my ignorance here but if you get that antennae could it also be used to get onto the WUG?
 
R

Runeblood

Active Member
Joined
May 10, 2010
Messages
92
Can you use a data package from another ISP and what are the latencies like international and local?

Looks really good, tad expensive for initial install but if the latencies are good and speeds constant i might have a look at it.
 
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J

jacksback

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2009
Messages
369
Runeblood said:
Can you use a data package from another ISP and what are the latencies like international and local?

Looks really good, tad expensive for initial install but if the latencies are good and speeds constant i might have a look at it.
Click to expand...

I think you can use another ISP because they have a "Last Mile" option when calling their Support number. Speak to one of their support or sales guys to find out.

Regarding latencies, I got a 49ms ping to Johannesburg and a 400ms to London BUT remember that my high site has been identified as a problem site so things will improve when they move me. I'll report back any differences when they do.
 
O

Osiris85

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
Messages
838
jacksback said:
Hello my fellow South Africans

Like so many of you, I HATE TELKOM!!!! :mad: They are a monopoly so are greedy, uncompetitive, lack vision, and by their unwillingness to allow competition, are actually stalling digital growth in this country. It’s scary to think that after all these years not one executive at Telkom can understand the negative impact they are having on this country as a whole, probably because they too busy counting our hard earned Rands!

Luckily for us, there are some alternatives to Last Mile.

Hello AMOBIA!

Just signed up with them and are extremely happy so far. Got their 2meg/2gb package for R299 a month. That’s right! R299 a month for a 2 meg connection. Compare that to Telkom’s Do1 “384kbps + analogue line rental” and I’m getting 6 x faster at the same price plus I get an extra gig of data. Now I know that some of you might need your phone, lucky for you Amobia are busy trialling a VOIP service which, when rolled out, will set you back roughly an extra R50 a month. I’ve been told their local and international calls will be cheaper than Telkom as well and you'll have your own local number, 021, 011, etc.

Voice prices here -> http://pbx03.amobia.com/tariffs.php

Now for the catch! You do need an antenna which costs R1999 including installation. They are however willing to take 50% upfront for the equipment and the remainder in Month 2, so you can split the install over two months. Another bonus is that their equipment is future proof, they in fact won the contract to supply internet connectivity to the FIFA reporters. Each one was given a “GUARANTEED” 9meg connection. Unfortunately their service is only available in Cape Town, Johannesburg and PE for now. I should also mention that I paid my installation fee on Saturday and they installed on Monday, awesome service!

Here is my speed test I did at 9pm last night - I’m currently 6kms away from the base station.



And here are some downloads I did

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=TsDwjsr

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gx8Axr9

Now don’t get me wrong, there were some dips in the speed but apparently my base station is congested and a new one is getting activated within the next two weeks. When the new one goes live, I can look forward to constantly fast downloading speeds.

Anyone else have some recommendations for last mile?
Click to expand...

What is the AUP like?

Will the connection be throttled\shaped during certain times of the day?
Is it true uncapped ( will I get shaped\throttled if I download a certain amount ) ?
What is the uptime of this service?
Will we be getting phonecalls if we download a lot of data?
Can you download with this connection?
If, for ex, you advertise 2Mbps, will I get more or less this speed constantly or is there fineprint saying "will be throttled to 128kbps after 20GB download"

in short, will I get what I pay for and what you advertise?
 
J

jacksback

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2009
Messages
369
Well I asked the same questions before signing up and was told that to date, no one had ever been disconnected or throttled. It does however state this on their Broadband pricing page "Malicious & excessive abuse of uncapped bandwidth is not permitted" so who knows what type of policies they have in place.

I'm on the 2gb unshaped package and have noticed that the uncapped packages show "Shaped" so they must obviously shape torrents and other things during the day. Look here for the package that suits you and your budget -> http://www.amobia.com/consumer_services/fixedwireless.html#broadband

Give them a call and voice some of your concerns before deciding. I found their sales and support desk to be very friendly and helpful.
 
O

Osiris85

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
Messages
838
jacksback said:
Well I asked the same questions before signing up and was told that to date, no one had ever been disconnected or throttled. It does however state this on their Broadband pricing page "Malicious & excessive abuse of uncapped bandwidth is not permitted" so who knows what type of policies they have in place.

I'm on the 2gb unshaped package and have noticed that the uncapped packages show "Shaped" so they must obviously shape torrents and other things during the day. Look here for the package that suits you and your budget -> http://www.amobia.com/consumer_services/fixedwireless.html#broadband

Give them a call and voice some of your concerns before deciding. I found their sales and support desk to be very friendly and helpful.
Click to expand...

hmmm....to be honest I have been checking their website for a while and am quite tempted :)

Anyone else with Amobia? Whats your experience like?

Could someone clarify "Malicious & excessive abuse of uncapped bandwidth is not permitted"? What constitutes "excessive abuse"? I understand the Malicious part, but what do they classify as "excessive abuse"?
 
R

Runeblood

Active Member
Joined
May 10, 2010
Messages
92
Well im in touch with one now and their bandwidth usage is basically as long as you arent downlaoding 24/7 its pretty much uncapped and they dont throttle, regarding the Last mile option, you can use another ISP which is great.
 
DrJohnZoidberg

DrJohnZoidberg

Honorary Master
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
23,995
If anybody has more info on the "last mile" option please post it here so everybody (including myself) can have a peek. Doesn't look like I'm going to come right with my ADSL order, so I may as well start looking at alternatives.
 
T

Tacet

Expert Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Messages
2,733
Happy Camper said:
Scuse my ignorance here but if you get that antennae could it also be used to get onto the WUG?
Click to expand...

jacksback said:
I believe so but only if the WUG base station is in the same direction, obviously!

This is what the Antenna looks like

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=PqfUlXS
Click to expand...

That's not an antenna. That is an outdoor unit that contains an antenna. And yes - you'll probably be able to connect to the WUG with that. No - you won't be able to connect to the WUG and to Amobia at the same time with only one antenna, unless you use an RF splitter from the antenna to another radio (something else contained in the box). Most splitters would be 3dB splitters which could be a significant loss.

All this is asuming that they use ISM spectrum (2.4GHz or 5GHz bands). If they do, they are on shaky ground regarding their claims of a "Guarranteed" connection. On the ISM band no one can guarrantee anything, as your neighbour may put up a radio in the same frequency, looking into your antenna and killing your signal dead. That is why Amobia supports self-regulation of the ISM band. Something which is very bad IMO, but that's another fight for another day.

If they do not use ISM spectrum, but licenced spectrum, then you wouldn't be able to use their equipment to connect to the WUG. With licenced spectrum their claims of a "Guarranteed" service would be much more trustworthy, as neighbour interference shouldn't be a problem.
 
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H

HermanTheGerman

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
560
Hmm, this Amobia sounds to me only like an alternative to Neotel. And even a big player like Neotel/Tata manages wireless internet in the worst way, so I don't have much hope for Amobia to do any better.

My advice: Hands Off wireless technologies! Stick to ADSL.
 
S

Shayd

Expert Member
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
3,276
It seems they are using Webafrica for their capped backhaul and MWEB for their uncapped, they just create packages to suit more users and use their own last mile so saving you using telkom. A good idea if you aren't going to be using 100's of gigs a month. And saves you the telkom line rental.
 
O

Osiris85

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
Messages
838
Shayd said:
It seems they are using Webafrica for their capped backhaul and MWEB for their uncapped, they just create packages to suit more users and use their own last mile so saving you using telkom. A good idea if you aren't going to be using 100's of gigs a month. And saves you the telkom line rental.
Click to expand...

aahhh.....ok now I get it :)
 
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