iBurst or 3G ?

[techworker]

We're moving Tuesday and we're going to be in limbo until the 21st of November, when we're moving into our new home.

I currently have 1024 ADSL and its working. We're going to be staying in various places until 21st and I need reliable fast internet to use for remote desktop to New York via VPN.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Telscum takes 2 months to install ADSL, so I just opted for a plane line without DSL, at least I'll (hopefully) have a phone by then.

So what do I do until I can get ADSL installed - I work from home and start working at around 1pm until about11 pm.

Please help !!

 

[mR HeAd]

It really depends on if you are going to be moving around alot, because 3G you will be getting strong signal everywhere you go, whereas you could stay in an area with absolutely no signal whatsoever for iBurst. I think you should rather be looking at something like MyWireless, because they are the most reliable and arn't very expensive.

Did i mention that iBurst service is borderlining with telkom?

 

[Roman4604]

Some things to consider ...

1. In wireless, signal strength/quality is everything, so go check out the coverage maps of both 3G & iBurst ... inevitably 3G will have better coverage (especially outside JHB). Both can be used with external antennas greatly improving the signal, so maybe factor that into you pricing.

2. Given that 3G & iBurst have optimal signals, iBurst will run rings around 3G. It is much, much faster (comparible to 1 Mbps ADSL on throughput, bit worse on latency).

3. Evaluate the direction of your traffic, 3G only has a theoretical upload speed of 64Kbps (more like 40Kbps) while iBurst is 345 Kbps (with 120-200Kbps more realistic).

4. Lastly hardware pricing, iBurst is quite steep, if you have a laptop the PCMCIA will set you back R1699 while if you dont the desktop unit goes for R2800. Not sure if you can buy a 3G PCMCIA card without a contract or what it costs? You could of course just use (or buy) 3G phone via USB or bluetooth.

Hope this helps ...

 

[alchamy]

Remember, iburst shapes their ports heavily which could be a problem.

Have a look here to get an idea of speeds and latency for both

 

[Ekhaatvensters]

Yet VPN is apparrently one of their prioritised ports so it shouldn't be a problem from the port shaping side of things... Latency and signal are gonna be the deciding factor. Also remember that Iburst is pretty bad (speed and latency) from 1pm til +-5pm, probably the same with 3G, but I'm not sure.

 

[Crash]

VPN on Vodacom 3G

If you go Vodacom3G, don't forget to phone them and ask them to allow VPN access.
This will save you from pulling your hair out.