iBurst, worth it or not

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Kei

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Hi there

I have moved into a new townhouse which happens to be less than 600 metres away from the iBurst tower. I've had a look on iBurst website at their coverage map and I happen to be right next to the tower. The map suggests my signal strength should be 100% and I should get full speed of 1Mbps.

The question I need to ask is, am I wasting my time if I sign up for iBurst. I see many conflicting reports on these forums. Many people say it works well, while others claim it's crap but it seems the majority are happy. I used to connect using a 56k modem prior to moving and there's no Telkom lines installed in the complex and I am boycotting Telkom in any case.

I am not looking for a solution to download gigs of data a month. All I want is permanent connectivity at relatively low rates of data

I am very scared of stepping into the same jackpot situation the MyWireless people found themselves in.

Please advise

Kei
 
Although iBurst seem to be experiencing some temporary technical problems (which will hopefully be fixed by Wednesday) I think it would be a worthwhile investment. I got my iBurst on Friday and had a breeze of a time during the weekend.
 
ok look for some its great, 1mbit speeds etc etc for tohers though it seems to be a hellish experience, being close to the tower sounds like it could be good but this is what I suggest, call a reseller like tradepage ( www.wirelessza.co.za ) get them to come to your place and test (its free) if with 100% signal you are getting good speeds then go for it.

one way you should test is do the telkom speed test with firefox, then multithread download a file with a download manager (download accelorater, flashget, getright) and see your speeds. if you are getting 100KB/s - 120KB/s you are in a sweet zone and should have a great time.
 
iBurst is great from technology point of view and I did experience the 120 KB/s download myself for a while few days ago, but now I am past the cap so it is quite a bit slower but still better than a modem

The problems at the moment are related to inability to use many common protocols, including ICQ, MSN and many of the P2P ones. So I believe that this is a problem in their setup and I hope that they are going to fix it today or tomorrow. If they do that, I will highly recommend iBurst as it is better in many respect that the other few alternatives available in SA. If they don't fix the protocol problems, I am cancelling my contract. I personaly don't need 120 KB/s that can be used only for web browsing ...

So if you going to use it only to check your email and web browsing, regardless of the outcome of the protocol problems, you can go for it. If you plan to use it for other things as well, like chat, VoIP, VPN, P2P, then better wait and see if the current problems are going to be fixed, and if not, go look somewhere else.
 
Kei said:
Hi there

I have moved into a new townhouse which happens to be less than 600 metres away from the iBurst tower. I've had a look on iBurst website at their coverage map and I happen to be right next to the tower. The map suggests my signal strength should be 100% and I should get full speed of 1Mbps.

The question I need to ask is, am I wasting my time if I sign up for iBurst. I see many conflicting reports on these forums. Many people say it works well, while others claim it's crap but it seems the majority are happy. I used to connect using a 56k modem prior to moving and there's no Telkom lines installed in the complex and I am boycotting Telkom in any case.

I am not looking for a solution to download gigs of data a month. All I want is permanent connectivity at relatively low rates of data

I am very scared of stepping into the same jackpot situation the MyWireless people found themselves in.

Please advise

Kei
Click to expand...


exercise your conusmer rights and test the service. You have the right to cancel in a 7 day trial period... I get great speeds at night and slow speeds suring the day. WBS has terrible support and little to no communication with their clients. IE expect to phone alot to find information out.
 
right now, ill say wait till the end of the week dude, we will have a better idea of whats happening. Right now, its sucking. If you get it, expect slow browsing, no IRC, no MSN, no ICQ, etc etc.
 
I agree that there's a few hickups now, but go check out the adsl forums aswell,
and you'll see that adsl isn't without hickups of its own.
 
A week ago I would've told you to get ADSL (from the devil). Today I can tell you to get iBurst. I've been capped since Thursday but my speeds are decent, 20-30KB/s to be exact.
 
I Want Your Tower!!!

I'm thinking of stealing your radio tower - can you please tell me where it is?

I live a few kms from Irene in Centurion and only get a 60% signal, but never been happier in my life.

No Melkhom landline, no overpriced Melkhom ADSL, no more being passed around from one Melkhom extention to the next.

Now doesn't that sound great?
 
Hi everyone. Thanks for the info :-D It is appreciated.

I've been contacted by a reseller and I'm setting up an appointment for a test at my house for next week. Will report back as to how it went.

Greets for now :-D

Kei

PS: As for IRC and MSN Messenger, before I moved I also had problems recently connecting to those on dialup, so maybe it's not entirely an iBurst problem. I know MSN Messenger has given me lots and lots of problems recently such that I reinstalled it in an attempt to get it to work.
 
One bit of advice

If you can , go with the 30 day contract, and check if they still offer the 7 day cancellation/ return clause !...
 
BicPen said:
I agree that there's a few hickups now, but go check out the adsl forums aswell,
and you'll see that adsl isn't without hickups of its own.
Click to expand...

Yep - there's problems for sure.

I've been experiencing DNS issues for a while now - some sites taking ages to load and "timing out" - reloading usually gets you there, damn irritating.

Also, should your line get disconnected, expect a wait of at least 3 working days to get it fixed, or up to a month.

It ain't no bed of roses, even overseas there's plenty of problems.

Also, the chances of actually being able to get ADSL in the same area iBurst covers are 50/50 and getting worse it seems.

With iBurst you can be up and running in a day if your lucky, with ADSL - hehe - 3 weeks minimum if you can get it and then after waiting that long or longer, there's every chance Hellkom will say "sorry, there's a 3 month waiting list for your area"

Yup, it's Telkom folks ! - they are the original sh1tty service provider upon which all others are compared ! :D

If I were getting an internet connection now I would try ADSL first, but if that was not an option, I'd go with iBurst on the month-to-month contract.
 
Month 2 month

i think IMO if you are going to sign up with any ISP youshould go with a month to month option , if you cannot afford it then rather wait until you can because in the long term it could cost you more be it business or personal use..
 
Go for a month to month option as its inevitable it will get cheaper sooner rather than later.
Its no where near a 1 meg connection i have 100%
It works alright, its not to slow.
Its better than having to deal with TELKOM as i got iburst as it was the only alternative to Telkom. and thats good enough for me.
 
ADSL is not an option. There's no phone lines in the complex and I've been told by certain people in Telkom I can expect to wait 2 years. They have to put in a new housing run from Wilropark Exchange all the way to where I live and that's just not going to happen anytime soon.

So all other option I have is iBurst. If iBurst can give me 128kbps international sustained I am happy as it would be an improvement over my previous means.

I am an electronics engineer by profession, so with the help of you all and my own knack for tinkering I am sure I can sort out any problems I might encounter without too much hassle :-)
 
I agree, Month 2 Month. We signed a contract about 2 years ago - about R700 for 128kbs - they doubled the price after three months, another 2 increases after within the 2 years final price about R1500 for 64kbs connection. iburst far better value for money. With Month 2 Month you have that extra leverage.
 
Yep :-) That's what I also think :-)

In any case, can't wait to see next week how well it works :-)

I know of three people who have iBurst. One in Sandton, one in Rosettenville, and one in Roodepoort West and neither of them are complaining :-D
 
iBurst is making a statement by offering the month to month option. Just remember it's a calender month, even if you are a day late Counts for downgrading and upgrading.
 
Maybe something to remember when the guy swings around to do the signal test with you: go to a few of the sites that you will be using a lot or maybe one that you know generally takes quite a while to load, at least that way you'll have a bit of an idea of what your experience will be like if you decide to go for it.

I went to Novell.com when the guy came to test with me and it loaded a lot quicker than it does at work where it's usually quite slow.

I've had iBurst now for 2 weeks on Monday and so far it's been great :)

Monthly contract's definitely the way to go if you can manage the cost, at least if it goes bad for some reason you can cancel. I signed up with Tradepage and the guy said if I move into an area with no coverage or something I must let him know as they'll probably buy the terminal back from me. I guess they'd like to get a bit of a second hand iBurst terminal market going to bring down setup costs and for those people who want iBurst but can't afford a brand new terminal.

Just my 5 cents... :D
 
Im sure the prices for iBurst will come down soon as there is a case going on with Telkom about the capping story and their pricing.

Otherwise, iBurst is worth it but they just need to fix the problems experienced with MSN and IRC
 
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