I'm just a little confused...

[D34M0n7]

So after 3 years of absolute amazing internet connectivity I'm being forced to consider iBurst... again. Damn it!

Just to give a little perspective - I had iBurst in 2008/2009 they were a constant bother and an utter failure, none of my issues were ever resolved and I was quite literally lied to numerous times by iBurst employees. However I was able to get an ADSL line installed min 2009 and basically all my internet woes were over.

But... I've moved and am currently living in an area without telkom lines (not technically true, because there are lines less than a minutes crawl down my road and the exchange is pretty close too... telkom just refuses to bring the damn things closer to me) and I'm using CellC, got myself a 20GB cap. But I'm tearing through that faster than a 13 year old boy whose just found his fathers "magazine collection" goes through tissues.

So its pretty obvious that I need an alternate internet connection, an uncapped one at that. But I'm just so god damn wary of iBurst... I'm not sure if I should be touching them. I may catch something. I'd have to stick around for quite a while, transmission speeds are slow

Although, wary as I am, I couldn't help but notice this:

When you use the Internet after hours (12am to 8am), you will enjoy access at full- speed. Any data that you use during this period will not count towards your data limit.

on their website.

This, to me is a deal maker. BUT... in true iBurst fashion there is no information about any of their products which is easily accessible. Everything is shrouded in a thick milky veil of nonsense and contradictions.

What am I talking about?

Well, lets take the STARTA+ package for example - 1GB split into 500mb partitions, one during peak and one off. The problem I have is this: When does this "unmetered" thing kick in? (look at the above quote)

It is my understanding, that even if I've used my 1GB of data, I'll still be able to access the internet at full speed between 12am and 8am.

Which leads me to question why they are giving me 500mb off peak... if its already "unmetered" during that time.

Although I could be reading this all wrong... could it mean that if I get one the Uncapped Anytime packages then my speed won't be throttled between 12am and 8am and even if I haven't reached my cap data I use during that time won't be deducted from my monthly cap?

Urgh, while I was typing this I've been searching all over for an answer to my question. I found one.

Here - on one of their reseller's websites... Very interesting how a reseller provides more information about iBurst products than iBurst themselves.

At this point I'd also like to point out that the "download application form" link on this page is broken.

I even called iBurst to get an application form because this link is broken (I also filled out their web form and was never contacted, this was on Thursday) however they never sent me one... So I had to phone one of their resellers to get the ball rolling. Which is appalling.

iBurst hasn't changed one bit. Now I've just got to see if their performance is any different...

/totally bias rant over

 

[Mental-Tree]

The uncapped after hours is a benefit of using the 64k or 128k bolt on.

Basically you get a normal capped package and for R199 or R249(Correct me if I'm wrong) you can add the 64k or 128k bolt on to your package. With these bolt on services, once you have used all of your cap you're browsing speeds during the day will be throttled to 64k or 128k, after hours however(12am - 8am) you will be uncapped and unthrottled.

I was on the 2gig package when it still existed and had the 128k bolt on and I could quite easily pull 100+GB of data after hours.

 

[r00igev@@r]

The uncapped after hours is a benefit of using the 64k or 128k bolt on.

Basically you get a normal capped package and for R199 or R249(Correct me if I'm wrong) you can add the 64k or 128k bolt on to your package. With these bolt on services, once you have used all of your cap you're browsing speeds during the day will be throttled to 64k or 128k, after hours however(12am - 8am) you will be uncapped and unthrottled.

I was on the 2gig package when it still existed and had the 128k bolt on and I could quite easily pull 100+GB of data after hours.

^^^ Correct!

But going through 20GB @ R198 a month is more than suitable for 99% of the population! The packages have a bucket for normal hours and then for the 8 hours after midnight. The 8 hours after midnight is so that you can use the network quiet time to do those large downloads of OS patches (or alternatively any videos for which you have a fetish).

As an example, my seven year old like Annoying Orange. So I used http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-YouTube-Download.htm to downloaded the whole lot (of a couple of hundred videos) after midnight so he can watch it on his PSP.

PS: The marketing department didn't even answer the email about adopting ^ as a mascot!