Infrastructure or ISP, which makes the biggest difference?

[khyron2009]

Hi guys

So I'm with Afrihost on TTConnect (can't change that). If I spot a cheaper package, with another ISP, is it worthwhile? Does it make a big difference if I switch from Afrihost to RSA Web for example?

 

[Cactus]

Hi guys

So I'm with Afrihost on TTConnect (can't change that). If I spot a cheaper package, with another ISP, is it worthwhile? Does it make a big difference if I switch from Afrihost to RSA Web for example?

Yes, you'll hit your head on the wall when you need to speak to RSAWeb support.

 

[khyron2009]

Yes, you'll hit your head on the wall when you need to speak to RSAWeb support.

Thanks for the reply. Support-aside, is performance the same because it's all on the same "backbone" i.e. TTConnect?

 

[Cactus]

Thanks for the reply. Support-aside, is performance the same because it's all on the same "backbone" i.e. TTConnect?

No, some ISPs use different undersea cables than others, as one example. I'm not too clued-up.
@AfriNatic, @PBCool, care to weigh in on ISP differences?

 

[PBCool]

No, some ISPs use different undersea cables than others, as one example. I'm not too clued-up.
@AfriNatic, @PBCool, care to weigh in on ISP differences?

The internet is just a big network right, so South Africa interfaces with the rest of the word via undersea cables, some have lower latencies to relative locations where content is that we mostly access (IE UK and EU).

Latency plays a part in performance when talking about TCP, so there are varying factors around which cables and carriers you use. Often small but relative differences.

 

[CrypticZA]

Hi guys

So I'm with Afrihost on TTConnect (can't change that). If I spot a cheaper package, with another ISP, is it worthwhile? Does it make a big difference if I switch from Afrihost to RSA Web for example?

A lot of content we consume is actually served and pulled from local sources these days so for most things you won't see a difference.

Where you might see a difference is international content so some ISP's have capacity on the SACS cable (short route to Brazil) others on the SAFE cable (fast route to Asia) meaning their latencies to Brazil and Asia will be better than others. For the most part most ISP's should hit UK at more or less the same latency since there is only so many routes out of SA. Some use different providers so for example ISP A might use Openserve who don't route things very efficient at times so hit Blizzard servers at 170ms vs ISP B who goes direct and hits it at 149ms.

If your fibre network is a mess, constantly going down, packet loss on it, constant outages changing ISP won't really make a difference