Installing a new line, let's see if I got everything straight.

[LastVagrant]

So, first off hello and thank you, I've been browsing the forums for the past couple of days and it has been really useful. Some of the info is a bit out of date (stickies, I'm looking at you) so I'm just going to do a run down of what I understand and if someone can see a problem, shout!

I'm in the Southern Suburbs in Cape Town and I have called Telkom who told me I can get ADSL, I forgot to ask what speed, but the website tells me "Up to 10 Mb/s". I live in an old house and there are 6 students living here, we want something that can handle that. We've been surviving on iBurst so far, but it's honestly quite bad, so an upgrade is necessary!

Here's the plan:

Call Telkom, ask them to install line, week or two, get technician, pay 584.79 Rand and have a line.

Pay 157 Rand per month for the rental of the phone line (that we won't use, but oh, well)

Pay 359 Rand per month to https://www.axxess.co.za/adslline for the line rental up to 10Mb/s.

Choose a plan from Openweb.co.za (probably the 4Mb/s gold one) at, for example 599 Rand per month.

Have internet.

The tips from past forum post for "Closer" don't seem to apply, or is there a way to get free installation?

Anything I'm missing? Any glaringly obvious way I'm wasting money?

Thanks,
LastVagrant

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Almost.

1. Get line installed from Telkom. Could cost you an extra R700 for a deposit if you don't have an existing account with them and/or the state of your credit history.
2. Yes, pay Telkom for the analog line rental.
3. It's ill advised to get your ADSL circuit through another provider, especially if you're not planning on using their data services. Get the ADSL circuit directly from Telkom too, it will cost you slightly more but you will easier troubleshooting (believe it or not). Hope Telkom has free ports on the exchange, if not you could wait for a while (maybe up to 2 years, no jokes).
4. Openweb Gold, excellent choice.

If you can get a closer deal that includes free installation take a look and see what the cost implications are. If you have the money and don't intend to be using voice services just rather pay for the installation.

Also check if Telkom are running any specials, you can sometimes get packaged deals that include everything from installation to free data, then you just get the uncapped account from your provider of choice. Just make 100% sure you are not signing into any long term contracts.

Good luck.

 

[LastVagrant]

Thanks a million, I'll get the line from them!

Is there no way to find out if they have free ports before I pay for installation?

 

[MickZA]

Pay 157 Rand per month for the rental of the phone line (that we won't use, but oh, well)

Interested in knowing how you intend to enforce this

... I would have thought plugging in a phone was within the average students ability.

 

[ponder]

Interested in knowing how you intend to enforce this

... I would have thought plugging in a phone was within the average students ability.

You can get BlockCall Plus for R35.

 

[ponder]

Is there no way to find out if they have free ports before I pay for installation?

They won't bill for installation if there are no free ports available for adsl.

 

[LastVagrant]

Interested in knowing how you intend to enforce this

... I would have thought plugging in a phone was within the average students ability.

You are overestimating my house mates, the moment I moved in I fixed half the lightbulbs in the house, the cupboards in the kitchen, in living memory no one had ever defrosted the fridge and the washing machine was out (and now it works with some coaxing).

As long as I don't mention it as a possibility, it will NEVER occur to them.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

You are overestimating my house mates, the moment I moved in I fixed half the lightbulbs in the house, the cupboards in the kitchen, in living memory no one had ever defrosted the fridge and the washing machine was out (and now it works with some coaxing).

As long as I don't mention it as a possibility, it will NEVER occur to them.

Never underestimate the sneakiness.

 

[MickZA]

You can get BlockCall Plus for R35.

Live and learn - sounds like a worthwhile investment for ADSL in a commune.

 

[LastVagrant]

They won't bill for installation if there are no free ports available for adsl.

Awesome, thanks for the info!

Never underestimate the sneakiness.

True, seems like 35Rand will be well spent.

 

[ponder]

True, seems like 35Rand will be well spent.

Sure as hell beats surprise R3000+ phone bill

Split between 6 people R35 is nothing.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Sure as hell beats surprise R3000+ phone bill

Split between 6 people R35 is nothing.

Actually it's R5.83333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

per person

 

[Flidiot]

Now before you say I didn't read your post, hear me out.... :erm:

Check out the Simple Plus package:
https://secureapp.telkom.co.za/campaign/simple-3/index.do

It's R499 per month for a 2meg line with data, but comes with free modem and free installation.

We took up the same offer initially to save a few bucks.

The steps we followed:
Order Simple package
Get installed
Order uncapped from another ISP
Wait a week - cancel Telkom data (10GB) data and call-more/whatever extras they added, upgraded to 4/10meg

So your payment would be as follows:
R700 deposit
R499 (worst case) for first month subs
R599 for uncapped from OW
Total: R1798

Versus the original:
R700 deposit
R584 installation
R147 Line
R425 DSL (Telkom price - not using Axxess price here)
R599 for uncapped from OW
Total: R2455

The reason I included Telkom pricing on DSL is because it is better to have a DSL line already and then transfer, than to have your ISP order it on your behalf - in my experience at least.

EDIT: I didn't reckon in the CallBlock - so just add R35 to my numbers above.

 

[ponder]

Now before you say I didn't read your post, hear me out....

Check out the Simple Plus package:
https://secureapp.telkom.co.za/campa...ple-3/index.do

It's R499 per month for a 2meg line with data, but comes with free modem and free installation.

Or just upgrade to the TI 10Mb/s Uncapped on top of the simple plus and apply for the 25% discount...

 

[Flidiot]

Or just upgrade to the TI 10Mb/s Uncapped on top of the simple plus and apply for the 25% discount...

Actually, that is a pretty good idea too.

I am so closed off to TI as an ISP option that I sometimes forget that they have nice deals like that one

 

[Tim the Techxpert]

Hi There,
Looks like your research has been well done judging by the comments from the other members.
Have you given any thought into how you are going to control the amount of data each person uses and in my opinion should pay for on a monthly basis?
You might want to look at options there too.
Also what are you going to do if somone downloads a monster file and you all get capped?
Sorry just some other headaches to the telephone calls

Regards

Tim

 

[LastVagrant]

Or just upgrade to the TI 10Mb/s Uncapped on top of the simple plus and apply for the 25% discount...

Cool, all great things to look into, from what I read around though, Telkom can be a bit strict on their Fair use policies, while OW is a bit more relaxed (So I don't have to worry about monster files)

Hi There,
Looks like your research has been well done judging by the comments from the other members.
Have you given any thought into how you are going to control the amount of data each person uses and in my opinion should pay for on a monthly basis?
You might want to look at options there too.
Also what are you going to do if somone downloads a monster file and you all get capped?
Sorry just some other headaches to the telephone calls

Regards

Tim

Good point. So far it's never been a problem, the internet on Campus is pretty good and there are enough good file sharing services on campus that people just do the big downloads there. But I guess with the higher speed internet people might get greedy. I'll have to see what to do. Wonder if I get a router that allows me to set connect with MAC only and then track usage based on MAC... Without actually seeing what they use it for. I REALLY don't want to know.

I will look into this.