Internet options for rural areas

[pecan]

The only thing we have in this area is GPRS and landline. I use landline at night on a Telkom Closer option, and up until a month ago had a successful relationship with Virgin for GPRS during the day.

About a month ago I was suddenly unable to access the Internet using Virgin GPRS, and when I tried to discuss this with them I was told that as they bounce of one of the other service providers there was nothing they could do. So I bought a Vodacom starter card and airtime, and when I couldn't get it to work I was told to phone a certain number, which didn't work.

Now... does anyone have any insight as to why I suddenly can't get access. It has improved, but only in that I can now connect about 20 times a day for a maximum of 3 minutes at a time. This makes it impossible for me to get any actual work done.

Is there something I can do to boost signal, if I can't get Virgin to actually attend to the problem? Phone signal seems to be fine, it's just the GPRS.

Thanks for any help ...
Catherine

 

[KaasP]

Hey Pecan,
If Virgin has any coverage at all, you can't be that rural.

Check out the coverage maps on the Vodacom and MTN websites and see where you fall. An antenna is usually a good idea to boost your signal, http://www.poynting.co.za/ make these.

IMO, at present, MTN's rural coverage is superior to Vodacom's in that they've upgraded a lot of this to Edge, Vodacom is more focused on ramping up 3G coverage in the urban areas with their HSDPA and HSUPA upgrades.
But it all comes down to your specific location and who's got you covered best.
Best is to test them all.
All the best.