ISP Questions

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LicKWiD_IcE

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Hi,

I was wondering where ISPs get there bandwidth from. As far as I understand there's only Seacom and SAIX.

Also I'd like to know how the routing works at certain ISPs. Like I've heard that Web Africa makes a round trip to CPT first etc etc.

Basically what I'm trying to figure is:

which ISP will give me the lowest latency to IS servers?

Which ISP will give me the lowest latency to EU Battle. Net.?

Which ISP will give me the least hops to Google . com?


I heard that the higher your line speed is the higher the attenuation and the higher the latency will be. This doesn't make sense to me please can someone explain.

I don't download a lot. I use 10 gigs at most so which ISP will offer me pure unshaped? (I need to work over VPN as well)

Also help me fill in the blanks below it will help me as well as others:

Axxess/Afrihost = MTN Only?
Open Web = IS only?
Plugg = IS only?
Mweb = Seacom?
Web Africa = ?
Telkom Internet =?

Please and Thank you =)
 
MWEB, MTN and IS all have IPC capacity or POPs in Durban, Joburg and Cape Town. So you could use any of them and you will be routed to the closest POP. MWEB is preferred if you're going uncapped, and Afrihost (reseller of MTN) for capped (which also happens to be unshaped). IS resellers are probably the worst to choose for uncapped, though I believe their capped products are pretty good.

I can't talk much for TelkomInternet or other SAIX resellers, as I try to avoid them at all costs, but SAIX probably has POPs in all 3 major cities. Avoid Cybersmart like the plague.

Attenuation has nothing to do with latency. If you have a good stable line, it doesn't matter whether you on 1 mbps or 10 mbps, your latency will be the same (all other things being equal). Attenuation is a function of the distance and quality of the copper cable running from your house to the exchange. The greater the distance, the higher the attenuation, and the lower the speed your line will be able to sync it. Forcing your line to sync at higher speeds on a bad line (I.e. with high attenuation) will result in an unstable line that disconnects often.
 
Thanks for responding. Still investigating whats the best for me. Won't IS accounts give me best latency to IS servers?
 
If I might suggest something. Most ISP's offer free capped accounts which might be useful to try out since that is essentially what you are looking for. I will gladly hook you up a 1GB test account should you want to try us out. We (RazoWeb.co.za) have a lot of gamers in our client base who seems pretty happy with the latency they have to both game servers hosted with IS as well as those playing DotA 2, SC etc.

Regards;

Indo
 
Saajid didn't mention that ISPs don't have to use IS generic uncapped and white label it. Many ISPs create their own shaping and contention profiles that perform really well. Like Openweb GOLD for example.
 
Hi Indo, thanks for the offer. I'm waiting for line to be installed once that is all set up i'll take you up on the offer for a trial account.
 
Hi LicKWiD;

We look forward to it. Feel free to contact me should you require more information.

Regards;

Indo

LicKWiD_IcE said:
Hi Indo, thanks for the offer. I'm waiting for line to be installed once that is all set up i'll take you up on the offer for a trial account.
Click to expand...
 
Saajid said:
MWEB, MTN and IS all have IPC capacity or POPs in Durban, Joburg and Cape Town. So you could use any of them and you will be routed to the closest POP. MWEB is preferred if you're going uncapped, and Afrihost (reseller of MTN) for capped (which also happens to be unshaped). IS resellers are probably the worst to choose for uncapped, though I believe their capped products are pretty good.

I can't talk much for TelkomInternet or other SAIX resellers, as I try to avoid them at all costs, but SAIX probably has POPs in all 3 major cities. Avoid Cybersmart like the plague.

Attenuation has nothing to do with latency. If you have a good stable line, it doesn't matter whether you on 1 mbps or 10 mbps, your latency will be the same (all other things being equal). Attenuation is a function of the distance and quality of the copper cable running from your house to the exchange. The greater the distance, the higher the attenuation, and the lower the speed your line will be able to sync it. Forcing your line to sync at higher speeds on a bad line (I.e. with high attenuation) will result in an unstable line that disconnects often.
Click to expand...

I would disagree that IS doesn't make good uncapped. You can go look at the Plugg and Openweb feedback threads (hell even the WA thread has been quiet lately).

I have an IS based uncapped account with Openweb and it performs very well, a lot better than my uncapped experience with Afrihost.

My 2c.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
I would disagree that IS doesn't make good uncapped. You can go look at the Plugg and Openweb feedback threads (hell even the WA thread has been quiet lately).

I have an IS based uncapped account with Openweb and it performs very well, a lot better than my uncapped experience with Afrihost.

My 2c.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. Perhaps things have changed since I last took an interest in IS resellers (white label, or otherwise).

On the whole though, provided you choose a decent ISP, the biggest bottleneck is going to be at the Telkom DSLAM/exchange. Many of them are over-subscribed, don't have sufficient backhaul capacity, and have poor contention ratios. I see a lot of people nowadays blaming their ISPs for poor speeds, when in fact Telkom is to blame for not upgrading infrastructure quickly enough.

The popularity of uncapped has really taken Telkom by surprise. They were not prepared for it.
 
Last edited:
Yeah. I hope I can get an installation quick enough so I can get online and provide feedback.

Will look into updating the thread tomorrow to post most of my findings, perhaps make it a more useful post for others who are seeking similar information.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
I would disagree that IS doesn't make good uncapped. You can go look at the Plugg and Openweb feedback threads (hell even the WA thread has been quiet lately).

I have an IS based uncapped account with Openweb and it performs very well, a lot better than my uncapped experience with Afrihost.

My 2c.
Click to expand...

+1
 
Hi There,
seems we all have good and bad experiences with the same ISP. I have had great service and performance out of Afrihost.
They will give you a trial account as well so you can test them out. With their move now to MTN I have found it to be very stable and a smoother experience than before but that is just my 2c of perception and nothing scientific about it.
What it comes down to now is a very competitive market and you can afford to chop and change till you get what you want.

Regards

Tim
 
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