Most affordable method to connect to net...?

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LancelotSA

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Hey guys,

Not sure where to put this so thought general may be best.

I have a friend who is looking to get onto the internet at home. He is a student so total cost is a critical decision make. He was considering iBurst after seeing 50Mb advertised for R80 (or something like that) with a free modem but a 24 month tie in, so I advised against tying himself in.

I have my thoughts, but what I would like thoughts on is what is the most affordable way to get connected to the net in this instance? Bear in mind the following :

* He stays at his mom's place. My understanding is that they already have a phone line.
* He is not wanting to spend a fortune and only needs to be able to check emails (for CVs etc) and do a bit of browsing.
* He is rightly not too keen to get tied in as his future needs will change.
* Please factor in initial setup costs too as he will need to pay these.

Is he just better off going dial up? I know this is a step back in time but I have an old dial up modem for him? Or is ADSL in fact cheaper in the long run now?
 
I think an ADSL complete package would be the best bet over a year or so (free modems and setup, no contract etc. with Webafrica).
The lowest initial cost might be gprs or 3g on a phone, with a Virgin mobile sim card. That's if he really isn't going to be using it much...
 
The problem with 3g etc is the cost is not able to be budgeted up front... am I correct is saying if he uses 50Mb with Vodacom it is around R100 (R2 per meg right?)?

Is Virgin still 50c per meg? And how much is a sim/starter pack now?

All we need to hope is his old phone can connect act as a modem!!!
 
You can get low-cap ADSL for very cheap these days. Much better bet than iBurst, imo.

cybersmart have 384k line+1GB cap for R169 per month.

And with DSL, you can easily and cheaply get more prepaid bandwidth from Webafrica etc if you need to.
 
I'd pick ADSL over any other service in SA. iBurst is bad. sentech is ****. other wisps are pathetic. Pay the extra bit and get a proper service. at least with dobroadband1 you'll get some local bandwidth too once you're capped which can be pretty useful.
 
I'm kinda in your friends situation at the moment. What did he do ultimately?
 
Here is a rough Price comparison. Note that I'm using approximate values, so don't jump down my throat for not having correct prices.

Assumptions:
Low end user of 250MB per month.
Telkom line already in use, thus telkom line rental excluded.
No contracts, so you have to pay for hardware.

ADSL
Startup
  • Good modem/router R800 (Do one still get router free for self install? I don't think so)
  • Installation R400 (NONE if you get self install)

Monthly
  • ADSL line rental R152
  • Usage R17.50 (1GB prepaid lasting 4 months)



Vodacom
Startup
  • Internet capable cell phone R800
  • Installation NONE

Monthly
  • rental NONE
  • 250MB bundle R160



Dialup
Startup NONE

Monthly
  • ISP monthly charge R70
  • 250MB = 25hours at close to max speed = R250 in call more time

One probably can find above services cheaper if one shop around, but the aim of my post is to give the OP an idea of how each solution compare.

In above example Vodacom and ADSL costs are almost the same. I deliberately chosen it that way to indicate that should your usage be less than 250MB per month that Vodacom will be the cheaper option, but for more than 250MB per month ADSL will be cheaper. That said, speed and reliability of ADSL out way the cost by far, so my suggestion would be to go with ADSL + prepaid bandwidth, you can always go for a package deal if you find that your monthly usage reach 1GB or more.
 
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