Mweb Special

[DrewChan]

Please forgive me if there's already a post regarding this-

I see mweb is offering 2 months free connectivity and free line rental if you sign a 6 month contract with them -
Very Tempting

On a 4mb line this would be a saving of R1798 of a total R5394
Meaning 4mb line including line rentail is only R599 per month for the 6 months

(R5394-R1798)/6.

(Free line rental if you move line to them)

 

[Pada]

I did that last year and now I'm still using MWEB. I had my line with Telkom, so I only got the data for free for those 2 months.

 

[InTheCube]

The special was announced here: Free uncapped ADSL for 2 months from Mweb

I don't recommend anyone sign up for ANY ADSL or 3G contracts at this stage. The market is changing too fast. Read my comments from the aticle's discussion thread here:

All-in-one 4mbps uncapped pricing comparison

Afrihost - 1 month = R697
Afrihost - 6 months = R4182 (R697 x 6)

MWEB - 1 month = R899
MWEB - 6 months = R3596 (R899 x 4 | 2 months free)

For a R586 saving, it's not worth signing a 6 month contract with MWEB. Rather go month to month with Afrihost. Their uncapped packages are pretty good, though MWEB's network might be a bit better. MWEB's customer service and online portals suck, compared to Afrihost. That was my personal experience, I've used both of them.

Afrihost uncapped is the reason I want to try MWEB

MWEB uncapped pricing, and lack of flexibility in their products, is the reason I switched to Afrihost. Keep reading to learn why.

... well that makes a lot of sense xD you're saving R586, getting better service, and it's only tied down to 6-months - but not worth it? bah. worth it to me

No contract is worth it in the ADSL industry at this stage. Prices are constantly falling, and speeds constantly being upraded. I would not want to be stuck on a 4mbps uncapped contract. MWEB do not allow you to upgrade or downgrade your line speeds when on a contract. Telkom service is at times flaky, and how would you like to be stuck in a contract that you cannot use because of copper theft, or because your line is now syncing at 1mbps or 2mbps instead of 4mbps, or Telkom has major network problems that make ADSL unuseable?

Just yesterday my 4mbps Afrihost line was upgraded to 6mbps. I will now be looking for a 6mbps uncapped. Axxess is looking pretty good. I can cancel my uncapped data package with Afrihost, but keep my line with them at only R399pm. I can sign up for the Axxess 4-10mbps uncapped package at R496pm, bringing my total cost to R895, still R4 cheaper than MWEB 4mbps uncapped all-in-one.

With MWEB, you either pay for 4mbps uncapped, or 10mbps uncapped. Nothing in between, and you can't just cancel your data package, keep your line with MWEB, and use another ISP. You've got to also cancel or migrate your line away from MWEB. MWEB don't do line-only packages like Afrihost.

Read my blog post for more info: Why is it so hard to get an affordable 10mbps ADSL line from MWEB?!

Unfortunately at the moment Afrihost is battling. I would not recommend it to anyone until they move networks and get their capacity sorted.
You only get close to decent speeds after hours and phoning customer services is not worth it because they just keep telling you that it will get better but nobody can say when.

Afrihost was slow the last 1-2 weeks, but that was because IS ran out of IPC capacity and were doing upgrades, which has since been completed, and speeds are back to normal. For my own usage (100-150GB per month), Afrihost uncapped is perfect, especially the pricing.

If you rate MWEB as 100%, Afrihost are probably at about 85-90%, which is good enough for most people.

 

[MickZA]

I don't recommend anyone sign up for ANY ADSL or 3G contracts at this stage. The market is changing too fast. Read my comments from the aticle's discussion thread here:

I agree in respect of uncapped deals. Everything's in a state of flux until Telkom completes the speed upgrades, reckon it'll be February before it settles down and an informed decision can be made.

 

[Will@MWEB]

I agree in respect of uncapped deals. Everything's in a state of flux until Telkom completes the speed upgrades, reckon it'll be February before it settles down and an informed decision can be made.

That being said Mick, regardless of which ISP you choose you may be faced with some uncertainty in terms of your connection quality due to upgrades being rolled out. From our side we will continue to make sure that our own network is in excellent shape and provide all the support that we possibly can to customers experiencing difficulties with their line conditions.

 

[MickZA]

... regardless of which ISP you choose you may be faced with some uncertainty in terms of your connection quality due to upgrades being rolled out.

:erm: ... isn't that what I said

 

[Will@MWEB]

:erm: ... isn't that what I said

Just that you're saying that the market is changing fast so don't choose an ISP right now, but the market is always moving fast and the uncertainty factors regarding line upgrades that you're pointing out are ISP independent.

So you can still make a safe choice and choose the best ISP around and be assured that we will still be the best ISP in February, or the February after that for that matter

 

[MickZA]

So you can still make a safe choice and choose the best ISP around and be assured that we will still be the best ISP in February, or the February after that for that matter

Bias accepted

 

[Pada]

I agree that you shouldn't take out a 12 - 24 month contract for Internet, but you won't lose out too much in 6 months though!

 

[DrewChan]

I agree that you shouldn't take out a 12 - 24 month contract for Internet, but you won't lose out too much in 6 months though!

Agreed