Hiya, lemme see if I can respond to the issues you raise as fairly and even-handedly as possible.
cryptic1 said:
I'm currently on a 128k isdn and contemplating moving to the 128k MyWireless package.
Swings and roundabouts: you're going to lose the fixed-line consistently low and steady ISDN ping times for a range that's usually in the low hundreds of millisec to numbers very depressingly high when things go pear-shaped. But then you're ALSO going to lose having what might as well be a hollow tube plugged directly into a vein draining your very life-blood, so you can kiss off-hook calltimes goodbye!
The one pillar that defines 'broadband' at this level that Sentech meets is for being connected all the time/as long as you like without being metered for time, only traffic ..and, depending on the contract type you go for and your usage pattern, that itself may we well be meaningless anyway. You'll also be able to kiss goodbye to random(ly high..?) phone bills and have a known/expected budget for your 'net needs.
Just browsing through this forum I realise that there is always problems with signals, different times different speeds.
Those are two entirely different and separate things - IOW the one's got nothing to do with the other!
- in your control: signal quality between your modem and the tower it connects to (presuming the typical static installation). If you're lucky, you'll get a usable signal (note: definitions of 'usable' vary, it depends on what you how you want to use it, and how ..excitable you are about absolute signal levels); if not ..well, you say you're in a partial coverage area, that makes a possible HGA (high gain antenna) job highly likely to be reasonably priced and successful.
- NOT in your control: that it always works, nevermind that you've taken care of everything you can do: every now and then Sentech poke the network ..or their hardware ups and hates them (which amounts to the same thing for us end-users). There have been times (well, at least one that I recall) where the RADIUS server fell over, there've been times when backhaul between towers has failed, more recently a Cisco router/switch/box-of-blackmagic fell over and poked things for us ..*shrug*, it happens. What I am prepared to say is that, based on complaints chatter I see on the ADSL section, hardware/account/logon failure numbers seem to be worse there than here.
I've been told that I have a 'partial signal' - would i also experience hassles with speeds?
Again, this depends! First, taken as read that speeds/usability sometimes get sucktastic (often because the 'upstream international provider' is having issues), as an absolute: yes, (modem to tower) signal quality
does affect speeds. But, depending on your usage/requirements it may not mean anything/enough to you to spend money to 'fix' it.
Is there any hardware available from sentech or nowire to boost the signal strenghts, if so are they reliable?
BigAss HGA-love, baby!
..*ahem* Yes, there certainly is: an HGA solution for
your situation, at
your premises -and seeing as everyone's house/office/building is different and people
will insist on using their PC's in the damndest places in their houses, every job is different.
But not the/my results: I've got two years of HGA jobs and, IIRC, I've had to go back to one, once to increase the size of the HGA and it's worked just fine since. But then, that is on the
WORST damn overcooked-noodle-passing-for-a-tower in JHB (yes, I despise that thing, IMO the setup on that one sucks ..well, you get the picture)
Please help as I really want to go the my wireless route but would rather know what i'm up against before I sign my life away
I hope I've helped with the former ..and as for the latter, if you go the 'unbundled' (as in buy the (resellable) modem outright) route, you can get a 30-day notice contract ..that means 60 days (well, 2 months, but you know what I mean) to telling 'em 'no thanks' if you don't like it ..hardly 'signing your life away'!
