Neotel Prime Speed Report

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

"Waiting For Godard" starring `Neotel RevA` at a thread near you.

 

[B2048]

From my study:

Last Result:
Download Speed: 1162 kbps (145.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 54 kbps (6.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

using a download manager like Flashget I can download a 700MB file in under a hour.

 

[B2048]

From the bedroom

Last Result:
Download Speed: 1342 kbps (167.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 78 kbps (9.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

B.

 

[rtzouves]

From my study:

Last Result:
Download Speed: 1162 kbps (145.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 54 kbps (6.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

using a download manager like Flashget I can download a 700MB file in under a hour.

actually according to my calculations [(145.3*60sec*60mins)/1024] your maximum download would be 510MB in an hour and not 700MB in under an hour.

I missed the download manager part, but still using a download manager you would have to be downloading at 199.1 KB/sec to get 700MB in an hour.

 

[dts]

Where the heck are these rumours coming from? If Neotel hasn't said anything then I will believe it when I see it.

Alfred the friendly techie told me. Its coming soon.. apparently....

 

[B2048]

actually according to my calculations [(145.3*60sec*60mins)/1024] your maximum download would be 510MB in an hour and not 700MB in under an hour.

I missed the download manager part, but still using a download manager you would have to be downloading at 199.1 KB/sec to get 700MB in an hour.

You got that right, rtzouves!

I downloaded the Ubuntu 8.04 iso in just under a hour.

B.

 

[rtzouves]

You got that right, rtzouves!

I downloaded the Ubuntu 8.04 iso in just under a hour.

B.

So what did you do to fix your speeds, because if i remember correctly you were having problems? I am still lucky if i get 700kbps and thats on a good day I used to get 1.5mbps but speeds have dropped significantly over the past couple months and i now get on average about a 3rd of that.

 

[B2048]

So what did you do to fix your speeds, because if i remember correctly you were having problems? I am still lucky if i get 700kbps and thats on a good day I used to get 1.5mbps but speeds have dropped significantly over the past couple months and i now get on average about a 3rd of that.

I was having problems - I didn't complain to them or anything but they must have fixed the tower because my signal strength went up to four bars and my download speeds in the Study (which I posted above) improved significantly. And the study used to be the worst at about 60-70KB/s vs ~100KB/s in my bedroom.

So for me this is an enormous improvement and I find myself a lot less frustrated than when I first started with Neotel.

B.

 

[poffle]

Hey

Got neotel prime for the night so i did a bit of speed testing and ... ya....

Location : JHB, weltevreden park
Coverage : excellent

This is a test from openweb:

Your current bandwidth reading is:
210.90kbps
which means you can download at 26.36 KB/sec. from our servers.

Neotels speedtest:

Last Result:
Download Speed: 261 kbps (32.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 75 kbps (9.4 KB/sec transfer rate)


Think ill stick with my 2.5mb DSL

 

[wikus]

No thanks, not going wireless again. Will also wait for local loop unbundling, if that happens before due date

 

[chubster]

I was having problems - I didn't complain to them or anything but they must have fixed the tower because my signal strength went up to four bars and my download speeds in the Study (which I posted above) improved significantly. And the study used to be the worst at about 60-70KB/s vs ~100KB/s in my bedroom.

So for me this is an enormous improvement and I find myself a lot less frustrated than when I first started with Neotel.

B.

Contention Ratio?

 

[[email protected]]

Hi Guys

I am in the Durban area and over the last 3 days my speeds have dropped by more than half. I can not even stream video from my (favourite) sites anymore without the "timeout" kicking in.

using www.speedtest.net - i get a lousy 182 kb/s down and 31 kb/s upload to NewYork...where as a week ago it was on average around 900 kb/s .... which was great for watching www.joost.com and similar.

I have called tech support 3 times - the first of which was the fact that the phone (the big handset lubricated soon to slide off giant 80s contraption) - kept crashing...black screen and no response till battery out and power off...then reboot etc....

I still have had no answer and just called them now for the 3rd time.

Anyone else having these hassles? THis is Durban - and I imagine the amount of users online cant be as much as Jhb....

Perhaps it is a hardware problem - I hope so...in which case I will report back here and sing the Neotel praises once again - otherwise i will downgrade to the Neotel Lite uncapped R 469 - seeing as that's the speed im getting anyway!

When is this Rev A kicking in? my upload speeds have always been too slow - esp for Skype voice chats.....

 

[rtzouves]

Hi Guys

I am in the Durban area and over the last 3 days my speeds have dropped by more than half. I can not even stream video from my (favourite) sites anymore without the "timeout" kicking in.

using www.speedtest.net - i get a lousy 182 kb/s down and 31 kb/s upload to NewYork...where as a week ago it was on average around 900 kb/s .... which was great for watching www.joost.com and similar.

I have called tech support 3 times - the first of which was the fact that the phone (the big handset lubricated soon to slide off giant 80s contraption) - kept crashing...black screen and no response till battery out and power off...then reboot etc....

I still have had no answer and just called them now for the 3rd time.

Anyone else having these hassles? THis is Durban - and I imagine the amount of users online cant be as much as Jhb....

Perhaps it is a hardware problem - I hope so...in which case I will report back here and sing the Neotel praises once again - otherwise i will downgrade to the Neotel Lite uncapped R 469 - seeing as that's the speed im getting anyway!

When is this Rev A kicking in? my upload speeds have always been too slow - esp for Skype voice chats.....

Try moving your device to a different spot for better speeds, this seems to be a cause of major headaches for me... one day it runs beautifully then the next day it slows down and once i move the modem around a bit and find a new spot the speeds go back up. For interest sake though i wouldn't assume that your decrease in speeds is not due to congestion because the first month i had the device my speeds averaged about 1.5mbps and now i am lucky to get 700kbps (usually between 300-600kbps).

The black screen issue is actually quite common and to be honest I have no idea what causes it (have spoken to neotel on numerous occassion but they still can't give me an answer on what causes it). I do know however that it happens to "all" the phones as I have gone through three already myself and every device has done this at some random point.

With regards to the REV A device check out this link: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Wireless/5677.html

As far as i can tell you are going to have to change your package entirely in order to get the device. You won't be able to just get the device and use it on your current package. I am however open to correction with regards to this.

 

[Yotch]

I have called tech support 3 times - the first of which was the fact that the phone (the big handset lubricated soon to slide off giant 80s contraption) - kept crashing...black screen and no response till battery out and power off...then reboot etc....

Maybe your signal is weak which is causing the RF power amplifier to overload. The handset will try to increase the RF transmit power to keep the connection active and the chip might be overheating. You could either try to use an external antenna or a laptop cooler or external fan to see if this doesn't resolve the crashing problem. I think you mentioned previously that you had damaged the antenna on the handset - this would surely reduce the signal strength even further and exacerbate the situation.

Simple DIY CDMA antenna (tested by Robocop on the Neotel network)
http://www.perite.com/vk7jj/NextGYagi.htm

Laptop coolers
http://pcdiscounters.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=136
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/9359975/Triple_Fan_Notebook_Cooling_Pad_with_USB_connection.html
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/9317...ebook_Cooling_Cooler_Pad_LED_Light_OT_11.html

 

[RichardG]

Last Result:
Download Speed: 1590 kbps (198.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 46 kbps (5.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

-----------------
Still getting good speeds

 

[nk1]

Richard, Are you like the only one on your base station

I'm longing for those speeds, everything is pear shaped with my speeds for the past couple of weeks to a point where I'm considering cancelling.

 

[rtzouves]

Richard, Are you like the only one on your base station

I'm longing for those speeds, everything is pear shaped with my speeds for the past couple of weeks to a point where I'm considering cancelling.

Yeah, i have been having the same problem for months now. Serious drop in speeds from what I was originally getting in the first month... Used to get speeds of about 1.4-1.5mbps most of the time, but it has been gradually declining over the months and now i am lucky if i can get 700kbps and that is at the absolute best of time. Most of the time it sits at about 500kbps with occassional spouts of 300kbps and lower. Talk to neotel and of course in their opinion this is acceptable and within there expected speeds which i keep saying to them is a not really acceptable as those averages should be speeds of users in general and the guys like myself who can literally spit out the window and hit the base station should be able to get above the averages, i mean honestly. Feel sorry for anybody in my area thats further than 100 metres from the base station.

I am actually thinking that the device is detecting such strong signal that it's lowering the power to the aerial and causing my speeds to drop because if i move the device around a bit or turn it off and then back on my speed goes up for a while. I contacted the rep about this on the 14th and he said he has forwarded it to the tech guys and will come back to me with a response, but still nothing from them and to be honest i am not expecting anything anytime soon (the attitude i percieve is; we have already hooked you so why should we follow up). Was hoping that the new device would prove me right/wrong, but now i can't even get the device on my current contract They say i will have to migrate to one of their new contracts which of course doesn't have uncapped. It is like a cycle of endless !$@# with neotel for me.

Maybe i am being unreasonable, but it really isn't the same service I had when i first signed up.

Aaaaanyway, guess that is my rant for the day

 

[chubster]

Sounds just like Telscum and iBurp. You haven't tried your own external aerial yet? That should help to avoid interferences from other devices. Perhaps RoboCop can give some insight here. I'm still out of range, and I'm still waiting for a device that allows data only and is usb with the option to plugin in an external aerial.

 

[porchrat]

Is it just me or does it feel like Neotel's honeymoon period is over?

A few months ago I couldn't wait to get a connection from Neotel, now I'm actually considering not bothering and staying with my current ADSL line.

It seems like speeds just keep decreasing over time as the network picks up more users.

It also seems like their various devices/modems/routers whatever are really rubbish and were never thouroughly tested. My advice to Neotel is don't buy a device from those manufacturers again, whoever they may be.

Another gripe seems to be that they answer the phone really quickly on their helplines (probably because they have so few customers at the moment), but that nothing ever comes of your complaint and/or inquiry as it is either lost or not followed up on.

It seems they don't offer the basic features you would expect from an ISP either. (things like a bandwidth usage estimate, and a hard cap and/or threshold limit)

They also have a strange way of measuring bandwidth usage.

Damn you Neotel, why couldn't you have been as good as you seemed to be when you were starting off? OK now my rant is over.

 

[Robocop]

Sounds just like Telscum and iBurp. You haven't tried your own external aerial yet? That should help to avoid interferences from other devices. Perhaps RoboCop can give some insight here. I'm still out of range, and I'm still waiting for a device that allows data only and is usb with the option to plugin in an external aerial.

Unfortunately I'm having the same problem. Download speeds dropped drastically over the last month or so. I'm lucky if I get 50kB/s (used to be 120-180 kB/s) with torrent downloads.

Neotel speedtest results at 400 - 500 kb/s download, and 30 - 50 kb/s upload.