NeoTel Wireless (WiMAX) - worth it?

[MainMeat]

Ok, so Telkom is bad for my health.

After a month Telkom cannot get it right and my line is noisy, unstable and unusable. Voice is a disaster and ADSL access is up and down 100 times per day.

So, that's it - I had enough and need to find an alternative uncapped link that does not cost me an arm and a leg.

I had a look and Neotel Wireless Broadband 2 or 4 Mb/s uncapped (WiMAX) on paper does not look bad - I have good coverage in my area (Pretoria East), based on their coverage map.

Can someone tell me if this actually works, or is Neotel going to land me in hospital? This connection is used for email, Skype, data steaming (Netflix) and the like - not really used for gaming to the latency shuld not be too mush of an issue

Should I be concerned whilst talking to Neotel and rather stay away? Problem is, what else is out there at a good value?

 

[PsyWulf]

Works better than ADSL - by miles
You're just missing an ISP SMTP server for mail

 

[SideWinder]

Hi MainMeat,

Neotel has recently, not sure when exactly, combined their Wimax & LTE offering into its so called Wireless offering. So you will not know what you will get until the installer arrives! Either way, both work the same essentially, the uploads/downloads are the same, as is the "soft" cap. Basically, for every Mbps you buy, multiply by 100. Eg. if you get the 4 Mbps service, you get 400 GB per month. You will not reach that, unless you Netflix or do torrents 24x7!! After the cap is reached, you will be throttled to 1/2 speed (e.g. 2 Mbps) for the rest of the month. Even 2 Mbps on Neotel is enough for Netflix. Good luck with you search.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

Works better than ADSL - by miles
You're just missing an ISP SMTP server for mail

IF you request SMTP services, they do provide it though. My whole company runs on this solution and we also host websites and mailboxes. We have the 8Mbps connection though. But very stable. Have had it for 3 years and has been down twice. For maybe an hour total.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Any further input on this? Having endless hassles getting a line installed at my place, let alone getting ADSL. Getting the "we have a project open in your area" speech, which is Telkom speak for getting around to do something whenever they feel like it.

So I was thinking of going with Neotel Wireless until Telkom eventually does something. How stable is it and what's the latency like? And is there any way to avoid the 24 month contract?

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

Any further input on this? Having endless hassles getting a line installed at my place, let alone getting ADSL. Getting the "we have a project open in your area" speech, which is Telkom speak for getting around to do something whenever they feel like it.

So I was thinking of going with Neotel Wireless until Telkom eventually does something. How stable is it and what's the latency like? And is there any way to avoid the 24 month contract?

As posted earlier I would highly recommend this solution. It will be impossible to avoid the 24 mnth contract though.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

As posted earlier I would highly recommend this solution. It will be impossible to avoid the 24 mnth contract though.

Thanks. Is it good for gaming?

 

[SideWinder]

Mike,

Wireless is never recommended for very serious gaming, but Wimax & newer LTE systems aren't bad at all when it comes to latencies..20 - 30 mS for local. Add a few mS if you are in CT. For normal to active gaming, no problem.