New iBurst User: Advice for the un-initiated

[lefterris]

Fantastic forum everyone. I've read most of the postings and FAQ's and was wondering what the collective thoughts might be for a new broadband user.

I have recently moved back to Joburg and need broadband access for the next 6 months (preferably mobile since I will be staying in two locations during this time).

Reading the forums, it seems my options are: expensive Telkom ADSL or erratic iBurst (Sentech seems even worse and I have not considred them). Coming from the US, I have never thought about bandwidth constraints and upload limits, but I guess I am a "moderate" user: heavy email, lots of browsing, light podcasting, skype phone. I have no idea how far 3GB will get me. I am not doing business critical transactions ... so some downtime (while annoying) would not put me out of business. I am located in Northcliff (right near the tower) and am hoping my signal will at least be pretty good. Finally, I am also hoping to plug in my vonage phone (www.vonage.com) which is sensitive to latency delays.

Given this profile, I was wondering whether those iBursters frustrated with service recommend I stay away from this service? Any other options I should be looking at?

Finally, if it makes sense, I would prefer to purchase a UTC or UTD (haven't decided which way I'm going) from an existing user.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Thanks.

--------------------------------------------------
Current connection: Dial-up
Current broadband plans: iBurst or Telcom/Axxess 192 ADSL
Status: Dazed and Confused by upload limits, shaped vs unshaped connections and other random local broadband issues

 

[Ares]

Northcliff is propably THE worst tower....too many users,frequent disconnections,and very sloooow daytime access.Save yourself a lot of agony and frustration and get anything BESIDES IBurst.

 

[slimothy]

yeah, its the worst tower, basically you won't get 1mbit on NorthCliff without a small miracle, but give it a try, and remember the golden rule, FIND THE SWEET SPOT, sometimes the signal or quality of signal will be crap if you just plop the modem down anywhere but if you tweak it slowly you'll be alright.

In your unique situation I think sentech or adsl would be a bit better but give it a try, I mean right now lots of people are getting slooooooow speeds but then there are others murdering 1mbit right now, so no one can really predict what you'll get, call a reseller and give it a go

 

[lewstherin]

If you can, rather get DSL192 installed with a decent cap account (eg 10GB) - its the "cheapest" of the lot and also has good latency and reliability.
Generally speaking its probably the best option from a price/performance perspective for fixed broadband.

If you must have mobility, then your options are 3G, Sentech and iBurst.

From a stability perspective, Sentech is probably better than iBurst at present, plus Sentech doesn't cap strictly. VOIP is reportedly decent on Sentech.
However latency and crappy customer care can be a big problem with Sentech, as well as poor overall speed.

If you are not going to use too much bandwidth, maybe consider 3G - its now offered by two cellular operators, and coverage is growing all the time.
Latency wise its also poor, but better supported from a customer service perspective.

iBurst is fast generally, but suffers from irratic performance and low caps. Plus its customer service has been poor for a while.

Ultimately, everyone has their own opinion on which option is best. I would suggest looking through all the forums here at myadsl, and making up your own mind

 

[slimothy]

If you can, rather get DSL192 installed with a decent cap account (eg 10GB)

...

iBurst is fast generally, but suffers from irratic performance and low caps. Plus its customer service has been poor for a while.

I would just liek to mention that you could get a 9GB iburst account and end up doing alot more than 10GB in a month, and still have international after capped and for about the same price, if you were going to go for ADSL I'd reccomend you go for a 30GB cap and obviously, no one *wants* to be on a 192 line unless you just came fresh from dial up, so perhaps look at 512 or 384

 

[Glipsie]

I don't bother connecting with Iburst when I'm at home. The northcliff tower is just that bad. I fire up the good old ISDN when I get home. Seems about 100 times faster than Iburst there.

 

[lefterris]

Thanks for the super quick responses.

Ok, I am borrowing an iBurst UTD from a friend and testing the service. Right now, I get all 5 LED's lit up but *very* slow connection speeds. As a test I tried to download a 4.7MB file (Firefox install) and was unable to complete the task with average speeds of 4kbps according to firefox (eventually the download just hung). I restarted the download and am now getting around 12kbps. I have tried moving the UTD around my desk but that does not make a big difference. I assume this is par for the course at this tower?

Lewstherin mentioned that DSL192 (installed with 10GB cap) might be cheaper, but according to my math the monthly fees are more expensive . Am I missing something:

Monthly Fees (excluding setup and modem)
Telkom 192 (R329) + Axxess Internet (379) = R708
iBurst - R469

Let me know if you folks have any more suggestions on iBurst setup, otherwise I think I will need to get my ADSL started. Any tips on making that process faster?

Thanks again.

 

[slimothy]

OK yeh look with those speeds dont touch iburst, if you got 1mbit, then it is worth the crap sometimes but theres no point in getting f*cked from both angles, go for ADSL, oh and bribe someone to get it done quickly, or calla friend of a friend

 

[fairlady]

Hi lefterris,

I used to connect to that tower (since 2 days presumably connecting to Linden as it is just up the street) and it ain't pretty - I've never seen 1 mbit. Nights and weekends can be ok. Skype doesn't work properly (I speak with the US) - great delays (up to 1-2 minutes! from the SA side) and voice breaks.

If you can avoid it - don't buy iBurst.

Added: My speed at the moment is below dial-up. I'd say in 90% of the time (over the last 6 months) the speed here doesn't go above 150 kbits/s

 

[Glipsie]

Thanks for the super quick responses.
I restarted the download and am now getting around 12kbps.

Holy crap you managed 12K . But yeah, sounds like the usual, starts downloading then dies.

Lewstherin mentioned that DSL192 (installed with 10GB cap) might be cheaper, but according to my math the monthly fees are more expensive . Am I missing something:

Monthly Fees (excluding setup and modem)
Telkom 192 (R329) + Axxess Internet (379) = R708
iBurst - R469

If you wait till Aug (http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=339) then:
Telkom 192 (270) + Axxess Internet (10Gb cap) (379) + Telephone line (yes you need it) (R80) = R729.
Iburst with a 9Gb cap is R1099

Cheers
Marnitz

 

[lewstherin]

lefterris - what glipse said