RECOMMENDED ADSL ISP in S.A

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modales

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Guys how are you.. I dont know much about ADSL deals with so many of them out there. I have a telephone connection in my room and Im currently looking for the cheapest, 1mbps or higher, no throttle, unshaped, uncapped deal.. I already have a modem and a telephone all i need is an ISP.. so what do i do now and whats the best(cheapest, 1mbps and higher , no throttle, unshaped, and uncapped) internet for gaming, fast downloads etc, that you guys recommend me.. please help me.. my monthly affordability is between R200 & R350 per month.. :)
 
Ok. First off you need pay for the ADSL rental (over and above POTS rental); that costs R289 for 1mbps.

Then you have to buy data from an ISP. You have a choice between capped and uncapped. Uncapped is ALWAYS going to be throttled or shaped unless you're prepared to pay a business premium. Capped is considerably less shaped.

Good ISPs for capped data:
Afrihost

Good ISPs for uncapped:
Mweb, Openweb. Telkom and iBurst have also recently launched 2 new uncapped products, but at this stage very little is known about them (and what they'll stabilize into).

You're looking at minimum R500 (rental + ISP) for uncapped 1mbps.

If you're content with 10GB a month and live in 8ta's coverage zone you might consider their deal, which is R199 all inclusive.
 
Thanx for the reply.. yes i am content with 10GB a month.. im just realy confused and afraid of making the wrong choice.. because of so many issues
(1) isnt 8ta 3G?? dont want 3G and IF NOT, is it good enough for fast downloads and gaming?
(2) what will throttled or shaped do while im downloading/gaming if i had to chose uncapped
(3) what do you suggest the highest overall is between capped n uncapped? considering throttled or shaped
 
Check this thread for 8ta speeds: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/313355-8ta-speeds

Generally capped accounts have a fair usage policy; what it means basically is if you download a lot you're going to get shaped into oblivion.

You've got until the 15th of this month to get 3 months free internet from telkom, I believe. So phone them and you'll get the line rental portion for free for a while.

Then test out a few ISPs, most of them don't have any sort of contracts and have simple sign up methods.
 
And don't sign a contract.

Internet is damn expensive in this country and you are not going to get what you are looking for at the price point you specified. Just not going to happen. Sorry, but that is just the way it is, and everyone here agrees that it is Cr@p, but the government has been particularly reluctant to fix the problem because they have all their fingers in the pie rather than their brains in gear.

Bend over and lube up and be prepared to suffer the slings and arrows of a South African fortune. Not your fortune, some other fat b@st@rds.
 
Thanx guys.. what does "shaped into oblivion." mean?? Since you guys know and have been using these stuff, my question is, what do you guys recommend taking ALL into account like the speed etc.. hehehe :) just make my life simple by telling me " GET this deal FROM this provider!!" capped or uncapped :confused: just want you guys to make the best choice for me :D
 
I have a telephone thingy in the room were i can plug in the modem and my cousin use to use it for his internet, so im assuming that it should cut costs since there is probably a number, lines and all the telkom stuff already becouse they went there and drilled everything into place.. correct me if i am wrong but wont that make anything cheaper? coz dey wont have to install stuff again coz dey r der already.. so who should i chose to call to be my ISP?? what do i do from now.. please tell me the best choice.. TAKING ALL MY REQUIREMENTS INTO CONSIDERATION!!!
 
Here is a primer for the uninitiated:

In order to get ADSL in your home you need three things. These are:

1. An active, working phone line from Telkom
2. An ADSL subscription from Telkom OR another provider (see below)
3. A data subscription (to allow you to use the ADSL line for data transfer)

EXPANDED:

1. The phone line can be (currently, along with an ADSL line and preset data) ordered from Telkom for free as a part of their 3 months deal. If you already have a phone line, then you only need to purchase items 1 and 2 (as above). If you don't want to take part in the deal then you can simply ask them to activate your current line (if it isn't active already).

2. The ADSL line is an extension to your phone line. The installation can even be done by the user in most places - it is very easy. This can be bought in three flavours, of which I have listed the cheapest and Telkom prices below.

384kb - practically useless these days for anything except granny web browsing and emails. R152 from Telkom, R134 from http://www.edgarsclub.net/ (cheapest), R129 from rsaweb.co.za if bought with a data package.

1024kb - probably the most economical option. Suitable for youtube, gaming and downloads (within reason). R289 from Telkom, R211 from rsaweb.co.za if bought with a data package (cheapest)

4096kb - High speed, suited for HD youtube, torrents, downloads etc. You can go crazy with this one. 413 from Telkom, R370 from edgarsclub.net, R322 from rsaweb.co.za if bought with a data package (cheapest).

3. The data options can vary massively. Telkom will try sell you high priced nonsense that is worth a third of the cost, so don't bother with them.

Data comes in three forms - you can get uncapped, capped and prepaid. Uncapped is great if you use a lot, but more often than not the speeds are slower in the day - this is called shaping. You run the risk of being throttled (slowed down for the entire month) or even having your account suspended if you go crazy. Uncapped is generally OK for local gaming but international servers might be a bit laggier than capped. Capped is generally faster but much more expensive. Prepaid usually has an expiry date and can be used like phone credit - it doesn't run month to month but is exceptionally costly.

For uncapped I would recommend mweb.co.za or openweb.co.za - these cost about R299 for uncapped. (EDIT: there is currently a 1024kb uncapped for R229 deal going on with Openweb).

For capped, a very little known but reliable provider is BTWeb.co.za . These guys sell data very cheap (30GB for R300). If you foresee yourself using more than that, then go for uncapped. The data they sell is fast and never throttled. I have used them in the past and was quite happy.

Don't even bother with prepaid.

So, in conclusion - make sure the phone line is working, get an ADSL line from Telkom (either on the 3 month deal or not) then buy some data. To install the use of the data you change the name and password on your router, hit restart and let the fun begin!
 
yeah, i ain't no granny man, just "financially disadvantaged" :p

as for OP, if you're content with 10GB, capped is the way to go. the cheapest data i can think of comes to R150 a month without any discounts that are usually offered
 
I don't want to hijack this thread, but all this mentioning of ISP made me think. I get 15GB peak & 30GB off peak for R299 which includes my 384k ADSL rental. I never get more than 38Kbps download speed. Am I being shaped? Is this deal OK?
 
Last edited:
40-41kB/s is roughly the maximum average download speed that you'll get on a 384kbps ADSL connection, where the MTU of the PPPoE connection is set on 1492.
 
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