Shaped or unshaped?

A

Aloha

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I'm new in this "business" and would appreciate a little help. After signing a 24 month contract with Telkom (which they apparently lost and I'm leaving it at that) I paid for the modem which has now eventually been installed. Now I need an ISP. Can anyone explain the difference between "shaped" and "unshaped"?:o
 
Telkom losing your contract could be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Unshaped is more expensive.

Shaped/unshaped seems to make little difference (opinion on this forum) unless you are gaming.
 
Yep you're very lucky to have gotten out of a contract ;)

It makes very little difference with browsing if you got shaped vs unshaped. Main difference is the price of unshaped, just more expensive for virtually the same thing.

So unless you're gonna game often I would go for the shaped ;)
 
It makes a huge difference

If you want to use any services other than standard HTTp/FTP/POP3/SMTP.
I use Skype alot - works great for Skype. For me it is worth it, as Skype is the biggest reason I have internet at this stage.
 
Onepostwonder said:
I use Skype alot - works great for Skype.
Click to expand...

What are your roundtrip times? I use Skype to landlines on a shaped account get 400ms and call quality is OK (pretty good actually)

You reckon the switch to unshaped would benefit noticeably?
 
Onepostwonder said:
If you want to use any services other than standard HTTp/FTP/POP3/SMTP.
I use Skype alot - works great for Skype. For me it is worth it, as Skype is the biggest reason I have internet at this stage.
Click to expand...

So you would then go for unshaped?
 
Aloha said:
So you would then go for unshaped?
Click to expand...
I would go for shaped and see how things go. No point paying a premium for a service you might not need.

If you find you need unshaped for just a few things consider buying a single gb of unshaped from a provider in the form of pay as you go. It wont run out at the end of the month that way. I've got a gb that I use only for skype that has lasted for quite some time.
 
Aloha said:
So it has nothing to do with the quality of reception then?
Click to expand...
Very little - if they've provided you with ADSL you should be good to go. To me its a bit of a waste paying for a premium service if you dont really need it. To be honest I rarely had any skype problems when I was using shaped. Still, you can always upgrade if you do. :)
 
Thanks all for the info's - very helpful! Now all I need is a good provider....
 
Web africa is a good one to do initially, because you can just get prepaid, either shaped or unshaped, and see which works for you. Nice and easy from their web site.
 
Unshaped

carudden said:
What are your roundtrip times? I use Skype to landlines on a shaped account get 400ms and call quality is OK (pretty good actually)

You reckon the switch to unshaped would benefit noticeably?
Click to expand...

I use Skype alot to India, US, NZ and find there is a huge difference with unshaped. I am on Verizon unshaped right now and would never go back to SAIX shaped because of this need (and past experience). I am happy to post speed and latency tests if anyone wants to suggest a good tool.
 
Onepostwonder said:
I use Skype alot to India, US, NZ and find there is a huge difference with unshaped. I am on Verizon unshaped right now and would never go back to SAIX shaped because of this need (and past experience). I am happy to post speed and latency tests if anyone wants to suggest a good tool.
Click to expand...
The built-in skype stats?
 
Ok, but unfortunately you will have to give me a lil time... I am en route to Zanzibar and will be back next Sunday...
I'll see if I can use Uvnc from hotel when I arrive.
 
Hi - sorry for the delay - am back - ping results

Pinging clarity.jolt.co.uk [195.149.21.11] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=259ms TTL=46
Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=243ms TTL=46
Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=250ms TTL=46
Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=248ms TTL=46

Ping statistics for 195.149.21.11:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 243ms, Maximum = 259ms, Average = 250ms
Click to expand...
Pinging bbc.co.uk [212.58.228.155] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 212.58.228.155: bytes=32 time=271ms TTL=236
Reply from 212.58.228.155: bytes=32 time=246ms TTL=236
Reply from 212.58.228.155: bytes=32 time=267ms TTL=236
Reply from 212.58.228.155: bytes=32 time=250ms TTL=236

Ping statistics for 212.58.228.155:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 246ms, Maximum = 271ms, Average = 258ms
Click to expand...
Pinging eastcoastlan.com [82.165.128.121] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.165.128.121: bytes=32 time=337ms TTL=44
Reply from 82.165.128.121: bytes=32 time=338ms TTL=44
Reply from 82.165.128.121: bytes=32 time=345ms TTL=44
Reply from 82.165.128.121: bytes=32 time=341ms TTL=44

Ping statistics for 82.165.128.121:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 337ms, Maximum = 345ms, Average = 340ms
Click to expand...
As I'm sure you are aware, these figures are not going to hilight the benefit of the unshaped package, but show normal latency for international with Verizon. Skype stats to follow (Skype in call from the US, Skypeout call to the US, Skype to Skype to the US)
These were done with the business day in full swing (9 am monday morning)
 
Check www.hellkom.co.za for ISP's to choose from

Shaped is without a doubt the crappest "best effort service" money can buy. I suggest unshaped because it is way better thay shaped.
 
Ok - skype out test to the US:
Jitter: 24
Packet loss: 0.7%
Send packet loss: 0%
Recv packet loss: 0.1%
Roundtrip 361ms
BM: audio 1000 / 20ms
UDP status local: Good
CPU Usage: 40.5% 39.0%
Q = QUALITY_OK
 
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