Still Confused

[Baron_Sengir]

Hi,

I have been looking for a solution for connectivity for some time and all I seem to get is a huge dark cloud over all possible solutions.

I do know that I am looking for a wireless solution.

I am apparently in a zone that is covered by Iburst and 3g.

Does 3G have decent performance figures? Is the latency as good? Will I be able to use it for gaming purposes regularly as well as normal browsing etc.

I know the obvious is to test each solution, however this is a pain that I would rather avoid.

Does anyone have any suggestions.

I am rather keen on the 3G option but have heard of many an inconsistent performance.

Any help would be gladly appreciated.

Regards,
Baron

 

[LandyMan]

My personal experiences

Hi Baron,

I've had iBurst now since March, and overall it hasn't been too bad ... My speed is normally above ADSL 512. That being said, I don't use it as a mobile connection (the UTD is in the sweet spot at home, and that is where it stays). The reason I am not using for the mobility, is due to the contention/problems on certain towers in the Jhb area, where most of my clients are located.

I've been testing 3G for the last week, to use at above mentioned locations when visiting clients, and I am very happy with it ito the mobility (tested at about 6 locations, never dropping below 340kb/s).

So, my deduction from this is as follows:
To have fast wireless connection, use iBurst if you are not going to move it around alot
For mobility, use 3G ... works like a charm!

Cheers

 

[Roman4604]

I'll second LandyMan ... I do exactly the same. iBurst good for fixed high speed access, 3G good for mobile access.

 

[Baron_Sengir]

Wise Decisions

I am not too concerned with moving the machine around, there is a concern for me with regards to online gaming. Can the solution be trusted for a clean installation without testing etc. I am hoping to get 3G today but am not sure if that is the correct call. Are you saying that I-Burst is consistently faster (Assuming no Laptop roaming). Cause that would make it the better solution.

I am weary of the support of I-Burst in comparrison to Vodacom and their ability to resolve any major issues.

 

[BBSA]

Hi Baron

At this stage I can not suggest Vodacom 3G. I get very slow speeds, sometimes less than 1K/sec.

I have been battling with this now for almost 3 weeks and it does not seem if they can get it sorted out.

 

[LandyMan]

I am not too concerned with moving the machine around, there is a concern for me with regards to online gaming. Can the solution be trusted for a clean installation without testing etc. I am hoping to get 3G today but am not sure if that is the correct call. Are you saying that I-Burst is consistently faster (Assuming no Laptop roaming). Cause that would make it the better solution.

I am weary of the support of I-Burst in comparrison to Vodacom and their ability to resolve any major issues.

For me, yes iBurst has been consistently faster. Keep in mind though that I am not talking about latency, I am talking about DL speeds, VPN connections, etc

The iBurst support does suck big time if you look through the iBurst section on myADSL, but I think I have phoned helpdesk twice in the period since March ... I guess I've been lucky, other users have not been.
On the latency for online gaming, some guys have had success on iBurst, others not (can again be a tower issue). My average pings through iBurst is in the region of 60-80ms locally, about 120 internationally

 

[Roman4604]

Are you saying that I-Burst is consistently faster (Assuming no Laptop roaming).

In my opinion iBurst 3x faster than 3G.

I am weary of the support of I-Burst in comparrison to Vodacom and their ability to resolve any major issues

Yep WBS's support is hopeless, you have to be quite self reliant in solving problems.

 

[biometrics]

With pings over 400 ms I doubt you're going to enjoy gaming with 3G. Mobility is the big plus with 3G. I have very mixed results as to speed, some days I get a downloads in the range of 1-5 KBps and other days I get 30 KBps.

Also note, as mentioned in another thread, that when you don't use the connection actively it goes into an idle mode and can takes 3000 ms to wake up.

 

[TheRoDent]

Baron_Sengir, old buddy old pal!

Get 192k DSL and come play some tribes with us again!

 

[ic]

Baron_Sengir, if you don't mind me asking, why are you specifically looking for a wireless solution?

IMO one of the best features of Vodacom's 3G is mobility, IMO this is a service that is aimed at business people on the move, not just locally but internationally as well...

If you want to use it for online gaming, and if the type of games you want to play are highly sensitive to latency, then any wireless solution will occasionally/often disappoint you, also you need to look at how much data will be transferred, will a 1GB cap be enough on 3G?

My advice is to consider TheRoDent's advice, and consider ADSL as well as the wireless services.

I have been testing out Vodacom's 3G for most of this month, and my personal experience is that it is much more reliable than iBurst, but I am getting HomeDSL next week bcos the caps are much higher, latency should be more stable, and in the near future I will consider getting 3G or HSDPA for the mobility aspect, but it would be as a secondary backup to the HomeDSL...

Hope that helps a bit & welcome to MyADSL .