Stop complaining and get real...

jivan, I have iBurst for the last 45 days, and it is getting from bad to worst for during that time. I don't see any improvement over last few weeks whatsoever so I cancelled it. When I say that iBurst is so bad, I mean that it is not working at all, not that it is slow. I can't even chat anymore with my overseas friends! I run dial-up connection over the weekends in parallel with iBurst just to be able to chat and download some stuff while I am using iBurst for web browsing only! That is a HUGE bull**** and they admit it that this is how it is suppose to be! Well I have not heard of any ISP around the world that puts restiction on the protocols that one can use, to such extent that they are unusable! The iBurst offering should not be called Internet, as internet means they offer you a connection, not just 1 or 2 protocols! So please try figure out some truths about iBurst before making comments how briliant it is because that is a lot of bulls*it.

For anyone interested, forget about iBurst! It is a great technology restricted to such extent that you cannot use it for almost anything. If you can, go for ADSL, otherwise MyWireless must be a better option as well compared to iBurst!
 
swordfish: re with all your problems, where are you based and which tower do you connect to. Can you also please tell me your hardware configuration.
 
Guys that post by jivan was just to stir everyone up.. best ignored.
 
I am connecting to the Northclif tower (I assume), UTD on LAN, I have both Linux and Windows 2000 so I did try both, as well as I tried both LAN and USB connections. There is no difference whatsoever between all combinations.

I had iBurst properly working for 4 days, from 8th to 11th of April, so I know it is not a equipment problem. It is all about the way they have configured things to make them not work!
 
twixt said:
... - switch to another product.
Click to expand...
twixt, on the whole a good balanced post, but I think you completely ignored that there are virtually no alternatives/options to choose from - broadband in SA is like hen's teeth - you've heard it exists but cannot find it when you start looking for it...
 
Kei, forgot, I have played with the MTU settings as well, at present I think it is set to 1352, but I did try other as well. My signal is 100% most of the time. I almost never have speed problems, although since recently it is frequent for web pages to timeout.

Most protocols don't work at all, including but not limited to ICQ, MIRC, various streaming protocols and P2P.
 
swordfish1:

AFAIK there is a massive problem with Northcliff tower and WBS doesn't quite know how to fix it. Someone on this forum used a log-periodic antenna to pick up another tower i.e. Roodepoort and that resolved the problem. I am assuming you have determined the optimal MTU setting and RWIN as a matter of course.

Have you tried using an antenna and pointing that in the direction of the Roodepoort tower using the maps on iBurst site as an idea where to point to?

I am willing to help you sort this problem out. We can even test your UTD and confirm that it is 100% (which it probably is)
 
ic, I like your comparison!

If you compare this forum to the MyWi one and to the ADSL one, you will notice one major difference between the two wireless forums and the ADSL one: this and MyWi forum are full of complains about post installation problems, eg bad speed, stuff not working etc, while on the ADSL forum all complains are about pre-installation problems, eg Telkom takes 3 months to install a line, there are none about speed or stuff not working.

So taking into account the grim reality of SA broadband, I think ADSL is the way to go at this stage. It is getting slowly but surely cheaper and there are various options for ISPs, so there is some relaxation of the monopoly. With wireless there is extreemly high upfront cost (for the ~R3000 modem) and then you get sh*t. So what's the point. If one can get ADSL, go for it. I did. Hope telkom does not screw me somehow to delay the installation too much, but I am sure that once installed will be far superior than iBurst.
 
yeah ok well there you go, from the start way back int he prehistoric prelaunch times Bryanston was crap and so was Northcliff with Central JHB not far behind, if you are gonna use these stations you WILL get crappy speeds no matter what the shaping is like.

Your problems have nothing to do with shaping (which incedently LOADS of ISPs do around the world) or cache. I think the northcliff/bryanston/jhb central problems have everything to do with congestion, of course I can't say for sure and WBS won't say either but northcliff was crappy before the launch even happened.

You gotta understand shaping is across the network, everyone is subjected to it and yet you have people like Kei and myself as well as others having good speed for last night for instance, I bet you werent having good speeds last night, which means it wasn't shaping, or network configuration on the iBurst network, the problem is in your area, on your tower (and some others).

I'm still sticking with the congestion theory because I'm sure that tower is saturated with peopel al trying to get thier piece of the pie with not enough to go around, this is why some people have an awesome time with iburst and can't understand what others are talking about and peopel liek you feel liek they're getting ripped off completly.

I don't blame you for canceling, I would have done the same in that situation but thank Jah, I'm not
 
Kei, thanks for your willingness to help me, I appreciate it very much.

As I said before I had things working for 4 full days, so I know that it can work. I spoke to Shaun and he said that it is not normal for ICQ to not work, but P2P is a different story so I should not expect it to work unless I switch to the 9 GB package. If they have problems with the Northcliff tower, I gave them 1 full month to solve them. Northcliff is most likely on the way between me and the Roodeport tower, it is more likely that I will be able to connect to the Rosebank one than to the Roodeport. But in any case I lost any interes of getting this solved, and I am unwilling to install antenaes and even less willing to spend more money on something that may or may not work. I still have dial-up account so I run this off-peak time to do whatever I can't do with iBurst.

I tested recently an ADSL line and I was stunned how cool, fast and reliable it is. Everything worked flawlessly. So I already ordered ADSL line. It cost 50% more than iBurst and you get reliable connection and 30 GB monthly cap, which is far better than 3 GB. So I am looking forward to getting the ADSL some time next month and I have cancelled the iBurst from the end of this month.

Thanks anyway.
 
slimothy, do you read my posts completely or only the first line ... ? I know they are quite long but please read them before making comments ...

I have 100% signal at 99% of the time, and I NEVER complained about speed! I never had speed problem with iBurst! It is all about protocols NOT working at all! I know that many ISPs do shaping, so ADSL is shaped as well, which results in P2P traffic being much slower during the business hour. That is perfectly ok with me! What is not ok with me is that with iBurst I have to use a proxy to get ANY P2P whatsoever, I can't use ICQ because after EVERY single message it disconnects, I can't even use properly a bloody web applet using streaming (text data, not audio/video) because it will disconnect every 10 minutes or so!!!

So that is my problem! I run a dial-up connection off-peak hours now, so I can do all the stuff that I can't do with iBurst as I use to do them before I had iBurst. Now I use iBurst for browsing exclusively and downloading relatively small files from HTTP. Everything else DON'T WORK, it is not slow, IT DON'T WORK AT ALL!
 
yepp like I said, you are on northcliff, iBurst isnt worth anythign on northcliff or bryanston, which is why i'm saying good luck witht he adsl thing, its obviously a much better option in your area, so enjoy
 
Well that's why I am willing to help you because you said repeatedly it's protocol problems you're having and I am very interested as to why certain protocols don't work on your iBurst connection.
 
Kei, if you want to figure it out for interest sake, I don't mind, but I am not investing even a cent more than I did already into iBurst, so I am not buying antenaes etc.

So if you want to test let me know what's the plan.
 
OK I understand how you feel and I don't blame you. What I would suggest is plugging in my UTD and router into your system and prove beyond a doubt that the UTD and all your equipment is OK, or alternatively you are welcome to come see me and test your UTD and computer on my network at home. If you are OK with this let me know and I'll confirm closer to the weekend. If that is OK?
 
Kei, I can tell you two things from observation:

1. Some connections (non-HTTP) seem to fail to establish immediately, not due to timeout nor network failure, most likely their packet shaping has some way of determining what is what and decides to drop some packets used to establish a connection.

2. Very often a connection gets dropped for no apparent reason. Very few connections last longer than few minutes.
 
Kei, yes it is ok with me, either way.

I am fairly sure that it is not a modem failure as I have tested with another UTD modem as well and there was no difference, but this was in the very begining after I got iBurst (more than a month ago).
 
OK cool. If I may ask, when exactly did you sign up? I've been on iBurst also for a very short time. I have had one evening last week where iBurst wasn't worth a Zim dollar but this weekend it was really working well.
 
The thing that makes me think that it is nothing to do with the equipment nor my location, is the fact that HTTP seem to work just fine, even downloading large files seems to be relatively ok (every now and then it may lose the connection, but reconnects and resumes just fine almost immediately). So there is a huge difference between HTTP and other protocols, and as far as I know there is absolutely no difference from hardware point of view what protocols one is using, so it must be equaly reliable for all. Also I use a dial-up modem on the same system and everyhing works perfectly fine with it, no dropped or failed to establish connections whatsoever.

So all this makes me think that they did their packaet shaping to such an extent that even ICQ and streaming Java applet falls under it ... in other words I guess that their attitude is that if you want to just browse then ok, otherwise go for the 9 GB package so they can make a lot of money for big bonuses ...
 
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