Hello, I am new to this forum.
My experience with Telkom ADSL has been a nightmare for the past few years.
10Mbps uncapped home ADSL
10Mbps line
Landline
Let me explain.
Ever since the beginning with Telkom, our internet service was terrible, speeds bad, ping atrocious etc... and our line even went COMPLETELY DEAD (no phone working, no internet, no sync, nothing) for almost 2 weeks. Technicians couldn't even resolve it.
Around a year and a half ago I decided that was it and I decided that I wanted to cancel my service with Telkom. I sent them a cancellation request about 2 or 3 times and nothing ever happened. We didn't even get a reply for 6 MONTHS. So I decided to go to the Telkom Store and actually do it physically in front of them. A year later and nothing. I am still currently sitting trying to cancel. I recently sent in a cancellation form that I made sure was filled out correctly and verified by a Telkom employee over the phone and there is maybe some hope as I received an automated response saying that it will take 21 days etc...
Now through this entire time, the internet has been terrible. It is increasingly unstable and my line quality appears to be terrible.
I am getting this on my line: (DSL Uptime ~9hrs)
SNR Margin = 9.5dB Down / 8.0dB Up
Line Attenuation = 56.0dB Down / 26.5dB Up
Path Mode = Interleaved
Data Rate (Sync) = 6400kbps Down / 960kbps Up
Power = 19.5dbm Down / 12.0 dbm Up
CRC = 147 Down / 0 Up
It seems that the attenuation is extremely high.
The strange thing is that, at a point about 6 months ago, I used to get between 8 and 9 megs down and about 1.2 megs up which was fantastic and what I expected since I was paying for 10mbps. The ping was great too with local ping to the Batllefield 1 SA servers sitting at 16ms and US servers sitting at an OK-ish 100ms. This period of beauty lasted about a month or so and then it went back to being terrible and it has stayed like that since.
My ping now is 80ms (local) and over 400ms international which is INSANELY bad. I can't play Battlefield 1 on US servers anymore and playing on SA servers is not great either. Speedtest shows similar ping so I know it isn't just the Battlefield 1 servers.
TLDR:
My service is terrible. Line speed bad. Telkom experience bad.
Sync Rate is 6400kbps
~4mbps download
~0.5mbps upload
~80ms ping local / 400+ms ping international
~unreliable connection
~High attenuation 56.0dB
I have tried Afrihost's free 1GB test account and:
Speed increased from 4mbps to ~5.7mbps
Ping decreased from ~80ms local to ~40ms local and 400+ms international to ~200ms international.
Attenuation still terrible though so not much of an improvement.
Is there anything I can do? I don't have fibre in my area and I don't have VDSL in my area either. Wireless internet is not going to work because of Latency and cost. I am in an urban area (Heldervue, Somerset West). Telkom won't cancel my service.
I am trying to move to either Afrihost or Vox (I know they still use Telkom lines) because maybe I will get a better experience.
My experience with Telkom ADSL has been a nightmare for the past few years.
10Mbps uncapped home ADSL
10Mbps line
Landline
Let me explain.
Ever since the beginning with Telkom, our internet service was terrible, speeds bad, ping atrocious etc... and our line even went COMPLETELY DEAD (no phone working, no internet, no sync, nothing) for almost 2 weeks. Technicians couldn't even resolve it.
Around a year and a half ago I decided that was it and I decided that I wanted to cancel my service with Telkom. I sent them a cancellation request about 2 or 3 times and nothing ever happened. We didn't even get a reply for 6 MONTHS. So I decided to go to the Telkom Store and actually do it physically in front of them. A year later and nothing. I am still currently sitting trying to cancel. I recently sent in a cancellation form that I made sure was filled out correctly and verified by a Telkom employee over the phone and there is maybe some hope as I received an automated response saying that it will take 21 days etc...
Now through this entire time, the internet has been terrible. It is increasingly unstable and my line quality appears to be terrible.
I am getting this on my line: (DSL Uptime ~9hrs)
SNR Margin = 9.5dB Down / 8.0dB Up
Line Attenuation = 56.0dB Down / 26.5dB Up
Path Mode = Interleaved
Data Rate (Sync) = 6400kbps Down / 960kbps Up
Power = 19.5dbm Down / 12.0 dbm Up
CRC = 147 Down / 0 Up
It seems that the attenuation is extremely high.
The strange thing is that, at a point about 6 months ago, I used to get between 8 and 9 megs down and about 1.2 megs up which was fantastic and what I expected since I was paying for 10mbps. The ping was great too with local ping to the Batllefield 1 SA servers sitting at 16ms and US servers sitting at an OK-ish 100ms. This period of beauty lasted about a month or so and then it went back to being terrible and it has stayed like that since.
My ping now is 80ms (local) and over 400ms international which is INSANELY bad. I can't play Battlefield 1 on US servers anymore and playing on SA servers is not great either. Speedtest shows similar ping so I know it isn't just the Battlefield 1 servers.
TLDR:
My service is terrible. Line speed bad. Telkom experience bad.
Sync Rate is 6400kbps
~4mbps download
~0.5mbps upload
~80ms ping local / 400+ms ping international
~unreliable connection
~High attenuation 56.0dB
I have tried Afrihost's free 1GB test account and:
Speed increased from 4mbps to ~5.7mbps
Ping decreased from ~80ms local to ~40ms local and 400+ms international to ~200ms international.
Attenuation still terrible though so not much of an improvement.
Is there anything I can do? I don't have fibre in my area and I don't have VDSL in my area either. Wireless internet is not going to work because of Latency and cost. I am in an urban area (Heldervue, Somerset West). Telkom won't cancel my service.
I am trying to move to either Afrihost or Vox (I know they still use Telkom lines) because maybe I will get a better experience.
150-200 ping to the UK & 7ms locally