The best ways to get uncapped Internet in SA

vDSL is the best available in our area.

Bought a rain sim the other day for when we need to get online during power cuts but TBH it's pretty poor.
 
These fibre products can offer speeds as low as 10Mbps, which will not let you stream in pristine quality, but will be a reliable connection to perform most tasks.
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Not true, actually. My 10Mbps line handles up to 4k just fine, either Youtube or Netflix.

Granted, if I had multiple people at home all trying to stream at once, there'd be problems, but for a single user it's more than adequate.
 
bwana said:
vDSL is the best available in our area.

Bought a rain sim the other day for when we need to get online during power cuts but TBH it's pretty poor.
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Supersonic fixed lte should be faster, most guys including myself easily get over 100mbps
 
Gtx Gaming said:
Supersonic fixed lte should be faster, most guys including myself easily get over 100mbps
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Locally telkom has the fastest LTE but we just need a backup for the kids' online classes.
 
newby_investor said:
Not true, actually. My 10Mbps line handles up to 4k just fine, either Youtube or Netflix.

Granted, if I had multiple people at home all trying to stream at once, there'd be problems, but for a single user it's more than adequate.
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That is very unlikely, but If you can supply proof I am willing to withdraw this statement.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/78358?hl=en

Netflix recommends a minimum of 25Mb/s for 4K, and Youtube 20Mb/s.
 
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bwana said:
vDSL is the best available in our area.

Bought a rain sim the other day for when we need to get online during power cuts but TBH it's pretty poor.
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Do you know if it's a signal issue or tower congestion?
Most rain issues are due to congestion, if yours is due to signal an external antenna could help.
 
IssiAmd said:
Do you know if it's a signal issue or tower congestion?
Most rain issues are due to congestion, if yours is due to signal an external antenna could help.
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We're only about 300m away from it so I don't think it's a signal issue. I know vodacom is currently running fibre to the towers in the area so I guess it's congestion.
 
Rain is a bit of a hit or miss.... You either lucky to have a tower that supports Band 38 all to yourself or get a super congested tower, only kinda usable at 4am when everyone is asleep.
 
I had Axxess Just DSL 10mbps installed at my house and I must say this is true uncapped unshaped unthrottled internet with No FUP. 24/7 internet and we can stream Netflix in FHD and downloads are a bliss. Fiber is being laid in my area, so in the meantime we have a great internet experience. We will switch to fiber when it becomes available and keep the Just DSL as backup. I would recommend Axxess Just DSL to anyone, that can get the service in their area.
 
MyBroadband recently compared the pricing of fibre across ISPs and network providers.

You can view this information here.
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I would not recommend using that article as a comprehensive comparison, for a start there are very few ISPs listed there (only 6), and also no indication of what the installation costs are, no indication of contract length either, and for someone on a budget these are important factors that need to be weighed.
 
j4ck455 said:
I would not recommend using that article as a comprehensive comparison, for a start there are very few ISPs listed there (only 6), and also no indication of what the installation costs are, no indication of contract length either, and for someone on a budget these are important factors that need to be weighed.
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Yeah it's really strange, no Telkom or Supersonic mention (all three of their respective packages), and this article went on a wild tangent with the microwave / wireless packages, without even mentioning the 5G packages, so this isn't even a real budget guide to begin with, hmm
 
Crumbl0x said:
Yeah it's really strange, no Telkom or Supersonic mention (all three of their respective packages), and this article went on a wild tangent with the microwave / wireless packages, without even mentioning the 5G packages, so this isn't even a real budget guide to begin with, hmm
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To be fair, Supersonic was listed in the article from September 2020, and I can understand that a journalist would not want to punt Telkom as a shining example of an uncapped FTTH ISP.

However there's no Cool Ideas listed, and currently Vodacom has quite a low price FTTH deal (IIRC 8Mbps down and 5Mbps up on Openserve for R449/m but it has a FUP).

I'd say MyBB needs to do a new and more comprehensive FTTH comparison with installation costs and contract length for each ISP / package options, instead of just linking to an old article that could well be outdated by now and bizarrely focuses on just a few FTTH ISPs.
 
Apogee said:
That is very unlikely, but If you can supply proof I am willing to withdraw this statement.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/78358?hl=en

Netflix recommends a minimum of 25Mb/s for 4K, and Youtube 20Mb/s.
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I mean I just told you that I do it. What kind of proof do you want? Would you like to come to my house and see?

Of course they recommend having a bit of overhead. That way you don't get interruptions when someone answers a WhatsApp call or something. But it's not as though it won't work with a bit less bandwidth.
 
newby_investor said:
I mean I just told you that I do it. What kind of proof do you want? Would you like to come to my house and see?

Of course they recommend having a bit of overhead. That way you don't get interruptions when someone answers a WhatsApp call or something. But it's not as though it won't work with a bit less bandwidth.
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Perhaps you could run a fast..com speed test and see what speeds are reflected there.
Maybe your isp is actually being pretty generous and allowing more bandwidth considering the lockdown and all
 
newby_investor said:
I mean I just told you that I do it. What kind of proof do you want? Would you like to come to my house and see?

Of course they recommend having a bit of overhead. That way you don't get interruptions when someone answers a WhatsApp call or something. But it's not as though it won't work with a bit less bandwidth.
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I guess he is referring to a screenshot of playback of a 4k title with the stream information showing 4k playback resolution..

Here is how to check in browser: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broa...quality-netflix-here-is-how-to-check.html/amp
 
WAslayer said:
I guess he is referring to a screenshot of playback of a 4k title with the stream information showing 4k playback resolution..

Here is how to check in browser: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broa...quality-netflix-here-is-how-to-check.html/amp
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Netflix started re-encoding a lot of shows last year since the huge uptake of its services due to COVID.

www.forbes.com

Netflix Viewers Upset With 4K Picture Quality

Netflix viewers complain of poor picture quality after a revamp of the 4K streaming technology.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com

Disenchantment for one has been re-encoded to a whopping 2.10Mbps which is very low for 4k, but still 4k, so easily doable by a 10Mbit line.

Not all shows seem to have been re-encoded yet so a 10Mbit line won't handle 4k on all shows, but should be fine for a few of them. Youtube also has some very low encoded 4k content, some not.

Edit: I added a 9Mbit (to simulate 10Mbit overhead) limit to my WAN interface on the router to test and it handled Disenchantment at 4k perfectly fine without maxing out the line constantly at all.

IMG_0314.jpg
 
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