The question everyone asks: Which ISP

ADSL is much like the ANC, full of hidden dangers and pitfalls.

1. your distance from your exchange.
2. your line quality - a 4mb line getting 4mb speed or 10mb etc.
3. your exchange - whether its congested on not
4. ipc - sufficient capacity or not.
5. number of ipc's. some ISP's got ipc's in Johannesburg and Cape Town. the good ones also got ipc in Durban, PE and Bloemfontein.
6. number of undersea cables used.
7. your ISP - can you contact them if you got a problem.
7.1. via phone - you simply cannot get hold of certain ISP's.
7.2. via email - how long they take to reply, some ISP's can take days to answer an email.
7.3. via live support - only a few ISP's offer live support.
8. look at the number of posts on MyBB. go with the ISP's with the least posts as that mean there's the least problems with that ISP.

ISP's:

Cybersmart -
home uncapped - shaped and then unshaped from 00.30 - 06.00 - Crystalweb use the same model
smart business - 100gb unshaped bandwidth then shaped and unshaped from 00.30 - 06.00
WebAfrica - star rating system
Incredible Connection - star rating system
Axxess - shaped most of the time. only unshaped when the system's not busy.
Afrihost - shaped most of the time. only unshaped when the system's not busy.
Mweb - shaped most of the time. throttle your usage.
Telkom - shaped most of the time. throttle your usage.
Openweb - shaped most of the time. throttle your usage?

Necuno's post shed some good light on ISP's...

Necuno said:
All depends on what you want, from the top of my head:

1. Shared accounts - Openweb
2. Shaped and throttled capped accounts - Web Africa, Afrihost
3. We will never tell you the exact limits of your uncapped account - Mweb
4. Don't use so much, you abuser you - Telkom, Mweb
5. 30 Days to cancel, 30 days to downgrade, but instant upgrade - Openweb, Mweb
6. Billing problems - Web Africa, Openweb
7. R1 promotions fails, Lets download the internet fail - Web Africa
8. We will bull**** you - Openweb, Mweb, Afrihost
9. We will auto close your tickets - Web Africa

...All about the features you want :)



but do not fear young OP, the chosen one will soon enter the thread and help us onto the path of salvation
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
mika1000 said:
ADSL is much like the ANC, full of hidden dangers and pitfalls.

1. your distance from your exchange.
2. your line quality - a 4mb line getting 4mb speed or 10mb etc.
3. your exchange - whether its congested on not
4. ipc - sufficient capacity or not.
5. number of ipc's. some ISP's got ipc's in Johannesburg and Cape Town. the good ones also got ipc in Durban, PE and Bloemfontein.
6. number of undersea cables used.
7. your ISP - can you contact them if you got a problem.
7.1. via phone - you simply cannot get hold of certain ISP's.
7.2. via email - how long they take to reply, some ISP's can take days to answer an email.
7.3. via live support - only a few ISP's offer live support.
8. look at the number of posts on MyBB. go with the ISP's with the least posts as that mean there's the least problems with that ISP.

Necuno's post shed some good light on ISP's...
Click to expand...


Hi mika1000,

Thanks so much for the insight it is really appreciated!

Just a few questions:

1) How do I locate my exchange or how far it is (along the copper line)
2 & 3) I presume you can only tell this once you have the adsl line up and running?
4) What does ipc stand for? Is there a way to gauge this?
5) Is there a way to find this out?

With regards to Necuno's post it is indeed very helpful - unfortunately no comment on VOX though, that being said perhaps this is a good thing.

His #2 is of most concern to me, I certainly don't want to be getting shaped and throttled on a capped account, this is one of the reasons that what lead me to VOX, but again they seem to be having problems of late. Also I haven't seen the greatest support from the forums, also what I have experienced myself it hasn't been the greatest.

I also haven't seen Axxess mentioned, nor have I seen them around the forums at all to be honest, which leads me to your #8
 
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shanezn said:
A mate of mine is on Afrihost's 50+50 Capped package and is extremely happy with it. I've heard their home Uncapped is problematic, but I've only heard good things about the capped products. Was actually considering it myself, if Telkom don't fix up.
Click to expand...

Well, now you've heard very, very bad things about Afrihost capped - data theft, billing problems, terrible support, etc, etc. And that's just me. I'm now with WebAfrica - it's not perfect, but way better than Afrihost
 
mika1000 said:
Crystalweb use the same model
Click to expand...

Not any longer. Our standard uncapped accounts are unshaped and shaping only applies to large downloads after 100 to 200 gigs. Nothing else however is shaped.
 
Crystal Web said:
Not any longer. Our standard uncapped accounts are unshaped and shaping only applies to large downloads after 100 to 200 gigs. Nothing else however is shaped.
Click to expand...

This is interesting.

Is the threshold increased the higher your line speed?
 
Chevron said:
This is interesting.

Is the threshold increased the higher your line speed?
Click to expand...

Yes. Up to 100gigs for 2, 4, and 10Mbps and up to 200 gigs for 20 and 40Mbps customers. So every customer gets an unshaped experience, some most months completely unshaped, and thereafter shaping kicks in, and releases at midnight, and only on large downloads, so smaller downloads are still unshaped.
 
mika1000 said:
WebAfrica - star rating system
Incredible Connection - star rating system
Axxess - shaped most of the time. only unshaped when the system's not busy.
Afrihost - shaped most of the time. only unshaped when the system's not busy.
Mweb - shaped most of the time. throttle your usage.
Telkom - shaped most of the time. throttle your usage.
Openweb - shaped most of the time. throttle your usage?
Click to expand...

Are these for both Capped and uncapped?
 
I'd be interested to find out what ISPs shape capped accounts - I was under the impression that all capped accounts were unshaped, is this so?
 
yes it should be because its in their interest for you to use it quickly ,my buddy is on the 100 gig plus 100 free for 399 from afrihost and is running full 10meg speeds .He is very happy with it.
 
MikyMouse said:
I'd be interested to find out what ISPs shape capped accounts - I was under the impression that all capped accounts were unshaped, is this so?
Click to expand...

more or less all at present unless you got a premium business capped account. in the fineprint all the isp's say they can shape traffic if need be with severe stress on the networks, even prime business accounts.

true unshaped capped (R50 per gig or so) or unshaped uncapped runs into thousands of rand with all the new AUP's and FUP's and shaping can be applied... if there's strain on the network... even if your on a business account...

i'm busy with a complete list that should be ready later in the week...
 
yusufdavids said:
yes it should be because its in their interest for you to use it quickly ,my buddy is on the 100 gig plus 100 free for 399 from afrihost and is running full 10meg speeds .He is very happy with it.
Click to expand...

if he use the plus free from 00.30 to 6.00 it should be completely unshaped...
 
Chevron said:
Those apply to home uncapped packages.
Click to expand...

more or less all at present unless you got a premium business capped account. in the fineprint all the isp's say they can shape traffic if need be with severe stress on the networks, even prime business accounts.

true unshaped capped (R50 per gig or so) or unshaped uncapped runs into thousands of rand with all the new AUP's and FUP's and shaping can be applied... if there's strain on the network... even if your on a business account...

the reps say there's no shaping etc but when you look at the amount of complaints its a different picture...

i'm busy with a complete list that should be ready later in the week... i'll keep you posted.
 
MikyMouse said:
Hi mika1000,

Thanks so much for the insight it is really appreciated!

Just a few questions:

1) How do I locate my exchange or how far it is (along the copper line)
2 & 3) I presume you can only tell this once you have the adsl line up and running?
4) What does ipc stand for? Is there a way to gauge this?
5) Is there a way to find this out?

With regards to Necuno's post it is indeed very helpful - unfortunately no comment on VOX though, that being said perhaps this is a good thing.

His #2 is of most concern to me, I certainly don't want to be getting shaped and throttled on a capped account, this is one of the reasons that what lead me to VOX, but again they seem to be having problems of late. Also I haven't seen the greatest support from the forums, also what I have experienced myself it hasn't been the greatest.

I also haven't seen Axxess mentioned, nor have I seen them around the forums at all to be honest, which leads me to your #8
Click to expand...

Axxess read with MTN and Afrihost - shaped and throttled
 
It seems a choise is to be made according to what is the lesser evil. I cannot see any ISP that is really without (serious) problems. I further get the impression that here in PE we are also sucking on the hind teat. The best internet I actually had was with Axxess, before their takeover and when they were still running on the IS backbone. Lately I have been falling around and also on serious lookout for an ISP with reasonable line speed (at least 2mbs on 4mbs account - not 700 kbs as I presently have), approx 100gig capped or an uncapped at reasonable price and that can offer support - at least give support within 24 hours. Seriously this should not be such a tall order.
 
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