Today is the day...

[Gatecrasher]

...I apply for ADSL.

Been with Iburst two years, and still waiting to see some new packages and cheaper bandwidth. And now with performance beginning to deteriorate rapidly due to basestation congestion... I'm giving up.

There is talk of 2mb/s, larger capacity for the basestations, and other new developments, but I'd rather they introduce the changes first and then talk about it. I'm not impressed with Service Providers who promise "exciting new things" but can't provide any timeframe.

Most of the news out of IBurst is about new "partnerships" to basically step up the overselling of the product. This is not the news that existing customers want to hear.

In the past 2 years, the cost of ADSL has fallen several times, and access speeds have increased. So while Iburst was once a value-for-money product, and fared well on a comparative basis, that is no longer the case.

For what I pay each monmth, 9Gb at 1mb/s is just not good enough. The cost of additional bandwidth on Iburst is way too high, at least double that of ADSL. And the economies of scale are miserable at best.

For me the math is simple. I pay R1099pm for G9, and I pay +-R600 for a Telkom landline (including calls). Total = R1699.

If I get Telkom Closer Plan 5, I pay R699pm for a 4mb ADSL connection and I cover 99% of all my landline call costs. I then have a R1000 left to purchase ADSL bandwidth. For that kind of money I can get at least 30GB international, 30Gb local, and post cap international browsing.

Its a no brainer.

So long Iburst, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[Hogrod]

I'm also joining you. I ordered yesterday. The cost does not justify the need to keep Iburst now that DSL has become available in my area.
I hope for better things in future. If Iburst become competitive again, I'll be sure to consider them.

 

[Fudzy]

Well the only thing that stopped me from going the ADSL is the fact that I don't have a phone-line. If your spending that sorta of money for internet as well as having a phone-line it would be stupid for you to continue using iBurst. What ADSL ISP subscription you going to go for?

 

[Gatecrasher]

What ADSL ISP subscription you going to go for?

There is a lot of choice, but initially I'm going to get international from TelkomInternet. 2x or 3x their 3Gb accounts. Since these have relaxed capping, and it is theoretically possible to get up to 20Gb from each. For local access and post-cap browsing, I will use an Openweb local account plus openbrowse. That still leaves spare change to purchase additional pre-paid bandwdith as required. Using WebAfrica, for instance, the unused bandwdith can be carried over indefinitely.

Using Route Sentry software Local and International traffic can be diverted to the appropriate accounts so that you don't waste international bandwidth accessing local sites.

If I used a 512k connection I could get an uncapped account for just over R1000, but at this stage I'm not happy about downgrading my speed. Hopefully in time, some high volume 4mb products will become available at a reasonable monthly cost...

 

[Fudzy]

What do you do with all that bandwidth? Are you really going to notice the difference between wireless 1MB and 512k wired?

 

[Gatecrasher]

What do you do with all that bandwidth? Are you really going to notice the difference between wireless 1MB and 512k wired?

There is an inexhaustible supply of content out there.

Yes, I would certainly notice the difference. Mostly on p2p and multi-threaded downloads. I frequenty download on Iburst at speeds greater than 100Kb/s. On a 512k line I would not get much higher than 50KB/s

For other activties, though, like browsing and gaming, the lower latency of 512k ADSL would more than likely compensate for the slower download speeds.

 

[Ekhaatvensters]

Just wondering, does that closer 5 plan really eliminate all of your phone bill? How do those even work, the one I have heard of only makes all calls after 7 free for a flat rate of R300 pm.

Is this actually a total flat rate for all calls at R600 pm?

And yes, for browsing even ADSL 384 can be faster, unless there are a lot of big images or flash content and you would have had a good iBurst connection. but I guess its mostly bandwidth (cap) that we are after.

 

[Gatecrasher]

Just wondering, does that closer 5 plan really eliminate all of your phone bill? How do those even work, the one I have heard of only makes all calls after 7 free for a flat rate of R300 pm.

Actually, it won't, there will be some international calls, and a few calls to cellphones, although we usually call cellphones from our cellphones anyway.

The closer package gives free national calls in callmore time, 1000 free standard time minutes, and per second billing to cellphones, and it also includes the rental.

DLS1024 is R516 per month, so effectively you are get the above service for R183 per month, instead of the +-R600 I'm currently paying (with no plan).

 

[who.is.michael]

Well I hope iBurst wakes up soon...

I have already lost two "iBurst clients", switching to DSL, (a third to follow suite soon) - it makes economical sense and access speeds are higher and also far less outages. It’s only me an a few of my neighbours that are still unable to obtain DSL due to the quality of the telephone lines, which Telkom assured would be corrected in the new year – then I’ll be going the Telkom route as well.

The only thing that would prevent me from doing this is if iBurst increases their access speeds, reduce their fees considerably, provide a more stable service and relaxes their capping structure - sounds a bit like wishful thinking. It seems that MyWireless is going this route soon.

So I’ll have to wait and see what the new year brings.

 

[fishfly]

This must be the saddest day for iburst hearing their customers switching over to TELESKUM!

Personally i would switch if I had a phone line... but I can't even get that due to the fact the last phone line I had (which was cancelled months before) incurred some massive debt! I refused to pay for something I did not use

 

[Mze]

Telkom Closer Calling Plan - Option 5

Repeating some of the information already in this thread, but quoting directly from www.telkom.co.za, Option 5 is as follows:

HomeDSL Up to 1024

Monthly subscription includes home line rental, Call Answer and DSL rental.

Standard Time
Local and long distance calls at no charge up to 1000 minutes per month. Pure per second billing applies for fixed-to-mobile calls.

Callmore Time
Unlimited local and long distance call at no charge, up to an hour maximum per call. Pure per second billing applies for fixed-to-mobile calls.

Monthly subscription incl VAT - R699.00

Elsewhere on the web-site Telkom advises:
"DSL Up to 4Mbps trial replaces Home & BusinessDSL 1024
Down stream: min 640kbps; max 4096kbps
Up stream: min 256kbps; max 384kbps".
"This service will remain at 4Mbps at no extra charge".

I have analysed my telephone usage and find that I am usually within the 1000 minutes standard time, meaning that my telephone costs will be covered by the R699 per month.

Using Telkom as my ISP at R249 pm for 3Gig gives me a total cost of approx R950. Buying 2Gig if necessary is R199.

My iBurst costs of R611 per month coupled to my telephone account of average R800 per month (R1411) results in my paying approximately R460 more per month than it would cost me if I moved to Telkom. Buying one Gig costs R159. R318 for 2 Gigs vs R199.

By paying the telkom installation fee and to purchase a modem and the micro filters for my phones will be well worth it to achieve the savings per month shown above.