Too many options ...

K

Kindred

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... and possible mistakes to make.

Hey guys. I'm currently trying to make the jump from HSDPA to ADSL. I'm a little tired of chasing Vodacom's signal around my neighbourhood for a year now. I probably get flagged by Northgate's security everytime I go shopping because of all the late nights I've had to sit in their parking lot uploading my work. To the Northgate security guys ... the steamy windows on a winters night are not what you think, its just freaking cold out there.

I've taken the first step, and managed to get my Telkom line pulled up to my townhouse unit, after a year of battling. Turns out electricians are eager beavers to pull some wire :P
I've checked that my exchange supports ADSL, it does. My neighbour has ADSL, so I know it works here.

Next up is a landline installation, modem (Billion 400g) and ADSL activation (4mb line), and ISP of choice.
I've done what all forum noobs are expected to do, which is use the search button and read, but theres just too much info to filter through, and too many opinions to consider, and at the end of it all, I'm no more educated on which way to go. So I thought I'd condense my needs here on the forum, and let those in the loop guide me ... those that aren't frustrated to hell by noobs that is, yeah, you, I know you're reading this thinking "ag bliksim, not another one" :D

What I need are speeds at least equal to that of my HSDPA connection, downloads of around 100-180KB/s and uploads of at least 50KB/s, which is why I'm going for the 4mb line. I need a minimum of 10GB a month, and no funny business on my line, like limiting my connection at certain hours. I need this for my job, as I'm a vfx artist, and since my employers are in Dubai, a good internet connection is at the core of my employment. Uploading and downloading large files via Rapidshare is how we make this arrangement work. I'm in the Randburg North area, if location makes a difference to ADSL, about 1km from the Dome.

Can I get this for around a grand a month or will I be wasting time and money going for ADSL when HSDPA has worked, albeit at a huge premium?

Thanks guys
 
Kindred said:
I've done what all forum noobs are expected to do, which is use the search button and read, but theres just too much info to filter through, and too many opinions to consider, ....
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: ... So you want us to repeat everything that's covered in those searches in this new thread:confused: ... :erm: ... :wtf: ... :whistle:
 
It is mighty tough to get through all of the options.

Your best options for ISP would be: WebAfrica or MWeb (Mweb had some issues in the past with the Seacom line). I have 4MBit uncapped unshaped from MWeb and my downloads never slow down, I get full line speed the whole day, but it comes at a cost of R2000 per month.

With WebAfrica you buy a fixed amount of bandwith per month and they should never "slow" your line down. They also have prepaid which gives you an easy way to get additional bandwith when you need it.

But no matter which one you select, make sure that you have a back up account if anything happens with the ISP.

Good luck...
 
COMPUTEK said:
:rolleyes: ... So you want us to repeat everything that's covered in those searches in this new thread:confused: ... :erm: ... :wtf: ... :whistle:
Click to expand...

So clearly you're the one I was talking about when I said "those that aren't frustrated to hell by noobs that is." I knew you were there :P If you dont wanna give advice, thats cool. If there is another user with the same requirements as me, that's posted his setup and opinions, then I must apologise that I didnt see his thread in the plethora of threads containing ADSL and ISP discussions going back at least 5 years from what I saw. Then I can see how my thread is a load of tripe. For now though, I'll move on to iblade's non peanunt gallery reply.
 
iblade said:
It is mighty tough to get through all of the options.

Your best options for ISP would be: WebAfrica or MWeb (Mweb had some issues in the past with the Seacom line). I have 4MBit uncapped unshaped from MWeb and my downloads never slow down, I get full line speed the whole day, but it comes at a cost of R2000 per month.

With WebAfrica you buy a fixed amount of bandwith per month and they should never "slow" your line down. They also have prepaid which gives you an easy way to get additional bandwith when you need it.

But no matter which one you select, make sure that you have a back up account if anything happens with the ISP.

Good luck...
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to reply dude, appreciate it. I hadn't heard of WebAfrica until now, as most threads seem geared toward Mweb,Axxess or Afrihost. I'll definitely have a look at their options though.

I had a feeling Mweb's R2000 package would be the only one that suited to me, as it seems you get what you pay for. Its mighty pricey though, and a pity they dont offer caps on that package. Thanks for at least confirming my suspicions.

My plan was to have two capped accounts, one for work, one as a backup, or for personal downloads. I definitely wont want to put all my eggs in one ISP's basket, as its been too much of a headache with VC as my sole service provider until now.

Thanks for the pointers.

Cheers :)
 
Does not sound like you need the mweb business package, your best bet would be to get a 4 meg line with business home uncapped and if that does not suite then upgrade to the more expensive package.

I use mweb for home for our business and works 100%.
 
you might want to take a look at axxess lite's packages (seacom)
http://axxess.co.za/lite.php

there is also webafrica's normal cap packages with R15 topup (via sat3 afaik)
http://www.webafrica.co.za/adsl/standard/

no need to go uncapped if you are only in need of 10 gig with something extra to surf with. all IS/Seacom uncapped gets shaped or throttled in one way or other.

do you have your dsl installed already and a router ?
 
I'd say have a look at Openweb's uncapped Gold accounts. Probably exactly what you need.
 
killadoob said:
Does not sound like you need the mweb business package, your best bet would be to get a 4 meg line with business home uncapped and if that does not suite then upgrade to the more expensive package.

I use mweb for home for our business and works 100%.
Click to expand...

Thanks, it was late last night when I browsed Mweb's offerings, and only saw the 4mb Business uncapped for R2300, I'll go back and look again before totally writing them off. Good to hear that it works at least. Been a bit of a fence sitter myself when it comes to mweb, there's been about as much praise for their uncapped service as there have been rants.

Necuno said:
you might want to take a look at axxess lite's packages (seacom)
http://axxess.co.za/lite.php

there is also webafrica's normal cap packages with R15 topup (via sat3 afaik)
http://www.webafrica.co.za/adsl/standard/

no need to go uncapped if you are only in need of 10 gig with something extra to surf with. all IS/Seacom uncapped gets shaped or throttled in one way or other.

do you have your dsl installed already and a router ?
Click to expand...

Yeah, definitely wont be needing uncapped just yet, certainly not for work, if I do want to go uncapped, I can always have a secondary 384kbps account thats uncapped. I havent yet got my DSL line installed, nor bought a router. I was going to pop into Telkom Direct today to order my landline and buy my router, but after I was done reading a bunch of threads here last night, I thought I better ask if ADSL in SA can support my requirements before comitting myself to the expenses associated with it, cause it really started sounding like a bad idea after all the rants and problems I read. At the moment, while terribly expensive, HSDPA works (only with MTN though) so if I cant at least match my current level of service and connectivity, then I need to quit while I'm ahead, cause I doubt my employers want to hear any more excuses from me, as they've had to swallow enough of Vodacom's over the years.

Qwikslver said:
I'd say have a look at Openweb's uncapped Gold accounts. Probably exactly what you need.
Click to expand...

I've seen their banner ad here and there, but honestly havent paid much attention to it, as reading the forums last night gave me the impression that you get what you pay for. If one package costs a bunch more than another, then there's usually a catch :) Cant hurt to have a look .. this is, afterall, why I asked you guys for some direction. So I'm definitely going to check it all out.

Thanks again guys. Got lots to go on now, much more than I did yesterday.
 
Guantanamo said:
Openweb Gold account or WebAfricas Titan special http://www.webafrica.co.za/adsl/titan_dsl_special seems to be pretty good. Otherwise there is MWEB uncapped but I am not sure if it is stable enough for you. You could always get the MWEB and a few gigs from Afrihost as backuo.
Click to expand...

That WebAfrica deal is starting to sound pretty good to me. I'm just gonna see how shaped bandwidth will affect my uploads and downloads, still not too clued up on all things ADSL, up until now the only internet solutions available to me have been wireless and 3g. No throttling on that account does sound good though.
 
Kindred said:
I've seen their banner ad here and there, but honestly havent paid much attention to it, as reading the forums last night gave me the impression that you get what you pay for. If one package costs a bunch more than another, then there's usually a catch :) Cant hurt to have a look .. this is, afterall, why I asked you guys for some direction. So I'm definitely going to check it all out.

Thanks again guys. Got lots to go on now, much more than I did yesterday.
Click to expand...

The thing is rapidshare is shaped to hell and back on mwebs standard cheapie offerings. With openweb gold you get better contention ratios and less shaping. Should be perfect for you.
 
Qwikslver said:
The thing is rapidshare is shaped to hell and back on mwebs standard cheapie offerings. With openweb gold you get better contention ratios and less shaping. Should be perfect for you.
Click to expand...

Would be my recommendation as well.
 
Qwik can you pull 200gb a month via RS and hotfile on mweb uncapped home? I would have no problems pulling 300gb on torrents and nzb's not that i ever would but i could. Does mweb shape RS 24/7 or what?
 
Basically you've got 3 options:
  1. Pure Mweb
  2. Pure WA
  3. Mixed WA + Mweb

MWeb rules on the price/gig side, while WA rules on the reliability&stability side.

For the mission critical stuff (work) I'd def go with WebAfrica.

If you do go with WA, then I'd also invest in a prepaid Axxess gig or 2 as backup. They roll over so its pretty much a once off investment & its always good to have a backup plan.

Also, every now & again the physical ADSL line goes dead. Lightning strike etc. Purely a matter of luck. Nothing one can do about it, but just think ahead what you'll do. (eg. Go to a friend in a dif area)

Also keep in mind that you can use a 384k package on a 4mbps line. So if cost is an issues then something like a WA titan package + MWeb uncapped 384 might be an option.
 
killadoob said:
Qwik can you pull 200gb a month via RS and hotfile on mweb uncapped home? I would have no problems pulling 300gb on torrents and nzb's not that i ever would but i could. Does mweb shape RS 24/7 or what?
Click to expand...

I dont have 4meg yet, but torrents arent so bd even during the day on my 512k.

The thing is I've even seen people with premium RS accounts complaining about slow speeds on this forum.
 
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