Which ISP should I choose?

Telkom ADSL Line rental R413
+ 10GB from SAINET R449

R862 a month.
+R99 once off Setup Fee :eek:

SAIX I think
 
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You are correct to say this would be the best option. From my different points of analyzing it. The WebAfrica Complete package does make use of SAIX.

WebAfrica 4096kbps + 10GB SAIX Package
- R890 per month
- No once of fee
- SAIX Bandwidth

You can order and view more information at http://www.webafrica.co.za/solutions/internet_access_adsl_complete.html?AFF1D75

They will order your ADSL line for you, they will active your ISP account.

If you require any other ADSL services they will also gladly activate that for you as well with immediate effect if you are using a credit card, else the following working day with regular transfers etc.

Once again I simply choose WebAfrica due to their excellent proven service time and time again. SAINET may be perfectly fine, but if it was R20 or R30 id still go with WebAfrica. Their online system is so very simple, you can make instant changes to your account and monitor your accounts with a great user interface.

im looking for an internet package for around R1000, preferably with a saix backbone, a speed of 1024k or more, and an international cap of 10gig or more.. can anyone suggest something? most favourable so far is the webafrica 4mb 10gig complete dsl package for R890! that includes telkom line rental.. but i think its through IS..
 
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The only concern is if Cybersmart decides to inforce their 1 account per line rule, they have more control over your account (the line aswell). If you wanted to use a ISDSL 30GB Local account aswell, you dont want to worry about being cut-off for breach of service agreement.

I asked them about it and they said it's fine because local-only accounts are not a core product that they plan to offer.
I'm running a Cybersmart 3GB account and an IS 10GB local-only account (via OpenWeb) on my line and they don't have an issue with it.
I suppose if too many people did it and they started getting lots of support calls from noobs who screwed up their logins they might change their mind.
 
So the R890 really does include line rental? i know thats wat it says, but i cant believe this offer..
No ... you still have to pay Telkom R111/month for a phone line. The "Complete" price covers Telkom's separate rental for ADSL connectivity. Why's it separate? Why do you still have to pay for the wire? There are not good answers.
you require:

* A Telkom telephone line
 
Yeah, I think I read that question too fast. Thanks SecretCode, the ADSL line rental is obviously included, but the Telkom Voice segment has nothing to do with the DSL delivery, hence the exclusion of the ~R110 per month.
 
Yeah, I think I read that question too fast. Thanks SecretCode, the ADSL line rental is obviously included, but the Telkom Voice segment has nothing to do with the DSL delivery, hence the exclusion of the ~R110 per month.
Then it should be optional. Even Vodacom got that part right with the 4u contract. :o
 
I totally agree, it should be optional, and it can be optional as many people know from their carriers in Europe and the US, however Telkom are a very friendly bunch of people as we also know.. so, yeah...

Naked DSL as its called will only come with competition from other carriers im afraid.
 
I updated the Imagine-IPS listing on the main post to highlight their Uncapped Hybrid Accounts

Description:
These hybrid accounts offer an uncapped solution that has no volume restrictions and no rolling window periods with speed reductions. The accounts does block P2P applications, but this is the only restriction placed on the service. In addition to this, traffic is routed for specific applications through low-latency international bandwidth (primarily for international gaming and specific international VOIP applications). The accounts are also extremely competitive compared with other Uncapped offerings currently available.
 
Ummm... am I missing something about Imagine? Their unshaped packages are so cheap!

Ahhhh... satellite-based unshaped. OK, not great for gaming then
 
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Hi flarkit,

Just to confirm - those Dynamic DNS Uncapped ADSL packages that Mr.G is referring to do in fact have low-latency international bandwidth for specific applications such as gaming. With the help of several testers (some from these forums) we have identified games such as World Of Warcraft and Magic The Gathering Online as 'most in demand' and these route through our low-latency bandwidth rather than through satellite bandwidth.
 
UPDATED

Telkom pricing effective yesterday is now being reflected on the main page under

- Line Rental
- Installation Costs

- Bundles information still to be added

Please notify me regarding any errors you may find on the posts.
 
MrG this thread has been an invaluable resource when looking at options for our small office wanting to change ISPs as well as getting a new line.

I did notice one major omission though.

I think mention should be made of the ADSL one-price packages being offered by many ISPs that enable paying the ADSL line rental to the ISP directly.

Most of these offer price savings as well as the benefit of less contact with Telkom and should be a consideration for anyone who doesn't yet have an ADSL line (for existing peeps thats a different story).

Perhaps its not included as its still a fairly new product and some ISP's don't yet have the option.

As an aside can anyone tell me why WebAfrica's line rental is the same as Telkom's yet other ISP's like Axxess charge lower line rentals eg. Axxess = R289 for 512 line while WA and Telkom = R362 per month, thats quite a bit more expensive eh?

I have started a new thread dedicated to the "One Price" Services, DSL Complete.
 
Liewe MrG.

Or maby anyone else who might be able to help me choose a ISP.

I have iBurst at the moment. Would like to change over to ADSL.

I would, however, like to play Battlefield 2 online. As I heard, BF2 uses 100MB/hour. If I get one of those 3gig intenational 27gig local accounts..... will that do.
I only use my internet for email, web surfing (local and international, forum chatting and the odd YouTube downloading. Is playing BF2 on SAIX going to count as "local".
If I play 2 hours /day roughly then maby going to need eehmmm... 6 to 8 gig...:eek:

Price IS a BIG factor and doing it as cheap as possable is my first option.

Maby something like Cybersmart ?
 
Liewe MrG.

Or maby anyone else who might be able to help me choose a ISP.

I have iBurst at the moment. Would like to change over to ADSL.

I would, however, like to play Battlefield 2 online. As I heard, BF2 uses 100MB/hour. If I get one of those 3gig intenational 27gig local accounts..... will that do.
I only use my internet for email, web surfing (local and international, forum chatting and the odd YouTube downloading. Is playing BF2 on SAIX going to count as "local".
If I play 2 hours /day roughly then maby going to need eehmmm... 6 to 8 gig...:eek:

Price IS a BIG factor and doing it as cheap as possable is my first option.

Maby something like Cybersmart ?

Don't get a 3/27GB or one of those dual accounts.
The first 1/2/3 or whatever gigs you use count towards your international bandwidth regardless of whether you're using local or not.
So if you play at the beginning of the month you'll use up all your international bandwidth and be stuck with local-only access until the end of the month.

Rather get 2 separate accounts and use Route Sentry or a Linux bandwidth splitting setup with two PPPoE connections. There are many threads on this topic - just do a search for "split", "splitting" or routesentry.

Although Cybersmart's T&C seems rather draconian I did query about using a local-only account in addition to a Cybersmart account and they didn't have a problem with it. The reason why they don't like people having multiple accounts is because it puts up their support costs when stupid users keep messing up their logins and keep phoning to find out why they can't connect.

Currently my ISP bill is :
R125 for 3GB SAIX based account from Cybersmart
R69 for 10GB local-only IS based account from OpenWeb.
Total = R194
 
I totally support what Paul_ S has said. This is exactly what I would have done. The 3GB Cybersmart is a good idea if you will be using a 384kbps line and the 10GB is a good option if you wont exceed 10GB of local bandwidth. 30GB accounts cost R130.
 
Now THAT was fast and Very helpful. Thanx allot Paul_S.

I will go search now. Oh, do you maby know how far one can be from the router, or up to what length the cable can be. I am thinking of moving my office to the flat that is next to my house. 50m odd length. So either the router will be in my office, or it will be in my house, with a wire leading to my office. I know its off toppic.. srry..:o
 
It depends on the cable in most cases, the class of the cable however 100 - 400 meters depending on speed is possible.

However unless you are transferring large files between computers of the networks you wont notice a decrease in speed for internet use, since the maximum DSL speed currently is only 4Mbit.

Standard CAT5 cables seem to be a max of around 150 meters.

I am under correction with the above information however. Never really experimented with these lengths in practice, only read about it.
 
I promise this is my last OT post. Do you think it is best to play online games via awireless router or should I rather connect via usb to the ADSL router? I'm worried about ping and packet drops........
 
Cable will always be the most stable but as far as I am aware a wireless network 802.11g for home use wont increase your ping that much. I would again however call upon someone that has proper experience with this. I am pretty convident it wont make a difference. Consider that on my ADSL 4MBit line I get 64ms ping using an ISDSL account to games.saix.net and using Vodacom HSDPA I get 82ms to games.saix.net. The difference will be there but not that great, and this is using a much larger range wireless network, I am certain a normal home wireless network wont make an increase of 20ms.

However cable is always the best. The more walls and longer the distance the weaker slower and less responsive the connection will be.
 
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