MyBroadband has been testing iBurst’s BusinessLink service for the past few weeks, and the verdict is simple: it is how the Internet should be.
iBurst’s BusinessLink is a symmetrical broadband service aimed at small and medium sized businesses.
The service offers a choice of speed of 5Mbps, 10Mbps, 20Mpbs, 30Mbps, and 40Mbps – all symmetrical (download and upload speeds are the same).
It has a low contention ratio (up to a maximum ratio of 10:1) on a business class network, that is protected from P2P abuse.
The service typically uses microwave technology in a licensed spectrum band, but can also use fibre if it is available.
iBurst BusinessLink pricing
The iBurst’s BusinessLink service is an alternative to other business connections, including bonded ADSL and leased line products.
It should therefore not be seen as an ADSL replacement, and it is definitely not a residential broadband product.
Subscribers have the choice of bandwidth on demand or an uncapped service. The uncapped service has a fair use policy, but it is very generous.
Prices range between R1,929 for a basic 5Mbps bandwidth on demand service, to R17,282 for an uncapped 40Mbps “fibre addition”.
More information about the service is available here: iBurst BusinessLink
Service activation and customer service
The installation and service activation process had a few hiccups, and it was not as quick and easy as one would expect from a business class offering.
iBurst did, however, keep us in the loop through the period and said they were working on streamlining the process.
iBurst BusinessLink performance
iBurst’s BusinessLink service offers excellent performance levels. It was stable throughout the testing period, and local speeds seldom dipped below the promised maximums.
MyBroadband tested the uncapped 10Mbps service, and South African download and upload speeds ranged between 9Mbps and 10Mbps using web based speed tests.
International speeds were not as stable, with download and upload speeds ranging between 2Mbps and 8Mbps.
The service’s latency was low for local and international sites. It was also very stable, which is not often associated with a wireless service.
During the testing period we experienced downtime three times, where the service went down and came back a while later.
When this occurred we were contacted about the downtime with details about the causes, and remedies which were implemented to prevent this from happening in the future.
Overall experience
The overall experience of the service was impressive. Full HD YouTube videos streamed seamlessly, and the high upload speeds helped when uploading videos or using FTP.
Although the service should not strictly be compared with DSL, most people in the office remarked that they preferred using iBurst’s BusinessLink to Telkom’s DSL service.
iBurst BusinessLink is certainly a viable alternative to bonded ADSL or Diginet services, especially in areas where fibre based options are not available.
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