Just moved to SA and I'm totally lost in the internet jungle here :-(

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miffyzoo

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Hej there.
I lived the last 10 years in Germany and moved to Cape Town a couple of months ago...
As I am a total total newbie on the whole internet subject... I still was able to be shocked when I saw what prices they are charging me here for my internet usage... specially if you come - like me - from a country where you pay for unlimited internet and telephone usage with a 4mb line around 20 euro per month :sick:

As I am working a lot online with lots of data that I have to receive and send... what would you recommend for me as a good choice?
Currently I am using a 3G modem > definitely not good :) as I am paying a hell of money :(

I was browsing a bit online to find some alternative solutions and while I started to dig deeper into the whole ADSL world my amount of questions started to increase ;-)

Would be great if you could help me!!!!

1. I heard from Afrihost (29 Rand per 1 GB sounds really fair). Do you have any experience with that?

2. Is Telkom the only option for a landline or are there other alternative brands offering a DSL line?

3. What DSL line speed do I need, 384Kbps, 512Kbps or 4Mbps? Is there really a difference and is this difference worth the money that I have to pay more?

4. what exactly means shaped? unshaped? i never had to deal with this things before and I am not sure what kind of pro's & con's are there if i use a shaped line?

Would be great to get your recommendation and feedback!

Have a nice day,
Elli
 
Oh boy, you are in the same boat I was in when I returned to SA a few years back. A really sad state of affairs here wrt intertentz and stuffs :(:(

Welcome to SA and MyBB :D
 
Yes, get your 4 mbps ADSL from Telkom (I know the line rental is horrendous, but it really is the fastest most reliable in SA at the moment). It is important that you get the line from Telkom as you will then be able to chop and change ISPs on a monthly basis as they offer special deals.

The deal from Afrihost is currently the best on the market. I would go with that for now. Don't worry about the shaping. It is fine for general internet usage.

Telkom is the only company in SA supplying ADSL (all the others are simply just re-selling Telkom).
 
ADSL is the cheapest (If you are using more than 1 gig per month)

-You have to have a telkom line installed to get ADSL
-Afrihost is good but it is a limited offer.
-The speed makes a defference depending on what you want... but choose between 384 and 4 meg. 512 is not cost effective, you will see a difference with 4 meg.
-Shaped means that if you are using anything other than email and normal web browsing it will be slower, things like Skype and games might be affected.

If you are planning to stay at your current location for longer than 6 months then yes get ADSL. You can apply to one of the service providers and they will help you.
 
Welcome to Cape Town, hope we here at MyBB can help you get sorted. :)

If you really need the fastest connection go with the 4 mbps line, I just hope you live close to a exchange so that your 4 mbps connection will be stable, feel free to ask about this I am not the expert on it.

384 kbps(48 KB/s download speed) R 152.00
512 kbps(64 KB/s download speed) R 326.00
4096 kbps(512 KB/s download speed) R 413.00

Afrihost is the cheapest at the moment, I am not with them personally but if you want to save some money use there services.

If you are going to play online games that connects to servers overseas then unshaped will give you the lowest ping.
 
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I give you a good tip: if you have been for 10y in Germany (and not a single day less), you should qualify for German citizenship! Take the chance while you can. One day, that may be more important then a good and cheap internet connection :D
 
DO NOT: Sign a 24-month contract with Telkom

DO: Get a fixed line from Telkom
Get 4Mbps ADSL​
Opt for self-install​


Consider: one of Telkom's DO Closer packages if you phone a lot.
Using Afrihost. They have a special on R29/GB - you are locked in at this price if subscribe to them.​
 
I feel you pain aswell. I had 24mbit uncapped connection in Lisbon but i agree with most of them. Go 4mbit Telkom or rather the Do3 closer plan. Unless your willing to go uncapped just get a normal 5gig telkom account but id say the streaming of HD content is over for you now :P

Welcome to Africa
 
hi and welcome...
If u shunting large amounts of data and u used to working with unlimited internet, go with axxess uncapped. The total package line etc all inclusive comes to around 1400-1500pm. The only catch is that daytime u throttled to 384, so this wont help u if u doing most of your data shunting during the day.
Its then going to be the best to get a line from Telkom and go one of their Do3 packages and use afrihost to topup, afrihost are the cheapest and no other ISP is coming close as yet per GIG..
To cap costs, dont phone on the line, just go voip on your 4M, then u can keep in contact overseas too

I wish u godspeed on your telkom journey and I assure you that before the year is out u will sell your left testicle and kidney just to get decent internet...
 
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thank you so much

hej all.
thanks a lot for your quick and fast reply and useful help.
i think i will go with the telkom + afrihost solution :-)
have a nice weekend
elli
 
miffyzoo said:
As I am working a lot online with lots of data that I have to receive and send... what would you recommend for me as a good choice?
Click to expand...

How much data?
You might have to go with one of the uncapped options.
 
Telkom & Afrihost

Hej there!
After a few weeks passed here's a short summary of my experience :)

On a Sunday afternoon I went to the Telkom branch and switched my Prepaid Phone Line to a Post Paid Line & ordered the 4096 kbps ADSL bundle (incl. 5 GB per month)
Monday morning I already got a call from Telkom that my ADSL line is ready to use!!! I even didnt have enough time to buy my router :) I have to say I was really positively surprised.

I even got a really cool and helpful support from Telkom for my router installation (I chose the "i will install it by myself") and they gave me all kind of support to make my internet up and running.

Since then everyting is working quite good.

:)

After I'll reach the 5 GB limit I'll try to switch to Afrihost (will go for a 5 GB per month contract there)...

Can anyone tell me what I have to do when I switch to the Afrihost package? Do I have to reconfigure my router every time when I get their password and username. And back again when I the new month starts with the "new" 5 GB from Telkom?

Afrihost wrote me something about building bridges... as I am a total total IT newbie :) pleaseeeeee... what do they mean? :) Do I have to setup the router again from the beginning?

Thx a lot for your help!
Regards,
Elli
 
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