Official internet discussion thread

[Cranky]

HI.. bit of a necro... i havent bene around for ages.


@ Kharrak.

All my Mweb mates are lagging in diablo 3. During the day its fine but at night it spikes to almost 1000 ms . Not sure what the cause is.

Both of them are uncapped and heavy users.



@ Mongoose.

Your old router will be fine to use if you are going to use a Rj 45 . Wireless you need a upgrade. I have a Trendnet router and a Mega 300 as a backup. When my router died and before I had the trendnet I used that mega 300 for almost a week without a problem and any sins of reduced performance.

[MonGooS]

I did this, and the guy on the phone said he will see what he can do about speeding up the process. Then today I get a sms saying I need to pay a R700 deposit. So I phone Telkom to get the banking details and ask her how long will it still be. She says that it will be 21 working days AFTER I pay the deposit. I applied for the line over a week ago and they only ask for the deposit now, AND I still have to wait after I pay it. I hate Telkom, so so so so so much.............

Now when I phoned them back to tell them I have paid the deposit, the woman says up to 30 working days! Where is the humanity!? Told them again that I work from home and it imperative that I have the Internet ASAP, she said she will add that information to the Order. I am going to phone them every second day until I have it, I am tired of this incompetence.

I don't understand how the largest and most dominant internet/phone provider can take 21-30 working days to install a line. How is even possible. It isn't even a new thing, seeing as its been like this since I can remember.

[Toxxyc]

www.hellopeter.com

Or email the papers and inform them of your dilemma. This is actually absolutely unacceptable.

[Toxxyc]

Double post for editing failed - Just a question: Do they have to physically install a new telephone cable to your house, or do you have one already (in other words, do you have a working land line telephone at your house)? If it's just the activation of ADSL on the line then they're seriously messing with you. They're not supposed to even charge you for activation, just monthly rental, where you can save anyway with a different ISP. Tried/looked at WebAfrica yet?

/sounding like a webafrica reseller

Sorry, I love my ISP.

[Cranky]

LOl.


did you request a self install? If not you should be smacked right of your feet.

IF you did then tell tehm they need to isntall the line and th deposit thing is BS .

You have to pay the fist month double though to get a month in advance.

And 2 weeks is normally the waiting time. ASk them for a reference and call every day asked if its been sent to a teccy. and to whom..then nag them till they give you the number as you would like to meet him at the house as friskit your pet lion doesnt like strangers entering the house :D

Then you call the techy and ask him when he is coming through.. Give him your reference number
and sort **** out.

[MonGooS]

I don't know what the house has. I am only moving in on the 1st, because im not going to move in without dstv or internet. That's why I am pushing to get it done so quickly. I noticed the little telephone box on the wall with a cable, but that's about it. I know nothing about the previous tenant or whether he had a phone line or not. So as it stands this is a phone line as well as a adsl activation. I am not going to use them as my service provider once the line is in, I plan on using mweb. Maybe that is why they are giving me issues.

Not sure if that answers the questions.

[Toxxyc]

If it has a little box, they're pulling your strings. That little box is the line. Plug in a phone and see if it receives a ringtone. If it does, you've been ****ed on by Telkom. Again.

[Cranky]

agreed.. that little box in the house is a telephone line. So not sure what their story is.

[MonGooS]

In what way though. Should i not have paid the deposit or should i not be waiting so long?

[Toxxyc]

In what way though. Should i not have paid the deposit or should i not be waiting so long?

Neither. ADSL activation is supposed to be free (mine was with WebAfrica) and it took 3 weeks to complete from me filling in the form to me browsing the interwebs. Included account setup and everything.

[MonGooS]

What do you suggest i do? Phone them, tell them i have a line and i only need the adsl activated? Then demand my deposit back?

[Toxxyc]

I honestly have no idea. The problem with a deposit is that, well, it's a deposit. You don't get it back. But I'd recommend speaking to Telkom head office and try to sort this out through them. Before you do ANYTHING though, just check if the little box is in fact the phone line. You don't want to make your name "Plank" in a scenario.

[MonGooS]

I am going away for the weekend. When I get back I will check if it is a phone line and speak to a Manager to get this whole mess sorted out. The money isn't what bothers me, its the time. I see absolutely no reason for this process to take so long, and that's what I want to sort out.

Thanks for the help Toxxyc and Cranky, really appreciate it. When I finally get my internet I will help you kill some zombies or something to make it up to you.

[Toxxyc]

Yeah I also can't see why it would take them so long. I think they know the house is empty by now and they don't want to risk installation or activation on an unused line. If they still give you crap, go to WebAfrica or Mweb or someone. Let them work with Telkom, they quickly escalate issues and I've had next-day fixing of a physically broken line from a branch that fell on it a few months back through WebAfrica. Worth a try, I guess?

[MonGooS]

Well with a little bit of perseverance i have gotten Telkom to crack. My line installation is booked for next week Tuesday.

Now I have a new question if you guys don't mind. Once my line is installed i am obviously not going to use telkom for my data. Who do you guys suggest i use? I have used Mweb before and really like them because A) The all inclusive package where i pay them for the line and data B) Because they don't throttle you no matter how much you use.

Do you guys have any other service providers you'd suggest? Toxxyc I know you love Afrihost. Care to elaborate a bit?

[Aesir]

Toxxyc is with Webafrica as am I, I think we are both fanboys. Their service is exellent, email on a sunday evening at 10pm? No problem! Have had almost 0 problems since I have moved my line to them(yes line and data), even the one or two I had they fixed in a jiffy.

I would also recommend them without a doubt.

Some Home uncapped options

[MonGooS]

Are they also month to month, and if I phone them Tuesday once Telkom has installed the ADSL will they activate the line the same day?

[Toxxyc]

Are they also month to month, and if I phone them Tuesday once Telkom has installed the ADSL will they activate the line the same day?

What Aesir said. You question - Nope. They have to move the line to them, a process that took me about 3 weeks to complete (from filling in the form till browsing. Reason is that they have to enable higher speeds on the line at server end, move the billing/tracking and everything to their name, it's a huge process. Worth it? Bloody hell yes. I love WebAfrica, and I'm considering moving my 10Mbps-15GB package to a slower (maybe 1Mbps) line and an uncapped bundle. I'm struggling to make ends meet with the cap every month, and I rarely use the lightning line anyhow.

Just to add to Aesir - he's not lying. I was with WebAfrica for about two months and I had a problem on my line. It kept dropping constantly, and the problem was not my side (2 PC's, restarted both with the router, checked all cables and even the line to the pole outside, nada) so I send them a ticket. I just checked, and the exact details are: 2011/06/20 @ 11:18:34 PM followed by their service notes and a tech informing me of the work he just did on the line on their side. They really are up to speed when it comes to customer service. Really too bad their hosting system sucks.

EDIT: And yes, they're month to month. If you're not going to use the interwebs for a month, inform them a month in advance and you won't be billed for the month not using. You don't even sign a contract, you just fill in a form with details and that's it.

[MonGooS]

Well everything looks good with WA. According to their website its instant activation for your Uncapped ADSL, and there is no down time while they transfer your line from Telkom to them. If I understand that correctly, that means I will get my WA account the same day Telkom activates my 4Mb line (On Tuesday).

I really like what I see with them and as it stands now I will definitely use them. Hopefully the last question. I see you don't have uncapped Toxxyc, so this question is aimed more at Aesir. Do you have uncapped? If so, how bad is the de-prioritising for excessive downloading? I have read through their entire FAQ about their 2 tiered rolling window system and all the relative info. I just want to hear from someone who actually uses a lot of bandwidth, how well it is all handled. With the size of games now days (averaging 10-20gb) and huge gb updates being released daily, I don't want to get stuck downloading at 30kb/s because all my games decide to update in any given week.

Sorry for the huge burst of questions filling 2 pages. I just want to get it all right. Thanks again for all the help guys!

[Toxxyc]

WA gives you a time window before shaping you, and you get a meter displaying how far you still can go before you will be shaped. Then, even with shaping, AFAIK it's not too bad. I've heard people say they are shaped down to about 1Mbps, which isn't bad at all. Take a browse through their Forums and search for more detail, just to make sure I'm not tugging your tail here... :P

EDIT: And this is a help forum, you can ask as many questions as you like, as long as you're not trolling... :O