keithgray7231

Hi All, I'm Keith and have just moved to Jo'burg. I'm looking for some advice on getting internet at the house where I'm staying. Do I need to contact Telkom first? Help appreciated, K

bakedbean

Hi Keith and welcome to the forum . Thanks for introducing yourself in the Welcome Inn.

You'll need to repost any questions in the Africa section, which you can find under Rest of World from the main index page. That's where you will find any S African residents. Hope you find the answers you are looking for

Sue

Hi Keith,

Just as BB was replying I moved your thread to our South Africa forum for you (great minds think alike )

I'm sure someone in this section will be able to point you in the right direction.

Welcome to BE and the best of luck moving to you new home.

keithgray7231

Thanks for the the advice - just what you'd expect a newbie to do eh?

ededed

Hi Keith, and welcome

There are 2 ways of doing this - either mobile internet (a USB dongle) from vodacom, MTN or Cell C (expect to pay around R400 a month for 2gb) and the coverage will be patchy - but you will be mobile so can take it anywhere.

Alternatively, go to Telkom and get a line installed, and then either use Telkom or Mweb as ISPs. Mweb are cheaper - and can do a deal on a wireless modem and line rental, etc - on a 24 month contract with unlimited downloads (although your price will depend on your speed - which they can govern).

I use Telkom and pay R700 a month for 16gb of downloads on a 4mb line - which is ok but they slow it down at 7pm for some reason - due to capacity I guess. We only have one cable that connects us to the world!

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Regards

Ed

keithgray7231

Hi Ed,
Great advice thanks. The line is actually already installed but inactive so need to communicate with Telkom first to get that done then Telkom or Mweb. Do you know of Afrihost? The seem to have a good rating.
I'd like to let you know how I get on and will certainly take you up on your offer of more questions Cheers, Keith

ededed

Hi Keith,

No - I don't know them at all. Getting your line activated by Telkom may take a while, and they may need to upgrade to ADSL. Have patience.

Mweb are cheaper but their service is notoriously poor. Telkom have got a lot better and I've been generally happy (touches every piece of wood he can find).

4mb per second is more like 2m/s but it's usually ok for streaming and downloading. You get used to it...

keithgray7231

Hi Ed, Thanks for the warning about how long things take. I'll take a look at Afrihost anyway and pass on what I find. Cheers,

ededed

No worries. Without ranting, I've not been able to connect to anything today with what can be described as even basic speeds. It's been spirit-crushingly bad. Telkom and Vodacom. Connections dropping and losing signal. For 20 minutes on my way home I had zero signal - not even voice. Truly terrible...

www.gettingreallyhackedoff.com

keithgray7231

Hi, yes I got introduced early on to "TIA" and everything that goes with it. It seems to be the reason for delays, slow and / or poor service, breakdowns and so on. It is amazing though there are some things that work very well. Chin up! We're off to Telkom today to get things started ...

ededed

Thanks! Yeah, it was a bad day yesterday. I'm off this weekend on the bike to Dullstroom which will be great - that will recharge the batteries and rekindle my enthusiasm. I hope.

TIA indeed, although it is getting worse - in areas. A friend was out from London last month and he said he couldn't get over how good the general levels of service were compared to the UK. That means things must have gone down in the last few years over there!

Alfresco

Dullstroom!

ededed

No internet coverage. Dodgy roads. Just like Joburg

Alfresco

Freedom at last!

Motorbike?