The speed of my ADSL

I took the cheapest as well as the slowest ADSL connection that Telkom offers – 384kb/s. When I’m downloading a file using Free Download Manager, I get around 35-50 kb/s download speeds. It isn’t the fastest connection around, but for personal and small business use, this connection speed is optimal.

When browsing the web, I can hardly notice the difference between my connection and the 4mb/s connection I have at work. You really only feel a difference when downloading large files.

I have also experienced 0% downtime, so for those of you using iBurst and the likes – eat your heart out. ;-)

My Internet Service Provider

I’m sharing an internet connection with my office, which is one of the really awesome features that WebAfrica offers us. You can simultaneously connect from 4 different locations, allowing you to work from the office and at home using 1 account.

Their DSL management console contains all your stats and reports, not to mention the interface is really well designed. You can view your account status real time, which for those using Telkom as an ISP cannot do. On top of our 10GB cap, we have the option of purchasing pre-paid bandwidth, that in the event of running out of our monthly allowance, our prepaid bandwidth will save our asses cover us. The prepaid bandwidth carries over from month to month.

We also have had no problems in the 6 months or so that we have been using WebAfrica. I have never phoned them for anything as of yet, not even to signup! It just works.

My Netgear Modem

I purchased my ADSL router through Digital Planet – who gave me a free Netgear wireless dongle to go with my Netgear Router. Pretty sweet I say.

The specs:
I purchased a Netgear Super Wireless ADSL Modem Router with 4-port 10/100 Mbps switch DG834GT. Quite a mouthful. This router combines 5 products in 1. ADSL 2+ modem, router, firewall, 802.11g access point and 4-port Ethernet switch. It has a double firewall in that it uses both NAT + SPI – which I don’t have a clue about, but just that I know it does a damn good job of protecting my connection. My router is also a 108Mbps wireless access point.

The routers interface is also feature packed. The most important thing I’ve configured is to not broadcast my wireless access point, as well as block all network cards except mine from connecting to it. I really don’t need random people knowing I have an ADSL connection – which to some folks also means I just might possess some expensive toys at home. ;-)

The final byte

In conclusion, my home ADSL experience has only been positive. I’m currently paying exactly R344.92 per month for my ADSL connection – bear in mind that this excludes my ISP fees, which my awesome company covers.
The R344.92 is broken up into R99.92 telephone line rental and R245 Home ADSL 384 rental.

It did take around 6 weeks from the ordering of my telephone line to the installation of my ADSL. So that is probably the only negative thing I have to say regarding my ADSL but other than that, having ADSL has completely changed the way I work. I just cannot recommend it enough.

Here’s a pic of my router and free wireless dongle for those interested.

I’m off to go use up our bandwidth cap. Someone has to do it. ;-)

After ordering my telephone line around 5 weeks ago, and then my conversion to ADSL, around 3 weeks ago, I finally have a always-on internet connection at home. I bought a Netgear wireless ADSL router from Digital Planet (which is 10 times better than the wireless router that Telkom offers), which connects me to “broadband” internet. It also makes my entire home wireless, so I can connect to the internet, or my home network from anywhere in my house.

Our ISP is Web Africa, and I say “our” because I’m sharing the connection with my office. Web Africa give you 4 concurrent connections, so that you can connect from work and from home, without having to pay extra ISP costs. That truly rocks!

So goodbye dial-up, hello broadband!