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Need Help Deciding on an ISP

Which ISP to Use:


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Deago999

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Hey all,

Need some assistance trying to decide on an ISP as I will be moving house soon and need to place an order for internet in the next few days.

Here is the story:
We run a business from home that requires the uploading and sharing of unedited video footage, ranging between 500MB - 3GB in size, so we have to have a 40/20 line or a 100/50 line (preferably the faster one of course.)
The only fibre supplier in our area at the moment is Openserve, there are no other backbone suppliers. (So dont mention switching over to another vendor... its not possible.)

Our price limit is like +- R1100.00

Our current set up:
In the current house I am staying in we currently have the following line:
Backbone: Openserve
ISP: Afrihost
Line: 100/50
Price: R1117.00 / month to month

No personally I dont have any major issues with Afrihost I just dont want to place another order with them if there is a better supplier / package available for the same money.

I have done a lot of digging around and Cool Idea's seem to be the best - but they are VERY expensive when it comes to openserve (their 100Mbps line is R1500.00, their 40/20 is R1300, and their 20/10 is R1000.00)

So I am trying to decide who to go with - I think I have whittled my options down to the following:

Afrihost:
Backbone: Openserve
Line: 100/50
Price: R1117.00 / month to month
Package: Home Uncapped (FUP: 350GB)

WebAfrica:
Backbone: Openserve
Line: 100/50
Price: R1119.00 / month to month
Package: Premium Uncapped (FUP: 500GB)

MWEB:
Backbone: Openserve
Line: 100/50
Price: R1099.00 / month to month
Package: Uncapped (FUP: 500GB)


I am a bit hesitant with web africa as I am not sure what their latency is like and I have tried using hello peter to get a better idea - but all ISP's in SA are like 1 start so it isnt helping much.

Or is Cool Ideas really worth the money?

Suggestions and advice would be really helpful!
 
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Have you gone over the FUP of 350GB to see how much Afrihost limits the speed?

I only heard about Afrihost always shifting the blame whenever there are network issues. They tend to refuse to take responsibility. Can't say I've heard any other complaints.

Web Africa FUP means don't go over or you basically get no service thereafter.
 
Have you gone over the FUP of 350GB to see how much Afrihost limits the speed?

I only heard about Afrihost always shifting the blame whenever there are network issues. They tend to refuse to take responsibility. Can't say I've heard any other complaints.

Web Africa FUP means don't go over or you basically get no service thereafter.


We have - but not often - but in our household we dont do much streaming (Netflix, Showmax etc) but thats because we didnt have a smart TV or a HTPC or Chromecast etc) - however in the new hosue we moving to - there are smart TV's so we might be exceeding that more often I guess?
 
I have had endless issues with Afrihost in the past. My worst one was "Here, do these tests", so I did them, found out it was their server in Cape Town causing the issues, suspect they had also changed their routing tables too which completely screwed my gaming latency, ask about all of this... and nothing. When they work, great, when it doesn't, endless issues.

Been with Cool Ideas for a couple years? now. Very little issues, and when I did have issues, fast response, and it actually got fixed.

I actually think go with the cheapest month to month you can, and when that stops working, try a new one. But I am all for saving money. I have lost my "faith" in ISPs actually caring, because of Afrihost.
 
I have uncapped 10 Meg fibre with cool ideas and it's the best ISP I've ever had. Get under 5 ping in csgo in Joburg servers
 
Also no problems with Cool Ideas (100/100 Frogfoot) - uncapped, no FUP.

Word of warning though, if there are upstream anomalies (ie at the underlying provider eg Openserve) then it doesn't matter who your ISP is - they're as much at the mercy of the provider as you are and you end up taking out your frustrations on your ISP when they can't do much.

When I have had the occasion to call support they've been generally helpful.
 
My work colleague is on the COOLest package with Cool Ideas and he is very happy with the service and speeds he is getting.

So another vote for Cool Ideas.
 
After seeing websquad try to move heaven and earth on communications and service i'm pretty sold on them
Also one of the most active reps on Mybroadband

Sent from my F1 using Tapatalk
 
I see Afrihost has launched a new product - Pure Fibre, which they claim has no FUP.

"all Pure Fibre packages are uncapped, unshaped and unthrottled - There are no usage thresholds so you can use as much data as you like, whenever you like. No throttling or shaping will be applied. "

So basically the same price as the previous package on 100/50 OpenServe, but they have dropped the 350GB FUP.
 
Hi,

I am in the same boat as you, also need a new ISP.

Moving from MWEB as their 30 day rolling FUP is absolute BS and you get throttled every other day since they predict where you will be and then just throttle you.

Cool Ideas is a tad expensive for my taste as well but Afrihost pure fibre looks good, also have you looked at VOX?

Edit: Vox FUP on 40/20 is 750GB then they throttle you to 20Mbps down which i am still happy with if i ever reach 750GB. My max ever was 400GB. Their FUP on the 100/50 is 1TB then after that they drop your speed to 50Mbps down.

If Cool Ideas drop their price ill move there, otherwise i need to decide between VOX & Afrihost.
 
I'm moving over to the new Afrihost pure 100/50. I am currently with Webafrica but their support is shit and they only support you until 9pm. Otherwise you have to send an email. So if your internet is fucked or their website is broken and doesn't allow you to upgrade (like I recently experienced) then you shit out of luck.
 
Not gonna lie but since Afrihost Pure Fibre, the prices have dropped significantly in the past few days. Yesterday Axxess was still overpriced for me. Today they looking hawt
 
Axxess also launched uncapped, unshaped fiber deals. Not sure on their pricing though.

Openserve 100/50:
Afrihost R1117 (free installation and free router)
Axxess R1135 (free installation)

Both offering 2 months free.
 
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I wanted to go with Axxess but the 2 free months are only for Openserve clients, took up the Afrihost Pure Fibre deal as they cover all providers (Metro in my case) qualify for the 2 months free. Lets hope I they can deliver as I was going to migrate my line to CISP if it wasn't for the Afrihost special.
 
I am with Home-Connect, 100/100 for R1100 (or just over by like R50), unshaped, unthrottled. lines drop every so often but usually is if there is a drop in the area or router details just need resetting. Otherwise we haven't had many issues with them. The day to day on the line is a good experience.
 
Think I am going to move from ISP Afrika to Cool Ideas end of this month
 
I really like Vox and have been with them for the better part of 6 years now. Are they an option?
 
Just a heads up on CISP:

 

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