Fibre Info

[JJDT]

I want to install fibre at home but are limited to choice to Vodacom only as our area has limited coverage in terms of Service Providers.

 

Anybody using Rain 5g and how does it compare to a fibre line?

 

My choice is between these two providers, Rain offers month to month packages and with Vodacom you need to enter into a 24 month contract.

 

 

[zaslayer]

Definitely get the fibre.. lowest latencies, better experience and you are guaranteed to get your chosen package line speeds 100% of the time.. that is of course, if Vodacom looks after their infrastructure properly, which is something I can't comment on..

 

As for rain 5g, you are not guaranteed full speeds all of the time, even when the network is 100%.. just the nature of the technology.. there are also tons and tons and tons of complaints with slow speeds on rain and this is probably due to massive subscriber growth and massive strain on their network..

 

You should also not be restricted to Vodacom as your ISP, they may be the fibre provider but, they are open access, so you are able to choose any ISP.. that is of course if you are not in a complex or estate of some sort, that may have entered into agreement with Vodacom who locked the complex/estate to only be allowed to use Vodacom as ISP..

 

Personally, if you are not locked into Vodacom as ISP, I would recommend cool ideas:

 

https://coolideas.co.za/ftth-products/

 

Check their coverage map, where you can enter your address and confirm if you are able to order a package through them.. that may be a good indication whether you are able to choose any ISP you wish..

[RocknRolla]

Check your coverage on the rain website. 

I use a rain 3g card (in an old cellphone) to tether my laptop to when working on site. 

It has been fine. I have tested it during loadshedding (because Vodacom and FNB's tower has no coverage during loadshedding) and it has worked well in this instance as well.

 

Some people have indicated dissatisfaction, but my experience has been ok thus far. I do like the option to switch between unlimited and pay as you use (R50/gig).

 

For a backup, it has been great for me.

[Rocket-Boy]

I wouldnt touch Rain with a barge pole.

Just take a cursory glance at their support forum on Mybroadband and you will see its not a good option.

 

Wired still beats wireless.

[Frosty]

I’ve been with Vodacom since May 2018, and have had 2 separate days where there was a large scale outage (one almost a half day, the second about 2 hours).

 

Family streams (mostly at 720p) on 3-4 devices, at the same time, without any buffering. 500Gb soft cap, but we average about 450Gb per month.

[Robbie Stewart]

I have been waiting for a ftth installation since November when I first applied (new house, new suburb, teething issues), but in the interim I have been using Vox LTE which is month to month, and it has been working fine for me. I get an average speed of around 40Mbps and this has served me well over the course of the last couple of months.

I am getting my ftth tomorrow as it turns out, but truthfully LTE has been the same as the fibre at my previous house. I am just thinking that VOX LTE is pricey as I am paying around ~R800 for 120Gb per month which is not nearly enough.

Webafrica are advertising uncapped LTE at R999.00 which is not bad in my opinion. If you can get that over Vodacom I'd go for that. If my ftth install was not happening I would be migrating to this deal instead.

Rain is atrocious according to any survey you look at and Vodacom is not far behind that. 

Webafrica is providing LTE on the MTN framework and MTN is consistenly ranked #1 in the country year on year.

[kosmonooit]

How about 4G MTN?  I've been having goods results (speed, QoS etc) with a monthly deal from Axxess, R990 (or thereabouts) for 200 + 200GB package which works for me. You can buy top-ups quite easily if need be. They also have 150 and 300GB packages. Occasional hiccups but nothing I can't live with. I been Cell C before which was good, then they stopped data services, and then I made the mistake of Telkom LTE (via webafrica) which  was a disaster. Fibre not available where I live. Landlines got stolen.

 

I have set it up for a few others, working out okay, Axxess is okay for support and billing, nice web site for managing your package, as far as ISP's go I would give them a thumbs up.

 

Really can't say the same for Webafrica. I have been using and reselling a lot of their services for years, now its impossible to get  hold of anyone if you have an accounts or support issue. Almost Telkom grade.

 

If your signal is marginal you can rig an external antenna for the LTE / 4G / 4G+ setup, speeds 50 Mbps or better generally.

 

Best buy your own 4G router, they are quite specific in what MTN supports.  (I have sources..)

 

And watch out for anything Uncapped LTE, they generally are speed limited to 10 Mbps which is pants.

[kosmonooit]

About Rain 5G, it really seems that they do not have the support structure nor the provisioning to realise the potential of 5G (as yet), user experiences really vary, works for some but not for a lot of others it seems (see other forum as suggested)

 

I am setting up one in Parkwood at the moment, putting the Rain Huawei CPE up on a pole and hope for the best, a few hail Marys and all. If this works out the client is going to cancel their fibre service which is prone to downtime.

[Mojoman]

I think RAIN is very much hit and miss....I use the uncapped 4G package with no issues...Use about 100-120GB a month in videos, playing CSGO and LOL and general time wasting online as well as always having my CCTV online...Beats paying Vodacom whatever stupid amount they want for 5GB etc...BUT

My friend stays literally less than 2km and he just bitches about it all the time...

As mentioned here...there is ZERO tech support from RAIN so once you buy this you will be on your own....

When you do get hold of someone they will just give you less than tier 1 support...!

My Broadband gives you an idea of how woefully inept RAIN is with customer support....

 

[Rocket-Boy]

I think RAIN is very much hit and miss....I use the uncapped 4G package with no issues...Use about 100-120GB a month in videos, playing CSGO and LOL and general time wasting online as well as always having my CCTV online...Beats paying Vodacom whatever stupid amount they want for 5GB etc...BUT

 

My friend stays literally less than 2km and he just bitches about it all the time...

 

As mentioned here...there is ZERO tech support from RAIN so once you buy this you will be on your own....

 

When you do get hold of someone they will just give you less than tier 1 support...!

 

My Broadband gives you an idea of how woefully inept RAIN is with customer support....

 

 

Rain will never reveal their shaping policies, it does seem though if you have a high usage at one stage that you end up on a list that gets you heavily throttled.

The other side is tower congestion, you can be in similar areas but connected to different towers with different loads and backhauls.

 

Every now and then I hear of someone getting 250mbps on Rain and extremely happy, they are pretty much the 1% though with 99% being extremely unhappy.

[JJDT]

Thanks for the replies. Will look at the LTE options also. Fibre cables has only been recently installed about 18 months ago and thus Vodacom is the only service provider but it managed by SA Digital Village and the only downfall is that you need to enter into a 24 month contract.

[kosmonooit]

Ja man keep clear of contracts!

 

Limitations of LTE is really the data cap but as I say, me as a youtubeaholic and serial cycling racing streamer. I can get by with the 200GB . Axxess does allow rollover as well.

 

You also have to be conscious of what quality one is viewing, I try keep  it LD as much as possible, and then for selected events, torrent the HD caps with my night time allowance. But it you have kids and others on line, 200 even 300 will go quick.

[Eugene]

I want to install fibre at home but are limited to choice to Vodacom only as our area has limited coverage in terms of Service Providers.

 

Anybody using Rain 5g and how does it compare to a fibre line?

 

My choice is between these two providers, Rain offers month to month packages and with Vodacom you need to enter into a 24 month contract.

Can't comment on fibre, but I have heard enough negative things about Rain to know to stay well away.