Telkom ADSL, How To's and Alternatives

Effectively monopolizing internet connectivity and international traffic by handling both the SAT3 an SAFE backbone lines, Telkom has nestled itself into the number one spot for telecoms in South Africa. This is a position likely to be held by Telkom for as long as the South African government holds it's lease. So while Telkom owns the majority of the almost five million fixed lines in South Africa, lets take a look at what this means for us and how we can make the best of what Telkom ADSL has to offer.

Whenever I run out of Telkom bandwidth, I usually just switch over to my WebAfrica account. Yes, you can run more than one ADSL account and when mixed with certain software you can even use two at once (I'll discuss that in more detail and why that could benefit you at a later stage).

Why WebAfrica? Well, it took me about five minutes to apply for my account and got it instantly. They are very cheap and offer everything from shaped to unshaped, local and international bandwidth. I still use my WebAfrica and my Telkom account together when playing online games and this saves me hundreds of rands every month in bandwidth.

Take a look at their site here : www.WebAfrica.co.za , they are just the thing you need when starting off with software like Route Sentry or even just if you are looking for good and reliable bandwidth at a good price.

I think the best thing, in my personal opinion, about WebAfrica is the fact that the bandwidth is prepaid and that it is so easy to just purchase some bandwidth and later just deposit some cash to their account or just pay via credit or debit card. Great when you need that extra gig RIGHT NOW!

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, or ADSL is a technology that uses existing copper telephone lines to deliver a digital connection with speeds that are far higher than conventional analogue dial-up modems are capable of. For instance, a typical analogue dial-up modem can achieve a maximum download transfer speed of 56 kbit/s and about 33.6kbps upload whereas the lowest grade Telkom ADSL connection will run at a theoretical 384kbps download and 128kbps upload speed. As you can see, ADSL is significantly faster than dial-up.

Here are just a few reasons South Africans should think about upgrading to ADSL

Speed : If you are still slowly trudging along on your dial-up modem you should seriously consider upgrading to a faster digital connection. Even the slowest of ADSL connections could load this lens almost instantly. How long did it take you?

Always Online : Only able to dial up after a certain time of the day? Why is this? Dial-up users typically connect in the evenings or weekends when it is more affordable. With the high cost of telecommunications in South Africa, users are forced to check how long they stay connected. I can remember breaking out into a cold sweat at work after remembering that I had forgotten to disconnect from the internet the evening before. Well, with ADSL, it doesn't matter when or how long you are online, only the amount of data transferred is important.

Set Monthly Cost : I can remember a few years back when I still had a dial-up internet connection, before switching over to Telkom ADSL, I used to dread opening my Telkom bill. You just never knew what you were going to get, but after upgrading, I have a set tariff every month and I never have any surprises anymore.

Overall Experience : ADSL opens up the internet in countless ways. Streaming television, internet radio, faster downloading, online gaming and a wealth of other amazing services become available to you that are simply impossible to use comfortably on traditional internet connections.

Local Taffic : Telkom currently adds an additional 10Gb of free local bandwidth for each gigabyte of international bandwidth on your account, ie. if you have a 2Gb account, you will still have 20Gb of local bandwidth to use for free once your initial cap runs out.

There are a few ways to get your hands on a Telkom ADSL account. Telkom has a reputation for not being the fastest to respond to new orders or installations but I will share some tips and information that could help save you some cash or speed things up for you bit.

Prepaid Telephone Line : Telkom does not support ADSL on prepaid telephone accounts. If you do not have a phone line, you might want to look at the "Closer" range of products by Telkom. These usually come with free installation and saves you about R300 to R400. Orders can be made online or by phoning 10219.

Self Install : Customers are offered the option to install their own routers. Some people are intimidated by the thought of setting up a router but if you look at the vast amount of tutorials on the subject, the included step by step manuals that are really easy to follow and the user-friendly routers that are out there today, why should anyone be afraid of doing it themselves. PLUS : should you want to install and setup your own router, Telkom will give you a router for free and not charge for the installation.

Confirm Your Account : I was not aware that I had to register my account after the setup was complete. I spent a few hours stuck not being able to connect to the internet and only after finding out that you need to confirm your account on http://www.telkom.co.za and not http://www.telkomsa.net could I enjoy my brand new Telkom ADSL account.

Using Your Free Bandwidth : Local surfing in South Africa is still a bit limited but that free bandwidth comes in handy when you want to do some torrent or NZB downloads.