ECN Forum Forums Technical Discussion Re: Computers and the Internet ADSL??

OK I am looking at getting ADSL here, but the speed is one thing that I am a bit "iffy" about.
Xtra says that "Jetstream can be up to 3 times faster than a Dial-up connection", at NZ$69 a month, it would want to be at the speed of light!.
But I have to buy an external Modem plus filters for my 2 telephones.
NZ$199 for the modem, NZ$15 a piece for the filters.
If you have a Telecom Tech install the gear it will cost you NZ$700 all up.
I mean who is kidding who here?.

Do you have a satelite dish? You can get internet via satelite too, dont know what the prices are like in NZ. Here in the US (in the boonies), where I'm at the price is cheaper for me to use the sat downlink and the telco uplink.

I can get both up and down with the sat for $50 a month, down only for $35.

sounds like you are getting ripped off to me.

Mike, for ADSL a download of 384kbps is fairly common—so, unfortunately "3X" versus "7X or more" speed does not sound like the best deal for the quoted price.

I can understand the frustration of dealing with pokey dialup, though. What might help better decide may be to find someone else in your area that would let you try/talk over their ADSL.


[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 05-22-2004).]

Bjarney,
I am on about 4-5 kb/s with a 56K modem, Download speed that is, with the Dial up Connection.
Call it bad phone lines, call it what you will, 384kb/s sounds pretty darn good!.

Just done a speed test on mine and it is 720Kb/s, not too bad for £25 a month. I used a modem for years and would hate to go back to a dial up connection especially the old 9.2k greta grand father of 56k

My son has adsl and his speed is comparable to mine.

Can you buy your own external modem and filters or do you have to use the phone company's?

Mike,

That sounds pretty high to me, but if that's the fastest thing you have available there, and there is little competition, that's they way it will be for a while.

Over here in the states (in major cities) cable modem service is what rocks! Usually between 2-3 Mbps (2000-3000 Kbps) for US$79 business class US$45 residential per month they give you the modem and installation is free.


[This message has been edited by Mean Gene (edited 05-27-2004).]

"My fellow Americans..."

NZ$15 = US$9.35
NZ$69 = US$43.00
NZ$199 = US$124.00
NZ$700 = US$436.00

Trumpy:
There are a lot of different deals here, depending on the serivce provider, telephone company, etc.

Compared to my experiences with ADSL:

- The monthly rate sounds about right. The cost of the modem is at the higher end. Here, a lot of companies will give the modem free with a one year contract for service.

- The filters are also a bit at the high end.

- However, the telecom tech cost is way higher than anything I have seen here.

Do you have specifics as to the speed (download/upload) offered?

Sorry Mike, I missed replying to your 05-26-2004 06:51 AM post.

I'm promised 384 kilobits/second, but I think you mean 4-5 kbytes/second on "56K" dialup.

For communications, I learned 'bits' and most everthing else 'bytes.'

But, Mike said the company claims . . .
That doesn't warrant even paying extra for in my opinion, much less that much money.

Henoch, thanks for the $$ conversion. That help to put it more into perspective.

Bjarney, it takes 8 bits to make one byte.

[This message has been edited by Mean Gene (edited 06-03-2004).]

Hello Mike!
It really depends on your prices and your location. My situation was, here ADSL is available. It is not at all places. (It must be built up somehow. Or something)
Second thing is, however Hungary has many telephone companies, the telephone bills are still high (I changed HUF prices, that is Hungarian Forint), line phone about 0,1 USD/min mobile phone about 0,5 USD/min, that meand for a mont our calls cost about 50 USD/month for line and 100/month USD for mobile calls, with these prices it would be very expensive. The ADSL is about 50 USD/month and for there are different new companies on our market, the starting price usually is 0 HUF. Another possibility here is cablenet, I don't know much, but it is not on Cu-lines, it is on optical. The prices are like the ADSL, but another, digital system is needed, also for the television. (Oh, an average salary is about 300 USD/month)

[This message has been edited by Gloria (edited 06-20-2004).]