Several articles have already been written, on the many obstacles encountered by any South African, aspiring Internet Marketer. These can be read on my blog at http://dersalsites.com/southafricanbusiness. Just look in the archives. But, one of the biggest problems of all, is what is, the very basics of any budding marketer - the actual internet connection. Without reasonable access to the internet, your dreams of becoming a successful marketer are doomed, right from the start.
This is certainly the biggest problem I have faced. When living in town, I was lucky enough to have had ADSL connection, which although is probably "Mickey Mouse" compared to the T1, T2 and T3 that our friends in USA, Canada, UK, Australia etc have, but it is the top of the range in South Africa. The downside is the high price, around R800 per month, the lousy service from Telkom and the often faulty 'phone lines, but the upside is that it is always on 24/7 and reasonably fast.
When I "retired" and moved to our smallholding out in the country, I was unable to get ADSL, so resorted back to dialup. As you all know, dialup is a real pain, is terribly slow and continuously loses connection. Dialup is relatively cheap, on the surface, but when you are charged for every connection you make it soon adds up. I took out several add on options from Telkom which allow me 150 hours of internet usage for a fixed rate, of about R350, but it is so restrictive, that it is hardly worth the price. The speed is low, usually around 45 Kb/sec which is not enough for downloads, uploads, FTP, video, audio or anything like that. And it is restricted to the hours of 7pm to 7am. So, if you are prepared to sit up all night, then you may be satisfied with dialup, but for me this is not suitable.
I need to do a lot of uploading, downloading, FTP, submissions and so on, so it does not suit me. I have been working all day offline preparing everything and then going online at 7pm and trying to get all my work done in about 4 hours a night. That is tough.
So, I started looking for an alternative. I researched by internet, email and phone, calling up all companies, that boasted internet solutions. I contacted, among others, companies such as Telkom, IBurst, Gogga, Sentech, MWeb, but nothing was suitable. All these "great" schemes only work in the cities. The staff do not seem to know much and certainly, were not very helpful. In fact, some never even bothered to contact me. They only had solutions, which would work in the major centres, but nothing, if you lived out of town. The only solution, seemed to be, to go with Telkom satellite. They call it SpaceStream. I investigated further, but then discovered that this would cost me in excess of R1700 per month and then there were still 2 problems. Firstly, I would still have to dial up each time, to establish a link with the satellite, meaning it was not always on and that I still had to rely on the phone line and secondly, it was capped at 2 Gigs and anything over, would cost the earth. I forgot about that solution.
I tried several other approaches and in desperation decided to wait for Telkom to employ their "nationwide roll out scheme", whereby they would upgrade all exchanges to handle their fixed line ADSL service. As I still have the modem, the phone line and was previously happy with ADSl, I decided to wait. Well, after a whole year, I went in to see them and to find out what was taking so long. I was shattered, to discover that they only intended upgrading the top 4 levels of exchange, over the next 5 years and the exchange I'm on, is only a level 9. So that was the end of that solution too.
I then heard, that a factory, 5 Kms up the road from us, had installed 3G technology and the system was working well. I obviously chased that idea, but was told that where I lived, I would not be able to get that signal. I went in to the Vodacom offices, but the customer care lady checked and told me the system would not work, as I was too far from the nearest tower.
Anyway to cut to the chase, I think I have found a suitable solution. I don't know much about the workings of the system, but I have been assured, by Nashua, that they can solve my problem. Vodacom is the largest cellphone company, in the world and has the largest signal (aerial) network, in this country. I have had a cellphone contract, with Nashua and MTN, for the last 11 years and it is only once I approached Nashua for help, that things started looking up. They contradicted what I had been told by Vodacom, by assuring me they could help.
Although there is not much difference in price, between the cellphone providers, namely Vodacom, MTN, CellC and Virgin, Nashua has the best network and is marginally cheaper. Nashua have promised to come out here and test the signal strength, before I have to sign a 2 year contract, so that counts for something.
Apparently there is a device, that plugs into a laptop, or a modem adaptor, in the case of a pc. This device is a part of wireless technology and uses the Vodacom network, to receive signal. They tell me, that this runs from the lowly GPRS, with EDGE enhancements, to 3G technology, depending on signal strengths and weather etc. The GPRS is already something like 4 times faster than dialup and the 3G is almost 12 times faster.
The downside, is that it is necessary, to sign an irreversible 2 year contract and that it is capped at a maximum of 2 Gigs. Any further requirements, are very expensive, but the basic charge is R450 all inclusive. Compared to all the others, that's not too bad. The upside, is that it is always on, 24/7 and that it is truly mobile and will work almost anywhere in S.A, so if you move house, or if you travel, you can take it with you. And of course, I won't need Telkom anymore. My ultimate dream, is to travel about, with a caravan and work "on the road", so this would suit me fine.
This whole exercise, has been a nightmare and has taken over a year to solve. If I had not been helped by Nashua and in particular, Kuben and Deon, from their Pietermaritzburg office, I might never have found the answer. They have packages starting from around R240, so if you are having the same problems, that I faced, give Nashua a call. Hopefully, this information will serve to help others, faced by these same internet access problems. Once I have it installed and working, I will be able to tell you more. Now maybe I can work all day and sleep at night, like a normal person. Well done Nashua!
Derek Robson is an up and coming, South African internet marketer, with a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success on the internet. He and his wife Sally have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites.
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