|
Hello Dear Sc2-Players from SA!
In the end of this year, me and my wife will move from Germany to SA to work there.
I'm very happy about it and very curious about the country, culture and the people there! Even thou I will propably have to work my ass of  there might be some time for Sc2,
IF: There is proper internet in the region I will work. I still dont know exactly where this will be, but I can imagine that the situation varies from region to region?
So I thought, I ask around: Hows the Internet in general in SA? What Servers do you use? Europe, right? So I can stay with my account? Any suggestions what company I should choose?
Thanks for every answer 
PS: If theres a better place for this, feel free to move.
PPS: I used the search-function but didnt find anything like this.
|
To be honest you'll find it quite inferior to what you have in Europe. South African internet is behind some places in Africa even. TELKOM (South African telecoms company) had monopoly on the internet for quite a while which means they were able to offer poor service for ages and get away with it. Competition has opened up a bit recently though and its gradually improving I think.
Not that the internet heres hopeless, its just not as fast, cheap and reliable as what you'll be used to. I can play StarCraft 2 without lag problems. Every now and then there are problems with the undersea cable and the internet goes wonky but it usually gets resolved within a day or two.
To try answer your questions, yeah we're on the Euro server, and for companies I would suggest Mweb. http://www.mweb.co.za/productspricing/InternetAccess/ADSL/BigtimeSurfer.aspx. Others may be able to make better suggestions but they're the ones I use and it works for me.
Their fastest uncapped speeds on offer are 10240 Kpbs for shaped and 4096 kpbs for unshaped. Both are R2359 per month, ridiculously expensive but sadly thats the situation here. I'm on 4096 Kpbs shaped which is R899 per month.
|
Hi Spitfire,
thanks for the answer! 2359 Rand, is that like 235 Euros? That sounds pretty nasty...but well, I expected not too much, to be honest, nothing against you over there But the possibility to play one or two rounds of nearly lag free Sc2 sounds good . I will take a look at your suggestion and hope for the best
|
Hey. I've got a package with WebAfrica where I pay R200 a month (20 Euro) and get 30 Gb bandwidth and 100Gb between 12AM and 6AM at 8mb/s and I get about 250 latency on that, which is pretty good. It's R900 including line rental, which isn't too bad.
|
I heard internet in africa is very unstable, i`m not 100% sure of this though. In some big city there should be OK internet
|
I used to play wow with some people from SA. They came on our vent and played on our server which were both EU. Didn't seem to have any problems as far as I could tell.
|
On June 11 2011 00:45 Jhax wrote:
I used to play wow with some people from SA. They came on our vent and played on our server which were both EU. Didn't seem to have any problems as far as I could tell.
Were they called "Ginjaninja" and "Dymon" by any chance?
|
Hi Lambertus.
There are various packages availiable from different companies. I am currently on a 4mb unshapped uncapped for R500 (excl line rental) a month, where if you download a lot it throttles your speed during the day (but can still play sc2), and otherwise after peak hours gets quite decent as well.
Also, don't be too discouraged about SA internet, our best player is top 100 EU masters and regularly beats GM players (he has beaten Kas once even). Blink micro is possible and once again, you can also buy like gaming accounts (smaller packages) for gaming and then a general internet account as well.
All in all,it will be slower then ur used to, but probably better than spitfire made it out to be.
Hope the trip is a good one .
|
internet line quality here is really good in most places. i dont have any lag usually even when being throttled. the only problem is that telkom is the only real nation wide telecoms company meaning they can literally milk every possible cent out of you and you will still pay it. also they havent really much effort to upgrade lines to accommodate faster speeds. depending on where you stay you may only be able to get up to 4mbps line like where i am. 10mbps in other areas.
i have heard though one neotel expands nation wide prices will drop and lines will be upgraded. right now telkom doesnt really give 2 shits because they have no competition. ISPs are very good and will ussually go out of their way to help you. however you have to rent the line from telkom and to be quite honest, their service suck big floppy donkey dick and they know it but couldnt really be bothered. its not what you may be used to but still not so bad. just expensive as fuck for uncapped usage, unshaped lines cost double they shaped usually so a bit of a waste. im with mweb, no complaints at all so far.
On June 11 2011 04:15 TheEconomist wrote:Hi Lambertus. There are various packages availiable from different companies. I am currently on a 4mb unshapped uncapped for R500 (excl line rental) a month, where if you download a lot it throttles your speed during the day (but can still play sc2), and otherwise after peak hours gets quite decent as well. Also, don't be too discouraged about SA internet, our best player is top 100 EU masters and regularly beats GM players (he has beaten Kas once even). Blink micro is possible and once again, you can also buy like gaming accounts (smaller packages) for gaming and then a general internet account as well. All in all,it will be slower then ur used to, but probably better than spitfire made it out to be. Hope the trip is a good one .
whos that for interest sake?
|
Sorry t say but Neotel announced recently that Businesses are their primary target market atm. So that won't be happening just yet afaik.
Axxess, and pick a name from the fluKe tournaments. They are all scary players.... :O
|
On June 11 2011 00:42 Basagu wrote:I heard internet in africa is very unstable, i`m not 100% sure of this though. In some big city there should be OK internet
Yes, internet here in Africa very much bad. This is because all the giraffe nibble on overhead cable. Sometimes too, bad tsotsi steal our valuable copper to make necklace for his girlfriends and we must import copper from 1st world to replace line. This can take much time because donkey cart not fast. When esteemed technician person come to fix cable, he must first ask village elder blessing to work on line. Sometime, fault not where esteemed technician thought it was and he have to travel to next village on bicycle and ask new village elder blessing. Sometimes lion chase esteemed technician and eat them!!! I have seen many grave with bicycle next to road! Very much sad!!! (When this happen we must import esteemed technician from 1st world to replace him)
In all seriousness internet here isn't to European standards but you will get ~4096 speed in big cities and ~512 in smaller areas. Latency is perfectly fine to Europe and even the USA. Bandwidth caps are a LOT lower here. Telkom, the national provider has a cap of about 5gig a month so if it was your habit to download multiple films at once while streaming a HD feed of your birdbath then you may be bankrupt pretty soon.
|
I appreciate all the answers, that helps a lot! Its not quite as Deja Thoris wrote, but we over here in general dont have any clou about SA, especially about these topics. But its too bad that there is only one big company ruling all...no good comes of that, we need competition! Really looking forward to live in your nice country!
|
Lambertus you will find people in SA to be sometimes very negative. I pay ~R700 per month for a 4meg line, 10 gigs. The lag is easily playable, and the connection is very good. I cant even remember the last time it dropped. The best place to live would be johannesburg in terms of infrastructure but most of the big cities would be fine. We use the EU server and it is all good. The only time i have trouble is when it rains (which is not very often).
Anyways, welcome man!
|
Hmm, it does rain pretty often in winter, though cant say thats ever caused me lag problems. R700 for a 4 meg line with 10 gig? Who are you with and are you sure you're getting a good deal there? Thats around the same price as what I'm paying for an uncapped Mweb account on the same speed.
|
Dear Posters from two months ago, I just wanted to inform you, that me and my wife finally are moving to SouthAfrica! Our flight will go at the 20.12. this year, and im pretty exicted to get to know this nice country! Thanks again for you help and see you soon on Battlenet...;-)
|
On December 12 2011 17:01 Lambertus wrote:
Dear Posters from two months ago, I just wanted to inform you, that me and my wife finally are moving to SouthAfrica! Our flight will go at the 20.12. this year, and im pretty exicted to get to know this nice country! Thanks again for you help and see you soon on Battlenet...;-)
try 6 
|
On December 12 2011 17:01 Lambertus wrote:
Dear Posters from two months ago, I just wanted to inform you, that me and my wife finally are moving to SouthAfrica! Our flight will go at the 20.12. this year, and im pretty exicted to get to know this nice country! Thanks again for you help and see you soon on Battlenet...;-)
Hope you enjoy your stay!
|
^ That.
Its a great country, don't buy into all the negative hype, but at the same time: be careful and vigilant .
|
I lived in south africa till late 2004. And although in my heart im south african, the country is terrible.
protip: stay in germany
|
@ g
Well, I will try and see for myself. Due to some reasons I will at least stay for 3 years and work there. So I will do my best to make it a good time for everyone! And hopefully get to play some SC2 and not work all the time :D
|
You will work all the time like the man you are
You guys have children? Sounds a bit like a big commitment moving there for 3 years...
Either way have fun.
|
Its not so bad i think. I mean for a foreigner coming in you can go touring nicely and visit the country over 3 years then move back home.
Also with polarfluke working on the local sc2 scene and soon other stuff you can also enjoy competitive gaming to a degree :D.
One thing i rate you should do is get involved with the local guys. We mostly know each other and some hang out with each other so would be nice to help you out coming into a new country.
|
@ frontliner2
We dont have children yet, so plenty of free time ;-P maybe be even will stay for six years, depends from some things but is totally possible
@ phANT1m
That sounds great! But heres the thing : I will live and work in Springbok...thats like what we call in Germany the a** of the world, at least it seems to me... :D but in general it sounds nice and i would love to get in contact with the scene over there
|
@Lambertus feel free to message me about anything in S.A and will try and help you out. Hope to see you in local scene soon. :D.
|
i believe there was a starcraft ii event in south africa this past year - i remember seeing pics of it, i could be wrong.
|
Oh. Yes. There was a lan tournament for it. Hosted by the Do Gaming League.
Was fun .
Otherwise, ye, polarfluke tournaments, but just to clarify, they are still held on the EU server.
Edit: Oops, forgot about the Real Gaming Event
|
Former South African here. Haven't lived there for years but about the culture there, you've pretty much got African cultures and Western European (similar to Germany tbh) culture rolled into one. You'll notice almost immediately that despite the number of languages people over there speak, they also pretty much all speak English. Just be yourself and don't take shit from anyone and you'll probably blend right in.
|
there was 2. 1 major and 1 smaller one.
The major one was Do Gaming LAn at rAge 2011. Had all of the best local players and that. (sadly my cameraman said that sound in videos were bad so never upload them, i need get a nicer camera next time).
The minor one was Real Gaming Lan which i did a series of interviews at. You can catch it on youtube.com/polarfluke i think.
But the coming year will have a whole lot more from what i have been hearing.
|
That sounds great! Lets see how soon I get some Internet over there...I will stay in CT for 3 months to learn Afrikaans and better my english, then move to Springbok. Lets see how it is there...so probably I will only be capable of enter Starcraft 2 in SA in May again.
How fast are they to get the new connections going?
|
Not very...
Friendly reminders don't go wrong often tho.
It all depends on the number of connections in your area, how jacked up that telkom office is, and if your local switchboard (gone blank on the real word... the box where all the connections are connected to) can support ADSL, and whether or not your accomodation has the right line avaliable.
|
ah...good times ahead :-D
|
You will have a great time here!. I'm from Cape Town. You will find decent enough internet throughout the country. Its not 20Mbps fast but its fine for SC2.
Another option other than telephone copper is 3G/HSPA+. These networks are on par with the rest of the world. Our mobile operators have networks capable of running at 21Mpbs and plan to expand to LTE (70Mpbs) over the next 2yrs. A word of caution here though: Springbok is not a major city (not rural by any means) but just check if the area you are staying in has 3G/HSPA coverage before getting a dongle.
Weather is freaking fantastic over there...probably like 30deg cel on average. We get the odd day of rain/wind in CT though but it doesnt matter when you playing SC2 :D
|
Thanks inforsomechop for the extra info! Hopefully I will have time enough to handle everything right over there
|
So you would suggest that WLAN/Wi-Fi is an Alternative?
|
What line of work will you be doing in South Africa?
|
|
|
I was not expecting that... :O
Good luck
P.S If you have time, read Shades by M. Poland. . Its about a priest who comes from England to a farmstead outside Grahamstown in the late 1800's if i'm not mistaken (its been a while since I read it). It is/was a Matric setwork at one stage.
|
EDIT : completely wrong thread sry
|
@TheEconomist
Thanks for the tip yeah well the most ppl dont expect it when they see me :D
|
Again, thanks to all South African Players and Helpers around here! see you in RSA! tomorrow 20.12. we will fly...
|
Dont forget to drop a msg here or pm me when you get to S.A. Get you into the local scene would be really nice to have more people.
|
Hi Guys, Merry Christmas! Me and my wife arrived savely in Capetown and are enjoying the sun! only Internet is at the moment not really availble! will probably buy me a stick from 8ta for the start...but really, nice country you have here see you soon, enjoy your holidays!
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
