Internet connectivity in South Africa

[Dave S]

Having a look at the various options for connectivity is a real pain, esp. if you are a novice. ADSL, 3G, HSDPA, Satelite... and the list goes on. I signed with IBurst and had 7-days to test the product, I tested and tested, the download transfer rates were what I was looking at, on a connection of 1Mb i'm only getting (average) 28.9KB/s transfer rate, surely this should be a lot closer to 128KB/s? Contact my supplier, they send technicians to install all sorts of expensive antenas and signal enhancers, so transfer goes up to 33.7KB/s but fluctuates between 6.9KB/s and 57.7KB/s, ok, take down all these expensive antenas and we're back to 32.2KB/s with a fluctuation between 19.9KB/s and 44.3KB/s, at least a little better, my AVG updates don't download to well with massive fluctuations. The point I'm trying to make, when is the supplier legally bound to provide the service that one pays for? Surely a 1Mb connection should be held to certain rules, say, between 700Kb (87.5KB/s) and 1Mb (128KB/s) that's 300Kb or 37.5KB/s difference would be acceptable fluctuation? Even this would not be what I would consider as "Best effort" (another vague clause in these contracts), How does one solve the problem?