iBurst is a technology for delivering Mobile Wireless Broadband access to the Internet. Using this technology, you can, (in South Africa), get speeds of up to 1Mbps.
I think iBurst is a really good technology, and the fact that it let’s you discard the landline is a perfect reason to use it. I have used iBurst for 6 months now, and have had approximately 1 hour total downtime. I would consider myself quite a heavy user, using it for VPN access into work, telnetting, ftp, and, of course, e-mail and internet access. Unnfortunately, though, iBurst seems to have shaped their network usage in this country, so you won’t easily be able to use p2p tools similar to Kazaa or Bit Torrent.
Even if you could get iBurst directly from the iBurst company, I would FULLY suggest you go the reseller route. There are a lot of ads around for iBurst resellers, so check them out. All the packages will probably be the same, what would differ is their proximity to you, and their quality of service.
Here is a checklist of things I would do before using an iBurst reseller:
1 – Phone them and see if they will come around and test your connectivity. Even though you might have coverage according to their coverage maps, there could be a number of reasons why you have a bad signal
2 – See if they will lend you the modem and iBurst Access for a couple of days. The better resellers will do this. Mine did.
Verdict – Would I recommend iBurst? A definite YES.
Hi James;Would you mind telling me which reseller you used? Also maybe you can help me with this…Are you using the VOIP router that supports VPN and port forwarding? Does this allow you to access your PC over the internet? Thanks in advance.
Hi Nazeem. I use 247online. At least, that’s their new name.
And I’m not using the VOIP router. I’m using a Linksys Wireless G Broadband Router, so I haven’t tried accessing my PC over the internet. I would guess it doesn’t work as I would probably need a dedicated IP address, which is an extra cost.
But I do use Skype on my cellphone (iMate KJam), which connects to the internet via wifi over the router and through iBurst, and it works like a CHARM!!!
Thanks James. These 247 guys seem to also offer rentals which is exactly what I needed. After all you won’t know exactly what can be done and what not until you tried it yourself.
The reason I asked if the connection allows one to be able to access a PC over the internet is because you stated that you use the connection to VPN into work. If that works then surely one could access a PC as well?
And get around the the static IP by using something like dns2go.com?
Regarding the VPN, true. I thought you meant from the office, connect to your PC at home (which is connected via iBurst).
But, I use it to connect to my work network, and then I can theoretically Remote Desktop into any machine that will allow me. Which is probably what you meant.
And regarding 247, ask for Dion (and tell him about this site 🙂 )
Sorry, actually this is what I meant…
To be able to connect from anywhere on the internet to the PC that is connected to the IBurst router/modem/conneciton. Is this not possible?
I will tell him 🙂
I’m sure it IS possible to do that. Unfortunately I’ve never needed to do it, so I haven’t tried. If Dion (or the reseller) can’t help you, try out the forums at myadsl.co.za, they’ve got a few geniuses there 😉