Broad band in SA

[Chatmaster]

I am sure we all agree that Telkom should get on the nearest space craft and go to the moon. The amount of damage they are causing SA with their idiotic prices and stupidity is unquestionable. Just want to make a few people a bit more depressed about our broadband in SA. Check this out do broadband in the UK

[Dave A]

Now what would I do with an unlimited usage 24 Meg connection....?

I don't know if even my son could rape that into submission, although it would be just the sort of challenge he'd love to try. And at about R300 per month!

[RKS Computer Solutions]

Dave, I bet you a hundred bucks, I can make that 24meg line squeal like a pig...

Especially now that 1TB Hard Drives have landed in South Africa...

[Chatmaster]

I have a server at Datapro right on their pipe. There is nothing as great as to download something on it in a matter of seconds. I usually do that and then use my FTP software to download it from there during the evening when I am not there. I can do allot more with that type of speed. I normally run downloads on videos of speakers and software etc. It helps to stay in touch with the latest techniques.

[Dave A]

There is nothing as great as to download something on it in a matter of seconds.

No argument there. I'd take the speed for sure. But when pretty well any file you download is delivered faster than you can meaningfully process it.... Hmm. Maybe I'm not getting my thought across too well.

Take video - that's loading faster than you are chewing when viewing, isn't it? And you can only watch so many videos at once.

We've got a 100 Mbps LAN at the office, and there is only one process where it grates me that it's too slow - otherwise accessing pretty much any file across the network delivers faster than I can use it.

(Yeah yeah - I know I need to upgrade to 1 Tb but it's not just the routers - it's all the network cards too).

[RKS Computer Solutions]

You must have had a late night Dave...

Your LAN at 100mbps is the standard today, only server environments really effectively use 1gbps, would be a complete waste in a SMME environment...

The 1TerraByte HDD I referred to is space for saving files, ie, 35k photos of the Kruger National park, all at 10.1Mega Pixel and weighing in at +-9MB after conversion from RAW...

[Dave A]

Your LAN at 100mbps is the standard today, only server environments really effectively use 1gbps, would be a complete waste in a SMME environment...

Networked financial software has a knack for needing speed. Not for all parts of the program, but for some of my more complex custom reports, I can be tapping my fingers for a while.

[RKS Computer Solutions]

Dave, I can only guess what software you are referring to, but I can say with all probability that it won't be your network speed that's the problem...

Take Caseware for instance. Used heavily by Accountants, does all kinds of funky things with your numbers and is the ultimate speed killer....

Site has Caseware server, 50 client licenses, being used on a daily bases.

Problem, slow response from server when actively using Caseware for reporting...

Solution: Upgrade server memory to 4GB, replace old/slow IDE HDD's with new SATA HDD's, and upgrade CPU to the max extent of the current motherboard...

50 users right now could be pulling an extensive report on their biggest client, all within milliseconds of each other, and no slow response...

All this, on a 100mbps network, some clients which were on WiFi connections...

Problem solved....

You might want to have a look at your server...

[Dave A]

You might want to have a look at your server...

I thought that too at one stage.

Firstly, the software is Quickbooks Pro multi-user 2003. And I suspect this is the problem.

You can tick everthing else off the list when it comes to the server - it's one of the latest - dual-core, 4GB ram, 2 x 500GB SATA hard drives. It's a beast built to serve. And when you do the same functions directly on the server, even when everyone else is tapped in too, (and Nortons is doing its best to throw on the brakes as Nortons only can) it's lightning strike.

I suspect the software isn't that well designed for a networked environment. My guess is the exe files are being executed on the "terminal" machine and manipulating the data on the server from a distance, as opposed to sending a request that is using the exe files and processors resident on the server. I'm looking to upgrade to the latest version of Quickbooks to see if the problem resolves. 2003 was really their earliest attempt at a multi-user product and they might have restructured the processing.

In putting in the beast, there was an improvement in speed for over-network operations. Noticeable but not that significant for complex operations - an improvement which I attribute to the improved access time of the hard drives and the priority settings for network requests.

[Eugene]

ASA rules against iBurst

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against wireless broadband provider iBurst for the second time in two weeks. In the latest hearing, iBurst was ordered to withdraw a claim from its advertisements that stated that subscribers could achieve speeds of up to 1Mbps. A complainant had said that the advertised claims were misleading as during the day iBurst caps its speed at 46 kbps and users are never able to reach speeds of more than 100 kbps, notes IOL Technology. The ASA found that it could not be shown that a significant number of customers could achieve the advertised speed of 1 Mbps under reasonable circumstances, and in fact there was no evidence to prove that iBurst users can ever currently achieve that speed. The claim was therefore held to be misleading, and iBurst was ordered to withdraw it from advertising with immediate effect.

Legalbrief 08-08-2007

[RKS Computer Solutions]

Dave, that might be an issue yes... Let us know how it's going when you've upgraded...

For those interested in venting on iBurst, here you go: http://hellburst.za.net

[RKS Computer Solutions]

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/small-business-accounting-software.jhtml?lid=left_nav

Link for Quickbooks Pro 2007....

[duncan drennan]

A complainant had said that the advertised claims were misleading as during the day iBurst caps its speed at 46 kbps and users are never able to reach speeds of more than 100 kbps, notes IOL Technology.

That is quite a strange claim. I have iBurst and I almost always obtain speeds between 25-80kBps, which is equivalent to 200-640 kbps. I wonder if that should read kBps, which seems more realistic.

On a side note here: what I've noticed is that they appear to limit any single stream to around about 25kBps, but if you use multiple streams (e.g. download manager opens 4 connections) then you obtain better results. With a download manager I typically get over 80 kBps and have even gone over 100 kBps.

[Dave A]

The ASA found that it could not be shown that a significant number of customers could achieve the advertised speed of 1 Mbps under reasonable circumstances, and in fact there was no evidence to prove that iBurst users can ever currently achieve that speed. The claim was therefore held to be misleading, and iBurst was ordered to withdraw it from advertising with immediate effect.

Legalbrief 08-08-2007

Now that is real interesting. iBurst is of course owned by Vodacom nowadays. And the speed claims are in exactly the same format as their speed claims for HSDPA (up to 1.8 Mbps )

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product...l?lid=left_nav

Link for Quickbooks Pro 2007....

Thanks Riaan, but that's the US version unfortunately, which is based on GST, not VAT.

You need to go to Quickbooks UK for a VAT system. Note: 2007 version not released yet! And support is only given for 3 years based on the edition year

I'm patiently awaiting the new release, which at this rate will be the VAT version for 2008.

[RKS Computer Solutions]

Never knew they were different, my bad... Don't really deal with Quickbooks so just grabbed the first link google gave me....

Have you spoken to their support regarding the slow networking and if it's been solved in later versions? Have you contacted QuickBooks SA (PTY) LTD to see if maybe they couldn't shed some light on your issues? http://www.quickbooks.co.za