To broadband or not to broadband?

I've been churning this over for some time. Frankly, the question was not if but when.

After, in my usual way, doing the comparison and then watching my friends' experiences of their choice based on my evaluation, I made up my mind. Yeah prices will come down, but I can't wait anymore. I am now broadbanding!!!

I tossed over the advantages and disadvantages of ADSL vs ISDN vs 3G vs iBurst vs MyWireless. And what about waiting for Wimax?

Well on bandwidth for buck, iBurst finally won hands down. Bursting at up to 1Mbps download / 345 kbps, 3Gb cap per month (after which bandwidth is choked to 64k) for R590 per month. And the fee is inclusive of ISP and connection charges.

This compares to a minimum of R300 per month for my Telkom line plus R145 for Mweb. So with the extra benefits, a worthwhile trade. Major benefit being "always on."

A comparison of broadband services by MyADSL.co.za is available at http://home.telkomsa.net.

My mind was made up by the user comment in the forums on MyBroadband.co.za / MyADSL.co.za.

Also useful in the whole research effort was reading Hellkom.

Of course now the nightmare begins. Canceling my MWeb subscription means I will change email addresses. I have had my address for 8 years and everything is connected to it. It is not just about changing email addresses affecting my incoming mail. It is about my email address as authentication tool. To change details, so many online accounts require confirmation from email they send to the registered address. AAAaaah! Months of turmoil ahead...

Another change will undoubtedly be my removal from this blog community. Of course I am not a member with the everyday status of SV, WPChick, TheDodge, Bjorn and Kyknoord (the people I read often), but undoubtedly the community is the differentiator for MWeb blogs as opposed to my mirror site on Blogger (which has far superior technical prowess). Of course the challenge is to write interesting things. I stumbled across Wil Wheaton's blog (Wil Wheaton ex Stand By Me and Star Trek star) and was inspired how he has made blogging something different. See http://www.wilwheaton.net.

And I must admit Mark Keohane's use of blogging to revolutionise his business (writing on rugby) is something else. He gets it. See www.keo.co.za.

Aaah, the challenge.

But I'm using my iBurst and loving it - man the speed is life-changing!