Many people are confused by the alphabet soup of broadband options that are available today and the marketing efforts of the various providers often serve to confuse. The net result is that people end up paying for functionality they don't need or use.

ADSL, 3G/HSDPA, iBurst?

When deciding which option, ADSL, 3G/HSDPA or iBurst is best for you should remember the following:

1) ADSL offers the best value for money, followed by iBurst and then 3G/HSDPA. Cost per Mb of data is by far the cheapest with ADSL.

2) iBurst and 3G/HSDPA are only required if you need to be able to access the Internet while you are on the move. iBurst has less coverage then 3G/HSPDA so it doesnt work as in many locations as 3G/HSDPA. If you are looking for access in only a few areas such as the office and at home and iBurst has those areas covered it is often a more cost-effective solution than 3G/HSDPA.

3) Another issue which marketing droids love to confuse people with is the question of speed. The general belief is that the faster the solution the better. In reality if you are a sinlge home or mobile user some of the cheaper hardware is all you need. If you intend to watch a lot of video's online or download big files from the internet i.e over 150 MB or more, then speed may be an issue for you; but if you are just surfing the net, checking email and facebook and talking to Mom via skype then there is no need to waste money on all that extra speed. It like those luxurty 4x4 that were designed for a war zone but only get stuck in traffic like the rest of us where none of that fancy engineering helps.

3) ADSL is fixed to one location. Although you can use a wireless ADSL router so you can work in the lounge or on the patio you will not be able to access the internet from your local coffee shop with it; however it is by far the cheapest solution. The only factor that may affect your decision is whether ADSL is available in your area. Most areas in South Africa are covered.

4) Many people are put off ADSL because of Telkom's poor reputation for customer service. There are many horror stories about Telkom but the reality is that these are isolated cases and in fact we do not have any customers who had to wait more than two - three weeks to get an ADSL line. So don't let your dislike of Telkom lead you into a less than optimal solution. Give them a call first and see if you cant get an ADSL line. If not then try other options.

Online Tools to help you choose the best broadband option

At Cyber Connect we have developed several online tools to help you choose the best option for you. These tools are:

• Fred - Our online expert who can recommend broadband options for you based on your requirements. Fred was developed with input from our customers via feedback and focus groups, from our sales people via the capturing of the product knowledge and the skills of our developers to build an expert system that can ease the decision  making process,
• Our data usage estimator tool to help you estimate the right data bundle for your needs.

Network coverage tools

To check if your area has coverage you can use the following links:

http://www.vodamap.net/3g/ - Vodacom coverage

http://coverage.iburst.co.za/coverage.html - iBurst coverage

https://secure1.telkom.co.za/app/dslavailability/ - Telkom ADSL availability