Learn to test what you are getting. ISP or Internet Service providers will market you all sorts of products with varying line speeds, download rates and monthly packages to get you hooked. Their first prize is to get you tied into a 24 month contract that secures their income for the next 2 years. So often we just follow like sheep and do as they say.

But if you actually analyzed what they offer and then tested their delivery, you will be very surprised as to what you actually get. For most uncapped DSL offerings there is a term called ‘strangling’ that is never used in the marketing brochure but that seems to just creep in whenever you make full use of their service. This allows the ISP to slow down your line to stop the excessive use of their ‘uncapped’ offering. Then there is the unscheduled down time and the blame game that seems to happen. Have you ever noticed how easily people who you pay for a service point fingers at other services to avoid accountability. It never seems to be their fault and we the consumer just have to bear the brunt of the problem. One company we chatted to spent 3 days with no internet, listening to all the excuses only to find that the Telkom technician had actually unplugged the cable by mistake. They were all ready to charge the callout fee to come back to the office again to prove that the equipment was faulty not their lines.

But we can test our service and rate it against what the contract says. Use this tool: www.speedtest.net or www.pingtest.net to check for upload and download speeds of your current service provider. Then confront them if you are not getting what you paid for.