New Emtel Product - We have much faster internet connection.

Jude,

We're using this same system out at our campus in Phoenix. It saved us a bundle over paying to have orange/telecom string wires to the site, and the speeds have generally been excellent - comparable to what you're seeing (4-7Mbps to sites OFF the island).

However, it's still dependent on the strength of the local cell coverage/signal, so it doesn't work that fast everywhere. For example, I took it home to my house in Beau-Bassin and I was lucky to get 384Kbps from an inside room (all that concrete and rebar no doubt played a factor).

Regardless, it's another option for those seeking alternatives to ADSL. Just keep in mind that it's not unlimited data like a hard line, and the average home, with multiple active users, will blow through 5GB or even 10GB in no time flat.

Also, if/when you do activate a data plan, you need to use all of the allotted GB within a 30 day period or you lose the balance. There's no "roll over" (i.e. carrying unused data allowances forward to the next month) with this system, so keep that in mind.

Randall C. Kennedy, Director
American International Academy

We are testing it out this month Randall, so far so good, we think 10 mb will be plenty for us but we will see this month. Great to have an alternative.

Jude,

We are particularly fond of the portability. The fact that the device includes an integrated wifi router allows us to simply move it from classroom to classroom to provide access wherever and whenever we need it.

A perfect fit for our "wireless campus" model which includes the ability for students to check-out a wifi-connected tablet computer at various times throughout the day to assist in research, etc. Also makes it easy for our teachers to integrate online content into their teaching sessions.

Randall C. Kennedy, Director
American International Academy

Hi all,

we just moved to MRU 3 weeks ago, and the first thing i did was go out to EMTEL and buy their "amazingly fast" internet.

well for me it was sadly very very slow.

i guess that moving from New York (super super super fast!) to here, i was a little spoilt with speeds as these slow speeds are frustrating for me.

i live in Grand Baie, and i've been experiencing speeds of about 2-3MBps......people here in GB are telling me that with ORANGE, i can get 4Mbps.....so I'm going to add Orange to my house too and test them both.

Lets see!

Hi Nik, we are running both orange and the Emtel at the moment for comparison.  We have been using Orange for over 5 years and we get download speeds of gives around 1mbps at best.  We were willing to pay more to get better speeds but orange told us they cannot offer any better.  Maybe it depends on the area you live / work.  My husband and I both work from home and use the Internet on international sites all day, every day. We are getting 4 to 6 Mbps with Emtel  and are thrilled at the difference from 1mbps.  Mauritius Internet is certainly not up to world standards but after being sooooo very slow for so long 4mbps seems amazingly fast.

Good luck.

HeyJude wrote:

Hi Nik, we are running both orange and the Emtel at the moment for comparison.  We have been using Orange for over 5 years and we get download speeds of gives around 1mbps at best.  We were willing to pay more to get better speeds but orange told us they cannot offer any better.  Maybe it depends on the area you live / work.  My husband and I both work from home and use the Internet on international sites all day, every day. We are getting 4 to 6 Mbps with Emtel  and are thrilled at the difference from 1mbps.  Mauritius Internet is certainly not up to world standards but after being sooooo very slow for so long 4mbps seems amazingly fast.

Good luck.

Thanks for that.

i think it must be due to our location in GB....id be happy with 6Mbps at the moment!

Please post back when you have time to test it.  I will be very interested.

The Orange website advertises a max of 4mbps.  http://www.orange.mu/internet/adsl_home_wifi.php

Nik & Jude,

I've had Orange ADSL to the house for years. Right now I have the 2Mbps MyT package, and I can get the full bandwidth fairly consistently. Plus, it's unlimited use, so I pull down a lot of U.S. TV content throughout the week (helps us feel more connected to the homeland).

The key factors are your distance from the CO (Central Office - ASDL parlance for their closest switch/hub) and how skilled you are at configuring internet firewall settings (port forwarding, et al) to maximize throughput for specific download types.

So it's not ideal, but you can live with it. And, if nothing else, it's a more consistent connection than wireless which can vary greatly from region to region.

Randall C. Kennedy, Director
American International Academy

rck01 wrote:

Nik & Jude,

I've had Orange ADSL to the house for years. Right now I have the 2Mbps MyT package, and I can get the full bandwidth fairly consistently. Plus, it's unlimited use, so I pull down a lot of U.S. TV content throughout the week (helps us feel more connected to the homeland).

The key factors are your distance from the CO (Central Office - ASDL parlance for their closest switch/hub) and how skilled you are at configuring internet firewall settings (port forwarding, et al) to maximize throughput for specific download types.

So it's not ideal, but you can live with it. And, if nothing else, it's a more consistent connection than wireless which can vary greatly from region to region.

Randall C. Kennedy, Director
American International Academy

Yup...the "unlimited" part is important!

i blew threw 5GB within the first 4 days of getting the EMTEL package (downloading US & UK shows to feel closer to home etc!)

so 10GB every 2 weeks is expensive....oh well!

Nik,

Get the 2Mbps MyT package - it's the best deal right now. Then load-up bittorrent, punch some holes in the SAGEM firewall (fairly straightforward - there are guides on the web), hit eztv.it and enjoy!

I queue-up a half-dozen shows in the morning (advantage of being 9-12 hours ahead of the U.S.) and let them download throughout the day. When I get home, I've got 3-4 hours of U.S. TV waiting for me.

Take it from a veteran (going on 7 years) U.S. ex-pat, there are ways to cope...

Randall C. Kennedy, Director
American International Academy

Thats good news for the works online.

I'm online, and i see often changes with MT: domain server IP's change, and you dont have access to domain emails. You phone, they dont know when.

Sometimes you have to make the right options. There are ways from emtel. sometimes interefence might bring your Router/wireless down(even it was very up yesterday); had some similar probs. You have to keep up both(em and orange) in hand same time.

You can also calculate the upload costs of bytes/download costs of bytes; the costs of bytes of both; see if its using the quota as much as can be.

Though perceptions may not always be right long usages makes a real idea; and life is cool


Yasir.

Yup, i plan on doing that.

i'll let my macbook DL torrents throughout the night....good stuff!

rck01 wrote:

Nik,

Get the 2Mbps MyT package - it's the best deal right now. Then load-up bittorrent, punch some holes in the SAGEM firewall (fairly straightforward - there are guides on the web), hit eztv.it and enjoy!

I queue-up a half-dozen shows in the morning (advantage of being 9-12 hours ahead of the U.S.) and let them download throughout the day. When I get home, I've got 3-4 hours of U.S. TV waiting for me.

Take it from a veteran (going on 7 years) U.S. ex-pat, there are ways to cope...

Randall C. Kennedy, Director
American International Academy

Well the Emtel bubble has burst for us.  After 8 days of normal usage for two people, no movie or TV show downloads, the 10GB ran out. So at that rate we would need 40GB per month at a minimum, costing RS4,800 per month. Orange with unlimited is obviously much less expensive with unlimited but they can only offer 1GB download in our area.

If anyone is getting 4GB on Orange I would like to hear about it please.

No?

"All that glitters is not gold"
J-R-R Tolkien.

It reflects light.

Hello all,

Internet is in a very sad state in Mauritius indeed. Mauritius Telecom is a government cash cow, and competition isn't very fierce, barriers of entry are high (you need to pay an expensive license to operate as an ISP) so don't expect it to change anytime soon.

Orange on higher speed packaged works great *when it works*. I think part of the problem with them is the totally uber-crappy sagem modem they provide. I highly recommend using something else.

Unfortunately their contract is 12 month minimum so if they provide crappy service because of your location you're SOL.

Since I needed a *stable* connection I tried the uber-expensive Emtel Wimax Pro (2 Mbps) and it has been a TOTAL NIGHTMARE despite having good signal strength. Stay away from this.

Downloads and uploads were absolutely not on par with advertised speeds, and disconnects were frequent. And the traffic shaping is horrible, forget about Youtube. Even gmail has been slow and unworkable.

Thus, for me Emtel home & office broadband is the deal. Yes, you pay per GB, but at least it gives Emtel an incentive to get things to download and upload relatively fast (I managed 8Mbps down the other day), since the more data you use, the more you will pay.

And they understand it very well. This means spectacular skype sessions with fluid videos, and no youtube buffering. And the fact that you can take the modem with you and use it somewhere else (i.e. hotel for example) is a big plus.

The connection is very stable, I have some SSH connections which are staying up to 3 days vs 30 minutes average before.

So yes Rs 1299 / 10 Gb is expensive, but compared with a crappy unmetered 2 Mbps connection that's 10x the price + VAT it's actually a pretty good deal (well compared with the rest of the world it's a horrible deal, but "welcome to Mauritius").

My only grudge is that that you have to top up every time. If you go postpay route, then the price per Gb after usage of your 10 Gb is simply outrageous so that's not an option either.

It would be nice to find a decent DSL modem with HDSPA backup to get the best of both worlds, i.e. Orange when it works + emtel fallback when it doesn't... I'm not sure this product exists in Mauritius though.

Dear Jude/ all,

I am very delighted hearing encouraging feedback on the Home & Office Broadband. This product is a crack and has an interesting product life cycle. “Helpful, nomadic, user friendly and effective.”

[Moderated: No free ad pls]

[Moderated: No free advertisement on the forum]

Thanks Dylan, I see you found the post.  Thanks for taking an interest, hopefully a better solution can be found for everyone in Mauritius.

We were very happy with the product and the speeds we were able to get.  The problem is the 10GB lasts only a short time.  Perhaps Emtel needs to look at upgrading the limit for the same cost.  I would definitely use the Emtel product over Orange if the limit was removed or increased.  As it stands, paying per 10GB at it just becomes too expensive and too cumbersome to go to an Emtel office and wait in line to pay every time.

We look forward to more news on this product and we definitely use it if the limit is significantly increased.

Dylan,

Well, we already have your service working reliably at our campus, so no need for a follow-up visit. However, if Emtel decides to offer any educational promotions or service packages we'd definitely like to hear about them. As it stands, we're carefully monitoring our usage and have so far managed to stay under the 10GB cap.

As for my personal home use, I'll be sticking with Orange. Their ADSL-baed service has been rock stable for us going on 7 years now, and the unlimited traffic over our 2Mbps My.T connection has allowed me to stay connected to the media universe back home in the U.S.

Randall C. Kennedy, Director
American International Academy

[Moderated: Kindly communicate by PM]

Hey Dylan,

I'd be so happy to switch to postpay if you want find a way to auto-top up 10 Gb when the account reaches 0, or even when it gets low (i.e. 1Gb remaining).

Because the "just give us a call we'll top it up for you straight away" isn't really possible in the middle of the night, or during weekends, or bank holidays...

Is this possible?

Dear all,

If you are on postpaid, I can get you to check you balance by yourself anytime. Thus, knowing in advance when to ask to a top up/ avoiding disconnection.

Kindly contact me for more info

What i must say is the FALSE ADVERTISING & INFO that the workers at the EMTEL store give.

I went to top up my package by another 10GB (thats 30GB in the last 3 weeks!), and i ask the guy here in Grand Baie opposite SuperU the speeds he gets....and he looked me in the face and said 21MBPS!!!!!

I quite quickly cut him down to size, and he said..."ok ok...3MBPS"!!!

JOKERS!

Indeed, the advertised 21 MBS only happen if you live nearby an Emtel antenna I suppose; otherwise 5-10 MBS are more realistic!

You can have an idea of your 3G coverage based on smartphones reception intensity before getting the Home & Office modem.

By the way I have one for sale, almost new as I moved in a new house with another provider - if I'm not infringing the forum's rules here, please contact me by private message - half-price guaranteed

As it has been said here, the problem with Emtel is that they don't have unlimited packages. Since we are huge downloaders, Emtel would bleed us dry if we were to move with them.