It came from outer space

If you’re serious about reliable internet access for your rural getaway and can spare a bit of cash for the setup (about the price of a mid-range laptop), ( liquidtelecom.com) satellite service may be the way to go. The company offers satellite broadband coverage across Africa, complemented by an extensive fibre network covering South Africa and other southern African countries, as well as central and east Africa.

Scott Mumford (above) is the man responsible for its VSAT satellite structure. In essence, he says, Liquid Telecom is a “wholesaler” that provides a service to resellers (internet service providers) across the country. The good news is that its service is not capped, shaped or otherwise restricted in any way.

OK, so how would he respond to this scenario? You want to set up a reliable internet connection in a small town far from anywhere – ideally without breaking the bank – and build a business from there. Could one of his company’s resellers provide a solution?

Scott: “Absolutely. It would cost you about R6 500 for the satellite dish and related equipment plus a subscription of R700 a month for a 1MB/256k link and unlimited connectivity – that is, no restrictions whatsoever on your usage. That’s good enough for watching a YouTube video without buffering and is little enough to pay in exchange for guaranteed connectivity to the world.”

( yahclick.co.za), launched here in 2012, is another good option for rural consumers in pursuit of a satellite link. This high-speed, always-on broadband service is delivered by Vox Telecom to users in areas with limited or no internet access at a cost that’s comparable with current terrestrial services.

YahClick offers a range of packages, from basic internet access for home users to high-speed service plans for corporate users. The company has already installed more than 4 500 units across the country, mainly serving farms and other businesses in rural areas where Telkom and 3G networks are unreliable or not available.

Instead of using a phone line, you are required to buy a dish that communicates with a dish used by the service provider, allowing two-way data communication that works up to 10 times faster than a DSL connection.

YahClick’s “consumer” package, including a 74cm dish and installation, will set you back just under R10 000 (a slightly larger dish, which may be required in certain areas, raises the cost to R12 900). It’s worth noting that this deal features something called fair access policy: you’re able to download as much of the plan’s data allowance as necessary at any given time during the billing period, but once you exceed the monthly allowance of 2GB, the speed is set at 64Kbps.

A third option is ( maxwell.co.za) satellite broadband service, which costs about R750 a month. It includes a wireless dongle for those using a desktop computer, plus a VoIP telephone if required. ( VoIP stands for “voice over internet protocol”.) The hardware will set you back just over R6 000 and the installation fee comes in at R877. The first gigabit of data is free.

( telkom.co.za) is a satellite broadband service that promises internet access regardless of geographical location, with an alwaysavailable “best effort” speed of 512Kbps mentioned at a minimum 1GB a month (up to a maximum of 20GB a month). It can operate on both mains voltage and 12V DC; no landline is required.

Contrary to popular belief, dial-up isn’t dead yet. As recently as 2012, more than 200 000 dialup connections remained in South Africa, according to the report Internet Access in South Africa by

World Wide Worx. The report shows that dial-up peaked in 2004 at 1 088 000 subscribers and has been declining steadily ever since. service providers may not deliver the connectivity they promise, sometimes because they’ve underspent on infrastructure. Subcontracted service providers occasionally raise the ire of rural customers when they throw up their hands and blame someone else’s tower. (In Latin: non mea culpa est.)

Telkom remains the only supplier of digital subscriber line (DSL) connections, delivering broadband to the nation via copper cables in its vast telephone network. And there’s the rub: thieves steal these cables to sell the copper to dodgy metal merchants, severing your internet connection in the process. As and where necessary, Telkom is replacing the copper cables with fibreoptic ones that have no resale value. Although Telkom will theoretically consider the installation of a DSL cable in a rural location if the demand makes