After many ups and downs, I eventually purchased an external antennae from Poynting. It has boosted my signal – which is now permanently on 4 bars. While the download speeds have improved, the upload is still poor. And several times a day, the connection just drops. I’m not sure if Neotel is doing this intentionally because before the antennae, my connection was fine. I suppose you could say it’s a small price to pay for good signal. Not at all impressed with the upload speeds. This is my speed test results after setting up the antennae:

If you’re thinking of signing up wih Neotel, know this:
1. You can’t monitor / check your bandwidth usage.
2. Network isn’t established properly, yet. You will experience down time now and then.
3. You might have to invest in an external antennae for better signal (roughly an additional R 1,500)
4. You might find that when your connection drops, you have to manually reconnect (even though you set the device to redial automatically). I’m bringing this up because when I access the internet from upstairs and it disconnects, I have to trek all the way down to reconnect. It’s annoying.
5. I can’t vouch for the reliability of P2P, I’m not a pirate

Converting your cellphone into a WLAN.

I came across this particular software called JoikuSpot that does exactly that. Visit www.joiku.com from your phone and follow instructions to download the application. You need to select your phone model and add your cellphone number in international format. An sms will be sent with the download link. Configure settings accordingly.

If you visit the website from a web browser, you will notice that there is a light version (free) and a premium version (€15). I am referring to the free version.

This is just an emergency solution, not a permanent one. Can you imagine what your phone bill would be like? I would suggest that you keep a Virgin mobile SIM card in your wallet for a situation like this as they charge 50c/MB out of bundle – which is 75% cheaper than Vodacom’s (prepaid) offering.