As the regulars would have noticed, 2oceansvibe has been plastered with ads for MWEB’s new uncapped broadband service – the first uncapped service in South Africa. They have a number of packages and there is one to suit every pocket and speed. I would like to tell you about my package.

Sis, don’t be rude – I know you’ve come very close to seeing my other package, but that’s not the one I’m talking about!

  
MWEB’s latest offering – uncapped broadband

Ok so as you can imagine, I chow through quite a lot of data – around 25Gb a month. Now that’s a helluva lot, even for small to medium sized companies, but it’s not just for my surfing and email needs. Now pay attention – I promise you need to hear this and will be glad you listened.

A while back we chatted about iTunes and how you can get a US account for your media needs – allowing you access to all the American music and movies and apps available on iTunes (our local offering features close on f-all). Then what you do is you buy iTunes vouchers with your normal credit card (US iTunes account won’t allow foreign credit cards) and redeem then via iTunes. Morally I don’t have a problem with this – the people who produced the media are being paid, and it’s better than the only other alternative which is stealing it for free online. But I’m not getting into that debate (if there is one?) right now.

All of that said, my incredibly large data usage comes from the fact that each movie on iTunes is about one gig. So I’ve got an Apple TV (you can get them at Digicape) connected to my plasma (and linked to my US iTunes account) which let’s me buy or rent movies (or TV shows) instantly ($3.99 to rent – around R30 – and a little bit more if you want HD). You don’t even need computer with this thing. I choose a movie, watch the trailer, click “ok” to pay and it starts playing the movie after 30 seconds (minimal buffer required with the 4Mb line). Obviously you could do this all with a slower line, you will just have to wait longer.

I don’t have that kind of time.

Over the last two week I paid for and watched The Bounty Hunter, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Food Inc., Precious, Zombieland, Up In The Air, The Informant and Bad Lieutenant – all of which are either on the local circuit, or haven’t got there yet. At a gig a piece, I would have been paying an extra R70 a movie with Telkom – and that’s before you factor in all the surfing and Weather Girls videos and downloads and all the crap you send me!

I listen to Johnny Vaughan on London’s Capital FM online through streaming audio and I speak to my friends and family for hours on Skype. I also receive some emails which are 20Mb in size and I don’t bat an eyelid.

I downloaded an 8Mb file the other day and it took 16 seconds. I was with Dave from Goldfish – ask him about it when you see him. He nearly shat himself.

This is where we are, guys. Seriously, get with it.

Get an uncapped broadband line at your place and start off with a normal (what you’re used to) speed like 512kbps. WITH line rental it costs R599. If you have an EXISTING Telkom line, it’s only R299 a month. Then you keep that line with Telkom and switch your data over to MWEB.

They have cheaper and slower than that available, but I’m afraid I won’t allow it.

I had a 4Mb Telkom account but switched over to MWEB and kept the Telkom line. So all I am paying MWEB is R539 a month (plus theTelkom 4Mb line for R362 a month). I’m saving over a grand a month.

Switching over from the existing Telkom vibe to MWEB took, literally, half an hour. I was on the phone to the MWEB guy and he told me exactly what to do. Then I called Telkom and cancelled my data, but kept the line. Honestly, it was too easy.

If you don’t think you need it, that’s because you’ve never had it. You’re just as restricted in your thinking as you are with your internet access. Which kind of makes sense if you look at where the world is right now. You cannot afford to carry on the way you are. You WILL get left behind. FACT. You simply cannot afford to stay in the dark any longer.

Grow up – get an uncapped MWEB account, and enjoy the revelation.