Internet. More important than running water.
I found Lawrence’s Guide to Ordering Home DSL, which is excellent if a little outdated. It works, but I found that there’s a slightly better option.
1. Phoned Telkom around the beginning of April.
2. Technician came out on 19 May, installed the little box the phone plugs into (the house had a phone, of course, but I took advantage of the situation and moved the insulator on my side of the wire to the pole to the garage fascia, ‘cos that’s where the firewall is going to live. (Edit : Inside the garage, not outside on the fascia, of course!)
3. Phoned Telkom on the 20th of May. Oh no, have to wait two days for the line status to reflect on their system.
4. Phoned them again 22nd of May. OK, ADSL, no worries, with free modem, two year contract, no extras, I have an ISP, thankyouverymuch.
5. They phoned 2nd June, modem ready for collection.
6. I contacted Cybersmart, signed up. Saw that they have a new deal where middle-of-the-night bandwidth is 1/3 the normal price, but only if my ADSL is with them. Bugger.
So my modification to Lawrence’s guide is, go with Cybersmart for your ADSL and ISP.