Many internet connections in Cameroon are done via Wimax as there are not many fixed lines available - the structure of the cities are not made for that. Communication is done mostly wireless - as in our case.
Orange offers a "high bandwidth" connection with 512 kbit/sec downlink and 128 kbit/sec uplink for 75000 CFA francs per month (approx 100 euros).
Orange offers a "high bandwidth" connection with 512 kbit/sec downlink and 128 kbit/sec uplink for 75000 CFA francs per month (approx 100 euros).
The Wimax antenna and the wimax converter box (offering an Ethernet
port to the customer's side) have to be bought for 208688 CFA francs
(300 euros more or less).Finally, you'll get a "Livebox" for free with the Wimax equipment. This box is a low end NAT router for a PPPoE port and an internal network which is NATted to the outside.
This livebox flashes when powering on (see other article) but apart that has nothing special.Configuration is done via a simple web interface but many interesting features are turned off / branded by Orange. The "root" account is blocked by a password Orange set (which is not told to the customer) and the "admin" account is only for the web interface (no console).
The box is made from SAGEM of France, and there's a sticker on it saying that firmware updates will occur from now and then shutting dowm the internet access without a warning. I wish they were true but no software update seems to be available - the actual release just crashes once a day (normally at night, the next morning you'll get a fast blinking LED) or the web interface just does not act anymore. The box does not save changes automatically (you must choose it to do in a special menu). The reboot option does NOT save changes.
You haven't any possibility to save the configuration to a local PC/host, that's sad.
As Orange tells the PPPoE username and password to the customer other routers can be used. On the wimax line normal PPPoE is used.
A traceroute to this site:
bafoussam:/home/pascal # traceroute southbrain.com
traceroute to southbrain.com (88.198.109.214), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets using UDP
1 * * *
2 * * *
3 10.10.4.2 (10.10.4.2) 272.690 ms 307.780 ms 324.754 ms
4 10.10.2.1 (10.10.2.1) 344.797 ms 366.668 ms 381.852 ms
5 195.24.215.101 (195.24.215.101) 452.905 ms 499.529 ms 514.948 ms
6 195.24.208.152 (195.24.208.152) 536.673 ms 566.944 ms 582.917 ms
7 lis2-br1-po-2-1.cprm.net (195.8.10.161) 553.839 ms 564.963 ms 575.928 ms
8 lis2-cr1-gi-3-0-0.cprm.net (195.8.0.213) 587.893 ms 597.950 ms 608.984 ms
9 195.8.0.234 (195.8.0.234) 675.061 ms 681.717 ms 692.749 ms
10 195.8.0.194 (195.8.0.194) 718.579 ms 729.767 ms *
11 decix-gw.hetzner.de (80.81.192.164) 755.926 ms 768.678 ms 773.751 ms
12 hos-bb1.juniper1.rz4.hetzner.de (213.239.240.200) 823.896 ms
hos-bb1.juniper3.rz4.hetzner.de (213.239.240.234) 840.796 ms
hos-bb1.juniper1.rz4.hetzner.de (213.239.240.200) 845.959 ms
13 hos-tr4.ex3k12.rz9.hetzner.de (213.239.244.249) 1094.981 ms
hos-tr2.ex3k12.rz9.hetzner.de (213.239.244.121) 1096.912 ms 1102.021 ms
14 dominion.pascal-gienger.de (88.198.109.214) 1079.961 ms 1097.278 ms 1108.859 ms
Latency is big and it is felt when using interactive connections.
The 512kbit/sec can only be delivered at the evening and at night. On noon and afternoon transfer rates are breaking down to 12-15 kbyte/sec with the loss of many IP packets.
The wimax network seems to be heavily congested during these hours - for a monthly rate which exceeds the salary of most of the workers here!
I hope things will change for this beautiful country and its warm and welcoming people!
Sagem F@st3202 Livebox CLI login: usename root, password 1234