How broad is "broadband"?

About 18 months ago we signed up for ADSL, which, while it cost about the same as our dial-up connection, seemed to offer certain advantages. The main one was that one could connect to the internet at any time without waiting for 7 pm, when the cheap phone rates kicked in.

At first it seemed marvellous -- if someone recommended a web site one could click on the URL and see what was there, without the need to wait for CallMore time (by which time one would usually have forgotten all about it).

The advantage of dial-up, though, was that if one needed to send an urgent e-mail, one could do so, even at the expensive times. Broadband is not nearly as flexible. Two weeks into the month, one hits the cap, and there is no internet access, no e-mail, nothing for the rest of the month.

After experiencing that for the last few months, the old system of 12 hours expensive, alternating with 12 hours very expensive doesn't seem to be such a bad idea after all.

Or does anyone know of South African ISPs who offer a better deal?

Anyway, from now until the end of the month I won't be looking at other people's blogs much, and will not click on links unless absolutely necessary. I never look at video clips anyway, so I don't know what uses all the bandwidth.