ACTION PLAN

[bullstein]

Ok. We have yelled at each other enough and i believe that we have most of the facts ready to hand.

Now we need to plan our next assault on the monopoly controlling the communications industry.

As i see it, the following should get attention:

1. Contact as many prominent people as we are able to involve in our struggle.
2. Single out certain newspapers, radio stations and other devices for communicating our grievances.
3. Use concentrated efforts to achieve the maximum results.

I know that these issues have been mentioned but i believe that you all will agree with me that to keep our momentum we must drive forward and bring these actions to life in a combined effort to get more attention. Even if we only get more attention to this website then it will be worth it.

Previously there was mention of advertising the site, etc. I myself was in favour of this, but now i believe different. As rpm has said we will get more members if everything stays free, so let's keep it that way. If we can gather the attention of the media then we should need no funds for advertisements - we will get that for free.

The list of grievances mentioned in the letter under the news section should be used in all communication to the media.

So let us put our heads together and think what can be done to get media <i>attention in different areas at the same time</i>. Most importantly these actions must be coordinated to grab national attention.

Are there any suggestions?

[plug]

I think the text below might highlight the main problem with maybe some solutions.

The way I see it, is that Telkom needs serious competition in the market for things to improve. I doubt that bringing in a second operator will improve things. It will merely be an excuse that things will change one day which I hope won’t be the case.

When the second operator is in place a third will come (probably a few years) and at the end of the day this kind of thing is dragged out over a period of many years – and we the customers are still paying and hoping things will improve.

I think the primary thing that is needed is some innovation by the government to get things going – like what the UK and other first world governments are currently doing. This would probably be the main thing that will solve the problem at the end of the day. Our government has a perfect example of what to do and duplicating something is not like re-inventing the wheel.

So I think one of the messages that needs to be put across is that Telkom needs competition. Competition in a market that demands innovation, free market principles, and the stuff that built and is building values for everybody.

Compared the many, many other countries the innovation Telkom put on the table regarding ADSL is an outright joke.

In essence all successful business solve problems. Here is a whole forum full of unhappy customers with a problem. My guees would be that wireless Internet access could be like the cable access of America here. What the government could do to change things dramatically is to start selling frequencies in regions or towns & cities. These frequencies could then be bought up by any business where they could provide wireless Internet access. This way the current Telkom infrastructure stays in place and the government does not have a lot to worry about when it comes to the stability of the Telkom’s infrastructure when deregulating things for improved Internet access.

It looks like international bandwidth is a problem. To solve this the government could create incentives for big business to invest in international bandwidth. There are probably many options regarding this, including treaties or deals with other countries in the effort to increase international bandwidth. – Look at what type of bandwidth is available from the UK to the US.

[rpm]

Hi Bullstein

Thanks for the initiative. I agree that it is time for action again. Although Telkom promised us better communication, this was again just another empty promise. The only reason why we received any response from them the previous time was because of the media reports, and we will partly go this route again. Here I agree that a concentrated effort will reap maximum rewards.

There are some other routes to follow as well. We will investigate these next week. Telkom is a listed company and that opens the door for some alternative action. I am certain most of you see what I am getting at. It is simply unacceptable that we are getting ignored…not the way to go.

Another suggestion is that we mention the Telkom employee’s name in allegations or arguments. This will give respectability to claims and definitely get Telkom employees involved in ADSL to read all our posts. Please don’t be too hard on the poor helpdesk staff. They have a very tough time trying to keep us and their bosses happy. Try to get to managers that do not reply to you or give you bad service or unacceptable answers. They are the guys that can change the service!

Regards,

RPM
rpm@myadsl.co.za

[Sash]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by plug</i>
<br />
It looks like international bandwidth is a problem. To solve this the government could create incentives for big business to invest in international bandwidth. There are probably many options regarding this, including treaties or deals with other countries in the effort to increase international bandwidth. – Look at what type of bandwidth is available from the UK to the US.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I think that while international bandwith is a problem, the service does seem over subscribed - Telkom effectively being the only ISP to provide bandwidth to ADSL is a large part of the problem, other bandwith providers such as UUNET cannot provide bandwidth to customers. This is of course anti-competetive favouring their own ISP and effectively making other ISP's resellers of their service.

Whilst I do think bashing at Telkom's doors may perhaps bring some benefits in the long term, i'm sure we wont see anything in the short term, maybe a package or two but I dont see any price decreases and the cap maybe addressed, albeit at a high cost. Perhaps lobbying government for a change in law that would allow for wireless and cable technologies to be licensed so that other providers can provide bandwidth to consumers.

[leonardharley]

I agree wholeheartly with plug. The real issue at hand is the deregulation of the telecommunications industry.

The SNO or even 3rd NO is not going to affect meaningfull change in the short / medium term (2 to 5 years!).

I have on many occasions in this forum stated that the underlying problem is that there is no proper deregulation framework / timetable in place.

Again I ask if we could have a seperate forum here on myadsl that is focused on the deregulation issue. There is no other public forum for people to voice their opinion on this issue.

If only we could some meanigfull dialouge going it could be used by the relevant roleplayers as a way to get public support!

I know this forum is primarely for ADSL users but it is clear that the underlying problem is the Telkom monopoly - therefore if we are going to solve the ADSL user woes we have to address the real problem!

"The Great Deregulation War has begun!"