R150 to fight Telkom - suggestions

Thanks SO much to PeeVee for donating his prize to me. Your gesture is very much appreciated. I will be putting some towards my internet costs (I’m on dialup), and using some to fight Telkom in a more public way.

I have, with PeeVee's generous help, put together R300 to fight Telkom.

To this extent, I am looking for suggestions. What is the best way to use R300 to get our message out there to people who have no idea about Telkom-abuse?

1) MaD had a good idea – handing out leaflets outside Telkom customer service branches giving consumers advice on how to save on call costs etc. The problem with this is that most Telkom shops are located in shopping centres which reserve right of entry. Bottom line – if centre management asks you to leave you kinda have to.

2) R300 could make a pretty durable big-ass protest placard to use in future (oh yes, I will be protesting in future again, even if I have to do it all alone).

3) R300 could make a couple of laminated A3 anti-Telkom signs which I will happily plant around JHB. Could be slightly illegal though. Council could fine me. Not too keen on getting fined.

4) R300 could print a couple of thousand A4 (divided by 4) leaflets which I could hand out at robots. We could design a leaflet with ten key facts on Telkom (a graph about how their prices compare to the rest of the world; how the Competition Commission found them guilty of monopoly abuse; how their excessively high tariffs have caused millions to disconnect from the network making SA one of the few countries in the world with a declining fixed-line rate; how Telkom’s prices affect our entire economy; etc). I could print on both sides to get more info in.

I think this is a nice idea and a good way to spend R300. I could hang a sign around my neck saying something like “Telkom is ripping SA off” which I think will probably make drivers take notice and want a leaflet. Perhaps, with rpm and MaD’s and whoever else’s agreement, I could include the MyAdsl and Hellkom web addresses.

To critics: The point here is to raise awareness. It is my sincerest belief that the biggest danger to Telkom is an informed public. No, handing out leaflets will not change anything tomorrow, but it will raise awareness and it will let more people know that there is a growing movement of people getting involved and willing to stand up to Telkom. This could encourage more people to get involved in our cause. It could also scare Telkom a little 

If we go with this last idea, I will make sure all my facts are correct and properly referenced. I will also consult the Law Clinic at Wits to make 100% I will be within my rights.



Debbie2
(Oh yeah, for safety reasons I won’t hand out leaflets at robots alone. I will need a buddy, otherwise I will not do it.)

Methinx the best idea to get national attention is to invite a national newspaper to take photographs of you handing over a cheque to a tearful old lady in an indigent rural area who had her telephone service cut due to non-payment, thereby preventing her from speaking to her family. I'm sure this won't be seen as bleeding-heart paternalism (maternalism/liberalism?) either - what are the odds of more than one instance of this kind, amongst the 1.8 million lines that were suspended?

Mbs:
Although I am physically laughing at loud at your post, I think that's a pretty brilliant idea! Only problem is that getting a mainstream newspaper to publish that would be difficult and there are no guarentees.

But I think your base idea is fantastic. An often forgotten side of the Telkom debate centres around this very argument - the fact that Telkom provided these millions of lines to people, then disconnected them when they couldn't afford their bills. Now these people are stuck with a blacklisted credit record. They can't get credit for anything, and will never again have a Telkom line until their bill with Telkom is cleared. Most people in this situation say that they did not reaslise how expensive Telkom's charges were, especially how expensive it was to call cellphones.

An idea is lingering in the back of my head - one way we could expand our cause and bring more people into the debate is to start a campaign to have Telkom clear all unsettled phone bills from before 2002. Certainly a campaign that would win the social argument!

More on this in another post in future. Thanks for the comments mbs.

adlo said:

Debbie,

Why don't you speak at the ADSL hearings next week at ICASA.

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Wow, that might be placing a little bit too much confidence in me! I don't think I am qualified to speak on broadband specifically. I actually know very little about it, and especially lack even half-decent knowledge of the technical aspects.

However, I do know a bit about the broader implications of the digital divide....

One thing though - on Thursday and Friday (14th and 15th) next week I'm going to be at a politics conference the whole day in Fourways.

Debbie2 for 300 bucks you can have hundreds of flyers printed. Centre management won't ask you to leave.. i mean goodness I was taking photos of Danger Dave inside of a Telkom shop here in CT, the manager let us behind the counters and we took photos of Hellkom on their PC's which 'show off' their overpriced ADSL and ISDN.

I would be more than happy to hand them out, wearing muh Hellkom T-shirt right at the front door of the Telkom shop, i have no doubt the manager won't mind - what's wrong with giving people free money saving tips, Eskom does it and theres no ****ing chance Telkom will ever do something like that.

For R300 one could also send out a press release which goes out to just about everyone...........

adlo said:

Debbie,

Why don't you speak at the ADSL hearings next week at ICASA.

Some of the guys in Cape Town seem to not be able to make it.
Maybe those guys can nominate you to speak in their place as your unique perspective and knowledge will sure be beneficial to the cause.

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Excellent suggestion.

Debbie2, do the flyers !

I reckon the best place to hang out would be the intersection of William Nichol and Sandton Drive - tons of traffic there !
Maybe take a buddy along just in case anyone gets agressive - the hawkers there may think your taking their territory or something odd

Also, you'll want some good strong salient facts -

R4 billion profit, 3000 retrenched
That type of thing

Oh yeah, put Sizwe's contact details on their too - "If your fed up of Telkom, please send an email to this address"

Yeah, go with the flyers.

Someone must hand out in Caoe Town as well - very good idea

I will make sure they go around all the main universities in Cape Town. UCT, Stellies, Cape Tech and Pentech. There are around 50-60 000 Students +- that prolly dislike Telkom.
MaD, that flier idea of yours must happen! It was suggested last year and nothing so far has happened. Do you need more money or what is the thing slowing down procedings at this stage?

I still think the sticker idea on cars is a cool idea with www.myadsl.co.za and hellkom.co.za on the other side of the car

Thanks for all the comments. MaD, if we go with your 'fliers at Telkom shops' idea, then do you think we could get away with putting severly critical info about Telkom on such fliers? Or would we leave that out and focus just on cost-saving info?

bb_Matt, thanks also for your great input. Expect an email

stickers....

i agree totally with Dominic Rooneys idea of car stickers... please make them really bright like red and white and readable.
but please be quick tyd is min.....
and the Hellkom T-shirts??? Where ARE they???

WretchedToad

Debbie2 said:

bb_Matt, thanks also for your great input. Expect an email

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no prob - will get in touch early next week.

We have R400

HUGE thanks to MyAdsl member Munwaal.
He spontaneously contributed R100 to our fund today.

So we now have R400 to get the word out!

Please keep the ideas about how best to spend this money coming

Nice one !

Debbie - I reckon the flyer idea is the best, but volume and location is important.

Anyone know where the various head offices of Telkom are located ?
I know of one in randburg, but it's just not suited to the idea of flyers.
Isn't there a head office in Sandton somewhere ?

Anyhoo - what is written on the flyers would be most important in order to get the message across.

It has to be simple and something every citizen can identify with + it must have an some easy contact numbers / web addresses where people can vent their frustration.

"If you've had it with Telkom, call this number NOW !"

If someone can get Sizwes cell number, that would be awesome ! - (joke)

Otherwise, myadsl address, hellkoms address and if possible some Telkom numbers than aren't usually publically known ?

The fliers idea seems to be an idea supported by most people (please post here if you have any concerns or objections to this!)

Option1: If we hand out fliers at Telkom offices, then I don't know if we can get away with putting very critical info about Telkom on such fliers. Like MaD says, Telkom prob wont have us leave if we put info on how to save on call costs, but I think that if we put stuff like "Telkom retrenched 30 000 ppl since 1997" then Telkom/centre management might make us leave.

Option2: I suppose we could always go with critical info and hand out at telkom shops until we are asked to leave....

Option3: If we give out fliers at robots, then we can put very critical info on. Plus we can wear a sign around the neck about Telkom - making it a silent protest and an info-handing out exercise!

As far as using the hellkom address or the myadsl address, we'll have to see what MaD and rpm say about this.

Please let me know which option you think we should go with!

Debbie2 said:

Option2: I suppose we could always go with critical info and hand out at telkom shops until we are asked to leave....

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If that idea had been unleashed in the Randburg Hellkom offices when I was last there, wow ! - you would've seen solidarity !
In a queue of 15, from ALL walks of life, 90% were p1ssed off !

One guy, at the counter, was doing Basil Fawlty style jumps of anger, much the amusement of us all - including teh TekLom Staff.

The poor blokes business was going down the tubes because both his business lines were out of order.

He got really crazy angry - threw his keys on the ground, turned round to us indicating how he felt about Hellkom, so I joined in.

So did the rest of the queue - it was like some kinda revolution in that office.

Well, it was one of wry smiles and the whole "Dirty Dozen" style cliche that could've been true was almost realised that day - but, alas, TeKlOm agents thwarted my attempts at true internet equality and large cheeseburgers without nasty fatty stuff in them and square bob spongepants gets washed up on a beach covered in red snappers who don't like sponges at all !

Telkom wont allow you to hand out fliers criticizing their high prices outside of their offices.

This might sound Lam but if you can get RADIO Air Slot/NEWS paper advertsing out saying that no one must use there phone for One day give a day etc. So then telkom thinks how much millions they lost for the day but like i say who is going to actually listen to that Article in the paper or Radio but its worth a Shot but R300 wont be enough for radio air, cost about R7000 for 30 seconds or more last i checked depending what time of the day etc. .

I saw an Article in the paper about 2 yrs ago about not using ur phone for one day Cell phone, I don't know if anyone recall that article.