Best alternative to dial-up and best EDGE modem

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mancombseepgood

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I see the operators occasionally trying to lure the home dial-up user to broadband by advertising usb modems for home computers etc...
Here's my opinion:

Best alternative to dial-up and best edge modem:
Virgin will give you the Motorola V360 (edge) for R47 per month over 24 months ATM. You can also purchase the modem cash for sub R1000 ATM. Along with Virgin's 50c per meg , IMO this is the best low-cost alternatives to dial-up that we have ever seen.

So... for (let's say) R100 per month, you get your modem - which you can use as your cellphone if you like - and 100 meg's worth of data. Over and above that it's 50c per meg... and of course, there are no strings attached. If you want to settle the phone when you come into cash - just pay it up. What do you get from Telkom for R100 per month?

Also - why buy an edge data card when you can get the v360 for so little. it uses a standard cheap mini usb cable to connect to the PC (or bluetooth if you prefer). While Cell-C's EDGE coverage won't be as far reaching as others, I understand it is faster since it is not saturated... and IMO GPRS is like dial-up anyhow.

Just my opinion.
 
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Well some SP's were offering a HSDPA data card for 24 months on the mychoice 75 package. So for that you get the latest 3G data card and R75 data for 24 months, one cud also add on a data bundle, say for a xtra R100 u got 100MB plus your R75 of data so comes to about +-135MB for R175 for 24 months or just R75 for 24 months with a card.. thats a real option for low cost

hic
 
GPRS or Edge at R2.00 works out cheaper than Telkom Dial-up. With Telkom dial-up you pay for time connected at R0.60 per minute or R36 per hour! This is during normal hours. Even at 50kbps the total data traffic will be less than 18Mb per hour. this is R2.00 per Mb even before adding the internet subscription cost that varies from R45 to R119 per month.

Fire Telkom
 
Missing the point!

rehd said:
Well some SP's were offering a HSDPA data card for 24 months on the mychoice 75 package. So for that you get the latest 3G data card and R75 data for 24 months, one cud also add on a data bundle, say for a xtra R100 u got 100MB plus your R75 of data so comes to about +-135MB for R175 for 24 months or just R75 for 24 months with a card.. thats a real option for low cost

hic
Click to expand...
I think you are missing it

You are saying:
R75 of data at R2 per meg = 32.5 megs.
So... for R75 per month you will get data card (cant use it as a phone) and 32.5 megs... any out of bundle browsing costs R2 per meg.
Or R175 for 24 months gives you 132.5 megs with data card... any out of bundle browsing costs R2.00 per meg.
AND - you have to COUGH UP big time to get out of that contract - or you have to use MTN for 2 years.

How does that work out to a better option than Virgin at R100 per month for 100 megs and (modem + phone) with R0.50 per meg thereafter... and wait for it.... no contract. Just pay the phone up when you want or stick another sim into it - you won't have paid for airtime you wont be able to use, etc. etc. And the phone/modem works on any PC - not just notebook. (etc.)
 
There is itemised billing etc. as well which brings it to about R100 per month for MyChoice75.

If you want a basic phone to use as a modem I think Virgin does make the most sense.
 
I have checked on Virginmobile's website and can't seem to find the v360. Anybody have any details?
 
I have phoned Woolworths (vmobile reseller) and they sell the V360 thru VM and it's R47 per month x 24 on terms. Should be available at musica too. AFAIK, they ony advertise "specials" on the site - other phones are available... use Woollies or Musica.
 
Onepostwonder said:
What do you get from Telkom for R100 per month?
Click to expand...

I'm so happy on Virgin it's scary. The pricing makes it perfect for my budget - it's like always-on dialup, great for a bit of browsing without any contracts or ridiculous bandwidth charges!

I get good speeds sometimes too, up to 15kbytes per second (according to netlimiter app)

I've even bought a second phone (another nokia 6020), so that I can have one as a dedicated GPRS modem. Picked it up for R1000, a bit more than motorola, but I will not trust anyone but nokia! There's always something dodgy about the other brands (Samsung = poor battery, Sony erricson = slow UI, etc..)

So ya, always-on internet connection = awesome & cheap! Now just pray Virgin doesn't put their prices up!:)
 
capdog said:
I will not trust anyone but nokia! There's always something dodgy about the other brands (Samsung = poor battery, Sony erricson = slow UI, etc..)

So ya, always-on internet connection = awesome & cheap! Now just pray Virgin doesn't put their prices up!:)
Click to expand...
These days Nokia = poor battery, slow UI, etc.

Presumably they have thought about their prices carefully in advance.
 
FireTelkom said:
GPRS or Edge at R2.00 works out cheaper than Telkom Dial-up. With Telkom dial-up you pay for time connected at R0.60 per minute or R36 per hour! This is during normal hours. Even at 50kbps the total data traffic will be less than 18Mb per hour. this is R2.00 per Mb even before adding the internet subscription cost that varies from R45 to R119 per month.

Fire Telkom
Click to expand...

Ever heard of Hellkom's "Infinite Call"? My total dial-up account is less than R550 per month (including calls) with data transfer of 4.8Gb - Slow, but effective if you manage large d/l's through a download manager...
BTW... I'm not a very big Telkom fan either, but not having any other choice we need them!
 
NoRulez, I guess it depends what you want - a lot of people like myself require low bandwidth browsing and email, so the always-on pay-for-what-you-use EDGE is much better than Telkom!
 
NoRulez said:
Ever heard of Hellkom's "Infinite Call"? My total dial-up account is less than R550 per month (including calls) with data transfer of 4.8Gb - Slow, but effective if you manage large d/l's through a download manager...
BTW... I'm not a very big Telkom fan either, but not having any other choice we need them!
Click to expand...

I think that Infinite call is no longer available. But what I am refering to is users like my father that only use limited internet - to do online banking, bookings for the national parks and email.

He is paying a total of more than R180 per month for ABSA internet @ R45 and calls. He normally uses his internet between 9 and 12 in the morning. The problem is that a connection is normally only established after the third or fourth call. The connection speed is slow at about 33kbps (he is living on a small holding in Gauteng). His total traffic is less than 50Mb per month. You must remember that when you download it may be fine to pay for time, but when you red info on banking screens you pay for the time with no traffic. For users like my father, even at R2 per MB he will be saving money.
 
NoRulez said:
Ever heard of Hellkom's "Infinite Call"? My total dial-up account is less than R550 per month (including calls) with data transfer of 4.8Gb - Slow, but effective if you manage large d/l's through a download manager...
BTW... I'm not a very big Telkom fan either, but not having any other choice we need them!
Click to expand...
You pay a monthly fee for that and for another call anytime you get disconnected. It is a reasonable alternative if you want to just leave things downloading, but browsing on dial-up is painful and very time-consuming.
 
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