Neotel, WiMAX, price cuts – it’s all finally happening

If I told you in 2006 that in a year's time South Africans would have a true choice when it came to broadband services, you probably would have dismissed me as mad. If you had read that a competitor to Telkom would have rolled out services to consumers in 2007, you'd have raised an eyebrow. Similarly, you would have laughed at the idea of Telkom actually cutting DSL prices.
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Another positive is the downward pressure on telecoms and broadband prices. Competition means cheaper access: it's that simple. Our mobile broadband rates now rank among the cheapest in the world. Totally unexpected DSL price cuts announced by Telkom in June have started to make DSL access affordable. The notion of a decent DSL bundle from Telkom (384kbps, 1GB cap) costing less than R200 would've been derided as "impossible" six months ago.
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What's laughable is that you fail to realise that 1GB is pathetic. If you browse the net like a granny don't think that the rest of us do the same. On Monday I used over 200MB on surfing ONLY and that was on a day I was taking it easy.

I remember this Hilton Tarrant guy and it seems he's still clueless about everything. :rolleyes:
 
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I downloaded the latest Kubuntu DVD iso a few days ago. 4 gigs, that, on my Telkom cap is a 3gig and a 1gig - that's R320...
I just paid R320 for something that is supposed to be FREE.
I hate you and your caps, Telkom.
 
Sources also tell Moneyweb that Neotel is very busy behind the scenes with the planned launch of its retail products - this means access to you and I (If you're lucky enough to live in a major area, of course).
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That's the part I like :D
 
No offence but these so called "Journalists" & "Media" representatives are a complete joke. They pretend to talk like they experts. But they come to us for info. The moment 1 thing changes everyone is up in arms clapping for the big companies. Big deal that Telkom has dropped its prices. It should have been dropped years ago. I would say about 80% of Internet users in this country would not be able to use more then 2 GB a month even if they tried based on 1 reason and 1 reason only. They incompetent.

They dont know what is bandwidth. They dont know the difference between KB, MB & GB's. They dont know how much bandwidth is consumed when they surf news24.com or youtube.com. So even though all these journalists are portraying a "Positive" outlook on the local telecoms. We are still way way way behind the rest of the world. And if we even want to have a glimmer of hope trying to compete in any market outside of South AFrica we'll need to stop patting ourselves on the back every time something good happens and sprint to the finish line which is 10 MB's connection with no cap at R500 a month including line rental.

Granted there are financial, governmental and political constraints from this being a reality. But its people who are the problem, not the technology. As they say, People Kill People, Not Guns!!
 
Since when is 1GB Decent?

Bandwidth caps should increase 10 fold before I will consider that the situation is getting "better". 10GB on a 384k line for R300 (R110 line hire + ADSL) sounds decent, but still nowhere near "good"

I would consider uncapped or very high cap (200GB+) at 20mbit speeds for less than R1000 to be "good"

At the moment it is "changing" but that is about it.
 
This is great and all, but I wish people would start advertising 384k ADSL for it's real price, which is +- R310. As long as I need a fked Telkom analogue line, R200 is false marketing in my opinion.
 
just to clarify

Both the R300 and R1000 options should include free local calls, or R100 less if you don't want it.
 
[IBIWISI]

Where is the benefit? It's not here yet.

Also moving along rapidly is the rollout of WiMAX by literally everyone with a licence or test licence to do so.
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Wow - that sounds like alot of Wimax... or is it... the trick is in the "who has a license" bit.

At the time, Godfrey Ntoele, Telkom's (acting) chief sales and marketing officer said "customers who apply for DSL will be offered Do Broadband Wireless if they reside in an area which is not DSL enabled and that falls within the coverage area of a WiMax base station".
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Aah - so Wimax is going to be installed where there's no ADSL? In reality, I think not (in the majority of cases).

A few months ago, MWEB launched a trial covering 1 000 homes/business in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The company last week crowed about rolling out a WiMAX network in Soweto within seven days. There are already 100 Soweto residents connected.
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This is good news!

I see lots of plans.

Even the most ardent critic of Telkom/government/Icasa would not be able to ignore the positive movements over the past six months. Prices are down sharply, WiMAX will soon be (almost) everywhere and Neotel (like Gautrain) is real. This article is not filled with delusional optimism.
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Aah - Gautrain :D
Wimax almost everywhere? Eish, this country is bigger than midrand!

[/IBIWISI]
 
bandwidth bandwidth and more bandwidth

i dont care if they are 1000 adsl suppliers in this country, if they all ripping us via bandwidth whats the point
 
Neotel?

Where is Neotel? it's like they've just disappeared?! It seems even MWeb is even further ahead then them with regards to Wimax, and they don't even have a license yet! Our broadband involves balancing a phone / modem precariously on a bunch of books hoping that the connection wont drop... Yay for South Africa...
 
If you have a local only account ftp.is.co.za also has it and other distros.
 
Though I must echo the sentiment that if we got ten times the current usage limits for SAIX accounts at the prices we pay, it would make our broadband situation a lot more palatable.
 
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