WiFi loses out to 3G/HSDPA

“It only takes one or two episodes of paying R30 for 30 minutes access at a hotspot to realise that a 3G subscription costing less than R100 a month makes far more sense,” says Goldstuck.
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It does make sense. Show us value for our money and you will be the winner dear.
 
wifi hotspots? there were a few in the mall, they been gone for a while now.
 
Hotspot WiFi access should be seen as a cost of customer aquistion, as is advertising, and thus should be provided for free (like TV). The fact that you've chosen their hotel, coffee shop etc. is the payoff.
 
ndewet said:
As an example, at a recent hotel where we installed a hotspot we charge 60c per Megabyte on a 4Mbps connection, with a minimum purchase amount of R30 (i.e. 50MB), no contract required, that is a very good deal!
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How do you figure that to be a good deal?? :confused:
On either MTN or Vodacom you can get 2GB for R389.00 (< 20c / MB) - which is still expensive imho. :p

It makes much more sense for someone who travels frequently to use 3G/HSDPA than rely on various Wifi hotspots at various hotels/guest houses that charge varying amounts..

The last Wifi enabled guest house I stayed at wanted R1.00 per minute!! :eek: Or alternatively you could buy a "uncapped" day access (limited to 200MB of use) for about R80.00.. :eek:

Sorry 3G/HSDPA seems like a much better idea.. plus the fact that I find way more 3G/HSDPA enabled areas than Wifi hotspots..

EDIT: Now what happened to his post? :confused:
 
Its a good deal if you are on site for a limited time period

redarrow said:
How do you figure that to be a good deal?? :confused:
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R30 for 50MB with per Megabyte billing in a 5 star venue with a 4Mbps backbone is a very good deal because it is not feasible for a tourist to go out and buy a R2000 3G / HSDPA card, this goes without saying.

The cited research does mention corporates as the market segment in question, but in that case comparing WiFi hotspots to 3G is like comparing apples with pears. WiFi is a LAN technology and pricing aside WiFi hotspots cannot ever compete with 3G, each technology serves a different purpose. Sales reps in big corporates use 3G for a reason, because their reps need coverage everywhere, even if their reps are in middle of nowhere.

I don't know why my posts keeps on being deleted, only the administrator can answer that.
 
R30 per 50meg on wifi is NOT a good deal, no matter which way u slice it... esp since its based on ADSL pricing.

So lets do the math...

1 x uncapped ADSL account R1500pm
largish hotel, say 10 stories.... = 20 APs at R800ea

Looking at capital outlay of at most R20k for the hardware and then a monthly recurring cost of R1500....

I would be suggest 10c per meg would be an acceptable level.... as it would pay itself off in less than 6 months is my guess.
 
ToxicBunny said:
R30 per 50meg on wifi is NOT a good deal, no matter which way u slice it... esp since its based on ADSL pricing.

So lets do the math...

1 x uncapped ADSL account R1500pm
largish hotel, say 10 stories.... = 20 APs at R800ea

Looking at capital outlay of at most R20k for the hardware and then a monthly recurring cost of R1500....

I would be suggest 10c per meg would be an acceptable level.... as it would pay itself off in less than 6 months is my guess.
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What a wise bunny you are :p
Gotta say i agree tho 100%. Was at a City Lodge once and thought id see their pricing... disgusting i tell you. Good thing I had my MTN card wif me :D
 
Did this kind of excercise for a friend B&B once...

He now provides internet access at his place for free iirc cos he figured it costs him less than a days full occupancy + he gets decent internet access for himself...
 
Why do you pay premium for your room, drinks, food etc at a 5 star venue?

acidrain said:
What a wise bunny you are :p
Gotta say i agree tho 100%. Was at a City Lodge once and thought id see their pricing... disgusting i tell you. Good thing I had my MTN card wif me :D
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In the case of the hospitality industry, and 5 star venues in particular, you pay for convenience and you generally pay premium, even for Internet, this trend is not unique to South Africa. As an example, 20 Euros for 24 hr access is what a 4 star venue that I stayed at in Potsdam, Germany, was charging. Even a backpackers was charging 2 Euro for an hour. With 50MB most users would happily surf for a number of hours, for some it would last days. If you are going to a foreign country, and you are staying in a hotel, you would not be buying a 3G card, rather using the available hotspot. If the venue charges more than what you pay at home, that is the way it is, your coffee, beer etc will also be sold to you at a markup.
 
You seem to be missing the point ndewet....

A large portion of hotels overseas just HAVE internet access as part of the room, no extra fee is charged at all. And foreign country economics don't necessarily apply here. If we want tourists we need to give them as much as possible for as little as possible so that they come back.
 
I know people (won't mention names ;)) who pick their holiday hotels on the availability of the best possible bandwidth at the lowest price. ;)

They then 'rev' the cr@p out of the link!

Bandwidth-tourism, a new genre!

From day 1, I've battled with the concept of WiFi hotspots. It's very difficult to set up a system (back-end management, billing, etc.) to cater for a small group of users (0 to a few tens) and still make it economically viable. Most small businesses (coffee shops, etc.) eventually just stopped the service or made it free.

With 3G/HSDPA, it's all done for you, coverage, support, billing, etc.: "The world is your Hotspot"
 
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Viva v3g Viva! :)

I totally agree with you. Wifi as it is in this country is slowing disappearing, I've noticed many places that had hotspots just don't anymore...
 
viva wifi viva

I hate to say it, but I agree with ndewet here. 60c a MB at a hotel is dirt cheap. When I'm not researching the porn industry, I use about 10MB in an hour. That's R6 an hour. On my own laptop instead of an internet cafe.

I do use 3G wherever there isn't a hotspot service available, but it's useless for when I actually do need to make a VoIP call or Video Skype with family around the world. Never mind wanting to send high-res photos of my holiday to loved ones.

Regarding attracting tourists: When I came back here from the UK and switched on my Virgin Mobile (UK) phone, it told me that it would cost me 1.50 GBP per MB of 3G usage!

Let's say I'm a tourist or business traveler here for a week or two. Do you REALLY think I want to waste my time buying a new SIM card and struggling to configure the phone to work with my PC?

Heck, even if you're not a traveler, most people use less than 1 GB data a month. At 60c a MB, that's R600 for internet access. No ADSL line, no iBurst modem, no 3G card and no contract required.

WiFi is a fantastic mechanism for getting people online without any barriers, and with the new iPod Touch (next killer device imo) using it as the primary technology, I'll continue trying to convince people to set up hotspots and share net access. (and charge enough to actually help cover their layout costs)

I'll keep my 3G phone handy just in case...
 
Of course your virgin phone said it would cost that much... You were going to be paying roaming data charges...

As for most people using less than 1Gb, I think you'd be sorely mistaken... thats more than likely only true for in this country.

We're not talking about offering the service for free... we're talking about covering costs and maybe a lil bit extra as profit.... at 60c a meg... that works out to roughly R600 per gig... thats complete and utter insanity, especially if the backhaul link from the wifi AP is ADSL where data costs at most R90 a gig.
 
ToxicBunny said:
that works out to roughly R600 per gig... thats complete and utter insanity,
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Welcome to South Africa.

ToxicBunny said:
especially if the backhaul link from the wifi AP is ADSL where data costs at most R90 a gig.
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Dude, that's like saying because it costs Telkom 0.000001c per MB landed they should charge only 0.1c per MB... What you be smoking? :D

But seriously, you're comparing two completely different services: 1. Fixed ADSL, and 2. Roaming Wi-Fi. They're different services with different costs attached in the sense of marketing, support, management etc.

Making sure a hotspot is always up and running is very different from simply reselling SAIX gigabytes.

In any case, you could always go for Prepaid 3G at R2000 a GB.
 
Why do I get the impression that wifi hotspot operators are living in denial and cannot grasp the simple reality that HSDPA in SA is far less expensive than what they're charging for access to their wifi hotspots?
henkk78 said:
In any case, you could always go for Prepaid 3G at R2000 a GB.
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What are you smoking???

http://www.vodacom.co.za/services/mobile_data/vodacom_what_cost.jsp

MTN Has also recently reduced its pricing, and in particular charges the same as Vodacom for 1GB.
 
Thanks ic, I was looking for that link that shows you're paying R2.00 a MB if prepaid... Now, if you take that and multiply it by 1000 (one thousand), you get 2 x 1000 = 2000. That is, R2000 per GB.

Voila! No smoking necessary! :D
 
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