MTN to issue it's own EDGE PCMCIA Card

[dbnnet]

I'm getting my first test PCMCIA card for the MTN EDGE network soon!!
They will be issuing their own "branded" product which I believe is
a re-packaged Ericsson card.
MTN should kick butt with this EDGE product as it will be accessible from
all (Urban) MTN towers ... thus providing coverage almost everywhere unlike 3G!!

[louisp]

Interesting!!

Now I'm info hungry!!

Costs??
how different will this be form 3G?

How can they link this to all towers but 3G can't?

going to www.google.co.za to start researching

[Raithlin]

One of these, perhaps?

[dbnnet]

The details are still a bit fuzzy... but they will be cheaper than Vodacom's 3G.
(Unconfirmed: They are aiming at around 53c per MB).
All MTN's towers were easily upgradeable to EDGE technology... whereas with 3G
this is not possible. EDGE is already in use in the USA and Europe, and is a slightly slower but much cheaper solution than 3G.

[AcidRaZor]

dbnnet, you sound like you're getting it from a crystal ball "still a bit fuzzy"

any ideas on when they intend on release?

[caspa]

this is the best news i've heard this year.......cant wait

[AcidRaZor]

if they cheap enough and they have customized packages, I'm immediately jumping ship on iburst and joining them

[dbnnet]

noone, Ive only today been asked to test the product.....
but rough launch date will be 21 days from now.

[Raithlin]

I never get asked.

[Broo]

I'm envious dbnnet, will you be getting more than 1

[ajax]

Interesting, however MTN had better rethink that R0.53/MB taken in context with the bolded bit, R0.07/MB less than Vodacom 3G is not much cheaper at all, especially for something slower than 3G.

Let the competition & price war rage on...

Agreed, if that's MTN's price, then Vodacom (with their excellent customer service) will win.
However, if MTN can present some good prepaid deals (something which Vodacom has not yet come up with) I might just go with MTN.

[arf9999]

EDGE is not slower than the current 3G offering AFAIK. But max for EDGE is 384kbps, and UMTS is capable of up to 2Mbps (or more maybe?)

I'm using DSL384 and it's plenty fast enough for me ATM.

Value: If MTN charge 0.53 per MB UNBUNDLED, then it is a better offering than Vodacom, especially if you either use much less than 1GB per month or much more. For those users using around 1GB per month the pricing is not so different.

just my 3 cents (inflation).

[dbnnet]

arf9999 I believe that you are 100% correct .....
But what I am hoping is that MTN provide the first 1GB at a lower price....
before the 53c kicks in!
(I have my doubts that they will go with an unbundled option).

[caspa]

i'm already getting ready to accept my R2800 loss to iburst

[AcidRaZor]

i dont even know WHY you guys bought modems so early on. first thing I did was to find out that if I wanted to change to month-month and buy the modem later-on I could.

finished, end of story.