SA call costs: Telkom vs Neotel

So let me understand this correctly, it is cheaper to call from Neotel to 8.ta than from Telkom to 8.ta? Keeping in mind that 8.ta IS Telkom.
 
AND Neotel prepaid rates are the same price as their postpaid offering. Got rid of my mom's Telkom landline which cost me R170 per month before she even made a phone call. Now she has a wireless phone on prepaid Neotel which I top up every few months. She's started using the phone again - before it was too expensive. Oh yeah, after hours all her calls to me (also on Neotel prepaid) are FREE.
 
I just cancelled my Telkom line and I can emphatically say that I will NEVER use Telkom again at home. I'm looking at an uncapped wimax solution (minimum 2MB/s) and I'll be using VOIP exclusively for calls. Telkom's simple 384k simple is actually NOT that simple and incredibly slow for what I need.

The changing of AP username/password every time I needed to top up after my 'generous" 1GB was used was also extremely annoying.

I really hope that Telkom go belly-up and have to be sold to an operator with a bit of a clue.
 
BLIXEMPIE said:
So let me understand this correctly, it is cheaper to call from Neotel to 8.ta than from Telkom to 8.ta? Keeping in mind that 8.ta IS Telkom.
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IIRC it has to do with MTR and the regulated interconnect agreements where neotel get preferential treatment. Someone correct me if I'm wrong...
 
A joke, the push up the line rental with R6.70, but decrease the rates by 1.7%, so you will have to spend at least over R400 per month to start seeing any difference, under that you will actually pay more, but what is 1.7% IN ANY CASE???!!!
 
Switch to Cellular - it's cheaper

Switch to Cellular - it's cheaper

If you are an infrequent phone user, it's cheaper to switch to cellular.

This is because with Telkom, you have a R139.97pm fixed fee, before you make a call.

Telkom Home Line Rental = R139.97pm
Telkom rates 28.5c - R1.40 - (per minute billing)
Location - fixed

Cellular PAYG - no line rental
Cellular R1.40-R1.65 (per second billing)
Location - portable

Because of the Telkom Line Rental of R139.97pm, you would only break even on Telkom at >120mins-180mins of calls (about R300 Telkom Bill)
If you factor in per second billing and call cellular a lot this jumps to 300min-400min (about R400 Telkom Bill)
So it only pays to use Telkom if your bill is above R300-R400 - otherwise get Cell.

If you must have a fixed desk phone, then get a desk GSM phone:
 
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According to the article the new Telkom prices kicked in on the 1st of August. Unless I'm mistaken, why does the article make reference to the future (will this, will that) if it was posted on August 9? Was it written some weeks back?
 
When will Telkom notice all the bad publicity!? They are complaining that fixed line numbers are dropping but continue to steal from the public. Is it perhaps the fact that there is no real competition? Neotel is not really competition. It's more like a pest to Telkom.
 
Another nice Neotel feature - they have 1 year 'air-time' windows. So if you get a cheap Neotel phone, and only use it occasionally, you won't lose your air-time.

No monthly fee.

Unlike Telkom, if you move house, you only move your phone.

Although you can't get ADSL - if you have a Neotel phone with a modem (e.g. Dupont BCxxxx), you can get internet reasonably cheaply (and we are told, Neotel will announce new data bundle pricing later this month), so useful as a fall-back when your mobile data bundle is exhausted (cheaper than mobile data OOB rates usually)

PS Almost forgot - Neotel gives you a 'landline' number and you can call 0800 (free calls) numbers which is a challenge on VOIP services
 
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If only I could port my Telkom prepaid number to Neotel prepaid. Not possible at present. Sigh.
 
I didn't know Telkom had Prepaid land-lines! As they apparently do, I'm quite surprised its not possible to port it, after all, its only a number - the underlying billing arrangement should be irrelevant.
 
Cheaper to call Telkom from Neotel, thats classic.
 
How does Telkom think that they are actually competitive. I think that they will focus more on the Cellular market. They are very competitive there.
 
system32 said:
Switch to Cellular - it's cheaper

If you are an infrequent phone user, it's cheaper to switch to cellular.

This is because with Telkom, you have a R139.97pm fixed fee, before you make a call.

Telkom Home Line Rental = R139.97pm
Telkom rates 28.5c - R1.40 - (per minute billing)
Location - fixed

Cellular PAYG - no line rental
Cellular R1.40-R1.65 (per second billing)
Location - portable

Because of the Telkom Line Rental of R139.97pm, you would only break even on Telkom at >120mins-180mins of calls (about R300 Telkom Bill)
If you factor in per second billing and call cellular a lot this jumps to 300min-400min (about R400 Telkom Bill)
So it only pays to use Telkom if your bill is above R300-R400 - otherwise get Cell.
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Go one better - get a Cell C PAYG, each time you load airtime you get 10MB per R1, then bank with FNB for FNB Connect and pay R0.89 at peak for cellular calls. It is the absolute cheapest option:)

https://www.fnbconnect.co.za/products.shtml#Talk
 
It sickens me to acknowledge that Telkom still gets 1k a month from me.
 
Reminds me of Neotell's radio add a while back. :p I think its still ridiculous to distinct between long distance and local call if in fact you'll still be using Telkoms infrastructure!
 
So the problem is still Telkom, with NeoTel making no real impact in the greater scheme of things. Nice that they are cheaper than Telkom, but very worrying that Telkom appears to not be interested in being competitive what so ever....oh wait, for them to be competitive there needs to be competition, which there is none of.
 
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