Biased Computer column in newspaper today

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Mask

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Greetings to you all on this sad day. Ironically, my ADSL is due to be installed today as well!

Anyhow - I thought you might like to read the following column which appeared in The Mercury in Durban this morning. As a MyADSL forumite and employee of Independent Newspapers, this got me really angry! It is a regualr computer tips type column. Can you believe this guy is meant to be an expert? I have written a letter to the paper and copied him stating the facts about the MWeb deal and what people should and shouldn't expect from it, as well as to lay out some basic truths about ADSL in SA. I also berated him for being so biased and simply providing MWeb with an advertorial. By the way, he isn't a journalist with Independent Newspapers - he runs a computer firm in Durban. I will try to chat to the editor about the column personally as well - the author should be taken to task for its bias.

Oh yes - I encouraged readers to view the MyADSL forums for more info and for friendly support for anyone with any questions. :)

ADSL can save money for many
Andrew Parker

If you have been holding out on getting fast ADSL internet access because of the price tag, I'm really pleased to be able to tell you that, for once, prices have come down, and the number of options available has gone up.

For the first time, someone who has a dial-up internet account and a monthly phone bill with about R300 attributed to internet usage could actually save money by switching to ADSL.

In the words of Natalie Thayer, newly appointed manager of MWeb Home: "ADSL is a very fast internet connection that is always on, which means you don't have to dial up each time you want to access the internet."

By using an ADSL telephone line and modem, you get high-speed internet access and the ability to surf and talk on your regular phone at the same time. Home users now pay a flat phone rate each month, with no per-minute telephone costs for their internet access.

"There is no need to dial up any more and no more nasty surprises when the phone bill arrives at the end of the month. Instead, you're charged for the amount of information you consume."

From November 1, MWeb is launching an ADSL service (data transfer capped at 1 gigabyte per month) for a remarkable R145, the same price as their dial-up internet account. This is not the total cost you'd pay, but it's a lot lower than before.

As with dial-up, where you pay Telkom for line rental and calls made to your ISP, ADSL requires a specially modified line to be installed and rented from Telkom, (installation costs R404) and the costs for the line rental vary depending on the access speed you require.

Adequate

Simply put, access speed determines how quickly things appear on your screen. At the bare minimum, Telkom's 192 Kbps (kilobits per second) at R270 a month is six to 10 times faster than an ordinary dial-up account, and more than adequate for the average home user.

If you must have a faster connection, various speed-steps are available: 384 Kbps at R359 a month; 512 Kbps at R477 a month and at the top is 1Mbps at R680 a month.

This means a fast, permanent internet connection is available from R415 per month - half of what it cost to get ADSL this time last year.

An ADSL modem is required, and this is offered by MWeb and Incredible Connection for R99 if you sign up for a 12-month ADSL contract.

MWeb deals with the problem of "data capping" - whereby Telkom limits a user's monthly data transfer to prevent congestion on its network, in a rather smart way. Its basic package at R145 includes a gigabyte of data transfer.

If for some reason you exceed this limit - and the average email/internet user is not likely to - you can "top up" your data capacity limit by purchasing a "booster" costing R99 for an additional 1 gigabyte, and R250 for 3 gigabytes.

You can buy as many boosters as you need to tide you over until the next month, when your data "cap" is reset, ensuring that you won't lose connectivity if you're a heavy downloader.

For more details, visit www.mweb.co.za and click "Upgrade to ADSL" in the left column, or phone 08600 32000. I'm available to help via [email protected].
 
If ignorance is bliss this must be the happiest man in the country. Was it a paid advert by Mnet or another instance of [cough]South african journalism[/cough] at its finest?
 
It certainly shouldn't have been paid for as one then has to include the word "advertorial" clearly at the top of it. Let me stress again that this guy is obviously just contracted to write the column - he is not a journalist. But I will still try to get to see the editor about this...
 
I don't know???

Okay here is a senario, an Internet Cafe with 4 computers. Open 7 days a week, customers in and out the whole time.

Total customers for the month ending october 2005 was 837. About 35% of these spent 15mins or less at a terminal. No p2p and only surfing. The total usage as of yesterday was 2,6 GB up and down and some change.

Now for normal people (I exclude myself and fellow formites) 1GB should be enough, if you have a job where you use office bandwidth and only surf reasonably on weekends and evenings.

So the article does have merit.

Please don't be as narrow minded as telkom and the boy who cried wolf. Although I do hate Mweb with a certain passion, they do employ people who have children and these children need to eat and go to university. Mweb also have to pay South African IPC rates, so its still a South African problem and not a MWeb problem. (this time anyway):rolleyes:
 
@Mask: Good luck with this! It's idiots (I call him an idiot because he should know better) like this guy that perpetuate the mis-information that keeps the greedy top dogs where they are! The general public is ignorant and so easily affected by propganda; they need to be informed of the facts.

This guy probably gets kick-backs form MWeb for each ADSL account he signs up! Long live South Africa, long live corruption and greed.
 
Daysleeper - you seem to have missed the point here. I am not saying that the MWeb offer is completely useless. For a dial-up user who wants a better connection, it is useful. BUT, this was an article in a paper - not an advert for MWeb! Anyone knows that there should be comparisons made. All this did was promote one product offering. If a friend or family member of yours signed up for this deal on a 12 month contract, would you be pleased for them? I just think people need to have all the facts first and know what to expect from ADSL and what not to expect.
 
Have just had a talk with the Editor of The Mercury and he will follow up with the guy on the article and get him to write about other offerings as well. Also gave him the basic rundown of the state of ADSL in SA and he wants to publish something about it. So I will (with Cara's permission of course) send him an article or two. He personally wants to get ADSL at home and talking to him was a fine example of what the general public (those with just a basic understanding of computers and Internet) think about ADSL. His son is in Spain which has great broadband offerings. Told me about viewing streaming video with MSN of a newborn baby on a full-screen display (probably 17 or 19 inch) and it was like watching TV - no delay and perfect sound. Had to tell him that that would take a nice dent out of his cap here!

Anyhow - will let you know what pans out in terms of what is published.
 
In other words this person punted MWEB's product without giving ideas or comparisons of similar products, briefly brushing over the downsides and crying out how terrific the mweb product is, while there as better products and options available ...
I did think it was a well written article, very little light was shed on DSL except that MWEB offers a 1GB product for R149 !
He did not encourage looking at other options, in fact no mention was made of any other alternatives, and thus would not consider it a openly presented column.
 
DGremlin said:
In other words this person punted MWEB's product without giving ideas or comparisons of similar products, briefly brushing over the downsides and crying out how terrific the mweb product is, while there as better products and options available ...
I did think it was a well written article, very little light was shed on DSL except that MWEB offers a 1GB product for R149 !
He did not encourage looking at other options, in fact no mention was made of any other alternatives, and thus would not consider it a openly presented column.
Click to expand...

Precisely my point. Look, all journo's make use of press releases at some time or another when under pressure, but this bias was just so in-your-face... He usually has some good tips for users (mainly beginners) so will give him a chance to give some other offerings in the next column.
 
And we won't even mention that he didn't say anything about the fact that Mweb's 1GB offering was twice the price of other ISP's.
 
ADSL prices have come done. Data pricing for ISP's have been restructured, but that is not the point. If you go out and buy a 3Gb ADSL account, prices have come down dramatically in the last year
 
VQuest said:
And we won't even mention that he didn't say anything about the fact that Mweb's 1GB offering was twice the price of other ISP's.
Click to expand...
Right on the money.

The uninformed will associate 'ADSL' with all the hyped advertising being put out by Telkom and 'others' that state that you can do all these wonderfull things like stream movies and stuff.
It all sounds bloody marvelous doesnt it but in reality it couldnt really be further from the truth with the current packages and prices available to the average man on the street.
Strictly speaking they are not lying by advertising this, but they are only telling you a small percentage of the truth.
The dude that wrote this is an MWEB fanboy, and is probably a victim of his own ignorance on the subject.

JStrike - Nobody will dispute the fact that prices for a certain segment of the market have come down. If Telkom expect applause for this they better look elsewhere, the service is still horribly overpriced on all fronts, thats the point.
 
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The problem is everyones going "If you substitute your dial up activities with ADSL, it's faster and Cheaper ( but that's a lie R300 / R405 -not)"

That's not the point of ADSL.

ADSL is there to show people what the Internet was really for.
 
Lets look at it objectively

I agree with Mask that the journo/ writer did not do his home work and just rehashed a press release. The other side of the coin is that Mweb is spending money on popularising the ADSL product. More users in the ADSL community will probably give the community a better voice as far as the industry is concerned.
A cheaper option is not always the better option. I had a account with axxess which was disconnected today. I had sent them a fax to continue with my account. Now their telphones are constantly engaged , nobody answers their cellphone. For any business to be reasonably successful you need to provide support services. This needs to be able to cope during hours of crisis rather than a normal business day.
At the end of the day telkom which has the monopoly calls the shots.
 
What a fcking dumbass. I go to Durban on business at least once a month (dreadful place) anyways...I'll make sure to run him over when I see him in the street. :rolleyes:
 
ADSL requires a specially modified line to be installed and rented from Telkom, (installation costs R404)
Click to expand...
Hmmm where does the line have to modified.. There is nothing different on your line. The make a switch at the exchange your line remains the same..

Fixed my quote tags
 
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Yeah - I made that same point in my letter to the paper and him.
 
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