Capped or uncapped: Which is best?

[The_Unbeliever]

Oh, and for the record, LLU will go a great way forward to ensure that we will get better lines and faster speeds - hence the need for bigger caps.

 

[demon angel]

Oh come on.

3Gb is absolutely nothing in this day and age of the Internet. 5 years back, yes, sure, then 3Gb was realistic. But today 3Gb is not realistic due to the rich media content of some websites.

If you are so afraid of uncapped connections, why not offer your users more cap for less? Simply increase that 3Gb to 10Gb and [-]keep the price the same[/-]drop the price a bit.

This will ensure that your clients won't rush to download every single Parry Hotter movie in one go, but rather curb their use.

Over time people will learn how to use their uncapped accounts, and not just abuse it just to download every single movie there is.

The sub-3Gb capped model is not sustainable anymore - how many people do keep on buying topups and bandwidth booster packs?

+1 -With Applause

 

[scabs]

If uncapped is cheap enough everyone can use it. Who cares what their usage is.

Also 1.5 gig? Seriously? When I first got my telkom 1 gig account it was finished before the month was over and that was no youtube and no downloads. And now the quality on youtube is so much better. Do you seriously expect us to believe thats all people in Sweden use?

I wonder if it's a typo and they mean 1.5TB??

 

[Tjoker]

uhm they only use 2 GB cause it's so freaking expensive...
MyBB users has voted with their pockets...and feet.
It's broadband...not Narrowband ffs!

+ 1 FFEN MILLION QWADRALLION...........make it cheaper and u will see huge spike mnr neoTRASH!!!

 

[Shayd]

Uncapped is they way forward for more than one reason. As the backhaul for isp's continues to drop, per gig prices continue to drop too. Lets say R10 per gig becomes the new standard, what happens when a user only uses 3 gigs per month, how do you pay salaries of call centre agents, rent, tax, infrastructure on that R30? Odds are at least half of that will be sucked up by bank fees and customer servicing alone.

There are huge benefits for an ISP to just manage QOS and a fixed revenue per customer to having to manage the nightmare of volatile revenue and billing as well as their network QOS.

 

[diabolus]

Neotel's Chief Sales and Customer Service Officer, Stefano Mattielo said that the reality is that 99% of their subscribers use between 1.5 GB and 2 GB per month, and that there is a place for low-usage accounts in the market.

Huh? If your primary service is a "low usage" capped offering, what do you expect? It's like Vodacom saying "we find 99% of our subscribers use below 2GB per month" ....well DUH, it's because the subscribers have little choice in the matter! . Now Neotel have some sort of uncapped thing, but i'm pretty sure that's not the package "99%" of their subcribers are on.

It's simple : If you offer a 1GB package, people are going to use 1GB. It's impossible to assume that because users only use 1GB that if you gave them 100GB they'd continue to only use 1GB.

And i probably should add here that Neotel doesn't even have a way for you to monitor your usage....i wouldn't be surprised if people got overbilled once and are now very conservative with their usage and even UNDER using to ensure they don't get surprised. This is pure Neotel ineptness.

 

[nictron]

If your unhappy with the Gorilla the move and make friends with the other monkeys. Switch to Neotel if your unhappy

Thats like jumping from the Frying pan into the fire! Do you consider that a solution?

 

[Shayd]

Huh? If your primary service is a capped offering, what do you expect? It's like Vodacom saying "we find 99% of our subscribers use below 2GB per month" ....well DUH, it's because the subscribers have little choice in the matter! . Now Neotel have some sort of uncapped thing, but i'm pretty sure that's now where "99%" of their subcribers are.

I would love to know how many customers Neotel has on their retail offering. I don't know anyone or know anyone who knows anyone that uses Neotel.

 

[Anzo_the O.N.E.]

Wow now its in the open for all of us to see just how greedy the ISP CEO's are. Crying foul because they dont know how to adjust to the changing market. Grow up damn it !!!Give us uncapped

 

[george_vg]

Oh well, if IS VOIP dude and NoTel are correct, then hell roll up the unnecessary cables - why fill the ocean with plastic if dial-up would suffice - I call these experts "toilet door" experts, as it seems this is where they study!

 

[Zyzzyva]

I think it is really unavoidable that the both capped and uncapped ADSL services will continue to be offered in the foreseeable future. I think the question is whether uncapped services are sustainable – and in fact desirable – and the industry guys seems to have strong views on the matter.

I can't understand the logic though. Their thinking is clearly being clouded the obvious short term pressures associated with a business model change.

If the avergae swedish 100meg user only uses 1.5 gigs then they must realize selling them those gigs at "cost plus a fair margin" is not gonna generate much income per customer.

1.5 gigs x R10 a gig = R15

Do they want R15 or do they want R100-200 made by luring their customers with an enticing up-sell in the form of an "uncapped" account.

Very low usage per user does not help the capped account's case, in fact it does the opposite.

Ignore everything they say. Having to change a business model is a very scary thing, and during scary times people sometimes say dumb things, which is exactly what is happening now.

Very low usage makes uncapped even more logical and sustainable, not the opposite.

 

[Avenue]

Neotel's Chief Sales and Customer Service Officer, Stefano Mattielo said that the reality is that 99% of their subscribers use between 1.5 GB and 2 GB per month, and that there is a place for low-usage accounts in the market.

thats because their prices are so expensive- people can only afford to use 2GB

 

[Optimal01]

Lets make those fat cats go on a 3gig account as from next month and see how they like it

 

[AnimateX]

Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt supported Mattielo, saying that the average monthly data usage in a country like Sweden, where 100 Mbps connections are commonplace and where file sharing service like ThePirateBay resides, is around 1.5 GB per month.

I'm sure you'd like people to think so..

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/38914.php

"But PTS revealed an even more striking diagram: the monthly data usage of an average mobile broadband subscriber has doubled during 2008. "The 4.5 GByte/month average consumption of HI3G (Tre) is now comparable to levels seen in fixed networks, reconfirming the market potential of fixed to mobile substitution" - said Pal Zarandy, Senior Partner at Rewheel, the Helsinki based specialist telecom consulting firm."

This was in 2009.

 

[martin]

Sustainability is imminent!

 

[LancelotSA]

I think it is sustainable - at least for the next couple of years - while most of South Africa isn't "used" to enough internet. But then it should be rolled out quickly and to huge subscriber bases - not just "power users". Basically like MWEB has done. I think it was a mistake coming up with capped from the start, due to the fact that you created a "smaller pool" for power users to use and because you made everybody used to small amounts of data.

Yeah, get rid of capped and just offer internet access. This will provide the cross subsidy that is required. It is then up to the user to decide how much they use. At R219 for uncapped it is not out of reach for those who can afford a computer and all that is required with it. Damn, a basic telephone service costs you R131 per month just for the line.

 

[Shayd]

Yeah, get rid of capped and just offer internet access. This will provide the cross subsidy that is required. It is then up to the user to decide how much they use. At R219 for uncapped it is not out of reach for those who can afford a computer and all that is required with it. Damn, a basic telephone service costs you R131 per month just for the line.

I find it funny as hell that the ISP's who are now less than 50% of the cost of uncapped ADSL are saying uncapped isn't sustainable. They should shift their focus to Telkom or start building their own good infrastructure and stop bickering about cost models. The market will decide the winner not the companies.

 

[grok]

None of the comments seem to take the new cables into consideration. Yes bandwidth used to be a limited resource and those that wanted it was milked for the privilege. The picture is changing fast, we will have plenty in the next few years. EASSy goes live in July, little more than a month from now. Seacom took a long time to filter throught but they also have more fibre to light up. So what's the problem?

We are moving to an uncapped model like the rest of the world where they pay for the line, not the amount. The arguments against it are no longer valid, there will always be people who won't use more than a few gigs but those aren't the only users. More & more people are connecting, mobile usage is on the up. People want and need to be connected.

We as consumers are sick & tired of hearing the excuses, competition will bring the changes we want. Look what is happening in the ADSL space, R10 a gig was unheard of even a year ago. MWEB took the lead not because they are a charity, they know it is or will be sustainable in the long run. ISP's that tried and failed didn't have the right business model in place. That will change. We know it is sustainable because it is sustainable overseas and the barriers like monopolies, limited availability, greedy ISP's and backwards politicians with agendas are falling.

Capped or uncapped. There is no best. Only what suits your needs and your pockets.

 

[AnimateX]

Yeah, get rid of capped and just offer internet access. This will provide the cross subsidy that is required. It is then up to the user to decide how much they use. At R219 for uncapped it is not out of reach for those who can afford a computer and all that is required with it. Damn, a basic telephone service costs you R131 per month just for the line.

If we didn't have to pay the Telkom tax then R219 for internet access wouldn't seem bad at all, but it is more like R500 total if you include mandatory phone and ADSL rental. Telkom is a big reason we will still see low-usage capped accounts.

 

[Smiley_lauf]

would be good to see where the source documents for usage stats are from in Sweden-I think the data is representing a skewed population.