Cheaper 'own-device' broadband pricing from Vodacom

The problem with wireless and why I will never rely on wireless is:

That the problem with the pricing is NOT bandwidth related but infrastructure related. A cellphone tower can only hand X amount of calls/data transmissions before they have to commission a new tower to help when there is capacity problems. Getting a new tower up and running is quite expensive considering you have to make sure it has sufficient technology/back-haul capacity to deal with the demand put on the network (never mind the environmental impact studies/government approval taking several months)

Coupled with the "high-end users" demand on bandwidth and speed, you can't successfully compete and offer a quality product without having some sort of mechanism in place to deter a few ruining the experience of others. Cell-C can offer the pricing because it has little-to-no users before that period. If you have 100 customers per tower as Cell-C, Vodacom probably has 1000 customers per tower in comparison.

Even if shaping is in place, we're not talking about regular copper-based-bandwidth, we're talking about the actual capacity of the tower being able to cope with the demand on it.

[size=+3]Please just get this through your thick sculls[/size]

Wireless is never going to be cheap or reliable enough to be able to compete with wired solutions.
 
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The argument of incetivising folk to use less bandwidth to 'save the network' really doesn't wash. If your network of 1000 (?) 42mbps base stations (never mind the 7.2 bases stations) is doing its job and you have the appropriate back-haul in place - there should be no problem maintaining bandwidth.

Secondly; even Cell C's best value pricing at 5c makes using Wireless Internet for the heavy-duty stuff that ADSL users get up to, financially unattractive for end-users.

IMHO, if you need more than 10Gig a month - you need ADSL.

So, in short, Vodacon is trotting out the same tired and very poor fig-leaf to hide corporate greed.
 
Just checked on my phone

*111#
-> 2 (Bundle Purchase)
-> 3 (Data Bundle)
-> 1 (Once Off)

Broadband Standard: R389 for 2.3GB
Broadband Advanced: R385 for 2GB

So, what's the difference between Standard and Advanced, and when is the "2GB - R339 (down from R385)" starting... ?

- Edit -

If any wireless network provider offered an uncapped solution (Even with, say, a 512k connection (Never mind the 42MB or whatever possible speed...), I'd go straight with that....
 
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I'm guessing Vodacom are likely just testing to see if this is enough to slow the mass exodus from their network. If not, we can probably expect further cuts in small increments over the coming months - they're not willing to give away any more than they absolutely need to (or risk triggering a price war for that matter) inorder to retain their customers.
 
So following Vodacom tradition they have done nothing revolutionary except match another providers price on ad-hoc bundles and actively discouraged bigger bundle purchases. :rolleyes:

Move along, nothing to see here...
 
It is not clear why these anomalies continue to slip into Vodacom’s data pricing when it is standard practice to reward high end users with cheaper per-MB rates.
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@RPM, I would have thought you would read articles on MyBB :D Pieter Uys effectively told Ben Kelly some time ago that Vodacom doesn't want customers to use large amounts of bandwidth because it degrades the network. It thus makes sense for Vodacom, a.k.a. Vodafone SA, to charge more for larger bundles, not so?

Apart from that there's not much newsworthy in the article - Cell C is still less expensive.
 
Vodascum april fool is over. Please read the article and maybe you can see that there is somthing wrong with your price structure.
you do realize that you are just pi$$ing of more customers with this bad attempt.
Jannie do you share the frustration that you see on this forum with the CEO.
 
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as usual the website is off again.
 
Cost Conscious said:
is doing its job and you have the appropriate back-haul in place
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That's exactly the problem. They don't have enough back-haul capacity OR towers capable of handling the demand for it. I have several friends who went with Cell-C because of the cheap mobile broadband and ALL of them complained about lack of coverage when they required internet. And I'm not talking guys that clean ****-stains out of disposable nappies to recondition them either... one of them is the CEO of jump.co.za

Go look at the statistics again and you'll notice all those "42mbps" base stations you are talking about are usually in metropolitan centers (with their own fiber usually) and VERY scarce compared with the amount of OTHER towers they do have. Only recently have the majority of them get upgraded to 3G standards (up from Edge) and the only reason for that is back-haul capacity.

Since it takes quite a chunk of change to upgrade all the towers and all the back-haul equipment to deliver a great service ALL the time, you'll find they thumb-suck statistics and basically guess where they need to upgrade on numbers. "1000" was my thumb-suck number to showcase the amount of clients Cell-C has compared with Vodacom ALLOWS them to be able to sell their **** for so cheap. If you've been on myBB for longer than 5 years you would have known that the minute you have cheap/affordable broadband users flock to it and they tend to make or break you based on the quality of service you're able to give them WHILE growing the user-base.

It is always sunshine and roses when a new wireless network comes into play, but once it gets saturated and they can't keep up adding more towers/back-haul you'll find they will have to just make do with getting a bad name for it, because if they up their prices now they'd be ****ed.

Unfortunately cell-companies can't predict that you will use X tower today and Y tower tomorrow AND have sufficient back-haul on both of those since X could be in Sandton while Y is in Hazyview.

Your argument for getting a landline/adsl if you use more than 10gig a month is also flawed. half of the people I know get wireless because they can't get ADSL or can't get a phone line and even THEN I tell them to rather go without. If they outgrow their wireless there is nothing for them to GO TO. And this bull**** about "50mb is enough for a user" iBurst mentality (as an example) is flawed. Users who know nothing about the internet TEND TO USE MORE because they don't know what to check or how it works. I've had several cases where they freaked out when getting their cellphone bill after watching YouTube videos since someone showed them this funny clip of a cat [bla bla bla bla]

Yes. They make tons of money. I've worked with raw data on prepaid recharge voucher for one wholesale-company and it's really jaw-dropping to see how much 1 person recharges or how much only ONE company does in recharge vouchers a month... but that doesn't mean they can upgrade capacity willy-nilly. Or put up a tower. Environmental impact studies (iBurst tower-controversy, google it) etc is what makes it difficult. Otherwise we'd all be covered in towers everywhere.
 
McT said:
A move in the right direction. I'll take it for now
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WHY??? Please explain?? Don't support them. Don't. Switch to Cell C. If people stick around with Vodacom and MTN to "see what happens" when they eventually drop prices, they're helping to maintain the status quo, high pricing, poor service, etc. Vote with your feet, and your money. Don't be lazy. Don't be afraid.

It's the same story that happened with ADSL. People stuck with Telkom Internet for way too long, when Afrihost and MWEB and almost every other ISP were slashing prices, improving their systems, and and improving customer support. 2 years later, and nothing has changed at Telkom. Still the same sucky prices, no uncapped, poor service, poor usage tracker, everything just sucks with them. Absolutely no innovation, and in fact they went so far as to diss uncapped completely.

Just ask all those ADSL customers that decided to stick with Telkom Internet, who had hope that they were gonna do something big. Telkom, Vodacom, MTN - they're all the same. They don't care, and they're too big, too fat and too greedy to worry about price reductions. The only way they will respond is when they start losing customers in droves, when it hurts their bottom line, when shareholders start to get edgy.

Vote with your feet and you money!
 
The part that irritates me is nobody ever looks after the loyal customer. I have been with Vodacom for 10 years. I am signed into a contract but in no way can I get more bandwidth for my buck until my contract expires. I think they should look after their current customer base and not just new comers.
 
morkhans said:
I think he was hoping you'd reveal that this was all just a belated April fools joke and announce the real pricing ;)
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While these numbers are in line with what I previously spoke about (the "% band"), we've not published any new pricing yet, so I'm assuming this is a specific deal in a specific channel.

I'll come back shortly.
 
Im With iCubed.Saajid...vote with your feet people...or shouldn't that be wallets?

@AcidRaZor Wow...wrong side of bed? What an exhausting read :)
 
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