[Constructive] Suggestions for Vodacom: Data Packages & Bundles

Good point you bring up. Wireless connectivity is becoming a mayor competitor over fixed line in the rest of the world. Maybe the operators should start installing that fibre network they wanted until last year. Together with EASSy they can then become a direct competitor to Telkom perhaps.
 
mavx said:
I really think this is an important point to bring up. I live in a relatively small town. Thank our lucky stars we have 3G in our area as Telk0m will most likely never bring adsl into the picture.
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Out of interest's sake; Where do you live?

Was going through a list today on where we have HSDPA coverage and was quite nice to see some of the more remote places.
 
Of course where I live gere in Noordwyk, about 2ks from Vodaworld there is a nice flat spot.

Double doh
 
jarr said:
circuit switched data, perhaps? as in you make a physical data call from your phone?
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Yes, this was the first "internet" connections available on the mobile phone networks. It started off as 9.6 kbps connections, which has since been upgraded to 43.2 kbps AFAIK called HSCSD (high speed cirtcuit ...)
 
RIGHT HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS

ONE: I live in a small town on the KZN south coast. where we do NOT have 3G coverage. yet 5KM from my house there is a place called the Wild Coast Sun, which does however have 3G coverage. now my question to vodacom is - why am i sitting with no 3G reception in my town? I am forced to use GPRS speeds when on the internet with my laptop. this is NOT ON vodacom.

TWO: as for HSPDA vodacom did a WHODUNIT on everyone. now everyone is sitting with 3G cards and 3G phones and they are absolutely USELESS with the new technology. maybe vodacom could have used some commom sense and installed HSPDA in the first place???? am i the only one who sees the logic in this? and second of all to put a cap on 1.8Mbit line is REDICULOUS! its like buying a Bugatti Veyron and limiting it to 120km/h. i personally would use up a gig in a matter of hours, never mind a month. in this regard SA is still light years behind other countries where they get UNCAPPED lines at warp speed for next to nothing. why is internet access so expensive in this country? i mean why?
 
RIGHT HERE ARE ARE SOME RESPONSES

ONE: 3G or HSDPA coverage will always roll out first where the usage requirement is highest. Thus a area like the Wild Coast Sun will logically get coverage before the smaller towns. It's a simple matter of economics. No one is FORCING you to use GPRS. I assume it's the only option you have and thus you use it?

Having said that, Vodacom have got 3G/HSDPA coverage in many small towns already. Have a look at the on-line map. And this will grow.

TWO: Your logic is a bit flawed: HSDPA technology is so new, the network only came on-line a few weeks ago. Vodacom was actually the first Vodafone company WORLDWIDE to roll out HSDPA. It's so new, there are currently NO HSDPA handsets available.

3G came available about 15 months ago in a similar situation and again Vodacom was one of the first operators world-wide to roll out the technology.

THREE: Don't confuse a very complex mobile system (GSM or 3G) offering voice, text, handovers, etc. as well as data with a copper-based system such as ADSL. Unfortunately, in South Africa, mobile broadband pricing is so close to fixed line pricing, that they often get confused. Very few countries in the world can offer true mobile broadband at speeds you can get in South Africa today, and at the price.

Vodacom recommends copper-based solutions for those who need to download gigs of data in as many hours.

Do you have ADSL in your town?
 
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GayTechie said:
TWO: as for HSPDA vodacom did a WHODUNIT on everyone. now everyone is sitting with 3G cards and 3G phones and they are absolutely USELESS with the new technology. maybe vodacom could have used some commom sense and installed HSPDA in the first place???? am i the only one who sees the logic in this? and second of all to put a cap on 1.8Mbit line is REDICULOUS! its like buying a Bugatti Veyron and limiting it to 120km/h. i personally would use up a gig in a matter of hours, never mind a month. in this regard SA is still light years behind other countries where they get UNCAPPED lines at warp speed for next to nothing. why is internet access so expensive in this country? i mean why?
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I don't get your logic here, 'USELESS'? I use 3G and it's fast enough for me. Just because there's something faster does not mean I must have it. I'm not about to upgrade just because Vodacom would "like me to". You should only look at what you want, do you really need something faster than 3G if you currently make due with GPRS and how much are you willing to pay?

Don't confuse speed with the amount of data you download. There is no 'cap' and likely will never be. 1.8Mbit is the 'maximum' current speed of the technology. No operator (except Telkom) will put an artificial speed limit on a connection. And a gig in a matter of hours is not cost effective even on ADSL. Stop file sharing. :rolleyes:

Use your own reasoning. Don't listen to the "needs" of the other forumites. Don't let this be a case of monkey see monkey do. (NOT racial) :cool:
 
Seriously though. For the people in this country that really need to transfer large amounts of data 24/7, why not move away from cellular altogether. We don't need to wait for SNOT. Vodacom has already done WiMax trials. They have the legislation that allows them to lay their own fibre network. All we need now is for Ivy to be awake. An investment in some doughnuts should do there. NOT as a bribe, but rather as an incentive to get moving. We'll "blend in" some sundried chilly-peppers to "liven her up". Then we'll finally have the SAT-3 cable declared an essential resource. All the ingredients for true broadband. Vodacom can mix them all together and call the product "Telkosmack" perhaps...
 
I think it is good to have only a usage charge and not pay for access, but the current pricing model can be refined to benefit both Vodacom and their customers. The idea behind the very limited usage allowance must be network protection (congestion control), maximizing profits through bit usage and providing ‘affordable’ 24/7 packages.

I think an analysis of network usage will most likely display periods where congestion control is less necessary and where usage needs to be encouraged. A short time frame will be the best for both parties, but I think hourly or half-daily time frames are more realistic.

I doubt that there is much revenue or product protection (SMS, Voice) from Vodacom’s side when the data pricing model is developed, but maybe I am wrong… I think the main question is where an acceptable price-per-meg sits, given the current environment. The lower the better for us, and maybe even for Vodacom.

The current rate of R 500-00 per Gig is very high, and with companies like WBS and Sentech being able to offer it for far less gives an indication that Vodacom can do the same. I would personally like to see a sliding scale where high usage is not deterred and where the sliding scale is not linear. International models can be followed…

It will also be good to see the benefits of HSDPA being passed on to consumers. The chairman of the UMTS forum recently pointed out that HSDPA reduces the cost of cost to deliver data. He placed the cost of a Mbyte (in USD) using various technologies as:

GPRS: 0.09
EDGE: 0.04
3G: 0.02
HSDPA: 0.01

There is always backhaul and international connectivity charges that must be taken into account (higher speeds, higher costs), but by paying for data allowances it does not make too much of a difference (theoretically). Higher speeds can therefore even alleviate network congestion if coupled with usage allowances. Should the use of HSDPA not be encouraged taken this into account?

Enough for now :D
 
My thoughts in a nutshell. I also know about the higher speed lower cost concept (hinted at it in earlier posts). That is why I cannot believe that Vodacom would charge more for data on HSDPA. If they do then it's greed talking (Telkom Virus). This still begs the original question to which nobody has given me an answer to date. Does Telkom charge more for a line which in fact costs them less?
 
V3g: We were told that due to HSDPA, 2006 would see reductions...

http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=1480

" Another piece of good news for Vodacom customers is that the operator has clear intentions to reduce data rates in 2006.

To compete effectively in a broadband arena a significantly reduced price for data is necessary.

At a cost of R 2-00 per Megabyte it will be possible to notch up a bill of around R 1000-00 within an hour with the new HSDPA offering.

Even at the current prepaid rate of R 499-00 per Gigabyte the higher speeds will serve little purpose since the restricting factor of this broadband service will be price. "

Are these reductions forthcoming? and when? and do you have any idea of what type of reductions we can expect...
we did vote for better data rates and hope that our opinions in that thread and in this one are being considered...
to vote for better data rates and see comparisons of what other operators in developing countries are charging ( fixed cost for uncapped mobile data ) :

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=34281&highlight=vote+data
 
Right well lets set some things straight:

why would it be so difficult to install 3G in my town? if they can do it 5KM yes 5KM from my house, then what is the problem? and i still dont see why the Wild Coast Sun would need it....

And there are HSPDA phones available. I know for a fact that Samsung has one out. take a look in the latest Fortune magazine. you will see it there in living colour.

and there is no DSL in my town either.... thats why i was banking on 3G....

stop file sharing? what is the point of having a 1.8MBit line if u cant file share??????? its like having a Mercedes E55AMG and only driving it to church and back every sunday.

as for the rest of what prometheous or what ever his name said...maybe you could talk english or translate what ever language it is you use. cause i havnt the foggiest idea what you are on about.

and i would like to see NO rate changes in pricing. keep it the same across all bandwidths, GPRS/3G/HSPDA, just lower the cost a bit. and as fo rthe fibre optic idea... its a great idea... but WHEN will it happen? thats the question you should ask.

oh and yeah i am gay(not in the happy sense)

have a great week
 
Firstly it wouldn't be diffucult to install HSDPA where you are. What V3G said is that it's a matter of cost. You can't expect Vodacom to install it for only a few clients. They WILL NOT get a return on their investment. The Wild Coast Sun serves a few international clients, so Vodacom is likely just promoting tourism (which directly affects you) by providing them with 3G.

Secondly if there's a tower 5Km away you should be able to get 3G. I get a signal from 15Km away and know of people stating they get one from 20Km. Your phone uses the strongest signal which is GRPS in your area, so you have to force it to use 3G.

Thirdly the file-sharing comment was sarcasm. I too would like to do file-sharing on my connection. But, it's not realistic on a mobile connection anywhere in the world. When (if) the mobile landscape changes I'll change my mind on this.

As for talking english. I can't be anymore specific if you don't tell me what exactly it is you don't understand. As for the fibre-optic idea, that is the question everybody on this forum wants to know.

And lastly don't take everything said on this forum so seriously. At least you were never told to download the newest reading comprehension skills (the response to my apology i'm still waiting for btw.) and your innocent post wasn't culled together with other peoples 'racial remarks' (like mine was :( ).
 
Holds Phone In Hand And Gives It A Chuck Norris Stare: Use 3g Dammit! Use 3g!
 
Mams said:
V3g: We were told that due to HSDPA, 2006 would see reductions...

" Another piece of good news for Vodacom customers is that the operator has clear intentions to reduce data rates in 2006.

Are these reductions forthcoming? and when? and do you have any idea of what type of reductions we can expect...
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Mams, I really don't have anything more than you guys at the moment, i.e. a clear statement that something is going to be done at pricing level. A statement was made to the press last week that it will be within the next 6 months and all options are being investigated.

Thus the new thread on what you would like to see. Please give as much constructive input there. The whole idea is to pass it on to the products people.

Oops, just realised we are INSIDE the new thread!
 
Just some ideas

Hi guys,

New to this forum at least as I only got my contract yesterday. I am really liking the idea of the price reductions, but just a suggestion maybe, what about making connections to vodacoms own smtp/pop servers free or included at a nominal cost for 3g contracts. That would at least alleviate some cost for the customers and hopefully wouldn't cost too much for vodacom to implement as the servers should be on their own backbone.

From a personal point of view, the idea of peak and non-peak data rates is very appealing as I'll be using my 3g connection mostly after hours as I have a permanent internet connection in the office, not the i'm in the office much but hey.. :)..

Something else that just occured to me, and as its something i'm good at i haven't thought through all the technical details, but when and if vodacom were to launch a wimax network, packages that can roam between the 3g and the wimax networks at will would also be really interesting and useful... For me, working in the IT industry as I do the one thing that always frustrates me is having to hop between networks, if something could make that completely seamless, and even leave me with one bill for it at the end of the month, hell i'd be happy... as long as the bill wasn't too excessive.

anyway, my 10 or 15c worth considering the cost of bandwidth atm.. :cool:
 
How about making GPRS completely free. I mean at a pathetic speed measured in bytes per second you honestly wouldn't lose much.
 
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