data rates

[Syndyre]

KEEP on DREAMING until 2008.CELL C will only be investing in 3G in 2008.By that time Vodacom and MTN will have 3G everywhere you go

Have they announced that publically? Last I heard they said they weren't even looking at it at the moment.

 

[Syndyre]

Cell C and Virgin mobile got alot to learn from Vodacom and MTN.Remember Cell C and Virgin Mobile started business YESTERDAY.......This is the difference

Not really, Cell C have been around for quite a while, and VM has networks all over the world. If they don't know what to do they should bring in people who do, there's no excuse for incompetence.

 

[Syndyre]

The short answer to VM's superior data pricing is that they don't have any network construction and maintenance costs to worry about.

I doubt its really that, Cell C would build those costs in to the price they charge VM I'm sure. Their call charges aren't really that much cheaper, especially when the higher off peak rates subsidise the peak rates. They also don't have to pay any handset subsidies for contract customers and presumably data for Cell C is much cheaper generally because they haven't had to build a 3G network at all.

 

[Edwe]

Hey Edwe, what phone do you have with skype pre-installed?

I have the i-mate JAM (PDA phone) distributed by Vodacom. It came pre-installed with Skype for Pocket PC.

 

[Syndyre]

I have the i-mate JAM (PDA phone) distributed by Vodacom. It came pre-installed with Skype for Pocket PC.

Give it a try sometime, if it works on VM GPRS it'll be work out dirt cheap I'm sure.

 

[sean12]

What phone is that? Might work in a perfect world with zero congestion etc. but even then it'd be doubtful. What's Skype like on VM EDGE, anyone tried it? And what's the data transfer like?

I used Skype on VM. There was a 3-5 second delay in sending. Had talk like on a 2 way radio "over" etc. Skype kept on cutting out after a few minutes.

I was talking comp to comp. It is worse comp to phone.

I was using MTN E620. My nokia 3220 did not work at all as a modem with skype. I could hear but the other side could not hear me.

Sean

 

[Prometheus]

The short answer to VM's superior data pricing is that they don't have any network construction and maintenance costs to worry about.

Don't think so. Cell C would charge them for the network cost anyway or do you think they sell it below cost. Thing is that Cell C also charges 50c/MB on a 1gig bundle. Don't know how accurate their billing is. Virgin just resells the bundle in smaller chunks.

VM has a wholesale agreement with CellC, so they get it at close to cost.

VM does not make a lot of money from a few people, but a little money from many people... they have hardly any overheads as they don't need to run a network.

i think their prices will stay on 50c/Mb.

the other operators are not dropping their prices because they have faster speeds and can justify charging more. hopefull CellC will have a 3G network up soon so we can get better speeds at 50c/Mb... VoIP here we come!

Actually they can't justify it. Faster speeds also means lower cost. A year ago providing data over gprs cost nearly 50c and that is not even including the data itself. Edge is closer to 25c, 3G 15c, and hsdpa 10c. Now tell me like Vodacom does that they make less profit on 3G and hsdpa and needs to ask more for it. In a years time the cost has risen dramatically as network rollout costs has been recouped.

If Vodacom were to offer me 1GB for R100 I would be able to pay them R300pm for 3GB. Currently I would rather pay R300pm for 1GB with Virgin. They can't have a lot of high usage customers at R2/MB, most high usage customers are on Virgin. I think it's the other way round, Virgin makes a lot of money from a few people and Vodacom makes a little more money from millions of people. What is wrong with that picture? Unfortunately there is nothing Vodacom can do now to convince me to go to them for data. Even if they drop their rate to 50c/MB they still lack the loyalty factor for screwing me and colluding with other providers to keep overcharging me and not passing on the savings.

 

[Syndyre]

I used Skype on VM. There was a 3-5 second delay in sending. Had talk like on a 2 way radio "over" etc. Skype kept on cutting out after a few minutes.

I was talking comp to comp. It is worse comp to phone.

I was using MTN E620. My nokia 3220 did not work at all as a modem with skype. I could hear but the other side could not hear me.

Sean

Was that on GPRS or EDGE?