Finally, telecoms competition arrives

There will be no proper competition until local loop unbundling takes place. Much of Telkom's infrastructure was subsidized by Tax payers and therefore the last mile should be used by all ISP's or al least be made public in a system whereby, all who use it contribute to the maintenance and expansion of the last mile.

Just the mere fact that it now cost more to transfer data locally inside the country compared to external incoming traffic is a grave injustice to the people of this country.

To MyBB please call a spade a spade! instead of this so called positive article of denial.
 
B.O.F.H. said:
Nope... until I can choose which Fixed Line provider I want in my house, and its not reliant on a wireless last mile.. there is no competition.

Neotottie are still useless though...
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Add to that the option of having the voice line bundled or not.

It will be much cheaper without the forced bundling of the stupid voice line which doesn't get used anyway.
 
When i see other copper telecoms vans driving around without the telkom logo on the side then i will believe there's competition, and this article makes sick:sick::sick::sick::sick::sick::sick::sick:
 
I thought the article was going to end with a big, "NOT!". I see it didn't end like this, so obviously the author is getting paid off, on drugs or sleep deprived.
 
I got myself the telkom simple deal but with do 2. I don't know about the competition, but this was the best deal for me.
 
Since its launch in 2006, it's managed to win somewhere between 30000 and 40000 consumer users.

Neotel's new consumer offerings hope to change that.
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I really must disagree, firstly 40000 customers versus hundreds of thousands of data customers and millions for voice, that NeoGhost's competitors have as customers, is hardly what I would call a "win" for NeoGhost, more like a deliberate and well orchestrated loss IMO - it is well known that Neotel has always concentrated on the corporate market from its inception and it is obvious that NeoGhost demonstrates a lack of interest in the ordinary consumer by putting out pathetic products and services and that NeoGhost does not listen to consumers.
While not strictly fixed-line (i.e. it doesn't rely on copper to connect users), consumers still tend to compare Neotel's products to your standard Telkom (fixed) phone line service.
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:confused:

The relevance of that statement is lost on me - IMO consumers should always compare the products and services of one service provider to those of its competitors - they would be stupid not to make comparisons, that is not to say that all competitors offer comparable products and services, rather that consumers need to research all of the options available to them, and make up their own minds.
After years, the "fixed-line" market is hotting up.
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I disagree, at most there has been some minuscule response from the copper-wired-line market [aka Telkodemonopolies] which has resulted in the monopoly being slightly more hot-headed than usual, but we will only see real competition when Telkodemonopolies no longer monopolizes the copper lines.
 
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This does not belong in mybb. what a dumbed-down article.
 
Neotel should be doing NOTHING but lobbying ICASA for all its worth to do local loop unbundling AND FAST.

Even Telkom is losing interest in the last mile - in launching 8-ta they are basically saying they'd rather not do business in them.

There seems to be simply no interest in last-mile infrastructure. I want to know WHY?!?!

We have some of the hottest wireless on earth but even the best wireless is worse than mediocre wires. We don't even have mediocre wires -- we have a gaping void. For the same expenditure of money and time that everyone has put into 7mbps wireless, we could be running 100mbps fibre to the home.
 
I haven't read an article of such magnitude of suck-up in a long time.

Hilton. Seriously, and you call yourself a moneyweb reporter?

Prices for telecommunication services (both voice and data) have been higher than in other parts of the world.
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You make it sound as if we're paying just a teensy weensy tad more than international. How about several times more for several times less speed and quality.

we've historically only had access to the "world" via a single undersea cable operated by a former monopoly (Telkom's SAT-3 cable).
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Telkom not a monopoly anymore? Maybe not in terms of broadband, but pray tell who else offers fixed line access in SA? And no, Neotel is wireless, they don't count no matter how you try & spin it.

it hasn't (yet) gained traction with consumers.
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Neotel have repeatedly stated they're not interested in the consumer market. The consumer traction you mention is more likely desperation, I mean there are still places where Telkom does not provide a service.

While not strictly fixed-line (i.e. it doesn't rely on copper to connect users)
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No schitt Sherlock.

For R99 per month, you get 500MB of data and 500 SMSes per month bundled.
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Some ISP's offer uncapped for R99 already.

The product teams at Telkom have figured out that customers want a single bill for converged services.
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No, we actually really want cheap & reliable service. Converged services is but one tool towards that goal. The product teams at Telkom have never cared about what the consumer wants, why make it sound like they do now?

Data is available at R69 per GB (unshaped), R49 per GB (shaped) or R15 (local only). Its pricing is, however, a little steeper than other ISPs.
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A little steeper? Painting with the eufemism brush again. Those are (early) 2009 prices Hilton dearie, more than triple we pay nowadays. R19/gig is considered standard nowadays for unshaped, while some ISP's offer even better deals.

The word "bargain" is being used simply because this offer is serious value for money - so much so that I'm considering having it installed at home!
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I pity the fool..

Cell C's moves have been a good start, and competition between Vodacom and MTN has increased in the past 18 months...
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Yeah .. if you're one of those that consider a few peanuts to be a hearty meal.

Hilton's articles usually stand out from those of the staff writers.
This one, however, is just crap!
 
Telkom Simple is simply their do Broadband Level 1 package @ R199 coupled with their Closer Plan 2 @ R170. EXCEPT some of the Closer 2 benefits are missing: from the links below it seems you DON'T receive 30 FREE local minutes (during Standard time for fixed line calls) & neither do you get a Call Answer / Identicall facility. As for the 'free installation' benefit, telephone line installation's already included in the Closer 2 Plans & ADSL installation's free as well when you request the no-brainer 'self-install' option.

Like so many of Telkom's package options, this "new" deal offers NOTHING new; in fact it's a cynical rip-off aimed squarely at the ignorant & gullible. Having read Mr Tarrant's breathless recommendation, who can blame them for signing up?

Sources:
SIMPLE https://secureapp.telkom.co.za/simple/
CLOSER http://www.telkom.co.za/products_services/telkomcloser/features.html
DO BB http://www.do.co.za/broadband/index.html#/products/
 
Tomtomtom said:
Neotel should be doing NOTHING but lobbying ICASA for all its worth to do local loop unbundling AND FAST.

Even Telkom is losing interest in the last mile - in launching 8-ta they are basically saying they'd rather not do business in them.

There seems to be simply no interest in last-mile infrastructure. I want to know WHY?!?!

We have some of the hottest wireless on earth but even the best wireless is worse than mediocre wires. We don't even have mediocre wires -- we have a gaping void. For the same expenditure of money and time that everyone has put into 7mbps wireless, we could be running 100mbps fibre to the home.
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Cable theft. Welcome to SA, where awesome potential in just about everything is eaten away and destroyed by poverty
 
The article is missing the point. 500MB and 1GB? WTF, the average usage local and abroad is hitting 5GB . I suggest to the author to calculate all those costs based on 5GB packages AND taking into account that while Telkom locks you into the line rental, you are free to pick your ISP [which i am 100% sure will be cheaper than anything Neotel can offer] . Neotel locks you into the "modem rental" AND the ISP ......how's that for lack of freedom?
 
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