Give us free airtime, data, SMS: Right2Know

dominic said:
very negative people here...their wording is perhaps unfortunate but this is well worth supporting
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No, it's stupid.
A cellphone with free airtime is not a human right, it's a luxury.
It's not like Vodacom and MTN are charging you to receive calls.
If you want free communication, learn to scream loud enough, but then they would demand free stepsils?

What a BS waste of time. Challenge fuel costs that had a direct repercussion on everyone's pockets, high costs of food and price fixing cartels, housing developments etc.

Demanding free airtime... Lol.
 
dominic said:
I am failing to understand the negativity around this campaign
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Dominic, the problem is this: for every R1 someone gets without working, R1.20 or thereabouts has to be expropriated from someone who works for it and doesn't get paid. The government has nothing except what it takes from those who work.

Who's gonna pay for your free basic airtime/data?
 
Again the wording is unfortunate and perhaps stupid yes. The idea is not.
 
Swa said:
Again the wording is unfortunate and perhaps stupid yes. The idea is not.
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Yeeeeees it is. It's part and parcel of the same thing, if idea was right the wording would be right.
The current network prices are the cheapest it's ever been while EVERY other product is more expensive.
We can't afford of cellphone companies to go bankrupt, it will take us back to 1992, no thanks!
 
dominic said:
I am failing to understand the negativity around this campaign and how it comes to abound in a forum which has it roots in pointing out the high costs of telecoms in SA. Sure it is a different language and from a different sector to that generally represented on this forum + they could have got their message through better but the majority of posters are happy to put it into a convenient "we demand" box and be scornful.

Forumites and stories posted here frequently focus on the cost of fixed and mobile broadband. In a country where people who use SMS pay up to 80 cents for something which by most reckoning costs less than 1 cent surely there should be support for anyone trying to do something about a high telecoms cost that affects them (other than bitch from behind a keyboard).
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dominic, I think the negativity revolves around the "Give us free" aspect.

I doubt anybody has any issues with the aspects of the campaign that revolve around cheaper communications, but the "give us free" stuff just gets peoples backs up because it smacks of entitlement.
 
Swa said:
Again the wording is unfortunate and perhaps stupid yes. The idea is not.
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How can you differentiate between their idea (their intention) and the wording? Their message comes to us in the words in the article. That's what we are responding to.

We would not be opposed to a call for lower telecoms costs. That would be most welcome. But coming with this demanding "we have a right to free stuff" attitude is just stupid. That's not the way the world works. Unfortunately, that is the attitude that is being portrayed in the article.
 
Haldex said:
Yeeeeees it is. It's part and parcel of the same thing, if idea was right the wording would be right.
The current network prices are the cheapest it's ever been while EVERY other product is more expensive.
We can't afford of cellphone companies to go bankrupt, it will take us back to 1992, no thanks!
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You are overestimating the amount of literacy in the country. With that it seems the real message has got skewed.

Wrt "the cheapest," current network prices are still some of the highest in the world. Operators have been getting away with too much for too long. It's time Icasa did what they are there to do. The operators will survive but the shareholders maybe not.
 
Swa said:
You are overestimating the amount of literacy in the country. With that it seems the real message has got skewed.
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I don't think that you can skew the message of free data and airtime being as basic a right as water and electricity...
 
Maverick Jester said:
I don't think that you can skew the message of free data and airtime being as basic a right as water and electricity...
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Again as I said a lot of people aren't very literate. The intent and what came out were 2 very different things. Wanting something for free doesn't mean not paying for it. Which contradictory as it sounds is how a lot of things work.
 
Swa said:
Again as I said a lot of people aren't very literate. The intent and what came out were 2 very different things. Wanting something for free doesn't mean not paying for it. Which contradictory as it sounds is how a lot of things work.
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Agreed, the organisers are a bunch of illiterate fools. If your message is skewed, the foundation of your protest is flawed and you're just being disruptive and embarrassing yourselves.

"Wanting something for free does not mean having to pay for it" mmmmmmmmm
 
Some of the posts in this thread indicate to me that some people don't bother to explore beyond one article to find out who right2know actually are, or what they are actually looking for. Maybe some of you should go and educate yourselves
 
Swa said:
Again as I said a lot of people aren't very literate. The intent and what came out were 2 very different things. Wanting something for free doesn't mean not paying for it. Which contradictory as it sounds is how a lot of things work.
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No, you are misrepresenting the point.

No one is criticising their ideal- it is a good one. It is refreshing to see a group that are visibly challenging the inadequacy of the mobile regulators to provide an affordable communications model within this country.

But some of their demands are ludicrous- free basic data and airtime is a ridiculous request, no matter how they intended to portray it. It does point to an attitude of expectation, as a few others have mentioned.

Lower prices, with better quality from our networks and better options for consumers? Sure. But asking for free airtime? Don't expect to be taken seriously by the rest of us...
 
Maybe instead of everyone jumping up and down and getting their panties in a bunch should try to understand or question is what do they mean by basic data and calls. Are they talking about 1 free hour a month and a few MB's of data or what?

Instead everyone jumps on their high horse and criticizes something that could really help the poor and unemployed in this country
 
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Maverick Jester said:
But some of their demands are ludicrous- free basic data and airtime is a ridiculous request, no matter how they intended to portray it. It does point to an attitude of expectation, as a few others have mentioned.

Lower prices, with better quality from our networks and better options for consumers? Sure. But asking for free airtime? Don't expect to be taken seriously by the rest of us...
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By people that don't look beyond their noses yes. For the rest of us we want to actually find out exactly what they want. Let me use an analogy. When you eat at a restaurant you get free basic drinks (water). Does that mean you don't pay for your meal?
 
Swa said:
By people that don't look beyond their noses yes. For the rest of us we want to actually find out exactly what they want. Let me use an analogy. When you eat at a restaurant you get free basic drinks (water). Does that mean you don't pay for your meal?
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You are comparing apples with oranges, and trying to put this down to assumed miscommunication. You have a basic right to food, you don't have a basic right to eat at Spur.

Their manifesto is rather clear on their website, for those who do actually look further than their noses. Some of their ideas are (as I have previously mentioned) good ones. But continue to defend the attitude of entitlement inherent in some of their demands. Doesn't change the fact that they are ridiculous.
 
Maverick Jester said:
You are comparing apples with oranges, and trying to put this down to assumed miscommunication. You have a basic right to food, you don't have a basic right to eat at Spur.

Their manifesto is rather clear on their website, for those who do actually look further than their noses. Some of their ideas are (as I have previously mentioned) good ones. But continue to defend the attitude of entitlement inherent in some of their demands. Doesn't change the fact that they are ridiculous.
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Continue to misconstrue what I said.
 
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