Here comes Neotel

[ic]

Eish, you and Bradbowlllama just turned me 180° around on NeoTel.

I didn't realise, nor did I see any of the points you stated mentioned in their PR or marketing info on their site. Nice.

My arguments have been alltogether sunk it would seem. Where do I sign up for the bitchfest?

Well I'm still hoping that NeeTel will come to its senses and at the very least drop the 24 month contract and make the phone+modem rental a hire-purchase kind of thing - such that if one cancels the service, one can at least return the paperweight to NeeTel, or own it after 24 monthly payments of ZAR80.

Having said that, NeeTel has a bad habit of disappointing.

 

[nictron]

Could someone clarify the speed for me:

Some state 2.4Mbp/s and in the acticle they state between 300Kbit/s and 700Kbit/s.

Yet 2.4Mbp/s is 300Kbit/s, so where does the 700Kbp/s come in? is the minimum of 300Kbp/s gauranteed?

 

[pieterbotes]

Could someone clarify the speed for me:

Some state 2.4Mbp/s and in the acticle they state between 300Kbit/s and 700Kbit/s.

Yet 2.4Mbp/s is 300Kbit/s, so where does the 700Kbp/s come in? is the minimum of 300Kbp/s gauranteed?

It says 300Kbit/s - kilibits not kilobytes

 

[pieterbotes]

Does anyone know what the upload speeds are like? also cannot find anything on their website about this 24month contract?

 

[rph72]

Not sure what the upload speed will be, but if you call them on 0800333636 they will confirm the 24 month contract.

 

[ic]

Does anyone know what the upload speeds are like? also cannot find anything on their website about this 24month contract?

Not sure what the upload speed will be, but if you call them on 0800333636 they will confirm the 24 month contract.

I asked about upload|uplink speed on one of the occasions when I called 0800333636, sadly the call centre person rattled on about 300kbits/s, and when I again asked "but that is the download speed, what is the maximum possible upload or uplink speed?", the guy proceeded to tell me about latency being somewhere between 100ms and 700ms, so I again asked "ok, but what will the upload speed be like?", he then told me he does not have that info...

 

[pkid]

I asked about upload|uplink speed on one of the occasions when I called 0800333636, sadly the call centre person rattled on about 300kbits/s, and when I again asked "but that is the download speed, what is the maximum possible upload or uplink speed?", the guy proceeded to tell me about latency being somewhere between 100ms and 700ms, so I again asked "ok, but what will the upload speed be like?", he then told me he does not have that info...

Ouch...

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

Just so you guys and girls know what Neotel plans for us here in South Africa.

http://www.neotel.co.za/neotel/view/neotel/en/page50933
"Neotel plans to continue delivering leading-edge technology to suit the needs of its customers, and its choice of the CDMA2000 technology reflects this principle. Evolutions of CDMA 1x EV-DO technology are already in the pipe-line, with EV-DO Rev A offering peak 3.1 megabits per second, EV-DO Rev B in the near future which will deliver peak speeds in the region of 15 megabits per second and EV-DO Rev C in the longer term, which will deliver peak speeds of over 70 megabits per second."

Man... 70 megabits per second. I cant wait!!

.... sadly bru .... you and I will be long dead before Africa sees speeds like that

NeoTel in turn will not offer R200 uncapped bandwidth when it makes no market sense to do so. Later down the line, yes, when the market has reacted and adapted to the new competition.

.... Lmao, thanks for the humour. How long (if ever) do you think Neetel will 'rape' us just like Telscum? Answer = as long as they fsckin can !!!

 

[Gatecrasher]

Has the 24 Month contract been confirmed by Neotel? Although they detail the product on the Neotel Website, I can find no mention of a contract. The only reference in their terms and conditions are:

Unused contract, Month-to-Month and Once Off bundled data expires at month end. Bundles do not carry over.

Which is ambiguous to say the least.

The only other reference:

This first bundle introduced by Neotel includes 1000 Neotel to Neotel voice minutes, 50 Neotel to Neotel SMS's, an email account and free internet access up to 10GB of data for a monthly charge of R599. This price is inclusive of all monthly fees such as device charges and service rentals, as well as VAT.

Again no mention of a 24 month contract. No reference to a purchase of the equipment over x months. There is only mention of fees, charges and rentals, which if anything, would suggest no contract.

 

[ic]

Has the 24 Month contract been confirmed by Neotel?...

Yes, it has been confirmed:

Hi folks

There have been many questions regarding Neotel’s 24 month contract. Neotel just contacted us and said that their contract is a ‘best of both worlds’ service.

All subscribers will have the benefit of a ‘subsidized’ device through a 24 month contract, but if a subscriber would like to terminate their contract after month 5 or 6 (or whatever else), they will only be liable for the monthly device cost (R 80 per month VAT inclusive) and NOT the actual R 599.00 per month. This eliminates the need for upfront device payments (generally associated with month-to-moth services) but also gives the freedom to cancel the contract without having to fork out the full amount for the full 24 months.

I hope this clarifies this issue.

Regards,

RPM

 

[pkid]

Has the 24 Month contract been confirmed by Neotel? Although they detail the product on the Neotel Website, I can find no mention of a contract. The only reference in their terms and conditions are:



Which is ambiguous to say the least.

The only other reference:



Again no mention of a 24 month contract. No reference to a purchase of the equipment over x months. There is only mention of fees, charges and rentals, which if anything, would suggest no contract.

E-mailed them and it is 24 month contract.

 

[mancombseepgood]

Yes, it has been confirmed:

Well, R80 x 24 is just under 2 grand. So if you want to bail out, just purchase the hardware and you are done. I like that except that it won't be useful for anything.... CDMA etc. etc.
i.e. forget the hardware, you will have 2 grand cancellation fee reduced by R80 per month x no of months you have been a customer.

What if I want to rejoin after 3 months of cancelling... can I use my old hardware and cut the contract? or if I pay 2 grand for the hardware, why tie me down to a contract? I think they'll make more customers this way (i.e. once off hardware cost).

It's not as bad as I thought.

 

[ic]

Well, R80 x 24 is just under 2 grand. So if you want to bail out, just purchase the hardware and you are done. I like that except that it won't be useful for anything.... CDMA etc. etc.
i.e. forget the hardware, you will have 2 grand cancellation fee reduced by R80 per month x no of months you have been a customer.

What if I want to rejoin after 3 months of cancelling... can I use my old hardware and cut the contract? or if I pay 2 grand for the hardware, why tie me down to a contract? I think they'll make more customers this way (i.e. once off hardware cost).

It's not as bad as I thought.

The simplest solution, would be for NeeTel to unbundle the handset from the rest of the "contract", such that there is a separate hardware [handset] contract, and the rest is month2month, provisions also need to be made by NeeTel for people selling their handsets once they have paid off the hardware contract - otherwise buyers would be locked into the seller's contract(s).

 

[Gatecrasher]

Yes, it has been confirmed:

Thanks for that. Somehow I missed rpm's post.