How much should ADSL cost?

Very interesting read. Thank you so much. It really is a disgrace to see a product offering of a 30GB cap for R1,450.
 
I'm surprised we are not last, who could possibly be worse?

Oh, and Nr 38 out of 40 is 3rd last, not 2nd last as stated.
 
i'm just waiting to see if prices are gonna come down by the end of nxt month which is when we are to see 'change' apparently. if not.. twas another useless talk and lunch fest :( -shakes his fists-
 
Telkom says they can't provide ADSL at better rates than they are doing because it won't be profitable...

What are the reasons why they are almost the worst providers in the world?

I can think of one: INEFFICIENCY

If you are a monopoly, there is no need to be efficient.

What the report actually says is that Telkom is (almost) the least efficient company of 40 surveyed!
 
I for one am sick and tired of hearing from a myriad of sources how expensive ADSL is, and yet nothing has been done to make it better.

Talk is cheap ADSL is not!

I did my own little comparison chart on some countries here goes:



Country
Average Salary (In Rand) (Metropolitan areas only)
Broadband total Cost P/M
Percentage of Monthly Income.

UK
R 21,321.70
R 114,00
0.5 %

South Africa
R 3,485.00
R 561,00
16%

India
R 3,208.12
R 137,00
4.2%

USA
R 20,628.20
R 261,00
1.2%

Ghana
R 2540.17
R 391.80
15%

Egypt
R 2,122.25
R 151,00
7.1%

Tunisia
R 3,722.00
R 261.20
7%
 
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We are waiting Anxiously. 1 November is becoming a major issue. I wonder why Telkom is so conspicuous with their silence.

@RPM Any news from TELKOM regards to forum participation any time soon, like a open night?
 
When journalists throw out the old "SA's broadband is 10x more expensive than other said countries" line (and we see it all the time), I get the feeling that people seem to think telkom arent overcharing but simply cant lower prices, almost as though its nobodies fault.

I want the blame directly placed on telkom's overcharging greedy head!!!!
 
chop said:
I'm surprised we are not last, who could possibly be worse?

Oh, and Nr 38 out of 40 is 3rd last, not 2nd last as stated.
Click to expand...

From Nov 1 with Telkom's per GB usage billing, SA will be last and not just out of the 40 countries surveyed, but on the entire planet!
 
i'm affraid i think that that report was based on yesturday's prices, and not including november 1st's ...


SAOL 10Gig @ R349 - eish!
 
Telkom’s new CEO, Papi Molotsane, has assured consumers that he intends to tackle many of these problems head on and is hoping to boost broadband penetration significantly.
Click to expand...

I would like to see Telkom's action plan. They are certainly not helping with the hard cap and we all know that the prices will not come down significantly.
 
How much should broadband cost? Zilch, zero, nada if we want to further education, become world-class, etc. The infrastructure was paid for by the taxpayer when Telkom was a state-owned corporation and the service level is still at civil service level today. Reasonably, I would expect to pay R10-R15 per gigabyte usage with maybe another R100 per month for ISP services (e-mail, support, etc) for our slow ADSL to help further infrastructure expansion
 
kaspaas said:
Telkom says they can't provide ADSL at better rates than they are doing because it won't be profitable...

What are the reasons why they are almost the worst providers in the world?

I can think of one: INEFFICIENCY

If you are a monopoly, there is no need to be efficient.
Click to expand...

It isn't inefficiency. Being a monopoly allows you to do what the music and movie industries are desperately trying to do - create artificial scarcity to drive prices up and keep them there. The music industry has no chance because music is now cheap to make and trivial to distribute. The movie industry is on slightly better footing because for now high quality movies remain relatively expensive to make, although in reality more than 50% of the cost of current big movies is marketing (just like pharmaceuticals). As equipment capable of producing quality movies gradually moves to becoming available to the average person more people will be able to produce movies and high-speed networks will make distribution cheap and easy. Digital video is already making entry into filmmaking easier and cheaper (anyone who has done any 16mm filming will know how expensive it can get, nevermind using 35mm, which for now is still superior to digital video).

De Beers has been successfully doing this with diamonds for most of the last century. If diamonds were priced according to supply they'd cost no more than a typical cheap semi-precious stone. In the case of diamonds everyone has colluded in this scam because no-one wants to admit that diamonds are basically worthless. Try selling a diamond back to a jeweller and see if you can even get 50% of what you paid. Numerous people have been conned into buying diamonds as an 'investment'.
 
noxibox said:
As equipment capable of producing quality movies gradually moves to becoming available to the average person more people will be able to produce movies and high-speed networks will make distribution cheap and easy.
Click to expand...

Try www.starwreck.com for an example of what can be done by a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs with a budget that approximates zero in the movie making context!
 
I think things in general are expensive in south africa cause people like making a buck off everyone else. I'm sure if we made our own cars it would be 1/2 or cheaper than the current and people would be able to afford them cause we have all the resources that we sell to other countires and buy back as processed goods.
 
krycor said:
I think things in general are expensive in south africa cause people like making a buck off everyone else. I'm sure if we made our own cars it would be 1/2 or cheaper than the current and people would be able to afford them cause we have all the resources that we sell to other countires and buy back as processed goods.
Click to expand...
krycor, spot on! This is the land of 'k@k en betaal'. You pay for everything, yes EVERYTHING. Public 'freebies' are very difficult to find, and not worth much for those earning salaries.
Telkom say that they can't make ADSL cheaper? That just has to be the biggest load of bullsh!t I have read this year. Come the SNO and they will be cheaper than Telkom, then Telkom will start dropping prices. Telkom already have their reason come SNO launch: "We have now reached a break even point on ADSL customers, so now we can start competing on price."

I also believe that Telkom, with their R6.8billion net profit for the last financial year, could subsidise certain services, but choose not to. ADSL is one of these services, because ADSL is seen as a luxury item.
We all know that the goverment is on a long term 'Robin Hood' strategy, so they are spot on when they start milking the luxury items. The government is not really hurting their voters with this kind of approach.

Telkom has deliberately not met their quotas for servicing the underprivileged (soon to be privileged, according to the age old politcal promises?). The government has passed the buck to the mobile operators to reach out to their voter base, keeping the cash cow safe from risky business operations (in remote rural areas). Here come the USALs. Creating a redistribution of wealth [by taking from the poorer part of the population] and sticking it in the coffers of the huge telco operators. The mobile operators have taken the bait, and by doing so, are hoping to score brownie points with the government (social upliftment and all that stuff) because... unlike Telkom, they don't have that kind of clout yet :)

Of course GSM technology is expensive in SA, but there are cheaper options which can do the job, but that's too much effort, hey Telkom? Rather pay the fine [ha ha ha, it's peanuts!] and save yourself the effort!
 
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