LoneGunman
Expert Member
Amidst all the yelling and general struggling of 'trying to get the helpdesk
to answer the phone' or attend to what we see as 'problems' - it occurred to
me that a reality check was needed (at least for myself anyway)
And this is purely for the people experiencing ongoing problems, and those
who are 'post-cap'.
Iburst charges R700 per month for the following, post cap. (And bearing in mind, Shaun Green told me that 'he'd seen speeds post cap of 'up to' 7-8KB. As if this is really, really good speeds.)
Hmm, okay. So post-cap - ie: 3 days into the new month, on IBurst - my
standard speeds are as follows. (And remember, paying R700 per month, gives me (on average) 27 days of the following speeds, not all at the same time, mind you:
DC++ average speeds. 900 bytes
HTTP average speeds. 3.5 KB
Multi-threading 1.5KB - 4.5KB
Now lets add further costs. (Thanks to http://www.telkom.co.za/pls/portal/docs/page/rates/national_rates.htm )
Average time for Help Desk to answer phone = 15 minutes
Cost of local phone calls @ 40 cents per unit (89c if you're calling long
distance) means every call costs aproximately R6.00 (or R13.35 for long
distance)
An average of 5 calls per week to the Help Desk @ local call costs = R30.00 (At long distance costs = R66.75)
So per month, a minimum cost for local calls @ 5 calls per week to IBurst = R150.00 (or R267.00 if dialling long distance) to nag the Helpdesk into providing the service one is already paying for.
Added to this, the cellphone rates cost of phoning Shaun Green or others
at least once or twice a week, and the telephone costs alone, of being
with IBurst, are reaching into the R200.00 or more per month, minimum.
So that's R700 + R200.00 = R900.00
I was also forced to purchase an extra quantity of gigs, in order to have my
service reconnected, last month. R900 + R399 = R1299.00
So IBurst cost me a minimum of basically R1300.00 last month.
Iburst's financial model suggests that users must either, post cap, be content to sit on speeds slower or equivalent to a 56K dialup modem for X number of days of the month. Or purchase extra gigs, pushing the real cost of IBurst well over R1000.00 per month, in order to have a consistent and speedy service for longer numbers of days each month.
Using IBurst technology means that downloading a gig a day is not difficult
at all, and thus most 3 gig caps, are used up within a few days into the month. Leaving the user to sit with highspeed technology, and sub-modem
speeds, and not even local uncapped access.
(Once you've used your 3 gigs, there is no 'playing' locally at all - compared to ADSL users, for instance.)
IBurst have 'larger' packages, but again, for power users - a 9 gig package
means 9 - 10 days of downloading, followed by the above slow modem speeds
for the remaining 20 days of the month. (Unless of course you want to be turned into a self-policing customer who's having to waste time and energy worrying about b/w.)
Given the above costs, both direct and indirect - in having IBurst, it
occurs to me that there are better ways to spend R900 - R1300 each month,
and receive a much higher quality of service, and larger quantity of bandwidth to play with - both international and local.
Looking at it from a cold business perspective - whatever advantages IBurst
had/has - the costs now outweigh the benefits - if you consider the number of days of 'normal' fast internet service you receive each month, for the costs incurred.
There's an old film called THX 1138, and a final climactic chase between
robot cops and the hero, is called off, because the cost of the chase,
according to the computer watching it all, outweighs the benefits of
capturing the hero.
Same thing here with IBurst, if you do the costings and analysis of
1) amount of days of fast bandwidth service you receive per 30 days @
R700.00
2) costs of 'extra' bandwidth to increase days of fast service over the 30
day period.
3) costs of repeated contact with IBurst Helpdesk/Technicians/cellphones
4) costs of personal time taken up in 3) both with IBurst, and here on
Forum.
It would indicate that IBurst is not the best option at all, if you want speeds throughout the length of each month. (R700 - R900 for 3-4 days of fast service per month, followed by 26 days of modem speeds?)
Do your own costings and see if the amount of money you pay out, provides you with a sufficient number of days each month, of what you consider good speedy service.
Technically, the money you expend towards Internet service, should provide you with a (to you) speedy service stretched as long as possible, across the month.
If you're only getting 3 - 10 days of speed, out of every 30, for X rands.
And there's an alternative service that can give you 20-30 days of the speedy service, for the SAME X rands - then its a no-brainer.
Therefore, IBurst no longer seems to be a cost effective option - depending on the number of days each month, you are left with a modem speed service.
to answer the phone' or attend to what we see as 'problems' - it occurred to
me that a reality check was needed (at least for myself anyway)
And this is purely for the people experiencing ongoing problems, and those
who are 'post-cap'.
Iburst charges R700 per month for the following, post cap. (And bearing in mind, Shaun Green told me that 'he'd seen speeds post cap of 'up to' 7-8KB. As if this is really, really good speeds.)
Hmm, okay. So post-cap - ie: 3 days into the new month, on IBurst - my
standard speeds are as follows. (And remember, paying R700 per month, gives me (on average) 27 days of the following speeds, not all at the same time, mind you:
DC++ average speeds. 900 bytes
HTTP average speeds. 3.5 KB
Multi-threading 1.5KB - 4.5KB
Now lets add further costs. (Thanks to http://www.telkom.co.za/pls/portal/docs/page/rates/national_rates.htm )
Average time for Help Desk to answer phone = 15 minutes
Cost of local phone calls @ 40 cents per unit (89c if you're calling long
distance) means every call costs aproximately R6.00 (or R13.35 for long
distance)
An average of 5 calls per week to the Help Desk @ local call costs = R30.00 (At long distance costs = R66.75)
So per month, a minimum cost for local calls @ 5 calls per week to IBurst = R150.00 (or R267.00 if dialling long distance) to nag the Helpdesk into providing the service one is already paying for.
Added to this, the cellphone rates cost of phoning Shaun Green or others
at least once or twice a week, and the telephone costs alone, of being
with IBurst, are reaching into the R200.00 or more per month, minimum.
So that's R700 + R200.00 = R900.00
I was also forced to purchase an extra quantity of gigs, in order to have my
service reconnected, last month. R900 + R399 = R1299.00
So IBurst cost me a minimum of basically R1300.00 last month.
Iburst's financial model suggests that users must either, post cap, be content to sit on speeds slower or equivalent to a 56K dialup modem for X number of days of the month. Or purchase extra gigs, pushing the real cost of IBurst well over R1000.00 per month, in order to have a consistent and speedy service for longer numbers of days each month.
Using IBurst technology means that downloading a gig a day is not difficult
at all, and thus most 3 gig caps, are used up within a few days into the month. Leaving the user to sit with highspeed technology, and sub-modem
speeds, and not even local uncapped access.
(Once you've used your 3 gigs, there is no 'playing' locally at all - compared to ADSL users, for instance.)
IBurst have 'larger' packages, but again, for power users - a 9 gig package
means 9 - 10 days of downloading, followed by the above slow modem speeds
for the remaining 20 days of the month. (Unless of course you want to be turned into a self-policing customer who's having to waste time and energy worrying about b/w.)
Given the above costs, both direct and indirect - in having IBurst, it
occurs to me that there are better ways to spend R900 - R1300 each month,
and receive a much higher quality of service, and larger quantity of bandwidth to play with - both international and local.
Looking at it from a cold business perspective - whatever advantages IBurst
had/has - the costs now outweigh the benefits - if you consider the number of days of 'normal' fast internet service you receive each month, for the costs incurred.
There's an old film called THX 1138, and a final climactic chase between
robot cops and the hero, is called off, because the cost of the chase,
according to the computer watching it all, outweighs the benefits of
capturing the hero.
Same thing here with IBurst, if you do the costings and analysis of
1) amount of days of fast bandwidth service you receive per 30 days @
R700.00
2) costs of 'extra' bandwidth to increase days of fast service over the 30
day period.
3) costs of repeated contact with IBurst Helpdesk/Technicians/cellphones
4) costs of personal time taken up in 3) both with IBurst, and here on
Forum.
It would indicate that IBurst is not the best option at all, if you want speeds throughout the length of each month. (R700 - R900 for 3-4 days of fast service per month, followed by 26 days of modem speeds?)
Do your own costings and see if the amount of money you pay out, provides you with a sufficient number of days each month, of what you consider good speedy service.
Technically, the money you expend towards Internet service, should provide you with a (to you) speedy service stretched as long as possible, across the month.
If you're only getting 3 - 10 days of speed, out of every 30, for X rands.
And there's an alternative service that can give you 20-30 days of the speedy service, for the SAME X rands - then its a no-brainer.
Therefore, IBurst no longer seems to be a cost effective option - depending on the number of days each month, you are left with a modem speed service.
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