iBurst prepaid price comparison

[rpm]

iBurst prepaid pricing comparison

iBurst recently cut its prepaid pricing: this is how it compares with similar offerings in the market

 

[Dusk]

I still dont believe that iburst should be compared to wireless product like vodacom and MTN`s offerings.
Iburst is not nearly portable and mobile enough for that.

They should compared to ADSL products.

 

[kaspaas]

I still dont believe that iburst should be compared to wireless product like vodacom and MTN`s offerings.
Iburst is not nearly portable and mobile enough for that.

They should compared to ADSL products.

Agreed 1000%.

Actually, it should be compared to Neotel's products. Both are "Fixed Wireless"

 

[Vrotappel]

I still dont believe that iburst should be compared to wireless product like vodacom and MTN`s offerings.
Iburst is not nearly portable and mobile enough for that.

They should compared to ADSL products.

They also don't have the coverage (or speeds) that Vodacom and MTN have.

 

[rpm]

This is indeed something which was mentioned in the previous article. At this stage Neotel does not have prepaid services though...and Telkom ADSL is really a month-to-month service.

 

[Dusk]

and Telkom ADSL is really a month-to-month service.

So is my Iburst account. It has been like that since i got it 2 years ago.
I bought my iburst modem and antenna cash and then subscribed to month to month.
This feels like a PR attempt to try and fool people that prepaid iburst is something new.
Since day 1 i have been on month to month where i pay for my 5GB upfront . Im under no obligation via contract to continue iburst.
The only reason i still use them is because i cant get ADSL atm here.

As i said the fact that you cant drive down your own street without attaching a 5m antenna to your car`s roof to get signal is simply not comparable to hooking up with vodacom/mtn 3g or hsdpa.

The chances are that you could probably drive from Cape town to Johannesburg without dropping your internet connection . (fair enough it might not always be 3g and might slow down and switch to EDGE on occasion).
You cant even drive out of Cape town without losing your internet completely.
Actaully you cant even drive around everywhere in CT and still have connection.

 

[eltherza]

I find it strange that telkoms 3G was left off the list?

I'll do some speed benchmarks tonight for real speed, for now I'll just put 3.6M and not 7.2, all at month-to-month rates

Service | Advertised Speed | Data Bundle | Price | Cost/MB

Telkom | 3.6M | <OOB> | ---- | R0.30 per MB
Telkom | 3.6M | 500MB | R149 | R0.30 per MB
Telkom | 3.6M | 1GB | R219 | R0.21 per MB
Telkom | 3.6M | 2GB | R349 | R0.17 per MB
Telkom | 3.6M | 3GB | R489 | R0.16 per MB
Telkom | 3.6M | 10GB | R1499 | R0.15 per MB

 

[kilobits]

I still dont believe that iburst should be compared to wireless product like vodacom and MTN`s offerings.
Iburst is not nearly portable and mobile enough for that.

They should compared to ADSL products.

+100

But, that would then be detrimental to the PR advertorials then woudn'it.

 

[basketcase]

Prepaid ADSL?

RPM, what about a prepaid ADSL comparison??

 

[Deenem]

I still dont believe that iburst should be compared to wireless product like vodacom and MTN`s offerings.
Iburst is not nearly portable and mobile enough for that.

They should compared to ADSL products.

Agreed +1.

The differentiation is not wireless vs. fixed line, it's mobile vs. fixed location.

ADSL, iBurst, WiMax ,Neotel are all fixed location services.

Vodacom, MTN, etc are mobile services.

As a consumer wireless vs. fixed line doesn't matter to me, what matters is mobile vs. fixed location.

 

[ConsiderThis]

Well done G-connect!

 

[Gatecrasher]

RPM, what about a prepaid ADSL comparison??

The big difference is that iBurst's prepaid requires no fixed monthly costs. You just need a modem. Whereas, if you utilise ADSL prepaid you are forced to pay monthly telephone and ADSL access rentals before you can get to use the prepaid bandwidth. And these rentals can't just be switched on and off as required.

So comparing ADSL prepaid to IBurst prepaid does not compute.

 

[Dusk]

The big difference is that iBurst's prepaid requires no fixed monthly costs. You just need a modem. Whereas, if you utilise ADSL prepaid you are forced to pay monthly telephone and ADSL access rentals before you can get to use the prepaid bandwidth. And these rentals can't just be switched on and off as required.

So comparing ADSL prepaid to IBurst prepaid does not compute.

Then compare it to packages that include line rental and bandwidth.

 

[deweyzeph]

Actually you need to compare iBurst to a 56k dial-up account. That would be more appropriate. I think I'd rather have the dial-up account.

 

[Gatecrasher]

Then compare it to packages that include line rental and bandwidth.

But the nature of prepaid is that you can use it at will over an extended time frame. So do you include one month of ADSL rental, three months or twelve?