Internet providers at war

Article said:
Retail marketing manager Steven Hayward says Telkom would rather offer faster access to improve the value, instead of more price cuts.

Telkom now advertises speeds of up to 4096KB per second and up to 3GB of data downloads a month for R516. Its overall fees have dropped 24% in a year, Hayward says.

Rudolph Muller, founder of the MyADSL website for broadband users, phrases it differently.

“What they are saying is that they are sitting on a cushy, monopolistic environment and can abuse their position and charge the high prices,” he says.
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Hmpf. What's the point of pushing up the total bandwidth you can get if they don't change actual cost of data transfer?

Their advertising is misleading. They say they've dropped prices by 24% but what's the point in having a faster connection if you can reach your cap by 2AM on the 1st of the month? Their ridiculous data costs make actual increases to the line capacity irrelevant. Judging by their desire to up that capacity instead of lowering the cost of their data packages, it would seem Telkom is well aware of this.
 
Right ok, mayeb I'm reading that very wrong, can I get a 4mbit ADSL line and a 3gb ISP account for R516 pm?
 
While the price war is brilliant for existing users, it is unlikely to pep up the stagnant demand among new users.

SA’s internet user base has grown a pitiful 10% in the past three years, and the broadband prices are still not low enough to attract people who have no access at all, says Goldstuck.
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Not really sure what to make of that analysis, but I tend to agree that for South Africans that currently do not own a own computer, I suppose it's true that there is still going to be a barrier to obtaining internet access, and this is where entry costs come into play - including the cost of buying a broadband modem or router outright or being able to get one with a contract...

I am wondering what the churn from dialup to broadband has been over the last 3 years, but I'm sure that those still using dialup for internet access would be fools to stay on dialup if they are within an HSDPA covered area by Vodacom and/or MTN.
 
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Telkom now advertises speeds of up to 4096KB per second and up to 3GB of data downloads a month for R516. Its overall fees have dropped 24% in a year, Hayward says.
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That would be a considerable savings . . . if it was true. The service is r516 and 3gb shaped is r249.

I see a glaring inaccuracy like this and have to wonder how much else is wrong. :mad:
 
They are not going to see a large uptake until they drop the prices drastically and the fact that they cannot see this reality is mind boggling.
They need to get the monthly line rental and ISP costs down to R200 (all inclusive) per month at the very least.

An analogy :
Telkom are in the car sales business.
They refuse to sell cheap cars and will only sell us cars in the R300K+ range like Audi A4 2.0 TDI, Mercedes-Benz C 220 CDi, etc.
What about the poor people who can only afford a Citi Golf?
 
Vodacom ceo says "Two years ago users were paying R40 a megabyte, and that has dropped to below 19c."

Wow, how was that reduction achieved? Some magical new product or a slew of new cheap international bandwidth, maybe SAT 4 was landed while I was not looking. It is an example of extent to which companies rip the ring out of us consumers if and when they can. Consumers need to wake up.
 
This is like having a Ferrari and only 300m of tarmac.

What we want a Tata Diesel that can travel to Cape Town on a single tank of biodiesel at 120kmph on a quiet multilane highway.
 
I hate this steven hayward chappie.
Really pisses me off and e gets the feeling that he is the route of the problem at senior management level. This attitude is really not good. I wonder where he got his business education, probably doesn't have any :O... Let alone business education, he must get his maths education upto scratch :D
 
MyDraadloos said:
This is like having a Ferrari and only 300m of tarmac.

What we want a Tata Diesel that can travel to Cape Town on a single tank of biodiesel at 120kmph on a quiet multilane highway.
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Actually - I had the 4Mbs and inadvertently got downgraded to 512. It made me realise the speed is just as important.


-5 cred points to everyone using car analogies. :p
 
bwana said:
Actually - I had the 4Mbs and inadvertently got downgraded to 512. It made me realise the speed is just as important.


-5 cred points to everyone using car analogies. :p
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OK, so we all want a Bugatti Veyeron that runs on hydrogen fuel made from tap water .......... but it ain't gonna happen.

Oh and don't forget about the speedcops that won't let you drive and the yellow line or make phone calls while "war" driving.
 
"THE way things are going, South Africans may soon have to stop complaining that the cost of internet access is setting world records in the rip-off stakes"

thats all cool for people that have wireless but they forget the high-end users that can finish 3 gigs in 1 day (if they wanted to) and wireless has one major fault its latency i heard local latency can be around 500 ms :eek: thats just insane (hate to think what the international is :eek: :eek: )
 
dablakmark8 said:
going in the right direct ill say
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The problem isn't direction - it's the lack of progress (speed) in the right direction.
South Africa is in the slow lane with regards to broadband so in 10 years time we'll be in a worse off position than we currently are.

Oh sorry about another car analogy about the information super highway ... uh .. oh there I go and do it again. :p
 
I just hope that telscum brings down the prices, i don't mind higher speeds but i'd rather have cheaper internet.
 
At the rate things are going at, I'll be out of the country (i.e. graduate from university, find a job in a foreign country) before I can ever get a decent cap.
 
The only way Telkom will learn is if you guys vote with your feet.

Get a wireless solution and close your overpriced Telkom accounts.

I have closed all my Telkom accounts and I really feel liberated:)
 
i cant believe that Telkom are planning to have 10mbps only in 2010 :eek: :sick: ......at the moment overseas speeds are much higher than that........DAmn telkom! :mad:
 
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