ISP's not offering prorata billing

[Uraeus]

Hey guys and gals,

Lets assume that I have just got a brand new shiny 4Mbps line to my house,
that was installed on the 15th of the month, I would need an ISP to complement it
so I could go about using the internet, correct?

Now say if I signed up with an ISP that didnt offer pro-rata my services would be cut off on the 1st of the next month, even though paying the full amount. What is the reason for this? Is this purely to simplify the companies billing, or do they have issues keeping track of all their prorata users?

How does that ISP get new clients during the month?

So when a company advertises "special" prices half way through the month, and the special price is more than 50% then how is it really a special? An example would be axxess offering 6% off their ADSL last valentines day, as in essence you are actually paying ~44% too much as you could have waited 2 weeks to get a whole month of service.

For some reason I feel tricked, as this is what happened to me. I signed up for a "Special", but are in fact paid much more than a competitor would charge at pro-rata for half a month! When querying axxess about it, they say it is due to the company not allowing pro-rata payments :wtf:

 

[froot]

Simple. Axxess, and many other ISPs, use IS for their bandwidth. IS doesn't do pro-rata accounts. Therefore Axxess and the other ISPs would make a loss on selling you the account pro-rata.

To add specials into this, they're simply selling you the whole account for at a lower profit margin, sometimes below cost.

 

[dominic]

@ OP - not sure of specfiic rules but that just does not sound right

 

[guest2013-1]

I have never come across an ISP that doesn't offer pro-rata billing before. I've been with almost all of them. If you sign up on the 15th, you get billed on the 1st of the next month for the pro-rata rate (15th-1st) and then the next full month.

So let's assume your full month bill is R150. You'll pay R75+R150 on the 1st of the month after the 15th. ie. Signing up on the 15th of Jan would mean you pay R225 on the 1st of Feb.

that's how it always worked.

 

[guest2013-1]

Simple. Axxess, and many other ISPs, use IS for their bandwidth. IS doesn't do pro-rata accounts. Therefore Axxess and the other ISPs would make a loss on selling you the account pro-rata.

To add specials into this, they're simply selling you the whole account for at a lower profit margin, sometimes below cost.

Not true, if you have a capped product, you're allocated the pro-rata of the cap. So if it's 10gb for the month, you'll only get 5gb since you signed up halfway through the month.

 

[froot]

Not true, if you have a capped product, you're allocated the pro-rata of the cap. So if it's 10gb for the month, you'll only get 5gb since you signed up halfway through the month.

With whose product?

Companies that do it sell their own packages, not resellers packages. The majority of packages (WA now excluded) are resold.

 

[Uraeus]

Simple. Axxess, and many other ISPs, use IS for their bandwidth. IS doesn't do pro-rata accounts. Therefore Axxess and the other ISPs would make a loss on selling you the account pro-rata.

To add specials into this, they're simply selling you the whole account for at a lower profit margin, sometimes below cost.

Thanks for your explanation about IS, I didnt realise that.

The special in question was for half a month, with the special being as little as 6% off. I just dont think it is write how they can call it a special half way through the month, when in fact you are loosing out. If I had to sign up on the last day of the month, how can they charge me for a full month? that is ridiculous!

 

[Uraeus]

I have never come across an ISP that doesn't offer pro-rata billing before. I've been with almost all of them. If you sign up on the 15th, you get billed on the 1st of the next month for the pro-rata rate (15th-1st) and then the next full month.

So let's assume your full month bill is R150. You'll pay R75+R150 on the 1st of the month after the 15th. ie. Signing up on the 15th of Jan would mean you pay R225 on the 1st of Feb.

that's how it always worked.

The ISP in question in my case is axxess. They dont offer pro-rata billing. Your explanation is how I understood it, in that you pay a fraction of the total monthly cost as you signed up late.

I just feel hoodwinked which is why I posted. I learnt a lesson by using axxess, or an IS reseller half way through the month.