July up to & incl October 2005: WBS has canned the 64kbit policy [for some customers]

[slimothy]

ic, please make this sticky.

Guys, you may have read the 'Forced to pay for bandwidth?' thread I posted, or the one started by Alter mentioning a rumoured 'pay per byte scheme'... ITS OFFICIAL, so before reading this if you are going to cancel iBurst.. do it now.

That's right in the biggest bonehead decision thus far iBurst has made a major policy decision without informing you the user, and in the middle of the month. It's sad but this is the first alot of you will hear about it, let me be very clear, THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED AND IT NOT A RUMOUR.

Ok this is how it works

1gb gets 1gb at 1mbit and 2GB at 64kbs
3gb gets 3gb at 1mbit and 2GB at 64kbs
6GB gets 6GB at 1mbit and 3GB at 64kbs
9GB gets 9GB at 1mbit and 3GB at 64kbs

After you use the 2 or 3Gb at 64kbit, YOU WILL BE CUT OFF. Although you might be able to connect you will not be able to access anything, the only reason you can connect is to get more bandwidth (and presumably there is still a 9GB limit to how much you can buy per month)

The ride is over guys, and with such a major policy change you think we would be informed. But no, we all know WBS does not value its customer.

The decision was apparantly been made from management and the new Operations Manager (who is not very nice as I'm told), and the reason is because they "cannot manage the bandwidth of iburst users", all that time they spent with the throttling software was a waste of time, all that angsts we went through while they tested it for months was a waste of time.

THERE IS NO CHANGE ON THIER PACKAGES PAGE LOCATED AT https://secure.wbs.co.za/cfusion/wbs/subscriberaccountsignup/packages.cfm AND THEY WERE HOPING YOU WOULDNT FIND OUT ABOUT THIS CHANGE

Where did I get this information? I phoned the helpdesk, said the right things to an angry employee and they sang like a canary. Is it breach of contract, will the ASA listen to us now that its the whole network targeted and not just 'abusers'.

Since we're about consumer activism here i advise you all to play your part and take the required steps, if you know a journalist, talk to them, email them, get word out, if this isnt the last straw... there is no last straw.

It was a fun ride, while it lasted.

 

[LandyMan]

GEEZ! I can't even get my original 3Gb on one MBit ... farking a$$h0les

 

[w1z4rd]

I heard something similar in the winds. Iburst users have been shafted by WBS yet again. Doesnt someone have a contact at ITWEB? So we can mention how we are been abused.

I have also heard from a lot of staff and customers that the new Operations Manager is a little useless.

Anyone who makes a policy like this deserves to get removed from their post. Well done on loosing another bunch of users!!

I was speaking to someone from parliment the otherday, and they were so angry with WBS as WBS had just "cut" them off. Yeah, makes good business sense to cut of MP`s. Idiots.

Never in my life have I come across such terrible service as I have from WBS of late. The new operations manager is clearly incompitent, and apparently is to good to take calls from us.

This bites.

 

[slimothy]

i have contacted itweb and rpm

 

[Bjorn]

This is the stupidest thing (W)hat (B)ullsh!t (S)ervice has ever done...
Where is my ADSL form.

 

[w1z4rd]

I dont even over work my connection (Currently still have 2.39GB of my 3GB left). However, the second I have choice, I will leave them. I am also recommending to the universities and other institutes I have contact with. NOT TO USE THE SERVICE.

 

[TheRoDent]

Welcome to dialup slimothy.

 

[slimothy]

haha i'll be on adsl within the week, but if we could step aside from the 'i told you so's' and concentrate on the issue, time to get word out make alternative connection arrangements and divulge secrets used to get 1mbit when throttled so users can at least get thier measly 2GB extra faster than 64kbit

 

[jjtoymachine]

im moving back to dial up, canceling right now

 

[slimothy]

any lawyers or ad experts, anyone think its a bit odd thier packages page does not reflect the policy change and that they expected you just to not find out about this?

 

[jmn]

Captivity Has Never Felt This Bad!!!

 

[w1z4rd]

I can put you in touch with an advocate or two who might be able to help, and who are interested in this type of thing

 

[TheRoDent]

Slimothy, you won't be getting "I told you so's from me". This is a horrendous move by WBS and I hope they burn in hell.

Here's how to get an effective 1Mbit of bandwidth. 2 x ADSL lines, load balanced. You still get max 50kb/s per line, but it works out fine if you thread a bit across multiple routes or connections. Works great for torrents.

Unfortunately, you will never be able to get more than 512Mbit over a single TCP connection, over a single route. That's the only downside.

 

[slimothy]

I multithread everything anyway, what does that set me back for a 30GB account?

 

[bb_matt]

WBS - W@nkers & Bull Sh1tters

What a stupid thing to do, which proves the management of WBS must be thick as pigsh1t and arrogant as Lords. (the two usually go together)

Another blow to broadband in South Africa, right when we didn't need it.
Telkom must be laughing their a55es off at this development.

So c'mon MTN and Vodacom - time to step up to the plate and deliver what iBurst couldn't - an affordable, reliable broadband alternative to Telkom where customer service is considered important.

 

[TheRoDent]

Expensive. R599.00/month x 2 for the lines.

Then another R500 x 2 per month for 2 x 30Gig accounts.

Total, around R2200/month.

Note, these are all ~ guesttimate costs. There might be some change to add here and there. I'm sure you can get the details from around here somewhere.

Still MUCH cheaper than 2 x 9Gb iBurst accounts at R1200 a month.

You'll have an effective 60Gigs of traffic per month. Not too shabby if you ask me.

 

[jmn]

and I hope they burn in hell.

They already own Satan and the helldesk

 

[TheRoDent]

They already own Satan and the helldesk

Nono, Telkom owns Hell, but WBS and Sentech own the helldesks.

 

[w1z4rd]

I cant get hold of their operation manager.....AGAIN

 

[LoneGunman]

I'd heard a week or two before I left them, that they were getting very focused on Ghana and other African markets - so maybe this is their way of deliberately shrugging off the remaining local users who are technically-aware, leaving a few mom-n-pop email checkers here and there, who'll never complain - so that WBS can focus on raping and overcharging in the new markets its moving into in Ghana and elsewhere.

It might be useful, if any folks come across local-african forums from varioous other countries, to point them to THIS forum, so they can be warned and knowledgeable about the new bullsh+tting 'IBurst' that's starting to advertise in their local papers.

I get the feeling WBS are playing 'Techno-Imperialism' - moving in, lying about their service, soaking up money and users, reaching a critical mass where cost outweighs the profit of supplying of good services, then deliberately making things worse to shrug off the new adopters, and moving on into yet another market and repeating the process.

I think we should make a point of snooping through online Ghana nodes and other African markets, and posting warnings and suggestions that folks come browse this forum, BEFORE they believe or purchase anything to do with IBurst.
That ought to throw some spanners in the plans of good ole urine-drinker Parvin and Uncle Tom Thami..