Mobile tariffs may increase

Nonsense

This is bull, most of the infrastructure is paid for by now (except for the upgrades to HSDPA) so running cost to these giants can't be that badly affected !
 
waheed.mia said:
This is bull, most of the infrastructure is paid for by now (except for the upgrades to HSDPA) so running cost to these giants can't be that badly affected !
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Not true, the infrastructure is constantly being replaced with improved technology (discard components that are end-of life like old hard drives and ICs, improved processing power, better electricity and heat ratings, smaller footprints, hardware to support new software applications and OS, software to support new functionality and coding schemes and many more...)

Think of your desktop PC being 14 years old, trying to run Office 2007 and you'll get the picture.
 
ryan411 said:
@Puttybag: Well said sir, I salute you :D
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Thanks !! I try to bring some constructive destruction to the table :)
Some companies are quickly blinded by their own success and profit.
They have reached the threshold where their success cuts them off from the consumers reality. They are fooling themselves if they think that all the success achieved to date was made up of being smart, working hard and putting in the long hours alone. I'm not implying that they didn't work hard at it, I'm implying that there was more to it than they care to admit to themselves. They FORGET to soon, they were also selling a commodity, that few could do without. This desperate need for telecoms was not being satisfied by Telkom and therefore the sheer demand simply masked and overshadowed their failures. (they could have hit the target blindfolded with a bent barrel, ie it was a huge target, not accurate shooting.)
If the truth be told, even if they tried their best to mess it up, they would still have succeeded. They have now come to believe that they are in touch with and are the darling hero's of the consumer, but I dont think they are. They can continue to bullsh*t themselves, but when "saturation and choice" finally catch up with them one day, they will be left pondering.
Until that day we as consumers must at least be grateful we have a mobile service, but can they please stop claiming poverty, threatening price increases and blowing smoke up their own ass, its really irritating. They have become "a wall of noise".
 
A good argument. Well put and strikes the hammer on the head.

I look forward to vodacom3g's counter argument if any...:)
 
lol - let them ask me why I am cancelling my contract. It just expired this week.
 
Puttybag said:
:D

Ye and Voda shareholders still make 5 billion after all those expenses.....so whats your point exactly??? Are you a shareholder or just someone that has that much blind loyalty to your employee that you would actually stand in the firing line and argue this, on their behalf. (Im assuming you are employed by one of them but if not, I apologise I must have missed a few days at school)
Is it not time the shareholders of these Telco's understand (and medical aids, but dont get me started) that like many a company, in hard times should humble themselves, count their blessings for days gone by, and perhaps concede to slightly less profit for the next year. Its not a shame you know, it does not mean they have failed, it means the are actually the upstanding corporate, that they are tying to convince us they are. Why not be the hero of the people in hard times and not mention a price increase or go one better and drop the price? (they wont need to spend so much on big budget marketing and stupid customer loyalty schemes) What better way to get some proper loyalty out of "your" clients?? Dont they understand that its a grudge buy for us?? we dont want to be "your" clients. We choose you for the same reason I buy immodium.
At these prices the consumer pays for their own customer loyalty programs, (the Networks simply steals our money, puts the scheme together and offers it back to us, claiming they are the "good guys" with our interests at heart) so "Shove your frikking BMW's (which you pay for anyway out of the Premium rated SMS systems) and Airline tickets" (Ditto) up a DEAD BEARS BUM.!!! if you didnt steal from us to start with, we could all afford to pay for our own.
All their marketing spend does, is keep the balance with regards to the respective current market share. (And add to the hype so we get brainwashed into thinking we should all worship the "3g experience" (but not use it for VOIP) and be grateful for 3rd world bandwidth cap mentality. Its pretty saturated market at this pricing level, so you are not really fooling anyone with cluttering up the paper, no you are simply cluttering up the newspaper. *(and killing trees) Whats up with the gazillion tariffs, why not put out three flat "reasonable rates" cut back on your advertising, tree felling and spreadsheets and double your client base?? Go figure.
Its all there to bamboozle. Anyone looking for a phone and a tariff these days needs to go to night school and complete a mini MBA to make an informed decision.
So while they "Fix the average" high pricing "Ahem"...telepathically of course, Im not suggesting for one minute........so put your teeth back in the glass.) why dont they just stay in that trance for a little longer, and agree to cut the average GSM network marketing expenditure by the same amount across the board. Do they really think we will miss thumbing through their catalogues while on the crapper? I would rather have cheaper calls, and squirt my ass with a jet of water, than be bombarded with bullsh*t offers.
Its nothing but "clutter" and Chinese DVD players. Its of no good to me, accept on the 23rd month of my contract. Im prepared, like many to sacrifice and hobble with my Zimmerman "into the store" and have someone explain (sorry read off) some specials etc. They certainly don't spend money on training the average "Cell Jock" behind the counter either (*so don't blame the training budget), my experience is that most of the time I need to educate them, (takes me twice as long with a "know all" than it does with the janitor who may be "standing in" while the boss is out) they actually have to read the specials out to you from the same leaflet..........that I read the night before while on the crapper. You are then allowed to find a vacant spot somewhere in store, to guess what phone and tariff is best for you anyway, while they rob the next person in the 30 minute ques. The retail support in the GSM industry sucks.
The problem with all this is they don't have to improve the experience or drop their pants on price, all the Networks are of similar price, and if one makes a move a price war will start, and some shareholder will need to fly cattle class for a year. Not having Telecoms is not like doing without an ice cream, if you cant make business calls, then expect your company to suffer lower returns for the year. They know this all too well, so they charge what the customer will bear, not what is fair.

Note: When you fear for "hackers" get a hacker in ............which one of you clowns wants my CV?? (I want the corner office on the top floor overlooking the lake) :)
I guess not...........:eek:
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:)
Nice post!
How many cellphones do you have?
 
JK8 said:

:)
Nice post!
How many cellphones do you have?
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numerous handsets........and 4 airtime contracts. Why?? Well because I rely on my mobile for my business and the amount of dropped calls on any of these Networks is ridiculously high.
After trial and error (and being involved in the mobile industry since inception *but not for the Networks), I have come to know what area is better with what Network so use the appropriate one, otherwise my blood pressure would shoot through the roof.
Bedfordview for one, is shocking on MTN for instance, I have complained numerous times over the past 2 years, begged for a cell extender or any scrap they will throw my way, but all I get is empty promises.
I spend on average R5 000 on MTN alone a month, but they don't give a crap.
Nothing new then. :mad:
 
What I don't understand is of the African countries we have most probably the best telecommunications network, but we have some of the highest prices.

Example, In Uganda prepaid users calling to South Africa are paying in SA Rands value R2.40 or so per minute that is cheaper than a local call within South Africa on prepaid. WTF!!! Local call rates in Uganda are about 50% cheaper than South African local prepaid call rates how can this be?

We were promised that within 5 years of deployment of the MTN and Vodacom network's call rates would drop, remember then we were paying only R1.20 per minute for a call, 10 years on and we are paying almost 3 times that and its still going to go up.

It's time to do something about this ridiculous pricing system we have on the mobile networks.

Take a look at http://waridtel.co.ug/tariffs.php

Peak time call to any network 299 shillings at todays rate that is R1.54 per minute peak time.. Something is seriously wrong with SA telecoms.
 
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