MTN 3G released! See Rates.

Why are you guys going on about per second billing?! The point is that it is not the same as voice calls and does not subtract from your contract inclusive free minutes. How can MTN compete with Vodacom in the arena of Video Calls then? That is the issue. I have no good reason to stay with MTN if they make the way that we shall all communicate (video calls) soon; so much more expensive than the competition. It makes no sense.
 
johandutoit2000 said:
Why are you guys going on about per second billing?! The point is that it is not the same as voice calls and does not subtract from your contract inclusive free minutes. How can MTN compete with Vodacom in the arena of Video Calls then? That is the issue. I have no good reason to stay with MTN if they make the way that we shall all communicate (video calls) soon; so much more expensive than the competition. It makes no sense.
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Personally I (and loads of others) don't give a t*ss about video calls, so you're making a sweeping statement about MTN's competetiveness (or lack thereof) within the market, which isn't necessarily true.
 
So you disagree that video calls is the future? You dont see it as something that you would want to use? You dont like the idea of seeing the person that you are talking to?
 
johandutoit2000 said:
So you disagree that video calls is the future? You dont see it as something that you would want to use? You dont like the idea of seeing the person that you are talking to?
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All I want is a mobile PHONE that acts as a high speed modem and one with which I can talk to people. As it is I can't find a phone without all the additional cr*p like cameras, calendars, coffeemakers and kitchen sinks. But then again that's my opinion. However, I know lots of people who feel that way....

While video might be different a multi-function phone will never be as good as the dedicated items like camera's etc.
 
A business phone has to have a calendar these days, and if it makes coffee, I would buy one. The kitchen sink well that wont be needed.
 
MTNBroadband said:
I'm sure I am going to get shot down for this but I will have a stab at answering this on Friday afternoon just ahead of our Sunday launch and then early next week we can have the debate. I don't want to give out any info ahead of time but at the same time my previous experience on this forum says I can't say I will answer the question to your satisfaction later either.

I hope that's sufficiently cryptic :confused: Friday afternoon.
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The info is already out. Your press statement says R2 per minute for Video calls. Are you saying that it is incorrect?
 
sbloomer said:
All I want is a mobile PHONE that acts as a high speed modem and one with which I can talk to people. As it is I can't find a phone without all the additional cr*p like cameras, calendars, coffeemakers and kitchen sinks. But then again that's my opinion. However, I know lots of people who feel that way....

While video might be different a multi-function phone will never be as good as the dedicated items like camera's etc.
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That is what you say now, but in a 2 years when everyone in the whole world uses video calls?
 
Missing the point

johandutoit2000 said:
That is what you say now, but in a 2 years when everyone in the whole world uses video calls?
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What would really be cool is a videophone where you could watch yourself speak...
 
Well to say the least I didn't expect anything great from the start, MTN you guys live up to my expectations. Always just that little bit more expensive than Vodacom. Never willing to take the first step.
 
Decotey, I'm not sure your comments are fully true. I personally have been involved in a number of first steps with higher data speeds. We launched HSCSD which offered 57 600 kbps as far back as 2000. Our original circuit-switched RAS service used to cost 68c/minute (34c off peak) which was way below anything else. We launched GPRS first by quite some margin and also took the coverage national. Soon after that consultants worked with a very big financial house in Cape Town and showed that their staff got the best performance and value from our GPRS compared to anything else on the market at the time. We launched MTN ICE as the first mobile lifestyle portal and judging from international conferences were ahead of the pack internationally with that. For consumers, we revamped that with MTNLoaded last year and now have over 1.3 million active subscribers. We chose to launch EDGE as our first step in broadband because it was stable and had high handset penetration already and that has shown itself in our annual results with our relatively higher data revenue growth. For corporates we launched Corporate Mobility at the beginning of last year which brought the data tariffs down to R10 (well below prices at the time) and this product is still pumping and is certainly a leader in this market. Our data services changed the landscape of point-of-sale electronic transactions completely. When we introduced our traffic cameras they reached a million hits per month quite rapidly. Our data bundle of R499 for the add-on I still believe is the cheapest GSM service in the world. How else can one get such extensive data access in South Africa with the combination of speed versus coverage etc etc etc.
 
lilgindauk said:
Well, I have a samsung fone that has video calling, but sends my bill through the roof:mad:
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Obviously not on MTN :) Our postpaid customers have enjoyed free video calls for the last month!
 
EdRobinson said:
What would really be cool is a videophone where you could watch yourself speak...
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I think all our videophones have the option that you can watch yourself (if that's what you really want) either in the large main screen or the smaller inset screen.
 
This question is for mtnbroadband:

Why does it seem that mtn is not as much bothered with marketing their services as vigorously as vodacom. Whenever mtn launches something, you here about it only much later. With Vodacom, its sometimes even before the service is launched. I mean, I only first heard about the 3g coverage on mtn after I had to nearly strangle the info out of a local mtn dealership. I had very nearly gone over to vodacom because I couldn't find a functional cellphone (looks irrespective) from mtnsp and also because it seemed that mtn is crawling with their response to vodacoms massive 3g launch (seemingly anyway).

Eventualy I went for the 6630 only because the 6680 is a bit slower in response and battery life drains quicker.

But I want to use mtn as my isp as well. I am currently only subscribed to mtndatalive with a 100mb bundle, which is still very little. But 1 gig is again too much (how bout something in between? 500mb maybe :o )
 
I agree that we could do more product advertising than we do as customers appreciate that. We do wait a while to see how well the product will work before advertising. With broadband, we have deliberately held back because it seems more honest to only advertise a service (such as EDGE) once your coverage is more reasonable. It's difficult because the media (and certain customers) fall for a good story.

I agree that an intermediate bundle is needed. There have been some long hours on our side getting 3G and EDGE into the market and after June 26 would be a good time for a few product tweaks. As I said, we wanted to look for the 'sweet spot' between 100 and 1 gig and we now have much more to work on.
 
Just to contribute about the debate about "pretty soon everybody in the world will make video calls only" As somebody who has logged more video calls than I can count since 1997, with a group of pople all around the world, I can tell you that I do not beleiev that everybody will want to make video calls. Video calling is a special skill, and you actually have to relearn a whole lot of instinctive habits. One example: There is a small timelag between the lip movement and the voice, like it is slightly out of synch. This interferes with your built in assessment of when it OK to interrupt.

If anyone is interested, PM me, and I will email you a "Good Practice" booklet that I co-authored a couple of years ago.
 
johandutoit2000 said:
So you disagree that video calls is the future? You dont see it as something that you would want to use? You dont like the idea of seeing the person that you are talking to?
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I have tested out the videocall user experience extensively. My personal estimate (not the official MTN view) is that videocalls are very useful for specific contexts but will not easily replace voice for normal daily telephonic communication. It is simply a lot more work. The benefits are when showing something and for more personal conversations (eg with family whilst away from home).

To get back to your question of why you would want to stay on MTN: Because you are on a Procall 300 package, from Sunday 26, if you upgrade to a USIM you not only get a 128 kilobyte SIM card with extra address book fields, but enjoy a three month promotional period which includes a videomailbox, 300 megabytes of free downloads and 75 minutes of free videocalls. We've also prepurchase some of the video content on MTNLoaded so people can try that out!

I therefore hope you will take advantage at least for the three months to try out the data and videocall bundle and video content! It's a dynamic industry so we can talk again in October.
 
MTNBroadband said:
I have tested out the videocall user experience extensively. My personal estimate (not the official MTN view) is that videocalls are very useful for specific contexts but will not easily replace voice for normal daily telephonic communication. It is simply a lot more work. The benefits are when showing something and for more personal conversations (eg with family whilst away from home).

To get back to your question of why you would want to stay on MTN: Because you are on a Procall 300 package, from Sunday 26, if you upgrade to a USIM you not only get a 128 kilobyte SIM card with extra address book fields, but enjoy a three month promotional period which includes a videomailbox, 300 megabytes of free downloads and 75 minutes of free videocalls. We've also prepurchase some of the video content on MTNLoaded so people can try that out!

I therefore hope you will take advantage at least for the three months to try out the data and videocall bundle and video content! It's a dynamic industry so we can talk again in October.
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Hi MTNBB

I find the above interesting... Will special offers like these be offered on all contract packages?

And how will things change (i.e. what is the attitude MTN will adopt) after this 3 month initial promotion? Specifically with regards to the tarifs.

Why I am asking is: I'm on Mycall 100 with the 100mb bundle bolt-on (as stated somewhere else) So I pay R135 + R100 and then on average another R120 for data calls and voice calls mixed = R355

Would it be cheaper to switch to a different package. One that's focused on data usage (My voicecalls are usually R20 - R30 a month as my bundled minutes take care of that need and even often carry over.)
 
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