NeoConnect Lite prices emerge

BTech said:
:mad::mad: who you calling stupid! Why shouldn't we expect the best? Why shouldn't we complain? SHEESH TO YOU...WHY DON'T YOU MOVE!
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I actually have spent time overseas and am enjoying South Africa again (for the time being...). I will move - just not yet. At least I can.

And as for expecting the best. We live on the edge of the f***ing world and you expect us to have the same connectivity as Europe? Without any of the cables? And Telkom/ICASA/Poison-Ivy thrown into the equation?

Complain when SEACOM/Infraco etc go online and we still don't have "proper" access. As far as I know, the owners of SAT3/SAFE are charging an exorbitant amount for bandwidth even to Neotel - I doubt they have such rosy prices and such rosy bandwidth as you dreamt about when they were announced back in... When was it again?

The fact of the matter is - you're deluding yourself if you think that they can offer something substantially close to our Euro/US/Asian counterparts. Even with the massive influx of international bandwidth, our prices will still be immense compared to the rest of the world because until Telkom unbundles the local loop - they will use it to gain every last cent out of you and me.

USe your brain - if you can and stop posting rubbish. If you can't live without 4M+ speeds - don't - but expect to pay a premium.

My 2c
 
smokey said:
I actually have spent time overseas and am enjoying South Africa again (for the time being...). I will move - just not yet. At least I can.

And as for expecting the best. We live on the edge of the f***ing world and you expect us to have the same connectivity as Europe? Without any of the cables? And Telkom/ICASA/Poison-Ivy thrown into the equation?

Complain when SEACOM/Infraco etc go online and we still don't have "proper" access. As far as I know, the owners of SAT3/SAFE are charging an exorbitant amount for bandwidth even to Neotel - I doubt they have such rosy prices and such rosy bandwidth as you dreamt about when they were announced back in... When was it again?

The fact of the matter is - you're deluding yourself if you think that they can offer something substantially close to our Euro/US/Asian counterparts. Even with the massive influx of international bandwidth, our prices will still be immense compared to the rest of the world because until Telkom unbundles the local loop - they will use it to gain every last cent out of you and me.

USe your brain - if you can and stop posting rubbish. If you can't live without 4M+ speeds - don't - but expect to pay a premium.

My 2c
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I do agree with some of your points raised here although I don't agree with your tone. I don't think that we should expect exactly the same price and speed as the East gets. If you look at the cables that have been laid around that area of the world it is amazing. As far as I am aware places like South Korea have a government who is serious about getting broadband to their people and it shows.

In South Africa the majority of the people in government don't care about broadband. When you are trying to convince people that there is no power crisis, 2010 will go without a hitch, telling the world that AIDS can be cured by eating more vegetables and dodging corruption scandals you don't have much time to worry about insignificant things like economic growth and Internet access. I doubt that Ivy even uses "the Google" that often anyway and so why would she care that speeds are slow?

When we have more cables caressing our shores then I am sure that bandwidth costs will come down. Then I think that it would be more reasonable to compare ourselves with the East but always keeping in mind that things are probably never going to be the same here. The Internet speed/penetration/price that the guys in the East experience should motivate us to try to be better but we are just going to get angry and have heart attacks if we let ourselves get too worked up about it.

A more realistic comparison would take both the developing and developed nations into account. Then we would not only see where we should realistically be in terms of our Internet access but also gain something to aim for but all the time keeping in mind that we are not a first world country and so it is unlikely that we will be able to beat Europe, America and much of Asia in terms of broadband in the near future. We can always improve and try to inch closer but to expect exactly the same experience is not in tune with reality. Then sadly you will have to move to Europe to get what they are getting for exactly the same price they pay.

That said I feel that the current prices that we pay and what we get for our money is an outright kick in the b0llocks. It is absolutely disgusting and every time I see the earnings reports of one of the big telcos I feel like vomiting. We have the right to complain because we are worse off than a lot of the developing nations that we should be beating! WTH??!! When we become more in line with them and maybe start to drift nearer first world standards then I think that our roar of disapproval could mute to gentle, insistent pressure. But for now let us roar at the injustice of it all!
 
smokey said:
USe your brain - if you can and stop posting rubbish. If you can't live without 4M+ speeds - don't - but expect to pay a premium.

My 2c
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So we have no right to complain when a service is being offered with which we are not happy? :confused:
 
OK... Here goes...

I will try to soften my ridiculously edgy tone and try to argue... nicely? So here it goes.

I didn't mention not complaining. I specifically aimed my ire towards those who posted "OMG liek witout 4M unkapt n unshepd wil nt go 2 r them LOLz0rz" people (excuse the hyperbole, had to have some vindication).

What I did mention was the fact that people are jumping the gun a little bit. If you are gonna complain - do it when you are thinking properly. Hey, maybe a hardcore user wont like the 192K speed - but the fact of the matter is that it is uncapped. The hardcore user will have to fork out a tremendously large sum of money to get all they desire with that speed.

How about... a compromise? Someone mentioned it here, wont go back to look, but the jist of his post was - why not get ADSL for stuff you need to run quickly (email, browsing, Ikariam.org:) and for the larger files - that you will be willing to wait for - you get the 196K uncapped service. Or vice versa. However you like it.

Personally, all my downloading tastes don't require me to download at Max speeds - I was completely happy (overseas, in the euro east) with a 256 uncapped/unshaped connection. It had 512K in the local network and there was a DC++ server. 110-160gigs month average with the local bandwidth and general internet stuff separate (and there was a huge monopoly there as well- but hey, it's Europe!). That's "barely broadband" but it was fine and I was not at a loss on what to download (though I see that they have started putting up 8+gig movie files regularly... ouch! HD rules and sucks at the same time).

Onto my point - all the complaining in the world is not going to stop a monopoly (though if there was a mass migration to VOIP, I could see them lowering calls drastically - the power of money) and complaining that you expected megabit+ speeds with all the trimmings to a company that realistically couldn't provide it to their currently small user base, never mind the public at large - is ridiculous.

All your anger should be vented at TELKOM! Not at Neotel, at TELKOM. And a few rotten eggs in Ivy's mailbox wouldn't go amiss either. Once Neotel has the bandwidth to provide nice links to our overseas neighbours - then by all means go and vent your fury for not getting what you deserve at the price you want - because then it will be realistic.

As far as comparisons to other developing countries is concerned, I'm sure most of Africa has crap ADSL speeds at huge prices except the upper echelons and as far as I'm concerned - they're so close to Europe, they could literally be treated as EU members. We are right down the egde of the world. Isolated. There is no quick fix and any cable laying is going to take a long time - so unless competition becomes ridiculously effective, we wil always have bandwidth bottlenecks (just because it takes a year+ to land a cable here).

So - geography, economics, politics (*spit* Ivy *spit*) etc all play a part - not just the competition everybody seems to think is a magical wand that forces prices down within picoseconds of being introduced.

Regards,

Smokey

PS: I had so many things to write down here that I got a little sidetracked. My apologies!
 
Smokey you right to a point. You know how much markup Telkom makes. They can comfortably bring down their prices and allocate more bandwidth to LOCAL users. So yes, there is still room for improvement till the likes of EASSY and SEACOM arrives. Why suffer till then?
Neotel, not very clever marketing from your side. Knowing that 90% of Telkom clients are GATVOL , maybe bring uncapped to the table (no not at 156) , most of Telkom's clients will jump ship. Making R100 on 10 clients @ 20% margin or making R1000 on 200 clients @ 5% margin. Want us to sign up? Step up to the table.
If Neotel wants me to jump ship, they need to be allot more aggressive. Ever since the SNO was awarded I've been praying for the day to come. I was hoping they would see a huge gap in the market...... i was wrong.
 
Morky said:
Smokey you right to a point. You know how much markup Telkom makes. They can comfortably bring down their prices and allocate more bandwidth to LOCAL users. So yes, there is still room for improvement till the likes of EASSY and SEACOM arrives. Why suffer till then?
Neotel, not very clever marketing from your side. Knowing that 90% of Telkom clients are GATVOL , maybe bring uncapped to the table (no not at 156) , most of Telkom's clients will jump ship. Making R100 on 10 clients @ 20% margin or making R1000 on 200 clients @ 5% margin. Want us to sign up? Step up to the table.
If Neotel wants me to jump ship, they need to be allot more aggressive. Ever since the SNO was awarded I've been praying for the day to come. I was hoping they would see a huge gap in the market...... i was wrong.
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Quite. This was agreat opportunity for them - pity they are yet to seize upon it.
 
Im gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.
Try it before you knock it,hell the cost of living is high so i welcome
discounted prices.
Slow internet or no internet?
This will surely benefit the consumer at the very least in terms of competition.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but don't a few other African countries have pretty decent internet? I'm sure I heard something about Kenya, Ethiopia and one or two others putting our 'broadband' to shame.
 
TATA MA hopes for better Broadband in SA

1)Neotel's boss is from India, 2)SA is virgin Broadband Territory. 3)They take one good 1st world offering and divide/reduce it into the smallest possible workable form and sell it to as many idiots as possible at a premium. I'm not an idoit! Ask yourself, RU? I don't give a FAK! about what they offer and no matter how you try to calculate....if it looks and sounds like a duck then it must be a faking duck! So no thank you neotel for the equivalent of a TATA:D in telecommunications
 
If we as a country(read goverment) travel the world and sell our beautifull land as a first world country to investors, fifa, oprah ect. we MUST demand first world service. We need to stop this annything a little better that absolutely shyte is freakin awesome attitude.
 
Granted that we shouild ask for First World service for what we can - but at the moment - with no bandwidth... Well... I could be rude, but I wont and I'll leave it to your imagination concerning what I could have said. Unless you can magically setup a submarine cable by tomorrow - don't expect near first world prices. Nuff Sed.

And... it still costs more to get the majority of stuff to South Africa - so we are always going to be more expensive in other things as well. I mean... its the tip of the bloody world mate!
 
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