Neotel consumer tariffs revealed

Based on this initial offer, are you going to switch to Neotel?

  • Yes

    Votes: 42 19.9%

  • No

    Votes: 122 57.8%

  • Unsure

    Votes: 47 22.3%
  • Total voters
    211
hj2k_x said:
So you would switch to Neotel just because of that? Just trying to understand what you are getting at here...
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Yes. For starters, the price is cheaper then we are paying at the moment for 10GB which is close to R1000.

But aside from that, and more importantly. When you have a problem with your ADSL line, there is no service from Telkom. My wife spent about 10 hours waiting on the phone to Telkom a couple of weeks back because of ADSL problems. There is no service. Last year we lost our internet for 6 weeks because of water in the lines. That cost us a small fortune in Vodacom data bundles. Now there is an alternative that fairly high usage home users and small businesses can use. There is no activation fee so if you really want, you can just keep it as a backup. For me, I will drop our ADSL problem in a flash.
 
But look, we knew NeoTel wouldn't be able to compete with Telkom on a grand scale. We know this because:

1) Govt. is too deep into Telkom
2) Telkom is too deep into SAfrica
3) NeoTel said they wouldn't compete on price right away
4) Chances are good Telkom would be selling Bandwidth to NeoTel at a "fair price"

So why is everyone shocked that NeoTel didn't come out with "100GB/month 100mbps for R2.50/month" specials? And what happened to the "We hate Telkom! We'll get rid of them no matter what!" stuff?

But aside from that, and more importantly. When you have a problem with your ADSL line, there is no service from Telkom. My wife spent about 10 hours waiting on the phone to Telkom a couple of weeks back because of ADSL problems. There is no service. Last year we lost our internet for 6 weeks because of water in the lines. That cost us a small fortune in Vodacom data bundles. Now there is an alternative that fairly high usage home users and small businesses can use. There is no activation fee so if you really want, you can just keep it as a backup. For me, I will drop our ADSL problem in a flash.
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^ that is what I'm talking about - I'm dropping Telkom because they're Telkom, not because NeoTel right now has vastly better offerings. Telkom has been screwing and pillaging this country for years because of SAfrican apathy and govt. stalling. So now with more apathy NeoTel is going to get a trickle of customers and not be able to justify expenses or offerings. Then they'll fold and become crappy and everyone will go "OMW! See? I knew NeoTel would fail, that's why I stayed with Telkom!".

And so the circle of apathy will continue.
 
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hj2k_x said:
I hear what you are saying, but with those myriad problems that I have emboldened, it really is not something to get excited about for many.

Like you said, i can't use the service either.
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Well, the technology is just not that great, but in the absense of LLU it was their quickest way to market.

The product is half the price of iBurst's comparable package. And the after bundle rate is 1/14th of the price.

So, although it doesn't answer all our requirements, it does auger well for Neotel's future products, Wimax, ADSL & fibre.
 
Abe said:
Yes. For starters, the price is cheaper then we are paying at the moment for 10GB which is close to R1000.

But aside from that, and more importantly. When you have a problem with your ADSL line, there is no service from Telkom. My wife spent about 10 hours waiting on the phone to Telkom a couple of weeks back because of ADSL problems. There is no service. Last year we lost our internet for 6 weeks because of water in the lines. That cost us a small fortune in Vodacom data bundles. Now there is an alternative that fairly high usage home users and small businesses can use. There is no activation fee so if you really want, you can just keep it as a backup. For me, I will drop our ADSL problem in a flash.
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You not worries about what happens to your phone line when the power goes out?

What about making a call whilst being connected to the net?
 
AntiThesis said:
I don't get it... even if folks feel the offering is too expensive/not flexible enough/{insert reason here}, how is this not getting more love? It's monumentally astounding that we have an actual, concrete tariff plan for South Africa's SNO.

Like Cara, I'll be pulling out the Champagne and having a toast to NeoTel. Especially since this is likely only the beginning and there have been sound, logical reasons why their offering is structured the way it is. Without another undersea cable it's impractical for them to provide us all with uncapped anything but already they've come in with a higher offering than other people.

I would have thought that since the majority of people here joined the site because of the way Telkom has been pillaging our country unchecked there'd be a little more happiness.

We've been moaning about not having competition for years and years and now when we finally have something resembling light at the end of the tunnel, the most common comment is "Oh no, that's not cheap/fast/efficient/amazingly astounding/UK standard for me. I'll just stay with Telkom."?

Really?

Sorry if that was a little rantish, I'm in a bad mood :)
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I agree all the way, well put!
 
Guys 8 pages of drivel on what sucks and more is not in my opinion what you should look at. It means we finally have a proper choice about who we want as our Telco and choice is good. Also CDMA is not like HSDPA or any of the other technologies as it works on a lower frequency and lower frequencies means less interference and more stability.

I'm going for one of these when it becomes available and only so because I finally have the choice! Stop complaining about stuff you know nothing about and realize competition is really and finally happening! A day I thought I'd never see :)

Peace
 
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Gatecrasher said:
Well, the technology is just not that great, but in the absense of LLU it was their quickest way to market.

The product is half the price of iBurst's comparable package. And the after bundle rate is 1/14th of the price.

So, although it doesn't answer all our requirements, it does auger well for Neotel's future products, Wimax, ADSL & fibre.
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ADSL is going to be key if you ask me.

This package's only attractive qualities for me are

a) it's not Telkom
b) no setup costs
c) it's not Telkom
 
hj2k_x said:
You not worries about what happens to your phone line when the power goes out?

What about making a call whilst being connected to the net?
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rmp did alleviate one of my concerns wrt the power outages -
rpm said:
Hi Bwana

I left the device on for the last 36 hours, made two calls, and the power is still at 3/4 bars. It looks like the battery life is good, but I hope a few other guys will do more in-depth testing.

I doubth that standard faxing will be possible...but maybe the Neotel can clear up all of these Q's. Will shoot through an email after compiling a list...
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Hellboy said:
Guys 8 pages of drivel on what sucks and more is not in my opinion what you should look at. It means we finally have a proper choice about who we want as our Telco and choice is good. Also CDMA is not like HSDPA or any of the other technologies as it works on a lower frequency and lower frequencies means less interference and more stanility. I'm going for one of these when it becomes available and only so because I finally have the choice! Stop complaining about stuff you know nothing about and realize competition is really and finally hapenening a day I thought I'd never see :)

Peace
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You wanna run that by me again?
 
How about a poll of how many of the mybroadband users intend switching to Neotel and how many are not impressed enough?
 
hj2k_x said:
You not worries about what happens to your phone line when the power goes out?

What about making a call whilst being connected to the net?
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Will keep the Telkom line for phone calls until Neotel has a better option there. Can always use the cell phone if it goes down. For us, it's cheaper then just the ADSL portion and a 10GB SAIX account.
 
Abe said:
Will keep the Telkom line for phone calls until Neotel has a better option there. Can always use the cell phone if it goes down. For us, it's cheaper then just the ADSL portion and a 10GB SAIX account.
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I see. Ok, that makes sense I guess.

For now, I guess we should just wait to hear what their ADSL offers are going to be like, because this wireless offer is certainly not going to work for a lot of people, certainly not stand-alone in any case.
 
hyperian said:
But you can't make calls at the same time.
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Just on the internet access it's cheaper so you don't need to make calls to make it worthwhile. You could easily get a Telkom Closer package and the NeoTel option for cheaper (and dare I say more reliable as when your ADSL goes down, it could be down for a while) then Telkom.
 
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