Neotel makes the landline mobile

I care :mad: Just wish they could explain it in simpler terms. Not all of us are tech/IT gurus.

So I must have this HTC model phone and can only make calls in CT to CT numbers? What numbers? Cell numbers/landline numbers? Or is this only for receiving calls to landline office number but I get it on my HTC? Doesn't cell routers do this on certain PABX systems?
 
There's this thing called a "cellphone". It's been mobile for years. Sorry Neotel, you're only 20 years too late. Why don't you rather concentrate on being the "second" fixed-line provider like you were supposed to be, and leave the wireless stuff to the professionals.
 
deweyzeph said:
There's this thing called a "cellphone". It's been mobile for years. Sorry Neotel, you're only 20 years too late.
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“But I run my business on my cellphone anyway,” you say. Unless you’re on a Cell C 99c per minute deal (or similar), you are paying too much for calls. Plus there’s still something about a business reachable on an 011-type number. It seems more legitimate, more serious.
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They do seem more legit with a landline number.
 
Ekstasis said:
anyone noticed the words "at landline rates"?
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Ask anyone who's ever used Neotel wireless whether paying landline rates is worth the pain of being a Neotel customer and I'm sure they'd say they'd rather pay a premium for proper wireless telephony.
 
I think the thing that makes people angry about Neotel is that they were supposed to be a competitor to Telkom in the residential fixed-line space. To date they have yet to provide anything for residential consumers as far as fixed-line access goes. Instead they've brought out this second-rate Mickey Mouse wireless network for residential consumers that quite simply sucks.

The cellphone networks are years ahead of Neotel in the wireless space. Neotel should stop messing around with wireless access for residential consumers and instead concentrate on bringing fixed-line access like fibre-to-the-home for residential consumers.
 
No point in switching to their network when you still have to have a telkom line to get competitive internet.

Ekstasis said:
I care :mad: Just wish they could explain it in simpler terms. Not all of us are tech/IT gurus.
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I agree, This is the second article I've read and I still have more questions than answers
 
I recently purchased their cheapest option, a cellular phone on Pay as you go for R299 once off. This service is brilliant as I do now have a 011 number whereby I can roam throughout the 011 area (From Tarlton in the West to Nigel in the East, Midrand in the North to close to De Deur in the south. For Pretoria residents a 012 number would be issued and same for Durban, Cape Town etc.

I was very surprised when I discovered that the phone worked at my small holding in Tarlton as the reception area stop in the West of Krugersdorp.

It is nice to be able to pay the lowest call cost available in the country with NO monthly payment for the "landline" - only for calls at the same rates as contracts except for cellular calls that a bit more expensive. I pay R1.08 to Vodacom and MTN and R1.20 to the other two during peak hours but only 96c/minute after hours and all at per second billing from the first second.

Telkom landlines are 34c/minute during office hours and 17c/min after hours for 011 numbers.

I am also sure that these rates will fall by about 20c/minute in next month after ICASA approves the new rates since the fall in interconnect rates.

A lot of people are complaining that Neotel is not suppying the residential market quick enough, but forget that the Government and Telkom are not pushing through the Local loop unbundling that will allow Neotel to provide wired services into my house.

Interesting is that the Business packages that Vodafone is supplying in the UK include a landline number for the mobile whereby clients can call at local rates without any forwarding fees. Perhaps MTN must take over Neotel and provide the same.
 
Here's my personal experience as I use Neotel prepaid for both landline and data (R800 for 24 gigs to be used as I please over a year.) I've saved thousands in both telephone calls and data bills, and Neogo data is the most reliable internet service I've used yet (tried iburst and CellC.) I live in Table View, Cape Town and have never had a dropped connection while online, something that used to happen to me all the time with CellC.
 
FireTelkom said:
I recently purchased their cheapest option, a cellular phone on Pay as you go for R299 once off. This service is brilliant as I do now have a 011 number whereby I can roam throughout the 011 area (From Tarlton in the West to Nigel in the East, Midrand in the North to close to De Deur in the south. For Pretoria residents a 012 number would be issued and same for Durban, Cape Town etc.

I was very surprised when I discovered that the phone worked at my small holding in Tarlton as the reception area stop in the West of Krugersdorp.

It is nice to be able to pay the lowest call cost available in the country with NO monthly payment for the "landline" - only for calls at the same rates as contracts except for cellular calls that a bit more expensive. I pay R1.08 to Vodacom and MTN and R1.20 to the other two during peak hours but only 96c/minute after hours and all at per second billing from the first second.

Telkom landlines are 34c/minute during office hours and 17c/min after hours for 011 numbers.

I am also sure that these rates will fall by about 20c/minute in next month after ICASA approves the new rates since the fall in interconnect rates.

A lot of people are complaining that Neotel is not suppying the residential market quick enough, but forget that the Government and Telkom are not pushing through the Local loop unbundling that will allow Neotel to provide wired services into my house.

Interesting is that the Business packages that Vodafone is supplying in the UK include a landline number for the mobile whereby clients can call at local rates without any forwarding fees. Perhaps MTN must take over Neotel and provide the same.
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I think that Telkom has a similar service.. Called WCDMA or FLLA which can work on ANY 3G enabled cell phone also allowing the choice of both Geographic Numbers and 08... number depending if its Voice only or data as well. and it will work in any WCDMA tower country wide not only to a specific region.
Also normal landline rates to that number and all the other benefits like the closer options with free calls etc.. SO nothing really new from Neotel

http://residential.telkom.co.za/voice-services/line-rental/fixed-line-look-alike/
 
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^ completely different product. Telkom FLLA is a replacement for a landline phone where there isn't copper infrastructure that uses Telkom's 3G network which is available on a mobile phone basis through 8ta. The product should not be able to move between towers and definitely won't do soft handovers. The phone is included (I assume you are effectively renting the phone) and is not a mobile phone.

The Neotel product on the other hand gives you a mobile phone which connects to two different networks - Neotel's CDMA2000 network (which is a 3G technology but the same as WCDMA which everybody else in SA uses - IIRC Telkom got itself burnt in Nigeria with multilinks involving a CDMA2000 network) which has really limited coverage in the greater scheme of things. [As an aside I don't think the claim that CDMA2000 EvDO is the "most widely deployed of the global 3G standards today" but I do suspect that it has certain advantages in the fixed wireless and limited mobility sphere, although not compelling enough advantages to get anybody in SA other than Neotel on board - I suspect JvZ of Vodacom and somebody at MTN and somebody at Telkom and of course the decision makers at CellC a few years ago when they made their leap will have great insight into this]

Secondly the phone will connect to an "ordinary" cellular network - not Neotel - so what you are getting is a smart phone that connects to Neotel's network which is a fixed line replacement network. This means that you have a running cellphone on CellC, Vodacom, MTN or 8ta (or Telkom mobile)
I suspect that Neotel has divided up its network in some shape or form and so if you move from one part of the network to another it will stop working but that the geographic scope could be pretty damn big.

I am not convinced that Neotel is quite pulling it off with this product but I think it is a good thing for them and it has many great uses where there is coverage. If I was Neotel I would be seriously looking at forming a strategic partnership with CellC - giving both companies access to each others networks. Neotel also need access to the local loop and they need to make an impact on that sphere - honestly I am not convinced that they will even if LLU of the physical copper as required by facilities leasing happens today.

Looking at a small business setup a company can for R450 a user can kit out staff with sufficient communications resources for all the work they can expect the company to pay for - the extra R50 is for the FreeCallZone. From the perspective of having branches on the Neotel network which is of course "fixed line" and you are looking at R150 a month together with staff that aren't deskbound (salespeople, executives) it really makes a difference. However there are many alternative setups and all of the players are singing off the SMME hymn sheet.

What I am hoping Neotel does with this product is expand its capabilities for PBX usage - a "cloud PBX" would be awesome - although I suspect ICASA might have a few things to say and a clearance process. An attorney's firm in Gauteng can essentially have all calls coming through the receptionist and "patched" through to the relevant attorney who can be anywhere in the province and the caller neither knows nor cares. A cloud PBX would involve the absence of on premises PBX equipment and running the system on a webportal (so you receptionist is using a computer).

This product also has the ability for Neotel to make a compelling case to businesses getting Neotel fibre to completely scrap Telkom for communications provision and it makes Neotel look new and hip - internet at the speed of light on fibre and mobile fixed lines (fixed line pricing, mobility within the region).
 
Does Neotel have landlines? I know they have fiber for business users but I have never seen a Neotel telephone with a cable. It is normally some cheap chinese wireless device. Or am I wrong?
 
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