No data bundle expiry for three years: Icasa

supersunbird

supersunbird

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https://techcentral.co.za/no-data-bundle-expiry-three-years-icasa/78248/

Communications regulator Icasa has amended previous draft proposals on data expiry meant to protect consumers from high communication costs.

Icasa had previously proposed introducing regulations with tiered expiry of data bundles — the larger the bundle, the longer it would take to expire.

It has now amended this proposal, and now wants all prepaid bundles to have a minimum expiry period of three years (unless used).
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Think how much money the networks can save by not having to send expiry notifications for 3 years!
 
before this data business was everywhere, the cellular providers used to keep all the "expiring" minutes and sms in banks. called sms banks and minute banks.

i bet they do the same with data that "expires"

dodgy mofos
 
access said:
before this data business was everywhere, the cellular providers used to keep all the "expiring" minutes and sms in banks. called sms banks and minute banks.

i bet they do the same with data that "expires"

dodgy mofos
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That BS. If you really think that's how it works, I got news for you...
 
All is good and well, but what stops an SP to configure their system so that newest data will be used first, then the oldest data later? :erm:

Should use the oldest data first, then switch over to the newer data bundle and so on.
 
The_Librarian said:
All is good and well, but what stops an SP to configure their system so that newest data will be used first, then the oldest data later? :erm:

Should use the oldest data first, then switch over to the newer data bundle and so on.
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That would be dodgy but I could see it happen.

I still don't get why they are so against longer data expiry. The cost of data is ever decreasing as the tech advances. So if I buy a big package today and use it over two years I pay today's price for it but use it later when it is actually cheaper to give me the data. The cell companies seriously need to stop being so predatory around data. To me it seems like a monopoly. They used to print money from revenue for SMS's and voice traffic. With the competition lowering their profits in that arena they have shifted into fleecing us with data costs. I really wish the competition commission would have a serious look at how data prices are determined as it seems like a conspiracy to me.
 
access said:
so you were working for them during the time i am talking about?
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No, it's just pointless to "keep it in a bank or pool or whatever", and fruitless and nonsensical to boot. They bill you as you use it, your allocation of minutes and SMSs is just a billing function, and if it expired it's just a billing system update on the account. That's how telecommunication systems work.
 
supersunbird said:
No, it's just pointless to "keep it in a bank", and fruitless and nonsensical to boot. They bill you as you use it, your allocation of minutes and SMSs is just a billing function, and if it expired it's just a billing system update on the account. That's how telecommunication systems work.
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ah ok, so because you cannot comprehend a reason for it, it must be untrue. :crylaugh:
 
access said:
ah ok, so because you cannot comprehend a reason for it, it must be untrue. :crylaugh:
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It's just data entries in a billing system, so at best the "bank" was just a database of info and stats.

It's not like they then said, "oh, we have these unused expired minutes and SMSs, lets sell them to someone else"...
 
supersunbird said:
It's just data entries in a billing system, so at best the "bank" was just a database of info and stats.

It's not like they then said, "oh, we have these unused expired minutes and SMSs, lets sell them to someone else"...
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every sms, minute(second) has a value/cost, that cost is paid for by the subscriber when they purchase a contract or airtime/sms, it is how they calculate the cost of contracts etc. these "digital assets" (for lack of a better description) do not just dissolve after the thought up expiration. the "digital asset" value leftover is(was) added to a record/database/"bank"(as it was called) and resold, assigned to staff or used for promotions/marketing/advertising. the "digital asset" was reused, not just reset to 0, they kept record of them and used them.

ever wonder how mtn for example can afford all the sms spam? there are millions of sms paid for sitting in the bank waiting for use.
 
Cius said:
That would be dodgy but I could see it happen.

I still don't get why they are so against longer data expiry. The cost of data is ever decreasing as the tech advances. So if I buy a big package today and use it over two years I pay today's price for it but use it later when it is actually cheaper to give me the data. The cell companies seriously need to stop being so predatory around data. To me it seems like a monopoly. They used to print money from revenue for SMS's and voice traffic. With the competition lowering their profits in that arena they have shifted into fleecing us with data costs. I really wish the competition commission would have a serious look at how data prices are determined as it seems like a conspiracy to me.
Click to expand...

The problem is the fundamental disconnect between how they pay for data and how they charge you for data. Their cost is for capacity - speed - and not for volume. So they have to balance their spend on bandwidth (last "mile", transit, backbone, breakout, international) with their revenue from data. Selling you 1GB now doesn't actually correlate with any precision to how much bandwidth they need to provision to cater for your gig, if that gig could be used at any arbitrary time in the future.
 
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