Who cares what his motives are - at least he's stepping up to the plate, committing resources, and actually doing something.
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Number portability postponement "a disgrace"
- Thread starter rpm
- Start date
Nothing you mention is really an excuse.
Some idiot picked Grintek. That in itself was a mistake. That Grintek is allegedly late is not our problem, but the operators. It is their responsibility to have put in place a contract that punishes Grintek for being late.
A month is enough time if you put in the effort and have the incentive to get the work done. The US has five times the population and presumably at least five times as many mobile phone users.
If they want to give them an extension that is acceptable, but the operators must be punished regardless. The ideal would be for ICASA to take control of pricing and declare all cellphone contracts between now and whenever in the future number portability goes live to be non-binding. Hit them with a big stick and keep hitting them until they deliver.
Of course Branson's not on our side. No business is on your side. They exist to separate you from your money.
sparklehorse
Senior Member
Yup, probably true. Just like kulula and their daylight savings campaign. However, whatever his motivations, it is a good thing that he is being proactive. Of coarse he wants to make money, but MNP will benefit customers and the sooner it happens the better. We need more prominent people speaking out against the shortcomings of ICASA and co. If nothing else, some people might realize that they can't get away with dragging their feet any more.
In the end virgin will still have to provide a competitive package before I switch.
I dont think you know how it actually happened..From what i understand, ICASA chose grintek, it had nothing really to do with the operators..the solution was delivered to ICASA and not the operators. so the operators cant punish grintek.. And also remember that its not entirely grinteks fault either, they only received the go ahead to develop the application from icasa fairly recently..
If you have five times the number of users in the USA, it doesnt make that much of a difference. Its a software solution that is automated... its not like it takes an extra month for more subscribers, its a testing process between the operators that works basically the same even if you 5 times the users..The hardware requirements maybe a different story
@Bwana, i do agree they should be fined since they dragged their heels on the issue, however, compare it to this situation. You have to deliver a bridge in a country in a week, but you havent started because you were stupid... now even if you agreed to the deadline before hand, you cant keep to it no matter what...Even if the company says we demand the bridge in a week..
So fine them, thatll be fair, but i doubt these emails will help because its not like they have it ready...And how often has ICASA done anything when its received complaints from customers?
Do you think that when it started looking like they wouldnt make the deadline they a) started pouring in resources or b)started thinking up excuses.
Look at the disparity between the delays they want - they're not even on the same page there.
@Bwana
1. Haha, well ur right, they probably did think up excuses.
2. Thats cos the different operators are in different stages of completion.....30 oct. and 30 nov. are the different dates
And BTW i think icasa released a date this morning..... and i doubt any1 here will be happy. Infact i sense an uproar looming
1. Haha, well ur right, they probably did think up excuses.
2. Thats cos the different operators are in different stages of completion.....30 oct. and 30 nov. are the different dates
And BTW i think icasa released a date this morning..... and i doubt any1 here will be happy. Infact i sense an uproar looming
And BTW i think icasa released a date this morning..... and i doubt any1 here will be happy. Infact i sense an uproar looming
When was the last time icasa did anything to benfit the SA consumer?
Useless
Strobemeister
Expert Member
I agree that Branson is doing it to get support, but it doesn't hurt the public cause to get prominent industry leaders to speak out against the delay.
However, i will not be emailing support, as experience tells me that i will then be on the mailing list for all virgin products.
However, i will not be emailing support, as experience tells me that i will then be on the mailing list for all virgin products.
Operative word being "given". They did not choose it. Does no-one take into consideration the fact that this is not the only thing they are working on? This is big business, these guys have a plan layed out that they work to. Being given a deadline like this seriously screws with it.
Highflyer_GP
Honorary Master
We have deadlines and plans laid out too, what makes them more important than us? The fact that they generate billions in revenue from our hard earned cash? We work towards our deadlines, why can't they? I don't buy this testing crap when it's implemented overseas over much shorter notice periods. MNP has been spoken about since last year already - they should have started working on it since then.draX said:
If they were given the power to choose a deadline then we'd never see number portability. Plain and simple - they had a deadline extended already, and now they want another one? How many times is this going to happen before we see any changes? Fine the bastards daily, that's the only way.
savage
Expert Member
Im more than likely going to shoot myself in the foot saying this, but as a employee at a large respectable cellular operator (33% chance u guess it right I guess)...
The kind Sir Richard is merely a virtual operator operating on top of Cell C. The guy with the big mouth does not have to physically sit and implement all this.
While I am ALL for MNP (trust me, I can't WAIT to get away from Cell C), three weeks already JUST building/deploying servers to to handle this under IMMENSE pressure and severe lacks of sleep... It's not my idea of fun.
Whilst all of this do go on, please just keep in mind that Virgin is not required to physically do anything here, except biatch and moan (like the most of you as well). There are however, kind poor souls that is 200ft deep piled under work due to this, still sitting at home at 10PM on a Wednessday night, implementing and deploying machines to handle this (i.e. WORKING OVERTIME).
I'd like it if a bit of respect can be shown for that as well. There's very valid reasons as to why the implementations are late at MTN, Vodacom, and Cell C - which I'm not going to get into due to NDAs with the company I work for. I can however assure everyone that work is being done here at a MASSIVE pace, and that to date, no extentions has been granted. We're still supposed to be all systems go by the 18th (at this time), and we are not going to miss deadlines...
Hope someone finds that usefull.
The kind Sir Richard is merely a virtual operator operating on top of Cell C. The guy with the big mouth does not have to physically sit and implement all this.
While I am ALL for MNP (trust me, I can't WAIT to get away from Cell C), three weeks already JUST building/deploying servers to to handle this under IMMENSE pressure and severe lacks of sleep... It's not my idea of fun.
Whilst all of this do go on, please just keep in mind that Virgin is not required to physically do anything here, except biatch and moan (like the most of you as well). There are however, kind poor souls that is 200ft deep piled under work due to this, still sitting at home at 10PM on a Wednessday night, implementing and deploying machines to handle this (i.e. WORKING OVERTIME).
I'd like it if a bit of respect can be shown for that as well. There's very valid reasons as to why the implementations are late at MTN, Vodacom, and Cell C - which I'm not going to get into due to NDAs with the company I work for. I can however assure everyone that work is being done here at a MASSIVE pace, and that to date, no extentions has been granted. We're still supposed to be all systems go by the 18th (at this time), and we are not going to miss deadlines...
Hope someone finds that usefull.
savage
Expert Member
Check your calendar please. Original deadline is the 18th. As far as I am aware (the guy deploying all test, development, and currently, production servers for MNP), the deadline is still the 18th.
It's only the 13th day. Allot happens in 5 days where I work my friend... I'm not saying it will be done, but it's also not impossible to be frank.
Should the operators be fined for essentially a belated decision by icasa... Dont know, I just work for them
savage
Expert Member
Ai toggie.
1) Your deadlines are based only on you, if you're lucky, maybe a few other people, if you're important, maybe a couple of thousand other pppl. What we do, affects MILLIONS of people. If we get this wrong, all three networks could suffer MASSIVE outages
2) Testing, is IMPERATIVE. What happens when the load is under estimated, and the systems fail? How do you know how much load you'll need to plan for? You, TEST... Test, test, test and TEST! We're implementing production at the moment, they are STILL deploying more test systems to test the applications with
3) Overseas... hah. Yes, it's the same technology (cell is cell is cell), but the administrative systems, the billing systems, and the complexity of those systems are as unique as can be. NO ONE would have the same systems, and I can guarantee you that.
You *clearly* don't understand the volumes we're talking, the importance of getting it right, and the neccessity to test and implement it correctly...
Obviously the implementers feel the pressure of the deadline and you do your best, but when companies that make ridiculous amounts of money bitch about not being able to be done on time it doesn't endear them to the people who's money that take every month.
Whatever the cost would be to get it done on time these companies can pay 10 times over. In the end it boils down to the fact that this is good for the consumer not the business and hence the dragging of feet and gnashing of teeth. You wont find anyone here that sympathizes with companies that make a killing off our hard earned money and provide, at best, crappy service.
Are they operating on razor thin margins aswell? Thought not...