SA Consumers

[TonyA]

Hi,

After following these forums for some time now, I can say that they are very informative and contain lots of good advice with regard to setting up equipment, useful websites devoted to ADSL and the like.

It is a given that Telkoms prices are high and they need to look at other countries to ensure deeper broadband penetration, India and the like. Howver with some 78% of the country borrowing money to buy food (See News 24), one wonders whether Internet access is really a problem?. If you can afford it pay the price - you have no option until next year!

The other half of the country is dying from Aids, so once again where are priorities? Who really cares what a bunch of affluent (?) people are paying for internet?

On a normal Distribution curve you will find that some 85% of people are law abiding, but in RSA all corrective action is aimed at 15 % lawlessness to detriment of the other 85%. Look at Cheques in supemarkets, the FICA story and now ADSL

Perhaps the way to convince Telkom and Goverment that it is better to have cheap readily available access to Internet is to continously point out that it is the medium that increases awareness, improves education, allows the user to get detail resarch and make informed decisions (ie to see both sides of the story) and to learn more about the global village we live in!

I suspect that Telkom is scared to face the fact that the Global village is here and that people may no longer accept their matrarchal vision if they can access the Web! (No Son you may not borrow the car )

My 2 cents!

 

[mbs]

It is a given that Telkoms prices are high and they need to look at other countries to ensure deeper broadband penetration, India and the like. Howver with some 78% of the country borrowing money to buy food (See News 24), one wonders whether Internet access is really a problem?. If you can afford it pay the price - you have no option until next year!

The other half of the country is dying from Aids, so once again where are priorities? Who really cares what a bunch of affluent (?) people are paying for internet?

For as long as we're subject to the downright criminal shenanigans of Telkrap, it will always be justifiably seen as a problem. Direct comparison with other social inequities is, very simply, disingenuous. As you have indeed pointed out in your post, telecomms is an enabling medium that has a resultant effect on other imperatives. It is precisely for that reason that the prioritising of societal needs is misplaced - telecomms must be addressed NOW, with the drawing of comparisons of this kind being somewhat pointless.

On a normal Distribution curve you will find that some 85% of people are law abiding, but in RSA all corrective action is aimed at 15 % lawlessness to detriment of the other 85%. Look at Cheques in supemarkets, the FICA story and now ADSL

If you're implying that this site's focus falls within the 15% range you refer to, again note that the telecomms sector must be seen as somewhat unique and not subject to direct comparisons. Very much like finance, it is in fact an enabling vehicle, and should not be constrained the way it currently is.

Perhaps the way to convince Telkom and Goverment that it is better to have cheap readily available access to Internet is to continously point out that it is the medium that increases awareness, improves education, allows the user to get detail resarch and make informed decisions (ie to see both sides of the story) and to learn more about the global village we live in!

Now you've got it...

I suspect that Telkom is scared to face the fact that the Global village is here and that people may no longer accept their matrarchal vision if they can access the Web! (No Son you may not borrow the car )

I would see that as falling within the realms of sensationalist conspiracy. Very simply, Telkrap's motives are more to do with outright corporate greed.

 

[dominic]

Perhaps the way to convince Telkom and Goverment that it is better to have cheap readily available access to Internet is to continously point out that it is the medium that increases awareness, improves education, allows the user to get detail resarch and make informed decisions (ie to see both sides of the story) and to learn more about the global village we live in!

infuriating isn't it?

why is there co-ordinated activism in the telecomms sector as opposed to others?? yes because of the rip-off (but no different from other industries) but most simply because of the medium...people who have a problem with telecomms are quite often people adept at using them. so we see the information-sharing, increased awareness, collaboration etc that the internet and other technologies brings facilitating activism

irony par excellence

 

[LabAnimal]

Nice one TonyA. : )

 

[TonyA]

What I Mean by 15 % is that it always the law abiders (innocent) who suffer from the rules imposed to curb the 15 %. (Guilty) It is not a dig at the forum, but at Telkoms easy way out. Hunt for the Guilty, Punish the Innocent!

 

[mbs]

Aahh, OK - gottit... From a service delivery point of view, it makes better sense for all providers to focus on the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) - rather look after the 80% who comprise the major portion of beneficiaries (and hence revenue source), than the remaining 20% proving to be problematic...

 

[daysleeper]

Tonya, I with you!

I fully agree, there are bigger problems in our country. But us 15% that care about faster internet carry a huge tax burden and we want fast and cheaper internet.

 

[TonyA]

I fully agree, there are bigger problems in our country. But us 15% that care about faster internet carry a huge tax burden and we want fast and cheaper internet.

Yes thats fine but the haves are not going to convince Govt including Telkom to change unless some how the have nots are brought onboard. They have the power to insist on change. We need them on our side and without access to technology such as this we need to arrange a plan/method to get them to start lobbying which why I suugested using other platforms to push the drive for cheaper and more acceptable Internet access.

 

[pimal3]

Easy, just hook the have-nots to the internet. You only have a chance until October 31 to show them how the internet can help them. After that, bandwidth will be too damn expensive to share with them.

 

[daysleeper]

laptop and mtn?

At this stage of the game, I'm so tired of this crap, I've had every type of internet technology excluding two way satelite.

Its just not worth the money anymore. I have nothing to show for all the money I have spent on installations, hardware and subscriptions.

I give up.

Now its down to my laptop and nokia IRDA GPRS modem. I download my mail at R2,00 per meg. This my sound like a lot, but its reliable, mobile and best of all you don't have to pay these rentals and only a small portion goes to telkom.

The problem with the pricing is demand and supply. There is enough demand at these high prices to justify the small number of dsl subscribers.

DSL is really not worth R800 per month for 3GB, I'm sorry. I can think of a million better things to do like gambling, with that money. I'm not a "have not" I have, but there is just no value!

To telkom I'm just another number, part of there billion rand turnover, my concerns are lost in the system. And by paying, I tacitly agree to be treated like a tit!

 

[cableguy]

Go Tony!!

 

[Wolfling]

Well the other way to look at it: Do the government want to keep that (relativly) high income, law abiding, tax paying 15% minority in the country, to help create jobs for the other 85%?

I am the CEO of a small local IT company. We are doing fine, except that Telkom eats up 80% of our income. (that leaves us with a loss) In a case like this, do I stay in SA or do I host international? In fact why not move the whole company to a more friendly environment, like Cyprus?

We have already moved the hosting to an international server (pm me for ways to cut your hosting fees by 90%...)

Thus the country loses another customer and another 20 odd jobs, and all just because the Government would not let go a few bucks (remember who owns the biggest share in Telkom...) and are raping the 15% for whatever they can get.

 

[Maestr0]

TonyA...good post man. A person's judgement tends to be clouded when a specific company is raping you in the ass. Thanks for making me realise that expensive internet access isn't all this country have problems with.

Cheers man.

 

[MrGray]

Broadband access is not a case of the haves vs. the havenots. As has been proven elsewhere, especially in the tiger economies of south asia, it creates new industries, new oppurtunities and therefore increases prosperity. It might seem irrelevant to some shortsighted people that broadband costs so much - what they don't realise is that it has a huge knock-on effect for job creation. If I can open an international support centre here, thanks to broadband, the jobs created are not limited to the technical ppl I employ directly - it creates an incremental demand for all peripheral services. My new company now needs transport, premises, printing, garbage removal, cleaning services, refreshments, toilet paper, security, furniture, training, signage, accounting services, etc etc etc. India has created an outsourced support industry very successfully, but SA could take a lot of business away from them as we have roughly the same daylight cycle as Europe. It just doesn't happen though, because of the prohibitive cost of telecoms and broadband here. This is only one example of many, where lack of cheap reliable communications is costing this country dearly. Broadband is NOT a luxury and we need to move away from that mindset. In today's world it is a competitive prerequisite.