SEACOM Uncapped Pricings for new ISP

Fantastic1 said:
so basically

a 1mbps 1:1 line will cost R 850 on a 10:1 should be
a 1mbps 1:1 line will cost R 425 on a 20:1 real SA
a 1mbps 1:1 line will cost R 284 on a 30:1

a 0.384mbps 1:1 line will cost R 318 on a 10:1 should be
a 0.384mbps 1:1 line will cost R 159 on a 20:1 real SA
a 0.384mbps 1:1 line will cost R 107 on a 30:1

on international only then you add you local ipconnect costs and dont forget to add VAT
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:) Uncapped...
 
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Fantastic1 said:
for those out there that are confused:

the IPCOnnect and Seacom links work at 155 MBps (megabyte per second)
and the prices quoted on them are 1:1 both ways up and down same speed.

Brian from Seacom mentioned that the cost Suveer indicated is 1:1 and in real world to the consumer it is 10:1 / 20:1 / 30:1

our adsl work at 1/4 megabit per second (1mbps/4mbps)

so now work out the number crunching :)

*** NOW ***

1 mbps (megabit per second) = 1,000,000 bits per second

In addition to the confusion over the value of a megabit (mb), there is also confusion between the megabit (mb) and the megabyte (MB). As noted earlier one byte (B) is comprised of 8 bits (b). So, one megabyte (MB), when used to describe data storage equals 220 or 1,048,576 bytes. When used to explain data transfer rates, one megabyte (MB) is 1,000,000 bytes (B), or 8,000,000 bits (b). Therefore:

1 MBps (megabyte per second) = 8 mbps (megabits per second)

Some equivalents worthy of note related to the equation directly above: megabytes per second can be expressed as MBps as well as MB/sec. Additionally, 1 MBps and 8 mbps can also be represented as 8 million bits per second or 1 million bytes per second.
Click to expand...

Fantastic1 said:
from the technically point of view YES
8 x 1mbps on 1MBps Link - no contention 1:1
this is not the norm in contention
norm is 10:1 or 20:1 as Brian from seacom indicated.
Click to expand...

Hope this helps with your calculations. :)
 
Sandman30s said:
How about this (just a random thought at this unearthly hour):

R200 for 20G capped
R300 for 30G capped
R400 for 40G capped
R500 for UNcapped

I'll have to work that out for financial viability, but does that sound fair?

To all those people who commented on youtube - of course this would be tested but I'm not sure about unshaped or whether that would be possible.

And of COURSE the contracts would be fair and open - but a 2 year contract for example would naturally have a discount as well as a cancellation fee. I'm more inclined towards offering monthly debit order with cancellation at any time.
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That makes no sense in all honesty because who is stupid enough to pay 400 for 40g and not 500 rand for uncapped :D

You need to make uncapped like 650, then have 40gb for 350.

Trouble is our adsl market is a bit small so i cannot see how they are going to make money by offering uncapped accounts for cheap.

A lot of people who have adsl and a lot of business that has adsl don't generally use more than say 5 or 10gb a month, you want to tap into that market not the uncapped market in my opinion because the uncapped market is far smaller than the 1,2,3,5,10 gb market.
 
I wouldn't offer uncapped at this stage. You surely realise that people with an uncapped account are going to download 100GBs of rubbish just because they can. I would rather offer 'high cap' accounts as already suggested. The market here is much bigger. Uncapped is a tiny niche with very little if any profit involved in my opinion. I would also consider offering "nightowl" type accounts where you can download after peak times (10pm-6am) with a much higher speed/cap.

I think you should put a poll on this thread asking how much cap people would want to buy from you at say a fixed cost of R15/GB (which i think is reasonable compared to local only costs).
 
Gaz{M} said:
I wouldn't offer uncapped at this stage. You surely realise that people with an uncapped account are going to download 100GBs of rubbish just because they can. I would rather offer 'high cap' accounts as already suggested. The market here is much bigger. Uncapped is a tiny niche with very little if any profit involved in my opinion. I would also consider offering "nightowl" type accounts where you can download after peak times (10pm-6am) with a much higher speed/cap.

I think you should put a poll on this thread asking how much cap people would want to buy from you at say a fixed cost of R15/GB (which i think is reasonable compared to local only costs).
Click to expand...

+1

Uncapped is nice but i can't see how it will work when its a niche product. It only works when most of the internet population are uncapped, and thus subbing eachother.

For now try get us some high cap accounts going.
 
Who cares what people use their bandwidth allocations for? If I'm on uncapped, I'm paying a premium for the service and I won't tolerate anyone dictating what I can do with my bandwidth. If I want to download 100Gbs of rubbish, so what? I really wish we can get away from trying to control what peeps do with their gigs. If peeps want a capped service they can buy one.
 
R220 for 20G capped
R300 for 30G capped
R380 for 40G capped
R700 for UNcapped

that ought to do it.
In all fairness A LOT of people would join your ISP even if it was R500 for 20GB.
 
Having to rely on ADSL via Telkom lines is the pitfall! And it looks like Sentech (which our tax money practically subsidised) is reaping it in with Screamer. Man I hate government corruption.
 
Thestealth said:
Who cares what people use their bandwidth allocations for? If I'm on uncapped, I'm paying a premium for the service and I won't tolerate anyone dictating what I can do with my bandwidth. If I want to download 100Gbs of rubbish, so what? I really wish we can get away from trying to control what peeps do with their gigs. If peeps want a capped service they can buy one.
Click to expand...

Because we are trying to build a sustainable, practical business, not tell you what to download.

Think of it like this:

Sell 40 x 20GB accounts for R200 each = R8000 (Total 800GB)
Sell one waster an uncapped account for R700 and he downloads 800GB.
 
Gaz{M} said:
Because we are trying to build a sustainable, practical business, not tell you what to download.

Think of it like this:

Sell 40 x 20GB accounts for R200 each = R8000 (Total 800GB)
Sell one waster an uncapped account for R700 and he downloads 800GB.
Click to expand...

Sell it as a more expensive option/at reduced speeds. By not providing uncapped because someone will "waste" is telling peeps what they can use their caps for. If that's the thinking, we should stay away from uncapped, cause that by definition is not uncapped. Rather then opt for accounts with high usage at a very cheap price
 
killadoob said:
That makes no sense in all honesty because who is stupid enough to pay 400 for 40g and not 500 rand for uncapped :D/QUOTE]

It's reverse psychology - marketing the uncapped at 500 - so why buy any other option? :)

All your other points have been noted. Like I said, it's a feasibility study at this stage. I will get some market stats from Neotel in time. Even though uncapped is a small market, it is a market nevertheless; that would hopefully give the startup an edge instead of diving into a very competetive SME market.
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I'm thinking of calling the ISP Wildfire - sort of a Highveld blaze that spreads fast :)

Once the company is registered, webpage will follow soon and I will setup polls, starting with who wants cheap high hardcap and who wants uncapped. Webpage will contain investment details with a Sandton law firm trust account.
 
Thestealth said:
Who cares what people use their bandwidth allocations for? If I'm on uncapped, I'm paying a premium for the service and I won't tolerate anyone dictating what I can do with my bandwidth. If I want to download 100Gbs of rubbish, so what? I really wish we can get away from trying to control what peeps do with their gigs. If peeps want a capped service they can buy one.
Click to expand...


I'm with you... The law covers this.
Why waste energy on it.


If I want to snort my WIM, I may. I bought it, it's mine... And when that's done I'll try wet Pronutro :D
 
Dont get me wrong but R500 for uncapped sounds great but as pointed above large hardcapped accounts will force ISP's to counteract with similar products and start a pricewar. Do all us 4mbit users on uncapped really want to download at 1/4 of the speed?
Unlimited local... now there is something id be willing to drop some cash into
 
Sandman30s said:
I'm thinking of calling the ISP Wildfire - sort of a Highveld blaze that spreads fast :)

Once the company is registered, webpage will follow soon and I will setup polls, starting with who wants cheap high hardcap and who wants uncapped. Webpage will contain investment details with a Sandton law firm trust account.
Click to expand...

Jeepers, you are too transparent for your own good. Now every Tom, Dick and Harry wil try and register a domain name related to that. I checked, and wildfire.co.za is already taken. :D

Mind you, I think it is an excellent name and would REALLY like to see you succeed in this. I did not check because I wanted the name btw.
 
My input:

I suspect that once you crunch the numbers you'll find that uncapped isn't sustainable yet, especially at the prices you're looking at. I doubt you'll be able to go below Neotel's R 999, to be honest.

I agree with some of the earlier posters that you'd be better off with "high" cap accounts. Bearing in mind, that with Telkom maxing out at 5GB, anything from 10GB upwards is high cap.
I'd happily take a 10GB, although ideally I'd like 20-30. I think that's a good range for the average "power user". You can do a decent amount of downloading and gaming, without going crazy and killing the network.
If you can get most of your customers in the 10 - 30 range, for a start, with the right pricing, you'll be offering way more than anyone else, without making promises you can't keep (uncapped). Can always move onto that later.
Remember, whatever you offer's gonna have to compete with Neotel's R 999, so that's your pricing limit.
You seriuosly need to put proper numbers to your contention ratios, because that's where you actually make or lose money.
Off the top of my head, I'd think anything from 15:1 up to about 25:1 should be more than adequate from the users' side. Whether you can cover your costs at that ratio, that's what you need to figure out.
I get the impression you don't realise just how important contention ratio is. You really need to work that into your calculations ASAP.
 
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