Sentech punts wireless broadband

[The_Unbeliever]

Why go Sentech when iBurst is expanding aggressively?

I'll rather go with iBurst as Sentech have been too quiet of late... now they're waking up and trying to corner a few suckers... too bad, you snooze, you lose, it's the law and any savvy businessperson knows it.

@ kaspaas - for me it's cheaper to check myadsl via opera mini and cellphone often than dialling in and checking in... - and I haven't got any mymeg bundles...

 

[Tns]

Subscribers who plan to spend longer periods of time using the Internet can take up a calling plan, such as Telkom Closer, to make surfing more affordable, says Telkom spokesperson Lulu Letlape.

That closer is the biggest cash cow ever.It is way cheaper using infinite call.1900 to 0700 cost of call is R9
Do the maths and you will see their so called closer is a waste of money, they had the same crap a year or so back.

 

[LifelongGamer]

Smith’s argues that consumers and businessmen working in a small/home office environment probably won’t need a GB of data, which makes the MyWireless Flexi 200 Package at R 299-00 or its 500 MB package priced at R 399-00 affordable alternatives to ADSL.

I find it really distressing that so called 'providers of broadband' overlook the reason why broadband was developed in the first place. The above statement makes a generalised statement based on the fact that the connection is ONLY used for e-mail and the occasional surfing. Anything else, and it simply is not a viable option.

Broadband these days is becoming more essential when using the Internet than ever before. Despite Telkom and SA Government's belief that 3Gb of slow data transfer is enough, the rest of the world has moved ahead and a lot of the content on the Internet is multimedia enriched which means faster connections are needed in order to avoid slow webpage loading and larger caps are mandatory in order to view the content. The Internet isn't just browsing 1 or 2 websites a month and checking your e-mail. This narrow-minded view needs to be changed right now if we want to compete on a global scale.

 

[Ekhaatvensters]

Well I must say, if, like Lifelonggamer implies, you are only surfing (even if it is multimedia rich content on a web page) you wil be hard pressed to out do a 3-5gig cap on just browsing and some email.

Higher caps are really only for downloading, hardly browsing, you cant really use just browsing as an excuse for much higher cap than say 5 gigs.

but ofcourse there are hundreds of other reasons for higher caps, but browsing doesnt count that much naymore in higher cap world, check how many gigs someone in a country with uncapped 4mb+ broadband uses on surfing, I doubt it could be much more than 3-5 gigs.

 

[combustionman]

Dial up is dead

Dial up is Dead ! And for all you Helkom lovers copper is old tech. Look how the prices have dropped on the wireless networks. Soon the prices will be lower than Helkom, faster connection speeds and better service. Boycot Helkom!

 

[OhGats]

Well, if dial up is dead we only have to thank telcon for helping to usher it into an early grave with their prices and monopolistic attitude. Hang on a mo... if sentech goes down the loo (Given the way they are heading now) I may have to dust off my old duxbury and give eject a bel. Agh nee, and here I thought I was finished with dial up.

 

[LifelongGamer]

... you wil be hard pressed to out do a 3-5gig cap on just browsing and some email.

Higher caps are really only for downloading, hardly browsing, you cant really use just browsing as an excuse for much higher cap than say 5 gigs.

Depending on your interests, it is hard to exceed a 3Gb cap, but the quoted 200Mb - 500Mb (from the article) is a heck of a lot less than 3Gb and can very quickly be used up unless used ONLY for e-mailing (without a lot of large attachments) and general surfing. The moment you start using the Internet for more (such as keeping Windows Update(d), ensuring you have the latest Graphics Card / Sound Card Drivers, doing Academic / Business Research - with multimedia downloads of pictures, movie clips, affiliated stats etc.) 3Gb may not be enough unless your scope / interest is limited.

For example, with all the hype for the XBox 360 launch, I've done some online research and browsing the tomes of info on the Internet, you'll quickly find high-resolution screenshots, streamed interviews and downloadable trailers for current and upcoming games. I assure you, using up 100Mb over a weekend checking all the related sites is very feasible - I've done it. With Sentech's 1 'cheap option' this is a 50% utilisation which leaves very little for the rest of the month.

It gets a lot worse if you're a gamer. For some nostalgic reason I decided to give EQ a try last month. I downloaded the EtN trial and subsequently bought the Platinum Pack as well. Patching the core game and expansions for EQ alone cost just shy of 2.8Gb of bandwidth last month. Then there was the nearly 600Mb Guild Wars World Preview Event for the upcoming NightFall Expansion. These were over and above the normal, scheduled maintenance patches for GW and CoH/CoV. Needless to say that for the 1st time ever, I exceeded my monthly 4Gb cap by an extra 2Gb in September. EDIT: Almost forgot to include the Patch for WoW ... I luv games and switch from one to another when I get bored - luckily they each offer something unique, hehe

If I didn't play online games, I would've been below 3Gb, but without the Patching it is impossible to load the games so I had no choice at all. Someone with interest in fewer games than myself could still manage with 3Gb IMO but my point is that the Internet should not be limited by factors of cost or bandwidth availability - with sufficient planning it does not have to be a 'limited' resource because it's artificially created. We don't harvest bandwidth, we don't mine bandwidth, we don't eat or drink bandwidth - we using connected hardware and software to create it. This makes it a renewable resource and should thus be priced a lot cheaper.

But I've digressed. The bottomline is that the article highlight's Sentech's shortsightedness in their product offering (at least to me).

 

[Prometheus]

Between Sentech and Icasa this has really been the month of mindless utterings. For what is supposed to be "broad"band you can do surprisingly little with it compared to dial-up. And coming from Sentech this is really LMAO funny. Once they reach a speed of at least 56k and a cap of at least 10GB for under R380 I might believe it. Till then go back to the loonybin. And to offer a smaller 200mb and 500mb flexicrap package that is more expensive than what an uncapped or at least a decently capped service should be to "broadband" customers who want less bandwidth is just plain ridiculous and would be completely unnecessary if the service was fairly charged in the first place. So why on earth will I even consider it when for R299 I can get 598mb instead of 200mb and for R399 I can get 798mb and there is no hidden access charges involved which are completely redundant and also no need for a rollover which you don't even offer.

Well I must say, if, like Lifelonggamer implies, you are only surfing (even if it is multimedia rich content on a web page) you wil be hard pressed to out do a 3-5gig cap on just browsing and some email.

Higher caps are really only for downloading, hardly browsing, you cant really use just browsing as an excuse for much higher cap than say 5 gigs.

but ofcourse there are hundreds of other reasons for higher caps, but browsing doesnt count that much naymore in higher cap world, check how many gigs someone in a country with uncapped 4mb+ broadband uses on surfing, I doubt it could be much more than 3-5 gigs.

I disagree. It is quite easy to do 100MB in one day on vlive. And that was only 'light' surfing while watching my usage. A real net junkie who technically is not a high end user can easily surf 1GB in a day making 30GB/month the minimum that should be offered. But that is hardly the point. They offer it as an internet service and not a browsing service. You should be able to use the internet and not only the world wide web which is just a small application running on the internet. If you are going to exceed your cap when going off web it is no longer an internet service.

Dial up is Dead ! And for all you Helkom lovers copper is old tech. Look how the prices have dropped on the wireless networks. Soon the prices will be lower than Helkom, faster connection speeds and better service. Boycot Helkom!

Sheesh, better tell all those millions who are still using the old dinosaur and getting a lot out of it. I guess I should call Sentech and tell them to come and set up my 10GB/month internet service for less than R400/month and equipment that costs less than R200. DIAL-UP FOREVER!!!

If wireless from a company who just killed the only product making them a worthwhile competitor is the future we are all doomed and may just as well give up without a fight. T T T T Touch Yesterday and dial your isp number and welcome to the stone age.