Short Voice Service

V

vodacom3g

Vodacom Representative
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Effective 19th of October (yesterday), Vodacom launched a Short Voice Service, first of its kind in SA.

SVS allows Vodacom customers to dial another mobile directly and leave a voice message. The service was designed to be much simpler to use than voice mail and is available to all subscribers, not only those with voice mail enabled.

To leave a SVS, simply dial the number preceded by a #. For example #-082-123-45678

The recipient will receive a SMS notifying him or her of the SVS and he/she can then dial #99 to retrieve it.

Service is free till 9th of November after which it will be charged at R0.90 per SVS message.

A small percentage of subscribers configure and use their voice mail and this service was thus designed to allow a wider audience access to voice messaging.

So, there you go; Send a living, breathing, screaming, shouting, singing message!
 
vodacom3g said:
Effective 19th of October (yesterday), Vodacom launched a Short Voice Service, first of its kind in SA.

SVS allows Vodacom customers to dial another mobile directly and leave a voice message. The service was designed to be much simpler to use than voice mail and is available to all subscribers, not only those with voice mail enabled.

To leave a SVS, simply dial the number preceded by a #. For example #-082-123-45678

The recipient will receive a SMS notifying him or her of the SVS and he/she can then dial #99 to retrieve it.

Service is free till 9th of November after which it will be charged at R0.90 per SVS message.

A small percentage of subscribers configure and use their voice mail and this service was thus designed to allow a wider audience access to voice messaging.

So, there you go; Send a living, breathing, screaming, shouting, singing message!
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Is this service only for on-net calls? Can I use leave a voice message to MTN, Cell C or Virgin user?
 
Huh, whats simpler than voice mail?

You can easily dial the voicemail number of any cellphone directly and leave a message.

I'm missing the point of this "feature"?
 
remybfg10k said:
Huh, whats simpler than voice mail?

You can easily dial the voicemail number of any cellphone directly and leave a message.

I'm missing the point of this "feature"?
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This is simpler than voice mail. It's easier to use, navigate and manage.

But the big thing is the recipient don't need to first set up a mailbox, which a large % of subscribers don't do (for various reasons).

So think of it as a OOB 'Voice SMS' feature.
 
dam said:
So is it 90 cents to send plus 90 cents to retrieve? Or just 90 cents total?
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Its 90c wasted in my opinion, however I can see the odd use when dialling a new number and getting a "The subscriber that you have dialled is not available at present" message. I might use it on the odd occasion, but question the charge for a service that is effectively free for me already.
 
DJK said:
Its 90c wasted in my opinion, however I can see the odd use when dialling a new number and getting a "The subscriber that you have dialled is not available at present" message. I might use it on the odd occasion, but question the charge for a service that is effectively free for me already.
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Exactly, but even then I just send an sms if i cant get through.

If the recipient must pay 90 cents to retrieve a message that I sent then I will never use it, it will be just as bad as sending a please call me.
 
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Yip, an sms is cheaper and to be honest (and I don't intend for this to become a MTN vs VC thread), MTN offer free sms' on their contracts, so why not use them for that function instead of paying VC more for a service that will IMO hardly ever be used.

Sorry V3G, I am a difficult client to please and Vodacom aren't winning themselves any favours by launching fringe products which are of little to no benefit to their client base, whilst not even bothering to reduce their contract subscriptions or provide some VAS' such as MTN have done. Vodacom are losing me as a client because of their lack of willingness to compete and I am becoming more and more disgruntles by it every day that action is not taken, because I don't want to move to MTN - I almost feel forced to do so to save a few thousand rand!
 
DJK said:
Yip, an sms is cheaper and to be honest (and I don't intend for this to become a MTN vs VC thread), MTN offer free sms' on their contracts, so why not use them for that function instead of paying VC more for a service that will IMO hardly ever be used.

Sorry V3G, I am a difficult client to please and Vodacom aren't winning themselves any favours by launching fringe products which are of little to no benefit to their client base, whilst not even bothering to reduce their contract subscriptions or provide some VAS' such as MTN have done. Vodacom are losing me as a client because of their lack of willingness to compete and I am becoming more and more disgruntles by it every day that action is not taken, because I don't want to move to MTN - I almost feel forced to do so to save a few thousand rand!
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No problem. Here I'll now insert my standard answer: "Because a certain product does not appeal to you, then it does not automatically not appeal to anyone else" ;)

You're a technology-savvy, educated, literate, English speaking person, right? What do you think your representation of the SA demographic base is?

Say you're blind or your home language is Zulu, or (low-and-behold) you can't read or write.

Now would this be a service that could be of value to you?
 
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vodacom3g said:
No problem. Here I'll now insert my standard answer: "Because a certain product does not appeal to you, then it does not automatically not appeal to anyone else" ;)

You're a technology-savvy, educated, literate, English speaking person, right? What do you think your representation of the SA demographic base is?

Say you're blind or your home language is Zulu, or (low-and-behold) you can't read or write.

Now would this be a service that could of value to you?
Click to expand...

I was being a little selfish in my argument most definitely. However being what I would refer to as a "premium" type subscriber, I would like to be able to see and feel the benefits of new product launches or changes made, instead of funding new income streams. One can argue the great benefits of this service to those groups you mentioned, and I hope Vodacom targets its advertising to them, however the initial capital outlay will pay itself off and become another revenue stream - lets be honest here.

Apologies if I come across a little "skeptikal" (pun intended), but I look at things from a business perspective and a marketing one too, so tend to see through a lot of the bullsh1t and tell it like it is. And I guess with my recent Vodacom issues, I am becoming a little perturbed and frustrated at Vodacom, which in turn makes me somewhat disinterested in products that I have partly funded but have little to no value to me.

It would be nice if Vodacom started to show as much appreciation for their existing clients as they do for additional revenue streams. That is my real beef at the end of the day, as I have made clear in my last two Vodacom/MTN/Contract threads/rants. Anyways, this probably isn't the thread for me to continue with my Vodacom rants.

For the underprivileged and handicapped, great product, **** price. For the rest of us, means very little and results in a disillusioned customer base...
 
DJK said:
I was being a little selfish in my argument most definitely. However being what I would refer to as a "premium" type subscriber, I would like to be able to see and feel the benefits of new product launches or changes made, instead of funding new income streams. One can argue the great benefits of this service to those groups you mentioned, and I hope Vodacom targets its advertising to them, however the initial capital outlay will pay itself off and become another revenue stream - lets be honest here.

Apologies if I come across a little "skeptikal" (pun intended), but I look at things from a business perspective and a marketing one too, so tend to see through a lot of the bullsh1t and tell it like it is. And I guess with my recent Vodacom issues, I am becoming a little perturbed and frustrated at Vodacom, which in turn makes me somewhat disinterested in products that I have partly funded but have little to no value to me.

It would be nice if Vodacom started to show as much appreciation for their existing clients as they do for additional revenue streams. That is my real beef at the end of the day, as I have made clear in my last two Vodacom/MTN/Contract threads/rants. Anyways, this probably isn't the thread for me to continue with my Vodacom rants.

For the underprivileged and handicapped, great product, **** price. For the rest of us, means very little and results in a disillusioned customer base...
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I saw you referring to your problems with VC before but have not seen any threads on the topic? Linky? or start a new thread here and let's discuss.

Hopefully this product will create a new revenue stream. After all that's what businesses are supposed to do, grow their revenue. I'm sure your business has it as a primary objective as well? (Or do you work for free?)

But what you should not forget is that someone is RECEIVING a SERVICE in return for this revenue they pay over. That's the important bit; Any company will offer a basket of services and consumers can pick and choose which ones they want and which they consider to be worth their money.

In this case a need was identified (the user base explained above) and a product was developed and will be made available to them. No-one is holding a gun against their heads, but hopefully they'll find it usable enough to use it.

That's how the free market works. Companies develop products and compete in an open market for customers. If your product mix / pricing is right, you'll do business. If not, you're probably toast.
 
Ok, working now, must have been a network fault.
 
milano said:
Didn't work just got a beep-beep. Thought it was just # then the number?
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No, a friendly lady should answer and give you a beep after which you leave your message. You then just drop the call after your message and the recipient will get an SMS to inform of the availability of the message. When they listen to it, it will be deleted automatically.

/added/ See you got it sorted.
 
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vodacom3g said:
I saw you referring to your problems with VC before but have not seen any threads on the topic? Linky? or start a new thread here and let's discuss.

Hopefully this product will create a new revenue stream. After all that's what businesses are supposed to do, grow their revenue. I'm sure your business has it as a primary objective as well? (Or do you work for free?)

But what you should not forget is that someone is RECEIVING a SERVICE in return for this revenue they pay over. That's the important bit; Any company will offer a basket of services and consumers can pick and choose which ones they want and which they consider to be worth their money.

In this case a need was identified (the user base explained above) and a product was developed and will be made available to them. No-one is holding a gun against their heads, but hopefully they'll find it usable enough to use it.

That's how the free market works. Companies develop products and compete in an open market for customers. If your product mix / pricing is right, you'll do business. If not, you're probably toast.
Click to expand...

I have no doubt that VC have done their market research on this and I have no doubt that some users will find some value in this service. Personally I won't and my issue is not with the service nor my supposed lack of education on free markets, but just my increasing frustration at Vodacom. :o

Here is my first rant: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=137819
And my 2nd one - http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139993
 
vodacom3g said:
No, a friendly lady should answer and give you a beep after which you leave your message. You then just drop the call after your message and the recipient will get an SMS to inform of the availability of the message. When they listen to it, it will be deleted automatically.

/added/ See you got it sorted.
Click to expand...

Whats the time-limit on the SVS? My earlier question is still not answered, is this service for vodacom customers only?:(
 
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