Telecommunicating

microfast · Feb 17, 2004

From the archives in October 2003 - worthwhile reading again.
http://www.myadsl.co.za/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=877

and December 2003
http://www.myadsl.co.za/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1318

The CUASA article in current news is most relevant.

"With such rapid growth in the development and use of VoIP technologies, we question the relevance of restrictive South African legislation," says Webber. "The use of applications such as Skype are almost impossible to police. We even suspect that Telkom's own internet service (Telkom Internet) is being used to carry such services. Does this render our legislation defunct?" he questions.

The govt. can legalise, license or do as they please but eventually technology will prevail.
Trying to keep the ox-wagon rolling is futile.
But if you are an ox-wagon driver what else can you do ??

What amazes me is how many ox-wagon drivers we have in government [

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]

BTTB · Feb 17, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">The govt. can legalise, license or do as they please but eventually technology will prevail. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I basically told Telkom this in my Complaint I sent a month ago. Im still awaiting a reply. Im sorry but this oke is going to jump ship soon. Telkom has made fools out of us too long. Im going to use any means possible to circumvent using Telkom's network.
My wife switched off her cell phone today and put it in the cupboard. We will only use it when we go long distance. I believe that Cell Phone charges and Land Line Charges in this country are so rediculously overpriced, one cant even imagine the countless billions the likes of vodacom and telkom have made out of the SA public and are still making.

I mentioned to my wife as we drove around shopping today is, I cant understand why the people in government allow this situation to go on. She promptly replied the following...."they dont care, because their cell phones are paid for by the taxpayers".
I thought to myself, wow now this is a woman that doesnt even know where the On button is for the PC. But what she said must be so true. Im sure Mr White's cell is paid for by Telkom.

I also have a call blocking facitlity on my land line preventing any premium calls and cell calls.
Im sure the people on this forum can understand my standpoint. If millions of people in SA had to just have the same attitude to Telkom long ago, things would of been better.
Everyone accepted, myself included the deal telkom offered us. They took us for granted and we accepted. We are to blame. But will telkom ever admit to its shame.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">What amazes me is how many ox-wagon drivers we have in government <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
And the almost impenetratable thick skin of red tape that laagers around them.

<hr noshade size="1">You can take Telkom out of the Post Office but you can't take the Post Office out of Telkom.

onionpeel · Feb 17, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by BTTB
Im sure Mr White's cell is paid for by Telkom.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
...and Telkom owns 50% of Vodacom, so it costs Telkom even less [

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FreeFan · Mar 29, 2004

Why do you guys think cell phone calls in South Africa are expensive? I keep seeing this complaint and find it unfounded.

I have lived in South Africa, France, Switzerland, the UK and the States over the last 5 years and in none of those countries was the mobile service as good as it was in SA or as cheap. In the States you pay for incoming calls to your mobile. If you take that into account, your phone actually costs quite a lot. In Europe, calls are more expensive by the unit too.

Jerrek · Mar 30, 2004

How much do you pay?

C$20 [R100] a month gives me 200 airtime minutes. Airtime can be used for making calls or receiving calls. Additional charges are:

- no charge for local
- no charge for long distance
- 10¢ [R0.50] a minute for long distance in Canada for receiving (meaning, if I'm out of my home area thats what I pay in addition to airtime)

Long distance charges when making a call start at 4¢ [R0.20] a minute to the US, Canada, and western Europe.

In addition, I take voicemail and caller ID ($5 [R25]) a month, and with taxes, service charge, and everything it comes to $37 a month [R185]. All long distance is extra. I usually stay under $40.

There are packages tailed for long distance customers, but I'm not one of them.

Data calls connect at 144 Kbps and cost about R500 for unlimited usage. Certain cities connect at over 1 Mb and average 600 Kbps.

The clock is ticking................... 1,174 kb/s - I brake for no one
http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/cogeco.jpg

BTTB · Mar 30, 2004

Thanks for that Jerek.

A good insight into what people in Canada pay. It's comparatively very cheap.
Your country is also very large, even bigger than SA. How many millions of people live in Canada. Just for a comparison to size and population.

<hr noshade size="1">You can take Telkom out of the Post Office but you can't take the Post Office out of Telkom.

Karnaugh · Mar 30, 2004

Erm yea thats nice.

Just an SMS in UK costs 10p last I was there, no matter what time it was.

I agree our cellphone costs are bloody reasonable.

One fight at a time... Cellphone industry seems to have the most cut throat competetivity of them all.

- Colin Alston
colin at alston dot za dot org

"Warning: Use with extreme caution."

georgestrydom · Mar 30, 2004

I heard a rumour that a pure internet phone that rings just like a normal phone etc over ADSL lines was being designed and tested in this country. The story was that it was being tested here so as to keep it out of sight of the Asian countries. I thought well that makes sense, with the hold that Telkom has on South Africa, there is no way that that any info will ever get out of this country and the irony is that it might have been developed here, but there is no way that we, Joe Public, will ever be allowed to use it.

FreeFan · Mar 30, 2004

In France I pay about €45 a month (R400) for 4 hours of talk time on my mobile contract. That is talk time to local mobile/fixed lines only. Voicemail is free and I get a choice of 2 value added services. I have caller id and detailed billing but have to pay for anything else. Billing is per minute although it isn't on all networks. SMS's cost 15c per sms. We don't pay for received calls here. Basic WAP service is €6 (R50) a month on top of that. All phones cost money here even if you take a new subscription. I paid €50 (R460) for my first phone (a 3310 Nokia) and €70 (R650) plus all my loyalty points for a 3510 Nokia two years later.

ADSL is much cheaper here though. I pay €30 (R270) for a 5MB/s degrouped ADSL line. I can plug a phone into the modem and get free calls to any French fixed line plus discounted international calls. I also get about 100 channels of TV on the same line (TV plugs into the modem too) PLUS I'm free to share the connection with whomever I want via wi-fi.

FreeFan · Mar 30, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by georgestrydom
 I heard a rumour that a pure internet phone that rings just like a normal phone etc over ADSL lines was being designed and tested in this country. The story was that it was being tested here so as to keep it out of sight of the Asian countries. I thought well that makes sense, with the hold that Telkom has on South Africa, there is no way that that any info will ever get out of this country and the irony is that it might have been developed here, but there is no way that we, Joe Public, will ever be allowed to use it.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">See my post above. In France we already have that. You just plug any normal phone into the ADSL box. Skype also announced at CEBIT that Siemens Dect phones will be available with Skype built in from third quarter of 2004.

Jerrek · Mar 30, 2004

Canada has 30 million people (a little less than California), and over 9 million square kilometers. Very little of Canada is covered by cellphones.

Yellow - old analog
Green - digital
Orange - digital & CDMA 1X data service (144 Kbps)

http://www.telusmobility.com/images/coverage/pcs_can_lg.gif

(this is only Telus Mobility [my provider]. Bell, Rogers, Fido, and the other carriers have their own coverage areas)

SMS is 10¢ each. (R0.50) Unlimited for $5 (R25) a month. I don't use it though.

I chose to go with Telus because of the digital coverage. They are slightly more expensive than Fido, which uses the old GSM system. If you're a Fido customer, Telus will match your rateplan and give you a free phone if you're willing to switch. Some of Fido's rate plans are:

(prices in rands include taxes and service fee)

$30 [R200] - Fido to Fido Canada package
- Unlimited local and long-distance calls between Fido subscribers anywhere in Canada.
- Unlimited evenings and weekends
- 150 weekday minutes

$25 [R170] - Fido to Fido local package
- Unlimited local calls, text messages and chatting between Fido subscribers
- 1,000 evening and weekend minutes
- 100 weekday minutes

$30 [R200] - Evenings and Weekends Package
- 1,000 evening and weekend minutes
- 150 weekday minutes

$45 [R275] - Evenings and Weekends Package
- 1Unlimited evening and weekend minutes
- 350 weekday minutes
- 250 minutes of long distance to U.S. and Canada

$50 [R300] - Evenings and Weekends Package
- 150 evening and weekend minutes
- 1,000 weekday minutes

$100 [R550] - Evenings and Weekends Package
- Unlimited evening and weekend minutes
- 1,000 weekday minutes
- Free value add on services such as voicemail, etc.

$30 [R200] - Talk and Text
- 300 anytime minutes
- 100 text messages
- Free value add on services such as voicemail, etc.

Optional services (can be added to any of the above packages)

- Fido to Fido (unlimited calls, including long distance, and unlimited texts, between Fido customers) $10 [R50]

- 100 minutes long distance - $5 [R25]

- 250 minutes long distance - $10 [R50]

- 850 minutes long distance - $25 [R125]

Well there ya go. I have no idea what it costs in South Africa or the UK. Anyone want to enlight me?

The clock is ticking................... 1,174 kb/s - I brake for no one
http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/cogeco.jpg

Jerrek · Mar 30, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by FreeFan
 ADSL is much cheaper here though. I pay €30 (R270) for a 5MB/s degrouped ADSL line. I can plug a phone into the modem and get free calls to any French fixed line plus discounted international calls. I also get about 100 channels of TV on the same line (TV plugs into the modem too) PLUS I'm free to share the connection with whomever I want via wi-fi.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Interesting.

I pay €40 [R350] for 10/1 Mb cable. Vonage (http://www.vonage.com) gives me

- US$15 - 500 minutes anywhere in the U.S. and Canada
- US$25 - Unlimited local calling, plus 500 minutes long distance in the U.S. and Canada
- US$35 - Unlimited calls in the U.S. and Canada

Those prices include the line rental of the telephone, and any area code in North America of my choice. Additional numbers (also in any area code of your choice) are $5 a month each. [I have a Toronto number and a Dallas number.] It also includes all the nice features of caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, etc.

Calls to Europe are 2¢ per minute. [R0.14]

Vonage plugs into the cable modem, and all your phones plug into the Vonage box. Very neat. It has a QoS gadget thingy built in so when I'm downloading at top speed it doesn't influence the phone calls.

The clock is ticking................... 1,174 kb/s - I brake for no one
http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/cogeco.jpg

antowan · Mar 30, 2004

These type of phones are already in use in Asia. Must be a new model or something. Telkom had a contractual obligation a while ago (don't know if they still do) to have UTP pluggable phones in SA by 2006 or something....

These phones would run on IP's...

Cheers

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by georgestrydom
 I heard a rumour that a pure internet phone that rings just like a normal phone etc over ADSL lines was being designed and tested in this country. The story was that it was being tested here so as to keep it out of sight of the Asian countries. I thought well that makes sense, with the hold that Telkom has on South Africa, there is no way that that any info will ever get out of this country and the irony is that it might have been developed here, but there is no way that we, Joe Public, will ever be allowed to use it.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

He who does not understand the value of war at the right time, cannot comprehend the value of life at any time - Anonymous

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Telecommunicating

microfast

Well-Known Member

BTTB

Executive Member

onionpeel

Senior Member

FreeFan

New Member

Jerrek

Senior Member

BTTB

Executive Member

Karnaugh

Banned

georgestrydom

Active Member

FreeFan

New Member

FreeFan

New Member

Jerrek

Senior Member

Jerrek

Senior Member

antowan

Honorary Master