Telkom Closer 4 is cheaper than iBurst??

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GavinMannion

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Okay I have a problem, my iBurst has been fantastic ever since I signed up and I have never had a problem with it. (Apart from wireless latency but there is not much they can do about that).

However I have recently been looking at the Telkom Closer 4 package which works out to be a lot cheaper in the long run for me as I have a Telkom line at home and I cannot get rid of it.

I really don't want to go with Telkom though but money talks.

Does anyone know of any GOOD reason why I should stay with iBurst?

Something along the lines of iBurst becoming cheaper or getting faster in the next 3 months. Definitive timelines are important here...

Why do you guys not use ADSL?
 
No definite timelines, but 2mb/s is coming...

Apparently so are other changes to the services, and a price cut was not ruled out, but this was not their preferred method of improving the product. Perhaps a bandwidth (cap) increase for all etc.

Besides that its up to you. No idea how long you will have to wait for this. They announced these plans quite a while ago.

I don't use ADSL because when I phoned them about it, they said 2 months :(
 
I have heard about 2mb/s for over a year now... Imminent springs to mind :D

My cap is fine so that won't help me currently, I am currently looking at purely the financial aspect of it and bizarrely Telkom seems to be a better choice.
 
2mb/s plans was never officially announced... so good luck with the wait... does the closer package tie you into a contract?

if not you can play around by getting dsl installed and canning them when you feel they not sufficient enough.
 
No there is no contract unless you sign up for a free modem and that type of thing....

I just have moral issues about joining Telkom :)

But It works out at about R300 -- R400 cheaper per month than my current bill. January Budget is calling loud and clear :(
 
Glipsie said:
Does the closer package include the ISP or is it just line rental?
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Just line rental (Both line rentals)

For only R499 per month this plan brings you all the benefits of Plan 3 (Cellular savings, Free calls - Callmore time, 1000 inclusive minutes - Standard time) bundled with DSL up to 384kbps bringing you fantastic savings!

Note: Home Line rental and Call Answer are included in the monthly subscribtion of R499!
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My current Telkom monthly bill is +- R600 plus R300 for iBurst = R900

If I only get a 1Gig package from webafrica this ends up costing me R600.....

It might be slower but it's better for Online gaming, skype and I get double the bandwidth I have now!
 
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GavinMannion said:
Does anyone know of any GOOD reason why I should stay with iBurst?
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Economically, there is no good reason. I'm now on Closer 5 (4Mbit/s).

Doing the math:

Iburst G9 (R1100pm) + Telkom Landline (R600pm) = Closer 5 (R700pm) + R1000pm to spend on ISP bandwidth fees.

Problem is that iBurst have not changed their packages or prices for almost 2 years. What was once competitive is now expensive.

IBurst may still be able to attract new customers, but can they keep their established customers? Not unless they start playing catch up to ADSL and start offering value for money again.
 
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My only problem I have now after doing some more investigating is that I want a Closer deal with a 512k line. 4mb would be nice but just not justifiable at the moment.

But I think I can live with 384k for a while and then upgrade when IPTV comes out maybe?
 
GavinMannion said:
My cap is fine so that won't help me currently, I am currently looking at purely the financial aspect of it and bizarrely Telkom seems to be a better choice.
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Well of course, they must have an army of actuaries behind the scenes working out to the exact cent at what point that they can maximise profit[1] vs effort[2] bearing in mind the competition[3]. So maybe it's not so bizarre after all ;)

[1]theft
[2]least amount of effort being the objective
[3]at present the wireless/cellular entities
 
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I stated some time last year that iBurst needs to jack up their ideas as their price competitiveness was fast being eroded by Telkom.
 
fishfly said:
2mb/s plans was never officially announced... so good luck with the wait...
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It was officially announced a few times, including Ed Hall making mention of it.

I don't want to bother finding the news article on it on, but it was on MyADSL.
 
Yeah I have been saying similar things for a while as well. I do think the time has come though.

iBurst are no longer the fastest or the cheapest. They also don't have the best coverage and I see a lot of people complaining about how stable there connections are.

iBurst really need to offer something good and soon before they start losing some market share.

I managed to get 3 people to sign up with them because they where the best IMO, but times change, this is why you never sign a 24 month contract.

I see Ed was online earlier and has completely ignored this thread. So obviously the official iBurst rep has no reason why I should stay with them.

Bad Ed.......
 
GavinMannion said:
I am currently looking at purely the financial aspect of it and bizarrely Telkom seems to be a better choice.
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Well its not that bizarre seeing as they are the Telecoms and ADSL monopoly in SA. It's very easy for them to undercut competition, they can easily still make money on a plan like closer 4. DSL line rental, cellular savings, and free call more should all basically be there already :/

Doesn't stop it from being a better choice though. Go for whats cheapest..
 
I noticed there are about 4 threads about this plan today.... Obviously it has got some people paying attention...

Noone has found a problem yet, I think I will have to change.....
 
Only problem is you might end up dreaming about that helpdesk that told you to change your MTU...

But you will probably also not be phoning them as much.

Let us know how it goes then.
 
my 2 cents for what its worth from an ex-iburster that was cost and data usage wary

384 DSL + 3GB Cybersmart (+ phone line rental) = 245 + 125 (+ 99)
= R 370 (R469 incl phone line rental)

More data at a smaller price was a priority for me.
 
Just do your homework properly and make sure that there are no hidden costs somewhere.

iBurst will work out more expensive as they're buying bandwidth from telkom... thus telkom is undercutting everybody...
 
The_Librarian said:
Just do your homework properly and make sure that there are no hidden costs somewhere.

iBurst will work out more expensive as they're buying bandwidth from telkom... thus telkom is undercutting everybody...
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Ah but iBurst used to be the cheapest option. However Telkom have been dropping line rentals now for the last 2 years and iBurst have done nothing.

Oh sorry they gave me free fax-2-email which a lot of ISP's also offer? Yay :rolleyes:

They need to either lower costs or increase the cap and/or speed to stay in contention.
 
GavinMannion said:
Ah but iBurst used to be the cheapest option. However Telkom have been dropping line rentals now for the last 2 years and iBurst have done nothing.
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IIRC price drops in August 2005 and 2006, but unfortunately not the ADSL rental entry level price in August 2006 :mad:

Nevermind the fact that they are triple charging for the access to fraudband...
 
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