Telkom Closer 4 is cheaper than iBurst??

Closer better/cheaper than iBurst?

Not lost at all - It seems that you and I are going give credence to the "frying pan and the fire" analogy with our Closer applications.

Much of the forgoing illustrates what we can expect from Telkom.

I am distinctly apprehensive as to what the service levels will be.
 
I signed up with iBurst in November 2005, and since then have mostly been an avid fan of the service. I've often done a simple cost calculation of iBurst vs aDSL and iBurst generally came out tops, once all the costs of aDSL were factored in. In recent months, however, the speed of the service has dropped considerably.

This makes me think further - looking at these Telkom plans, I get some voice minutes included. My household has always been a mobile one. Where we've had a Telkom line, it's generally been pay-as-you-go and very lightly used. Thinking about it logically, though, most of the people we phone do have access to a landline.

If I combine our current combined data + cellular voice spend, these Telkom schemes suddenly look a lot more compelling. I guess this is extra incentive for iBurst to crank up their appeal as a data-exclusive provider, with some competitive packages? I still think they are doing okay as a Telkom alternative, but the competitive edge has gone.

Fortunately, we just have to wait until 2012 and there will be a wide variety of economical bandwidth options available from Neotel!
 
RatX: That is exactly what I looked at and noticed that I would end up saving money. Especially since it's cheaper to phone a cellphone from a landline than from another cell... Some guy posted the stats at one point and I was shocked to see he was right.

Now that Closer 4 offers true per second billing to cellphones it's going to save me even more
 
GavinMannion said:
RatX: That is exactly what I looked at and noticed that I would end up saving money. Especially since it's cheaper to phone a cellphone from a landline than from another cell... Some guy posted the stats at one point and I was shocked to see he was right.
Click to expand...

I remember that guy miscalculating by basing the Telkom prices on 30 seconds rather than 1 minute, not sure if you saw the corrected version so just check to be sure:)
 
Not only are the cell rates cheaper from a landline, but on a Closer Plan billing is per second, which slashes costs considerably.

I just received my first Telkom bill on Closer 5, and the out of bundle call charges came to R85. R50 was international calls, and R35 for calls to cell. Since most calls to cell were less than a minute, the total cost was pretty good. Past months my total call charges were in the R400-R700 range.

Previously I was paying 1100pm for Iburst G9, and my Telkom land line averaged R600pm. Total R1700pm.

Going forward, lets say my out-of-bundle call charges are R100pm, Closer 5 is R700pm. Uncapped DSL is (currently on special R1200pm). I'm paying a total of R2000pm.

So for an extra R300pm I have 4Mbps down and no data cap.

Of course, I could also have gotten 10Gb for R500pm (WebAfrica), which would be a saving over Iburst G9 of R400pm.

But even 10Gb with a 4MB/s seems completely ludicrous. I can use that in a day. My data use for January has just topped 150Gb. I don't think there is any way back for me now... :eek:
 
Ed Hall said:
Hi Guys

All I am asking for is some time to get a complete and accurate answer. What I want to talk about is what we are doing...so I am not trying to keep anyone in suspense, its not my way of handling complaints, all I did was post to say that I will respond and that I am aware of the thread...

Thanks
Ed
Click to expand...

So Ed 2 weeks and the only thing I have seen is that iBurst expects another 50000 customers in 2007.

No news of reducing prices as everyone else has done or even improving the current service offerings. You are just expanding your coverage...

Got a call on Monday saying my ADSL will be installed in the next 16 days... So maybe you want another 50 001 customers to hit your target :D
 
fishfly said:
I think ed forgot about this thread :(
Click to expand...

Ed forgets about this entire site for months on end and then generally posts some inane "Just wait and see" comment and we are meant to be grateful.

It's a pity because iBurst was fantastic in the beginning but they have just stagnated in the last 6 months.
 
well I must give them credit, their site looks better than the old one :) so they did do something in that department.

I'm still not 100% convinced with their business plan of rolling out 250 BS around the country yet the pricing staying the same whilest telkom has lowered their tariffs.

Ed forgets about this entire site for months on end and then generally posts some inane "Just wait and see" comment and we are meant to be grateful.
Click to expand...
You are right, I recall seeing about 8 of these msgs coming from Ed, and not all during the same period.

Ed from the customers point of view you are wasting your customers time and patience with the same message. Sounds like the standard "All talk and no action" plan
 
Closer installation

GavinMannion said:
So Ed 2 weeks and the only thing I have seen is that iBurst expects another 50000 customers in 2007.

No news of reducing prices as everyone else has done or even improving the current service offerings. You are just expanding your coverage...

Got a call on Monday saying my ADSL will be installed in the next 16 days... So maybe you want another 50 001 customers to hit your target :D
Click to expand...

Make that 50 002. Got a call Monday saying 12 Feb was activation day.
 
Yesterday was my last day on iBurst, so make that 500 03.
 
Hmmm, time for Ed to give a few answers in regards to the rollout of 120 base stations this year, since as far as I remember an upgraded tower can handle 100 users.:confused:
+_50,000 new users on 120 new towers works out +4 times as much as a tower can handle, even if you include the existing towers and assuming they have equal loading they will all be overloaded.......:eek: :rolleyes:
 
You need to remember that not all subscribers will be connected all the time....

So one tower could feed about 300 users... Well that is the answer I expect anyway :D

Pity broadband is meant to be 24hour connectivity...
 
Hi All

I've been away for the last couple of days, and now I am back...

The money we are spending on coverage is seperate from what we are spending on other important parts of the business, such as systems and customer care improvements.

As we progress through the weeks and months I will update everyone on the forum on what we are doing. I don't have any news right now, but as it becomes available, I will let all know.

Regards
Ed
 
GavinMannion, you are assuming that subscribers will not be connected at the same time, thats not good enough since the product should be able to handle all users at the same time, or they should not oversubscribe the system.........it's beginning to sound like eskoms lack of power stations running on the edge of blackouts.:rolleyes:
 
If the aim for 2007 is 80 000 users on 250 basestation, that works out to 320 per basestation.

If 320 users decide to use an existing basestation simultaneously, they get to share 20Mbps. That works out to about 64kbps apiece...

Not exactly broadband...

...but illustrative of what actually happens during peak hours.
 
Ed Hall said:
As we progress through the weeks and months I will update everyone..........
Click to expand...

i.e. don't hold your breath for any major changes in respects of product improvements, cap increases or drop in prices. They are just interested in signing up 50 000 new subscribers on an already over priced, under performing service.

It is a huge pity as we have been on iBurst from the beginning and it really looked like they were going to provide us with highly innovative and competitive products. Guess not.

As soon as our area becomes ADSL compliant or HSDPA becomes more affordable, we will be using our modem as a paper weight.
 
Hi again

MrH and GavinMannion have a point, the base stations should handle all users at the same time, hence the capacity base station rollout that we are undertaking. Bear in mind that we want to position the base stations so coverage is good and throughput is good. It does not make sense if a user is 5km's away form the base station, can connect, but throughput is lousy...

What we have found over the last few months, is where a user is in a bad coverage area according to our maps, but because he is only one of a few connecting to the base station, throughput is great, speeds are great...and then more users join, and throughput and signal quality slows. This is what we are addressing with the base station rollout.
 
Ed Hall said:
Hi again

MrH and GavinMannion have a point, the base stations should handle all users at the same time, hence the capacity base station rollout that we are undertaking. Bear in mind that we want to position the base stations so coverage is good and throughput is good. It does not make sense if a user is 5km's away form the base station, can connect, but throughput is lousy...

What we have found over the last few months, is where a user is in a bad coverage area according to our maps, but because he is only one of a few connecting to the base station, throughput is great, speeds are great...and then more users join, and throughput and signal quality slows. This is what we are addressing with the base station rollout.
Click to expand...

If one reads the article or press release, nowhere does it state this. So you have to forgive us as consumers for thinking that iBurst is more intent on increasing their customer base than looking after their existing clients.

It still does not explain, however, why iBurst is not attempting to at least remain competitive in respects of product launches and pricing. As has been stipulated many times on this forum, the leader of the pack has now been relegated the position of straggler.

It is one thing to hear what may be happeing in the near future, but this does little to appease those who have been waiting for these changes for some time.

As such the "immenent" release of newer, better speeds/products is just that, a press release with little or no factual basis and until iBurst do something in the VERY NEAR future, I suspect that I will not be the only client to move onto greener pastures as some of the other members here have already done.
 
Ed Hall said:
This is what we are addressing with the base station rollout.
Click to expand...

Not according to your press release today. According to that the base station rollout is part and parcel of your plan to treble your client base in 2007.

You can't have two different stories. One for shareholders and investors. Another for clients. Not if you want to be believed...
 
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