Telkom doesn't want more effort

MaD · Mar 20, 2004

So I went to the local Hellkom shop to apply for a new line... had a 15 minute chat with a very well-informed gentleman about pricing, bandwidth etc... eventually another guy that worked there said sorry but he can't discuss these things with me.

Basically amongst the few things he said was that Telkom can eaily make DSL R300 a month with no cap and with a SLA.

Me: Telkom can easily make DSL R300 a month with no cap and with a SLA.
Guy: Ja they could eaily do that. But they won't because at that price everyone would want DSL - and that would mean more effort for Telkom. They get bandwidth at wholesale prices and their international bandwidth isn't nearly as expensive as they make out, they get it for the same price as carriers in the US and put a massive markup on it. They don't think normal people deserve the luxury of ADSL.

That's the thing that stood out most for me in the conversation. I also said to him that the exchange upgrades have been paid for already due to the high cost of basic DSL line rental and he agreed, saying that Hellkom won't budge as they're only interested in lining the pockets of their shareholders.

He also said he's seen the Hellkom site & had a good laugh! Now that's the kind of Hellkom employee I like! [

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Just imagine where SA would be now if it weren't for Telkom

BTTB · Mar 20, 2004

Now if those statements were proven factual, Telkom could be in serious trouble again. But that seems to be a regular thing with Telkom lately.

So what he is saying that it’s too much effort to change everybody over to ADSL. Sure I can relate to that statement, hence my motto at the bottom. 'You can take Telkom out of the Post Office but you can't take the Post Office out of Telkom." A beaureacratic relic from the past.

This is one of several reasons why ADSL has not been rolled out on a cost effective national scale. But the main reason I believe is that Telkom doesn’t want a mass migration of its business clientele moving away from their leased lines and all the ISDN and 56K customers all suddenly cancelling for ADSL. The logistic could prove interesting. Telkom would be sitting with a warehouse full of ISDN 2a boxes gathering dust. Also initially Telkom would be losing a substantial amount of money lost from the business sector and the average home dial up customer.

But, yes I agree, they are lazy. A common problem in South Africa.
Also listed with laziness is the attitude of tomorrows another day. Cape Town is most notoriously known for this phenomenon.

<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 20, 2004

Those statements are factual, and that is the exact way it was explained to me a while ago. It's unfortunate but really the only way to help the situation is healthy competition.

<hr noshade size="1">
Very funny Scotty. Now beam down my pants!!

BTTB · Mar 20, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Those statements are factual, and that is the exact way it was explained to me a while ago. It's unfortunate but really the only way to help the situation is healthy competition.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yes I agree they are factual. I was trying to be conservative. Why, I’m not sure. As Telkom never gives the consumer the benefit of the doubt.

The more you read about the Telkom situation the more you realise what a raw deal the SA Consumer has in this country.

Here I am trying to do some work and download some pictures for my business, but I must wait like an idiot, because of Telkom's greed in placing such a ridiculous thing like a 3 gig cap. If I have downloaded 1 gig of international content this month it’s a lot. The capped speed of ADSL is none other than a complete and total disgrace.
Well done Telkom. Several decades of hard earned tax money down the drain.

<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 · Mar 20, 2004

Yes, well put MaD. As I still have no Telkon answer to my long standing question of just how much international bandwidth costs Telkon, I can only assume that this is definitely a case of "the truth hurts". The analogy is the secret syrup formula for Coca Cola...
All that we need now is for a Telkon executive to spill the beans on the international bandwidth costing to the public...
...and the whole Telkon Ivory Tower will come tumbling down!

I say take several international internet products, multiple by exchange rate, average them out and then you should have a rough idea what it should be costing in South Africa. We will probably end up with some price of at least half of what we are paying now.

Those who stare at the past have their backs turned to the future.

VQuest · Mar 20, 2004

This is something that most of us myadsl members already knew, but it's great having things confirmed by a Telkom employee. If we dig deep enough we will be able to prove these facts.

We'll go from a "small percentage of disgruntled users" to a HUGE percentage of disgruntled users and then lastly to the brains behind the downfall of the monopoly.

I can't wait.

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United we stand!
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antowan · Mar 21, 2004

Good day all!

I have to agree with everything you say, but I get the feeling that plenty of people keep forgetting that what we need more than anything in this country is affordable permanent internet connectivity. High speed is important because we need to keep up with or in many cases catch up with the rest of the world.

Back to my point owever. Permanent internet connectivity, be it at 56 Kbps is more important that non permanent ISDN access for instance. Why? Because it opens up new avenues of business that wasn’t there before. The local pizza place can now have an online ordering facility which everybody in the neighborhood has got permanent easy access to from home. Having intermittent internet connectivity is vastly different from having permanent always on internet connectivity, no matter what the speed.

We as ADSL users have it lucky (be it not as lucky as we should be if you compare our service to those overseas), compared to people still stuck on non permanent or not always on internet. We (ADSL users) however will not have the joys of having true always on connectivity until the bulk of South Africa’s internet community or better yet, most of the people in South Africa have affordable access to always on Internet. The more people have te service, the more alternative business opportunities arrise. This is why I regard Telkom as a big stumbling block to South Africa’s future development. Purely because of the lack of vision on the part of its management and our government…

Why are there no packages providing always on internet for ordinary dialup users? If we ADSL users) can get all this speed and always on connectivity for under a thousand Rand, then the ordinary dialup user, who uses a 56K modem, surely can get it for far less…

Cheers
Antowan

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by onionpeel
 Yes, well put MaD. As I still have no Telkon answer to my long standing question of just how much international bandwidth costs Telkon, I can only assume that this is definitely a case of "the truth hurts". The analogy is the secret syrup formula for Coca Cola...
All that we need now is for a Telkon executive to spill the beans on the international bandwidth costing to the public...
...and the whole Telkon Ivory Tower will come tumbling down!

I say take several international internet products, multiple by exchange rate, average them out and then you should have a rough idea what it should be costing in South Africa. We will probably end up with some price of at least half of what we are paying now.

Those who stare at the past have their backs turned to the future.
<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

Dangerous · Mar 21, 2004

Nice to see someone admitting it...
He's probably angry at the service himself.

MaD · Mar 23, 2004

The Telkom staff feel the same as we do, but they can't bad-mouth the company they work for I 'spose... but affirmation is always good, especially if it's from the inside [

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If any of you ever chat with a Hellkom employee, fish around, ask some innocent questions, tell us about it... I always have fun conversations with them, cos HK have said to them play dumb when asked about certain stuff, but they know it all, otherwise they wouldn't have a job there...

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Just imagine where SA would be now if it weren't for Telkom

martin · Mar 24, 2004

We need someone in the accounting department at Telkom to provide us with the profit percentage on ADSL. Any Kevin Mitnicks around? [}

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antowan · Mar 24, 2004

30% plus for 2003 - 2004 as far as I know...

That is increase in profits year on year...

[}

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

MaD · Mar 24, 2004

30%, makes me sick.

They have a social responsibility to South Africa, and if I hear another Proudly South African ad on 5FM which mentions Hellkom I will surely puke.

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Just imagine where SA would be now if it weren't for Telkom

armitage · Mar 25, 2004

SPOKE to a friend the other day his dad works for satan....telkom.....anyways the way they seem to run the show an adsl techie needs to only install 3 adsl modems a day after that their kinda free to do what they want. kinda shows u what sorry lazy bunch they are.
reminds me of the communist system nothing can ever be wrong with the system its just the people that are wrong.[

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Proud South african rip offs.

ajax · Mar 25, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> SPOKE to a friend the other day his dad works for satan....telkom.....anyways the way they seem to run the show an adsl techie needs to only install 3 adsl modems a day after that their kinda free to do what they want. kinda shows u what sorry lazy bunch they are.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Ditto, the lady that installed my ISDN said she is free as soon as she has installed her two jobs for the day!

Ajax

antowan · Mar 25, 2004

Well the "free" time they have after the quota installations should be over with the arrival of the SNO. If not, then we really have reason to burn it all down! [}

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Cheers
Ant

PS. For the record, I am not a violent person, but I do believe in violence under dire pressure... With this message I am not condoning nor denying the good or not so good use of violence against Telkom or any of its subsidiaries. This opinion is mine and not necessarily that of MyADSL or its contributors... I for one do not think we have to start burning Telkom flyers or posters just yet... [8)]

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

caroper · Mar 25, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by antowan
 Well the "free" time they have after the quota installations should be over with the arrival of the SNO.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

On the other hand, they may have nothing but free time after the arrival of the SNO.

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Telkom doesn't want more effort

MaD

Expert Member

BTTB

Executive Member

Karnaugh

Banned

BTTB

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onionpeel

Senior Member

VQuest

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antowan

Honorary Master

Dangerous

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MaD

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martin

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antowan

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MaD

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armitage

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ajax

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antowan

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caroper

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