Uncapped local ADSL trial to end

bwana said:
Have to say to me it seems like telkom - they give you 1.5x the international as well as 10gb local for every 1gb international.
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Didn't they also increase the local cap to 15x recently? e.g. 1gb int gets you 15gb loc, instead of 10gb? I vaguely remember reading something like this recently.
 
I love how everybody (including the media) conveniently ignores ICASA's ADSL regulations published in 2006....

http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=4240

“Local bandwidth usage shall not be subject to the cap.”

Local bandwidth is supposed to be uncapped... there is no mention of charging for it. ICASA meant to say "FREE and uncapped", but in their expert manner they conveniently forgot to specify what this actually means.

But the proof is what happened in 2005 and prior. We all had free unlimited local at that stage. ICASA was trying to restore that state.

Telkom took advantage of the loophole and started limiting, restricting and charging for local bandwidth. This was not in the spirit of what ICASA had intended. But Telkom is so used to flouting ICASA with no sanction whatsoever, and the regulator is so toothless and neutered that they completely failed to enforce their own regulations.

Along came Mweb who instituted free and uncapped local bandwidth and we all shouted Hooray, somebody who finally wants to abide by the regulations.

Well, we forgot that the telecomms industry in South Africa is fueled by greed. pure and unrefined greed. And Mweb, even though the uncapped was not costing them, bowed to the greed and has pulled Telkom as well. so much for competition!

Remember that Mweb is an IECNS licence holder and has already started building its own network. there is no reason why they should continue to be bound by Telkom except greed alone.

Mweb, why not be pro-active and make the local cap much larger? why charge R30 a gig? why not R10 or even R5 a Gig? The answer is greed.

But this will come back to bite them and they will lose all the additional customers they signed up because of the promotion. Well done Mweb, sterling business strategy! Your strategists deserve a bonus!

As for me, I don't even pay for my mweb subs. My Dad pays it so he can keep his mweb e-mail (against my advice), but now I will be cutting him down to the minimum payment needed to retain that address, and eventually we will cancel that as well.

Well done Mweb, in this case you will go from R380.00 a month to R0.00 a month!
 
"there is no mention of charging for it. ICASA meant to say "FREE and uncapped", but in their expert manner they conveniently forgot to specify what this actually means."

Right there, that's all that matters, it wasn't 'convenient' at all, it's typical South African business mentality of 'lets screw the consumer as much as possible'... and if it really was an honest oversight on ICASA's part, then you have to ask, are they really any use?

If what Telkom did was indeed 'not in the spirit of what ICASA had intended', then why have ICASA not done anything about it?

(Not attacking you Gary, agreeing with you, I hate that ADSL in SA is so restricted!)

What's worse is that Telkom still seem to offer the best deal even though they're the biggest offenders! Add to that a consumer who really doesn't have the energy or money to shop elsewhere, and Telkom wins again :(

So, other than Telkom, who's the next best bet for local bandwidth?
 
"Free Local Only" it states on the Mweb prices, if it was so free why are they considering charging R30 per gig if apparently SAIX wholesale is R10 per Gig that's a R200% mark-up on an already marked up price from wholesale.

If this is the scenario then *which I don't think it is as local is supposed to be free & uncapped" they are selling a gig international at R45 yet charging R99 for an additional gig !!

Or does the pricing work out R145 per gig international & an additional gig R99 if so then the local is truly free & then why are we paying for it, what has changed since the offer/trial was offered a year ago ??
 
Snekko said:
charging R30 per gig if apparently SAIX wholesale is R10 per Gig that's a R200% mark-up on an already marked up price from wholesale.
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To be fair the R30 per Gig is from the 11th Gig. The 1st 10 local only Gigs will still be free, at a cost of R100 to them.
 
Snekko said:
"Free Local Only" it states on the Mweb prices, if it was so free why are they considering charging R30 per gig if apparently SAIX wholesale is R10 per Gig that's a R200% mark-up on an already marked up price from wholesale.
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Why are we assuming they pay r10 per gig local? An ISP of their size would have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to negotiating.
 
... and Mweb also has a license to build their own network... some of which they have laid already. Just how reliant are they on Telkom for ALL of their local bandwidth?
 
@ Roman4604 - I really don't believe they are paying R100 for 10 gigs local if this was & has been the scenario I'm sure they would have put a stop to the uncapped local *free & uncapped* ages ago.

Not matter how you look at it their pricing is still a mess !!! R100 (Free Local) + R45 (1gig int.) or R145 (1gig int plus 10 local gigs free) at their cost which would equal the 1st..they charge R99 for an additional gig....

Remember these are whole sale prices to a *free & uncapped* local, Telkom throws minimum of 10gigs at every gig international used for free - SAIX = Telkom
 
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I would have cancelled my Mweb account years ago, but unfortunately have too much tied to my email address.

Like the issue where cellphone numbers were preventing people from changing providers, ISP's should have to follow a similar system, allowing you at least POP3 access to your email address after you've cancelled your account.

Mweb is especially guilty of this as they were the major player in 56k Black Box days, and an @mweb was everyone's first email address. Sure you can slowly migrate to a free gmail account, but that's a huge mission when you've had the same email address for 10 years..

I really think this email address holdup ISP's practice should be investigated.
 
If you cancel today, April is the notice month: no bill for May.

Now to max the line till then:D

021 5968480 option 2 to get acounts, then cancel. Fax forms asap to avoid being billed for May...
 
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Budza said:
If you cancel today, April is the notice month: no bill for May.

Now to max the line till then:D
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iirc its a 30 day notice period. I cancelled in the beginning of March and got billed for the last time at the beginning of this month. :o
 
Snekko said:
Remember these are whole sale prices to a *free & uncapped* local, Telkom throws minimum of 10gigs at every gig international used for free - SAIX = Telkom
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As I've stated before, thats not how SAIX wholesale works. There is no 10Gig local thrown in for free with every 1 Gig blended used. A wholesale reseller pays per Gig for blended & local independantly (from the 1st Gig).
 
"The agreement can be terminated upon prior written notice of 1 (one) calendar month by either party."

Their notification was sent out after-hours on the 1st they have to give you a days grace !!!
 
Snekko said:
"The agreement can be terminated upon prior written notice of 1 (one) calendar month by either party."

Their notification was sent out after-hours on the 1st they have to give you a days grace !!!
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They could have mentioned it during the interview they gave to MyBB last week which would have given everyone ample time.

Hope they let you cancel now without having to pay for May. . . let us know how that works out.
 
Joker said:
I would have cancelled my Mweb account years ago, but unfortunately have too much tied to my email address.

Like the issue where cellphone numbers were preventing people from changing providers, ISP's should have to follow a similar system, allowing you at least POP3 access to your email address after you've cancelled your account.

Mweb is especially guilty of this as they were the major player in 56k Black Box days, and an @mweb was everyone's first email address. Sure you can slowly migrate to a free gmail account, but that's a huge mission when you've had the same email address for 10 years..

I really think this email address holdup ISP's practice should be investigated.
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I had the same problem. I was with M-web from 2000. I started using my gmail account as my primary in 2005, but kept the mweb one for my family and because it was hooked to so many online systems especially all my domain registrations.

But I finally got fed up with their prices and slowly migrated to the gmail only. It takes about 6 months to a year, but you should start the process now.

I put a signature line in my mweb and gmail asking people to only use the gmail account.

Then month by month I went and changed every registration to the new gmail account.

Finally I was rid of them. I will never rely on an ISP address anymore for my primary e-mail.

Now I have to go through the same procedure with my dad.
 
bwana said:
They could have mentioned it during the interview they gave to MyBB last week which would have given everyone ample time.

Hope they let you cancel now without having to pay for May. . . let us know how that works out.
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Yip... why didn't they say what their plans were. Could have cancelled then already!
 
Joker said:
I would have cancelled my Mweb account years ago, but unfortunately have too much tied to my email address.

Like the issue where cellphone numbers were preventing people from changing providers, ISP's should have to follow a similar system, allowing you at least POP3 access to your email address after you've cancelled your account.

Mweb is especially guilty of this as they were the major player in 56k Black Box days, and an @mweb was everyone's first email address. Sure you can slowly migrate to a free gmail account, but that's a huge mission when you've had the same email address for 10 years..

I really think this email address holdup ISP's practice should be investigated.
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I had the same problem MANY moons ago.

Then I got my hotmail account and used that for primary account. No way I will ever use an ISP account for my main account ever again.
 
bwana said:
They could have mentioned it during the interview they gave to MyBB last week which would have given everyone ample time.

Hope they let you cancel now without having to pay for May. . . let us know how that works out.
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I'm not paying for May....but I will let you know...I deleted my credit card details off that control panel & next time I'm in the bank there will be a stop order placed just in case....

I feel deeply sick :sick:

@ Roman4604 so what would you estimate the total cost for arguments sake 1 gig international & 10 gigs free but charged local ??
 
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