Vodacom ask for your input regarding Blackberry caps. Please vote...

Gaz{M} said:
I would just like to clarify some confusion.

The way BlackBerry works is that the Mobile Operator has to setup a redundant, international bandwidth pipe to RIM's datacentre in the UK. The Mobile Operator carries all the costs for this connection. Thereafter, RIM provides the breakout to the internet which is dirt cheap overseas as we know.

There is a significant cost involved in providing essentially free international bandwidth to a million SA BlackBerry users for R59 a month. By the way, RIM gets most of this monthly charge as a licence fee, so the mobile operator has to subsidise this pipe with a small portion of the R59.

The OS6 and 7 devices and the Playbook support rich internet browsing which further compounds the problem and uses large amounts of bandwidth.
Click to expand...

Wyzak said:
How does the data get from the Internet address to Vodacoms network? Who pays for this? Has RIM installed peering equipment directly on Vodacoms network and are they fully responsibly for getting the data from the Internet onto the Vodacom network?

Then from there it still costs Vodacom just as much to get 1MB of data to a BB user as to any other user.

Vodacom might be the first to make the move, but the other SPs will surely follow suite as soon as the abusers move over to their networks. 95% of Vodacoms users won't even notice this...
Click to expand...

Good posts, finally some rational people out there.

It also saves alot of people from downloading illegal content from the web, a crime in itself.
 
Gaz{M} said:
I would just like to clarify some confusion.

The way BlackBerry works is that the Mobile Operator has to setup a redundant, international bandwidth pipe to RIM's datacentre in the UK. The Mobile Operator carries all the costs for this connection. Thereafter, RIM provides the breakout to the internet which is dirt cheap overseas as we know.

There is a significant cost involved in providing essentially free international bandwidth to a million SA BlackBerry users for R59 a month. By the way, RIM gets most of this monthly charge as a licence fee, so the mobile operator has to subsidise this pipe with a small portion of the R59.

The OS6 and 7 devices and the Playbook support rich internet browsing which further compounds the problem and uses large amounts of bandwidth.
Click to expand...

I'd like to clarify some confusion too. Vodacom had ample opportunity to understand the requirements. The fact that they do not know how Excel or calculators work should not be the problem of the users. The fact that Vodacom are complicit in the high cost of telephony and data in South Africa by no means excuses them from any knowledge of data costs elsewhere in the world.
 
based on package

package cost :
< R150 = 100 MB
R150 - R200 = 200 MB
R200 - R300 = 500 MB
R300 - R600 = 1 GB
R600+ = 5 GB

Reasonable?
 
Wyzak said:
How does the data get from the Internet address to Vodacoms network? Who pays for this? Has RIM installed peering equipment directly on Vodacoms network and are they fully responsibly for getting the data from the Internet onto the Vodacom network?

Then from there it still costs Vodacom just as much to get 1MB of data to a BB user as to any other user.

Vodacom might be the first to make the move, but the other SPs will surely follow suite as soon as the abusers move over to their networks. 95% of Vodacoms users won't even notice this...
Click to expand...

How much does it cost you to transfer data from your hard drive to a memory stick?

The cost is in the infrastructure, not the movement of data. The fact that you have been conditioned to think that it is about the data means that you have been prepped to get ripped off.
 
This is just how dirty politics is played. Politics and Tactics which chip away at our rights and freedoms.
It's a classic bargaining tactic called 'Problem, Reaction, Solution' and it's used by governments and corporations across the globe to rob us of rights and money.

Firstly, the company (Vodacom) wants to maximise it's obscene profits further, by offering less and charging more.
The enticing cheap product review is now over. Just like a drug dealer hands out drugs to new users for free, and then enslaves them. They see how BB has been taken up in mass in SA because of the inexpensive BB service, and now want MORE cash for their CEO's and upper management! Even RIM, who make BB acknowledge SA is their biggest growth point in sales worldwide for blackberry's. This is what they are doing:

PROBLEM - Vodacom is not profiting enough off BB (Greed Factor)!!! They send out a shocking Press Release of tiny 100mb cap.
REACTION - These forums attest to the strong subscriber reaction to the above news.
SOLUTION - They offer subscribers the 'opportunity' to set their own cap, absolving themselves from doing it themselves and having a similar reaction to above. They will later turn around and say they consulted their subscribers publicly and they ASKED us for a 1Gb cap.

Now Vodacom has effectively ensnared us into limiting our own rights to a product which was originally sold as an uncapped offering. People, you are being lead by the nose to waiver your rights to bandwidth that comes dirt cheap to Vodacom.

By capping users, Vodacom are going to be in breach of their contractual obligations to offer an uncapped BB service which was signed by by it's contract customers. They are defrauding us!

SAY NO TO ALL CAPPING !!!!
DON'T BUY INTO CHEAP BARGAINING TACTICS WITH VODACOM !!!!
BARGAIN WITH YOUR LOYALTY TO THE BRAND!!!
 
I don't own a BB but I think 1GB would do for now, in a couple of years it might not.
 
kingdong said:
This is just how dirty politics is played. Politics and Tactics which chip away at our rights and freedoms.
It's a classic bargaining tactic called 'Problem, Reaction, Solution' and it's used by governments and corporations across the globe to rob us of rights and money.

Firstly, the company (Vodacom) wants to maximise it's obscene profits further, by offering less and charging more.
The enticing cheap product review is now over. Just like a drug dealer hands out drugs to new users for free, and then enslaves them. They see how BB has been taken up in mass in SA because of the inexpensive BB service, and now want MORE cash for their CEO's and upper management! Even RIM, who make BB acknowledge SA is their biggest growth point in sales worldwide for blackberry's. This is what they are doing:

PROBLEM - Vodacom is not profiting enough off BB (Greed Factor)!!! They send out a shocking Press Release of tiny 100mb cap.
REACTION - These forums attest to the strong subscriber reaction to the above news.
SOLUTION - They offer subscribers the 'opportunity' to set their own cap, absolving themselves from doing it themselves and having a similar reaction to above. They will later turn around and say they consulted their subscribers publicly and they ASKED us for a 1Gb cap.

Now Vodacom has effectively ensnared us into limiting our own rights to a product which was originally sold as an uncapped offering. People, you are being lead by the nose to waiver your rights to bandwidth that comes dirt cheap to Vodacom.

By capping users, Vodacom are going to be in breach of their contractual obligations to offer an uncapped BB service which was signed by by it's contract customers. They are defrauding us!

SAY NO TO ALL CAPPING !!!!
DON'T BUY INTO CHEAP BARGAINING TACTICS WITH VODACOM !!!!
BARGAIN WITH YOUR LOYALTY TO THE BRAND!!!
Click to expand...

Albereth said:
And for every 'rational' person you'll find a troll/moron.
Click to expand...

Found one!
 
Nerfherder said:
Still no poll ?? WTF...
Click to expand...

There was a poll on the main page an hour ago, but it was a Yes/No poll, not a "vote for the amount you think is reasonable" poll.
You can't put up an "amount" poll until we clearly understand whether it's only Browsing or All Data, and whether we're polling on Actual Data or Compressed Data values, which apparently seem to have a 5:1 ratio.
 
Albereth said:
How much does it cost you to transfer data from your hard drive to a memory stick?

The cost is in the infrastructure, not the movement of data. The fact that you have been conditioned to think that it is about the data means that you have been prepped to get ripped off.
Click to expand...

Essentially I agree with what you are trying to say but that is a different argument than today's. It still costs Vodacom money to deploy the infrastructure, and they are in it to make money.

What my argument is about today is that all non BB users have to pay x amount for Internet access, and all BB users have to pay < x. There should be no cross-subsidization based on handset, unless the handset manufacturer fully covers ALL additional overheads to the SP.
 
@ 4Motion. What is it about my post that you can't comprehend, that you now label me a 'troll' and 'moron'. Can you engage me and what I have stated , based on the merits of what I posted above? You, like so many others here are being 'played' as fools in this profit maximisation game of SA's biggest cellphone corporate, like so many who have been in the past. At most, this company sees you as one of their minions, aiding their agenda of pushing profit before service. You really not doing the soulless, faceless corporation any personal favours they will return one day. Believe me.
 
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I agree with Kingdong regarding the fact that Vodacom is in breach of contract. Again I say, we shouldn't be passive about this. This is the reason why us consumers in SA gets f-ed up the butts - we don't fight for what's right, and then just take the path of least resistance. If we wanna be lazy we shouldn't complain really. We should stand on our rights as the contract is a binding agreement and VC should comply to their end.
 
AniV said:
There was a poll on the main page an hour ago, but it was a Yes/No poll, not a "vote for the amount you think is reasonable" poll.
You can't put up an "amount" poll until we clearly understand whether it's only Browsing or All Data, and whether we're polling on Actual Data or Compressed Data values, which apparently seem to have a 5:1 ratio.
Click to expand...

I see there is another thread with a poll now.

Geez... ANOTHER THREAD
 
@ Albareth. Well said mate. There is little or no cost in bandwidth transfer. The real intrinsic costs are infrastructure, salaries of execs among the highest in SA, fancy shops and establishing African markets based on our high fee subsidisation model. They should be cutting their fat and not our service!
 
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Wyzak said:
Essentially I agree with what you are trying to say but that is a different argument than today's. It still costs Vodacom money to deploy the infrastructure, and they are in it to make money.

What my argument is about today is that all non BB users have to pay x amount for Internet access, and all BB users have to pay < x. There should be no cross-subsidization based on handset, unless the handset manufacturer fully covers ALL additional overheads to the SP.
Click to expand...

Vodacom is a business that provides telephony and data services. One of its channels is BB.They didn't have to offer it - there is no gun held to their heads. They didn't complain when all the kiddies had to have BBs or they would die. Nope - full steam ahead. But now that the device is no longer in the domain of the business user - who frankly is too busy to download the internet - and has people with plenty of spare time to chat all day, or dl songs, or apps, or YouTube etc. they are waking up to dollar signs.

This isn't about trying to have fair usage policies - it's about trying to extort more money from people who actually use access. There is no 'nice' side to Vodacom or what their argument may be. It's attempted extortion.
 
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