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Question of the Day: How do you normally pay for purchases in stores?
Vodacom Business ADSL
- Thread starter rpm
- Start date
Vodacom vs Telkom
Sounds like Vodacom is infected with Telkom mentality.
Calling vodacom for a cell phone problem is an experience in frustration, much like calling Telkom. Only thing is that Telkom answers the phone slightly sooner.
I think for ADSL I'll stick to Telkom ...................
Sounds like Vodacom is infected with Telkom mentality.
Calling vodacom for a cell phone problem is an experience in frustration, much like calling Telkom. Only thing is that Telkom answers the phone slightly sooner.
I think for ADSL I'll stick to Telkom ...................
mancombseepgood
Executive Member
I suspect all Vodacom Business products falls under the category "If you have to ask the price you can't afford it."
I understand if they want to sell an integrated solution etc. etc. - but at the very least I would expect them to publish some "guideline" prices. If I have to spent more than a couple of minutes getting some idea where they are positioned in the market, I will just ignore them.
Frankly most businesses with moderate usage will have the best possible ADSL service using prepaid automatic top-ups from WebAfrica or the like. With price and service levels difficult to beat. Quick and efficient sign-up etc. For bigger companies it probably would not make sense to use ADSL at all.
So I am not sure how Vodacom try to position this ADSL service. Do they want to sell ADSL to big corporates for branch offices?
Because seriously - what would Vodacom offer that the existing ISP's can't offer? And if they offer the same with a bigger name why are they not transparent? Why would you possibly invite a sales team over if you can have an account created online in 10 minutes flat with somebody else?
I understand if they want to sell an integrated solution etc. etc. - but at the very least I would expect them to publish some "guideline" prices. If I have to spent more than a couple of minutes getting some idea where they are positioned in the market, I will just ignore them.
Frankly most businesses with moderate usage will have the best possible ADSL service using prepaid automatic top-ups from WebAfrica or the like. With price and service levels difficult to beat. Quick and efficient sign-up etc. For bigger companies it probably would not make sense to use ADSL at all.
So I am not sure how Vodacom try to position this ADSL service. Do they want to sell ADSL to big corporates for branch offices?
Because seriously - what would Vodacom offer that the existing ISP's can't offer? And if they offer the same with a bigger name why are they not transparent? Why would you possibly invite a sales team over if you can have an account created online in 10 minutes flat with somebody else?
The only reasons I can think of for them not to publicly announce the price:
1) They are cross subsidizing and everybody isn't paying the same for the same services...
2) They are embarrassed by their high prices.
Seems like a lose-lose for the customers.
1) They are cross subsidizing and everybody isn't paying the same for the same services...
2) They are embarrassed by their high prices.
Seems like a lose-lose for the customers.
Chevron
Serial breaker of phones
You raise very interesting points. Maybe V3G can address them
vodacom3g
Vodacom Representative
Quite simple actually.
As with any new business in this space, VB will be targeting customers, Enterprise first then SME then Consumer.
Pricing is a function of required functionality and in the consumer space the functionality is typically pegged (this bundle at that speed type of thing). So it's easy to publish a price list here. You can only buy what's on the price list and can't tweak it in any way.
For SME's it becomes slightly more complex as they start to want bundled services but a clever price-list can still work here. But it gets confusing very easily. I've tried to understand some of the other SP's pricing but have given up on some of them. Quicker to ask rpm who's laboured over them already!
For Enterprise, a price-list is nearly completely useless and the normal process is to sit down and get all the requirements which can vary quite radically from customer to customer. This then typically kicks off a rather involved design process and out of this pops a price for that specific client.
So the price-lists will come, and I've seen the internal drafts, but the focus right now is on Enterprise.
But it's on its way.
kaspaas
Expert Member
If the service includes guaranteed repair times, I might just be interested.
But then again, only difficult customers demand service guarantees. Why deal with the difficult people if there are enough suckers who don't care about service to milk?
But then again, only difficult customers demand service guarantees. Why deal with the difficult people if there are enough suckers who don't care about service to milk?
Rouxenator
Dank meme lord
5c per MB ?
Shake&Bake
Party Liaison
Kinda seems that way.
One has to wonder about that, Neotel coming in at 8c per MB to consumers.
I wonder how much play VC/VB has with regards to pricing?
Neotel on their own network have offered substantial savings to Enterprise (as reports would have it anyway) and that is with them having direct access to SAT3/SAFE.
I don't think (note I said think) that VC has direct access to to those landing stations, so what difference can they really offer (SME's anyway) that current ISP's can't, in terms of pricing anyway.
Yes, they have the infrastructure in place and they move a moerevalot of data. But everything still terminates on Telscum/SAIX/IS.
So does their usage allow them to incur such great discounts that they can make a run at Telscum - surely yes, if they're already out there doing it.
I find myself thinking that for VC to attack the market like this, there must be alot of handshaking going on behind the scenes in order to have VC making such inroads against Telscum.
/Am I posting or blogging my conspiracy/wack theories here?
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vodacom3g
Vodacom Representative
Kinda seems that way.
One has to wonder about that, Neotel coming in at 8c per MB to consumers.
I wonder how much play VC/VB has with regards to pricing?
Neotel on their own network have offered substantial savings to Enterprise (as reports would have it anyway) and that is with them having direct access to SAT3/SAFE.
I don't think (note I said think) that VC has direct access to to those landing stations, so what difference can they really offer (SME's anyway) that current ISP's can't, in terms of pricing anyway.
Yes, they have the infrastructure in place and they move a moerevalot of data. But everything still terminates on Telscum/SAIX/IS.
So does their usage allow them to incur such great discounts that they can make a run at Telscum - surely yes, if they're already out there doing it.
I find myself thinking that for VC to attack the market like this, there must be alot of handshaking going on behind the scenes in order to have VC making such inroads against Telscum.
/Am I posting or blogging my conspiracy/wack theories here?
Check with KM (our resident Konspiracy Master)
But you're on the right track. It's immensely difficult to compete with the only Telco when they are also your supplier. But this has been well documented over that last number of years by many players.
As to Neotel's data pricing (note: this is my own opinion), I suspect they decided to go in at a massive loss (cents/MB) to capture market share and then to get the timing right so that by the time they have a decent base, services like Seacom kicks in and drives the prices down to their (Neotel's)levels.
If I'm right, it's a clever (but dangerous) gamble. Time will tell.
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Shake&Bake
Party Liaison
Check with KM (our resident Konspiracy Master)
But you're on the right track. It's immensely difficult to compete with the only Telco when they are also your supplier. But this has been well documented over that last number of years by many players.
As to Neotel's data pricing (note: this is my own opinion), I suspect they dedicated to go in at a massive loss (cents/MB) to capture market share and then to get the timing right so that by the time they have a decent base, services like Seacom kicks in and drives the prices down to their (Neotel's)levels.
If I'm right, it's a clever (but dangerous) gamble. Time will tell.
KM
On the Neotel opinion, I would be leaning to agree with you.
The investors they have backing them obviously were and are aware of the current trends in the country and what needs/needed to be done to capture that market share.
They may very well be taking that knock, but with Africa having been seen as the last (or one of the few remaining markets for growth) they're "oblivious" to the initial knock as ten years from now (if not sooner) they'll be seeing some good returns on their investment.
The TATA group has grown to be a serious contender in world markets, let alone India, so they've not got themselves into something which will not bear fruit.
At the end of the day, it's just really good to see competition growing.
With VANS' license conversions on the horizon, Seacom and Broadband Infraco's AWCC (though I still don't like the fact of it being goverment owned) we can't help but be hopeful of an industry that competes and gives more choice to the consumer and business.
mancombseepgood
Executive Member
That's just plain bad in the marketing world IMO. You guys need to learn that at the top of the enterprise is effectively a bunch of wealthy consumers.