Vodacom postpones 3.5 G plans

Sounds Promising, any ideas on what cards they are going to be providing? What happens if we now want to use 3.5G but have recently taken a 3G contract, is there any way of upgrading, or would we have to just buy the new card outright and carry on with the existing contract?
 
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:eek: R1000 in an hour.... NOW that is expensive.

Hopefully Voda will drop their prices to make it more affordable.

Another step in the right direction.
 
Sounds very promising...definately an improvement on their part..

Buuuut will this cost adjustment affect normal GPRS/3G data costs aswel?
 
I take browsing VLive is still free, and will remain free?
And does this include the downloading of movietrailers for example are also free?
 
I can't believe this is the competition for adsl .. its like ALOT more expensive, i mean if you thought adsl was expensive then this is just insane. Suppose if (coverage? and) mobility is what you after then perhaps but how much would you be willing to pay for it ? Also i doubt this is for normal usage things.. probably more for your business email and very rare browsing.
 
Well....

krycor said:
I can't believe this is the competition for adsl .. its like ALOT more expensive, i mean if you thought adsl was expensive then this is just insane. Suppose if (coverage? and) mobility is what you after then perhaps but how much would you be willing to pay for it ? Also i doubt this is for normal usage things.. probably more for your business email and very rare browsing.
Click to expand...

Compare apples with apples... but before anyone jumps on me for saying this - I STILL THINK IT'S EXPENSIVE - ADSL IS ALSO EXPENSIVE...

OK... comparison. 1Gb on ADSL at 512k = 512k line rental plus 1Gb account. Well over R600... AND ADSL is not portable. 3G/Edge/GPRS is. 3.5G should be MUCH faster than ADSL. But... when you start looking at 3Gb of 3G... that's another story altogether, (but is still portable). Also... 1Gbps of ADSL is a crazy price.

So... it has definate advantages over ADSL but is horribly overpriced nonetheless (just like ADSL).
 
No dissing, but if you compare apples with apples, you cannot compare ADSL to 3.5G, one is fixed and other mobile.
 
3.5g

So, any comments from Vodacom regarding what will happen to existing 3G contract users?

I hope we are not stuck with "old" 3G untill our contract expires. I have been a 3G user for almost a year.
 
R50 says it will be delayed once again when the planned 'launch date' arrives.

Taking bets now, dont be shy...
 
Lol - I get your point...

Tomasz-London said:
No dissing, but if you compare apples with apples, you cannot compare ADSL to 3.5G, one is fixed and other mobile.
Click to expand...


OK we are officially comparing apples growing on a tree to apples you can throw to a reasonable distance from a distributed network of trees to be precise. (Or not?) Now I'm confused. Doesn't take much at this time of day. :-)
 
I agree

ic said:
If any comparisons are to be made between Telkodemonopoly's ADSL and 3G pricing from either Vodacom or MTN, then I suggest comparing the price of HomeDSL384 [since 3G is max. 384kbits/s download], with a 1GB cap; and in both cases a 24 month contract [in the case of 3G the data card is RRP ~R2400.00, whereas Telkodemonopoly's bungled ADSL modems are worth less than R400 but Telkodemonopoly's retail price is R1000 for an outdated modem].
Code: 
HomeDSL384 w/1GB: R92.28 + R359.00 + ~R75.00 == ~R526.28
        3G w/1GB: R599.00
Considering the "Last Mile" [to the customer] costs, ADSL is 2 pieces of copper with a DSLAM port card, whilst 3G is considerably more expensive towers/base-stations - note that beyond the "last mile" are backhual links and whilst not necessarily identical between a local Telkodemonopoly exchange and a 3G cell tower, they are similar. This doesn't even begin to take into account clustering of 3G cells etc for mobility [handovers etc]...

The real question:

Q: Why is HomeDSL384 not considerably less expensive than 3G, since HomeDSL384 effectively has copper wire for "last mile" connectivity to the customer...???

A: Telkodemonopoly is abusing its monopoly and **** its customers [and the South African economy suffers and consequently the country's citizens also suffer].

At least with 3G you can say that the cost of the 3G towers explains the higher monthly premium, but this doesn't wash with HomeDSL384...
Click to expand...

Except that the original comparison was with 3.5G. But the rest pretty much sums it up. More value from 3G, and more cost involved. We shouldn't really be substituting ADSL with 3G, but ADSL prices make it feasable.
 
ic said:
At least with 3G you can say that the cost of the 3G towers explains the higher monthly premium, but this doesn't wash with HomeDSL384...
Click to expand...

Taking into account you are comparing data costs here, don't forget that you also get full mobile voice (and video) as part of the 3G network. That capability is also adding to the 3G network cost.

As ic summed it up, the problem here is the fact that ADSL sits in the same price bracket as mobile data. It should be factors less if you consider the underlying technology. Like in the rest of the world.

Also note that 1G on MTN and Vodacom will cost you R499, i.e. LESS than DSL384.

When you buy the data card as part of your contract you pay the extra R100 per month.
 
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