Vodacom WebBox Tested

Do you think the Vodacom WebBox will increase Internet access in South Africa?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 17.6%
  • No

    Votes: 70 82.4%

  • Total voters
    85
This is a great idea. However, I think that having a small set top box at the TV unit that connects to the internet and the TV as the screen, with a wireless keyboard with builtin touchpad as a mouse would be a much better option that having a wire connected from the keyboard to the TV.

I can see the kids tripping over the cable, potentially pulling down the TV screen ...
 
Lost a sale here by providing no 3G/HSDPA.

I wouldn't force Edge/GPRS on anyone :sick:
 
Guess it's an upgrade from using basic cell phones for internet access.
 
Rather buy a playbook and plug it into my tv, opens up so many more options.

R 749 for the console + 100Mb of data. Vodacom will recoup any losses made with data charges very quickly. Is there even a way for someone to download off the device to USB or SD? ie: so a student can do research and save their projects or even work on google docs and save a copy to take somewhere to print?

It's not a bad concept but the sole reason they didn't allow usb is because someone would have configured a wifi dongle to allow the device to connect to some sort of APN. Cost is a bull exscuse.
 
100mb data :(
Will need much more than that, vodacom catch a wake up :p
 
This offer is a piece of cheese!!! Imagine all the poor doffies that get this! This is not a real internet experience. 100mb? AND Please stop playing adverts on the radio telling my what I can do with 1 meg. Just browsing forums and being on the internet and downloading a small flash game and I have totalled 43.67 megs and it is only 10am! I laugh at these "Internet experiences" offered by MTN and Vodacom at the prices they ask, they love sucking the pocket of the average Joe dry!!!
 
This is a fantastic device for those without PCs or ADSL at home.

My only 2 concerns:

- What is the text like on standard def TV?
- Do they hard cap that 100Mb? Because I see a lot of poor families getting billed for out of bundle rates.

It uses a prepaid sim so you will always be hard capped when you reach your data limit.
 
Will be interesting to see how the LSM this product is intended for respond to the offer... Internet access via a TV in rural areas sounds like a great idea - but Vodacon never looks out for the consumer so I doubt they really have SA's best interests at heart... It should be a once of fee for the device (like a once of fee for a TV set) and then a once of fee for usage throughout the year (like a TV license) - usage should be unlimited since it's GPRS/EDGE only... that would empower the less fortunate.
 
have u guys heard/know of similar products? Just trying to gauge how vodafone established the R749 pricing...
 
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