gmza
Well-Known Member
Has anyone else noticed
(a) just how good Telkom's 3G/WCDMA network is (by comparison to Vodacom and MTN)!
(b) how well VoIP seems to run over Telkom 3G/WCDMA without any special antennas, etc!
The only annoying thing is a minimum contract of 500meg per month, which equates to about 1500 voip minutes @ 10c per min.
Now drop one of those sims in a Nokia E-series and one has a cellular voip phone. If your VoIP provider charges R0.30c/min to UK/USA and R0.55/min to SA land-lines, then this is an interesting way of getting really cheap mobile service.
Yes, in theory one could always have done this with an MTN or Vodacom SIM, but their HSDPA networks were nowhere near as good so in practice this only worked in really good coverage areas on really good days.
As an alternative on cell calls, it seems less attractive. R1.57+R0.10 is still a lot cheaper than most cell contracts, however, you're paying for a minimum of R150 / 500meg which means you probably need to talk for at least 300 minutes a month to make up the saving.
It is also a neat way to instantly provide a business with 4+ lines and at that level you're likely to go beyond the 500meg entry point.
(a) just how good Telkom's 3G/WCDMA network is (by comparison to Vodacom and MTN)!
(b) how well VoIP seems to run over Telkom 3G/WCDMA without any special antennas, etc!
The only annoying thing is a minimum contract of 500meg per month, which equates to about 1500 voip minutes @ 10c per min.
Now drop one of those sims in a Nokia E-series and one has a cellular voip phone. If your VoIP provider charges R0.30c/min to UK/USA and R0.55/min to SA land-lines, then this is an interesting way of getting really cheap mobile service.
Yes, in theory one could always have done this with an MTN or Vodacom SIM, but their HSDPA networks were nowhere near as good so in practice this only worked in really good coverage areas on really good days.
As an alternative on cell calls, it seems less attractive. R1.57+R0.10 is still a lot cheaper than most cell contracts, however, you're paying for a minimum of R150 / 500meg which means you probably need to talk for at least 300 minutes a month to make up the saving.
It is also a neat way to instantly provide a business with 4+ lines and at that level you're likely to go beyond the 500meg entry point.
