What goes in the aerial jack? Is it a wireless ethernet device, or is it just the dect that is wireless?
The device does not have a wireless jack. I had a look at mine again this evening and what others may have mistaken for a port with a cap is in fact a switch. Looking through the user manual reveals it is used to reset the device as well as signal the handset when registering it to the base.
The Handset is wireless DECT while the base acts as a wireless internet router at the same time.
My girlfriend has also bought the ADSL phone solution from Vox;
Vox to Vox calls are crystal clear, as good if not better than telkom infact. I think this is a combination of instrument quality (rather than the entry level Telkom phones) and on-net call. What is a pleasure though is the free calls we can make to each other after 6pm.
I've cancelled Telkom's R7.00 call for which I used to pay R49.00 or something a month for anyway. I now spend that on the phone instead and can make a call up to 12hrs long for free (instead of the R7 cap under telkom).
As part of their MLM marketing strategy I was introduced to one of their product development guys over the weekend and am quite impressed by what Vox's objectives are and how they invisage changing communication methods and charges in SA. If they can pull it of, at worst it might just be a very exciting time for the telecom consumer.
From this meeting on the weekend my overall feeling about Vox is that even if they are more expensive in certain areas they have the best chance at the moment of challenging Telkom and the mobile incumbents. It seems much of idealism is in their aim is to develope solutions they want to use themselves.
I got to hear more about their Mahala Free Dial Up that I queried in this forum last week. They acknowledge completely that it is more expensive per minute than telkom however claim it is pitched at the very entry level of the dial-up market, (app those who use under 3 hrs a month, basic text email and very light surfing). There are supposedly 2 mahala products, one to earn money back for which I would have to register (R50 charge aswell) and one without 'rebates' or registration. The option without registration and rebates is apparently a promotional tool for getting people to try this approach to internet, introduce first time internet users such as low income house holds who have tech savy kids hitting a point where they influence household choices etc, draw back lapsed (no longer using net at all) users, get people to the Vox site to view its content - and actually to back up fixed line ADSL for those with second residence or primary internet acess at their premises of work or study.
Their product development guy tells me they expect the product to find its own natural neche in the market and that its aimed at presenting the consumer with choice.
At the end of the day the Vox guys I met on the weekend are pretty persausive mainly becuase they're young (as am I), idealistic and upfront. One almost doesn't mind paying a bit extra to support them in their cause.
