Web Africa's new ADSL pricing revealed

[dd1313]

I wish we could see how many subscribers WA has gained and lost over the last day... Interesting to see if people are actually falling for this or not. But I'm guessing they losing more than they are gaining.

and if they are not losing then it should be our duty to expose them

 

[Pilgrim]

wamatt, there is a flaw in your plans:

If you plan to target the "mom and pop" audience, how many of them rely on their friends and family that "know computers" to know what to do?

By spitting on the people that "know computers" you are driving away your line to the "mom and pop" crowd.

Sadly you need to keep both crowds happy, they are very much interconnected.

Unless you have the budget to market as hard as mweb and telkom (tv, radio, at the movies, newspapers, magazines, etc) and the support infrastructure to help thousands of "mom and pop" clients set up their connections, plug in their modems (what is a modem?) etc.

Edit: In fact, you are better off keeping the people that "know computers" happy, as they will sort out their "mom and pop" friends and family for you.

How many here helped their parents get Afrihost accounts?

 

[wifiED]

Not happy!!
I have 2 DSL Groups packages as well as 30gb local only, 3 10Gb Shaped Accounts and 25 lines with WA. I have been a client of theirs since August last year and can vouch for their support being pathetic.
On numerous occasions i have asked for a senior person to contact me - no-one ever does. They clearly do not care about their clients.
I have wanted to cancel with them - i have never really had the time to look into the Afrihosts ect.
But since this announcement i am definitely going to spend my week looking at moving all my accounts across to someone else.

My 2c...

 

[Na-iem]

Hi all,

We understand the need for pricing decreases, and if you take a look at our DSL complete offerings, you will actually see that they are the most competitive in the market currently.
Many posts above expected us to meet R40 at least, this we have done.

Here is a look at our per gb rates across all plans excluding standard line cost pricing:

Plan 1:R17 per gb
Plan 2: R32 per gb
Plan 3: R39 per gb
Plan 4: R31 per gb
Plan 5: R32 per gb
Plan 6: R37 per gb

Many other providers do not offer a line and data option, we offer the convenience of a single account as well as highly competitive pricing on our DSL complete.

This is only only phase 1 of 2, operationally we could not get everything done at a single time without the risk of errors occurring.
We plan to innovate and increase value as soon as possible, July.

Dear Web Africa Representatives

According to the part in bold, that's the only (mentioned) reason you didn't revise your data only products with decent pricing. I find this extremely interesting. Allow me to ponder on this for a moment:

You managed to make updates to ALL your data packages (1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 GB packages). So here's a question: how much more "risk of errors occurring" would there have been if, instead of changing 1GB from R70 to R59 (actually I'm not sure if this is now R69 or R59), you changed it from R70 to, say, R39?

And please, don't say it's "too technically complex" for me to understand. I have a decade of experience in the software development industry, and about half that in software design. And I got in to MENSA-SA. So please, feel free to get as technical /complex as you need to. I look forward to your response.

Best regards,
Na-iem

 

[SlyFly]

WA's official group on facebook has disappeared....


LOL

I wonder what Gian is thinking . . .

http://www.facebook.com/webafrica

Still there?

Also I posted this on their forum but this is my opinion why everyone is so disgusted:

I think the biggest problem is that WA lead everyone to believe that these prices will be the second coming, by giving away bandwidth for free and then they ran a special where you could get 30 gig international for R200... Increasing the hype and expectations...

Now they drop these prices on us and while they might have been "okay" without the hype, they are just straight-out pathetic with everything that has been promised, if not directly but indirectly...

I feel for WebAfrica, but I dont think promising price reductions in June will solve the problem, you have to step-up now to keep current customers..

As a Prepaid user, R69 a gig is pathetic, Prepaid users are also loyal customers, so even if your packages are okay... You need to drop the other offerings aswell... R40 a gig for now sounds okay, some WA Local so we can utilise the News server... etc.

 

[Spartaniz]

why dont you all just stop complaining? The whole"freezone" thing makes it worth while for alot of online gamers.

 

[thisgeek]

I'm not going to go into the whole long sob story of being a long time subscriber etc... it's been said many times over already, and I'm in that boat too.

Is it not possible to cater to Mom & Pops and Power Users? I am not a power user but I have no need for support and I'm sure there are plenty of people who know how to put in their user name into their router.
Strip out all the "Mom & Pop" costs and create a Power User package. Cheap(er) bandwidth with no access to support and other extras and you might have a winner.

I'd love to have cheaper packages with no access to tech support - I support myself. All I want is cheap bandwidth.

I'm also a WA subscriber and am signed up for the local IS 30gb for R130.....after this great announcement its now going to cost me......wait for it.........R130!
The only other alternative is openweb (30gb local/R130) - there might be others, I'm going to look as now I"m not huge WA fan!

You should know that this WILL NOT be possible. Webafrica simply resell another ISP's bandwidth [Internet Solutions]

Tip for WebAfrica... Release a 30 gig local only, for a competitive price, say R200, with access to the WA News Server and you should atleast retain if not gain some users...

That says it succinctly for me.

At the very least I would have expected WA to introduce better local only packages that can compete w/ the IS R130 for 30gb. You guys are a tier 1 now, you have your own network. About 10% of my local traffic would leave your own local network for gaming and mybb, the other 90% would be to your news server.

While I may not be completely jumping ship, I'm definitely going to be looking around elsewhere for cheaper ways to supplement my bandwidth needs.


And to those of you who have gotten personal -- swak. Very swak.

 

[Myrodol]

Look at what they offer their staff members:


3. Daily breakfast and lunch
4. Free parking
5. Staff gym and grappling room
6. Informal work environment
7. Entertainment area equipped with:
- bar
- pool table
- table-tennis
- foosball
- table-hockey
- HUGE screen TV and game consoles

Better to work for them that to be a customer....

 

[Smiley_lauf]

I remember when Firefox was planning its v1.0 release in 2002/3 (?) the community put funds together to get a 1 page ad into the NY times. Perhaps we should be thinking of something similar and paste a comparison chart for everyone to see and make up their minds--put it in national newspaper. Also expose the lethargy in telcoms systems to get us in par with some very 'poor' African countries wrt broadband pricing and access. Full page ad, anyone?

 

[Abe]

It seems that no matter what, or how WA answers any of the questions here, the answers will simply not be accepted. So why should they even bother to answer any?
IMHO frustration and anger should be aimed towards the likes of DoC, Gov, Telkom, ICASA, NeoTel and Infraco for failing the SA public and forcing ISPs to compete with gadgets and "innovative" packages.

I am also very disappointed in WA for failing to meet with my expectations. However, even so they still beat others on pricing, which will be a small saving for me should I decide to go with WA again. Yes I can get better deals elsewhere, but for my own piece of mind, I choose not to do so. For other needs (entertainment) I can't use WA's SAIX pre-paid local accounts, because it is way too expensive. So I choose other providers.

To each his own, and all that.

I am starting to wonder how many of the real complainers here are actually WA customers, and I am not referring to people with a 1GB prepaid that they carry for 6 months. I am talking about people who actually fit in the power use category and have an account with WA that fits the bill. Everyone is welcome to shop with their feet but I get the feeling it was a bunch of people who would be prepared to jump to the cheapest option on a moments notice anyway. Not the type of customers I would want if I were an ISP because you are likely to lose them at a moments notice and not being able to budget can have a serious impact. ISP's pay for Megs and sell GBs. Lose a whole lot of GBs because someone offers a below cost special after you have upped your lines and you could be in serious trouble. I was disappointed and personally will probably switch to another supplier as it means about R2500 per year saving but I am not going to switch our customers. WA has proven to be very reliable and for businesses thats a good thing. I can swap my accounts on a moments notice but I don't have the time or patience to be switching clients from one account to another when things get a bit dodgy on an account. Perhaps when some of the cheaper options have proven themselves in both reliability and in terms of fail over I will consider switching my clients.

People do seem to be going too far with facebook pages etc. If you are not happy with the price, switch. Why must people feel the need to go balistic. It's like they feel obligated to pull down someone who doesn't do what they want them to do.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

And to those of you who have gotten personal -- swak. Very swak.

Yeah getting personal is not on. By all means, attack them as a company by posing genuine questions and concerns in a civil manner, but not on a personal level. After all it's not just one person who contributed to their business decision.

 

[guest2013-1]

why dont you all just stop complaining? The whole"freezone" thing makes it worth while for alot of online gamers.

Online gamers is their target then? Or mom & pop? I'm confused? I thought it was mom & pop operations Kryon and WAMatt wants us to believe their target market is? Gamers (like us on mybb) comes second? Or would mom & pop be interested in a steam server with free bandwidth for any games they might download and play? mom & pop? HUIH!?

 

[guest2013-1]

I am starting to wonder how many of the real complainers here are actually WA customers, and I am not referring to people with a 1GB prepaid that they carry for 6 months. I am talking about people who actually fit in the power use category and have an account with WA that fits the bill. Everyone is welcome to shop with their feet but I get the feeling it was a bunch of people who would be prepared to jump to the cheapest option on a moments notice anyway. Not the type of customers I would want if I were an ISP because you are likely to lose them at a moments notice and not being able to budget can have a serious impact. ISP's pay for Megs and sell GBs. Lose a whole lot of GBs because someone offers a below cost special after you have upped your lines and you could be in serious trouble. I was disappointed and personally will probably switch to another supplier as it means about R2500 per year saving but I am not going to switch our customers. WA has proven to be very reliable and for businesses thats a good thing. I can swap my accounts on a moments notice but I don't have the time or patience to be switching clients from one account to another when things get a bit dodgy on an account. Perhaps when some of the cheaper options have proven themselves in both reliability and in terms of fail over I will consider switching my clients.

People do seem to be going too far with facebook pages etc. If you are not happy with the price, switch. Why must people feel the need to go balistic. It's like they feel obligated to pull down someone who doesn't do what they want them to do.

I am, and I spend about R280+ on adding prepaid bandwidth to my account when I get capped... and then that's on a "slow" month where I don't download much, so you can see what an EPIC FAIL this is for anyone who tops up their account with prepaid bandwidth when they do get capped

 

[LFX]

aah, yes, lets all get ripped off and pay exorbitant prices from everyone and reward them for it. And be drained for as much as we can for all these years and be unsulted with the small price drop every year while some have not even been dropped i am on a package that price was'nt droped?,, why not? cause everyone is forced to pay for it, so why should they, thats what they think i am sure.. And then pat those people on the back saying good job. wich will leave us with affordable internet in 20 years time.

Good job WA, WELL DONE!!!.. oh please what ever

that's totally beyond the point, your argument about pricing and how unsatisfied you are about it is completely valid when you wage these complaints against the company which is webafrica. instead you have now personally attacked the integrity of the ceo, being matt... with regards to his educational background.

no further comment

 

[Smooth Criminal]

Look at what they offer their staff members:


3. Daily breakfast and lunch
4. Free parking
5. Staff gym and grappling room
6. Informal work environment
7. Entertainment area equipped with:
- bar
- pool table
- table-tennis
- foosball
- table-hockey
- HUGE screen TV and game consoles

Better to work for them that to be a customer....

Sounds like an awesome work environment. But that has nothing to do with how they run their business.

I personally couldn't care if they were bonking each other, as long as the end delivery is met WA have delivered good service, there's no question about that on my part. I'm just a little underwhelmed by the announcement given the hype surrounding it.

 

[Moederloos]

I think the biggest problem is that WA lead everyone to believe that these prices will be the second coming, by giving away bandwidth for free and then they ran a special where you could get 30 gig international for R200... Increasing the hype and expectations...

Now they drop these prices on us and while they might have been "okay" without the hype, they are just straight-out pathetic with everything that has been promised, if not directly but indirectly...

Exactly = they promised everyone that the good times would come, and when the day rolled around, the good times were absent.

 

[SlyFly]

The problem with Freezone is that WAGE isn't that popular yet, or not with the games I like to play... Its fine if I can sit on a server for free... But wtf do I do on it alone?

I will be keeping our hosting with WA, because it is competitive, but from next month I will be buying my TopUps/PrePaid from somewhere else... Because I can, I've been loyal enough to WebAfrica, but money is tight and it's time to change.... I also agree we shouldn't target individuals, because it was a companies descision, hopefully they can come back to us with great packages in the near future.

 

[guest2013-1]

Yeah getting personal is not on. By all means, attack them as a company by posing genuine questions and concerns in a civil manner, but not on a personal level. After all it's not just one person who contributed to their business decision.

someone made this decision and sold it to everyone at the company.... so someone is to blame, not the company.

As an example, someone told my previous client that the only way to get a static IP address (for email) is to have a diginet line, they got 64k diginet line, with 12k international. It cost them between R9000 and R6500 a month (working from what they started paying till a few years ago when I converted them to business uncapped). They hosted their own email server because someone told them that's the only way they could get email. Took a while to undo this damage and actually get them to realize that person wasn't as informed as they thought he was... now they're running on 2 x 4mbps ADSL lines, still hosting their own mail server, but have a local SMTP server that's always online (MailMarshall) for if international goes down and/or their mail server goes down. No more lost emails and now they have the ability to browse the internet at a relatively high speed. Oh, and the kicker is, they're still paying R3k LESS than when they had the diginet line...

All of that because someone told them how it should be (convinced them of that fact) and carried enough weight (or was able to sell them the farce that they knew what was going on in the market) to actually be believable. It doesn't take much for someone to convince others that they're right and to follow them....

 

[Abe]

I am, and I spend about R280+ on adding prepaid bandwidth to my account when I get capped... and then that's on a "slow" month where I don't download much, so you can see what an EPIC FAIL this is for anyone who tops up their account with prepaid bandwidth when they do get capped

I often top up. I can understand the whole EPIC FAIL part too but not the level of hate that this seems to have take on. You can easily get an afrihost account and top up at R29 per GB. But someone just posted about taking out an ad. For goodness sake, thats just ludicrous.

 

[bullfrog]

I am starting to wonder how many of the real complainers here are actually WA customers

I used to be a client with them until afrihost. Switched over because of the whole, no just wait for next year attitude.

Used to spend about R270 with them a month. It's not a lot, but every client helps. I don't think I'd ever used their tech support, only billing for eft payments every month. So I was by no means a high maintenance client.

So far I reckon I've saved about R600 since moving over and I get to use an extra gig or so while saving money.

I am here looking after my own interests, not a company who just gives the community I belong to the royal finger. I also find it strange how a lot of users on here are also the gamers who they're targeting. I think webafrica is having a bit of a identity crisis