What does the future hold for iBurst?

r00igev@@r said:
Thanks for writing and posting Janneman. I am not as technically astute as you so would like to understand how interference is resolved when two HSDPA towers are next to each other and they only share 5Mhz?
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Come on peeps, ibb and Rooigevaar are former colleagues. It just goes to show, you can never be too careful...
 
Mercury said:
That the product and marketing people don't care to monitor what their more tech savvy users, who influence other people's buying decisions, think.
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I think you are giving a marketing department a little to much responsibility there, they are more worried about the shade of orange to put on the posters... not discussions on MTU setttings, 5Mhz spectrum and billing problems. I mean, look at CellC's million rand marketing team on the whole 4G issue...
 
r00igev@@r said:
Thanks for writing and posting Janneman.
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Okay, so ibb = jannyvanzyl...

eltherza said:
But if you consider the past year alone.

Pricing decrease, almost half the cost of bandwidth
Introduced 128K VAS
Gave us all 466.64 MB free
Gave us all free after hour usage for 3 months
And with that came, completely free, discounted after usage + VAS free after usage.
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I don't know what you are on about... What is free?

It's not like iBurst are not trying. Other than cellcs new offering, iburst is still the cheapest for bandwidth (for anyone who uses below 10GB)
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The only reason why you still get people that uses less than 10GB, is because it is so expensive to buy 1Gig on Iburst, after you cap is finished.

ibb said:
If you look at how iBurst evolved over the last 5 (and next 3) years, it looks like this:

1Mb/s->1Mb/s->1Mb/s->1Mb/s->1Mb/s->1Mb/s->1Mb/s->1Mb/s
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After reading all the comments here, I have a feeling it is going to stay that way for a couple more years.

The only reason why I am an Iburst user, same as eltherza, is because I need something that I can play online with. We can't get ADSL in our complex. 3G sux for online play, not enough guys offering WiMax and had no other choice than Iburst. It's better than 3G and at the time, was cheaper as well, but ja, I can at least see my future with the company and it is looking bleak.
 
eltherza said:
I think you are giving a marketing department a little to much responsibility there, they are more worried about the shade of orange to put on the posters... not discussions on MTU setttings, 5Mhz spectrum and billing problems. I mean, look at CellC's million rand marketing team on the whole 4G issue...
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Bingo! Explaining MTU is like looking at a rabbit in your headlights.
 
SharkBait said:
Okay, so ibb = jannyvanzyl...




I don't know what you are on about... What is free?



The only reason why you still get people that uses less than 10GB, is because it is so expensive to buy 1Gig on Iburst, after you cap is finished.



After reading all the comments here, I have a feeling it is going to stay that way for a couple more years.

The only reason why I am an Iburst user, same as eltherza, is because I need something that I can play online with. We can't get ADSL in our complex. 3G sux for online play, not enough guys offering WiMax and had no other choice than Iburst. It's better than 3G and at the time, was cheaper as well, but ja, I can at least see my future with the company and it is looking bleak.
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And how expensive is it on ADSL when you have accounted for the incumbent's tax? Be honest they have rushed 500 through your wallet before you have even blinked or used 1 gig?
 
SharkBait said:
Okay, so ibb = jannyvanzyl...
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Not. But I am 'close' to Ronald. Although not as 'close' as 3 months ago. ;)

r00igev@@r said:
And how expensive is it on ADSL when you have accounted for the incumbent's tax? Be honest they have rushed 500 through your wallet before you have even blinked or used 1 gig?
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Maybe, if you use 1 to 3GB per month.

But average usage iincreases every month and now with uncapped ADSL for as little as R98/month, the argument does not hold anymore, even if you add ADSL line-rental in. If you use uncapped there is a good chance you'll download in excess of 10GB / month. Or 20. Or 30. Whatever the case, you'll pay R450/month, fixed, for a 512K service.

On iBurst you'll pay R690 for 10GB, R1150 for 20GB and R1540 for 30GB, i.e. 3 times as much as ADSL.

And if you are a <10GB/month user, Cell-C is much less at a higher speed. 5Gb/month on iBurst is R504 including hardware. Cell-C is R250, less than half of iBurst, at 5+ times the speed.

Earlier this year iBurst was for sure a good value proposition. But MWEB and Cell-C changed the landscape for ever.
 
Apparently iBurst is showing a turnaround:

iBurst has had a tough year. Last October it reduced its headcount by about 20% when it retrenched about 70 employees. iBurst’s CEO, Jannie van Zyl, left the company in May this year, after a fallout with at least one of the shareholders in iBurst parent company, Wireless Business Solutions (WBS) Holdings.

WBS chairman Thami Mtshali stepped in as CEO after Van Zyls’ departure.

iBurst reevaluated its strategy after these events, says Brown. The company has renewed its focus on the consumer market, which had taken a back seat to its business and wholesale divisions during the early months of this year.

It has increased the number of sales staff working in its consumer business and has started a fresh push into the home broadband market. “That strategy is paying off and we had one of the best sales months ever during August,” he says.
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http://www.techcentral.co.za/iburst-back-on-growth-path/17152/

I wonder whether auditors include double debit orders in their calculations.
 
r00igev@@r said:
And how expensive is it on ADSL when you have accounted for the incumbent's tax? Be honest they have rushed 500 through your wallet before you have even blinked or used 1 gig?
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Maybe, but then the next question, after the first 2 years, does your monthly amount drop, cause you have already paid off the desktop modem? It might be cheaper to use Iburst, but when you look at all the problems we have, I don't mind paying more for a faster and more stable connection which I can use to play online with.

I will stay with Iburst, if they offer us home users WiMax! I agree with ibb, even if you don't, but the modem has stayed the same for as long as I can remember, same with speed as well. The pricing has changed and we love that, but it isn't enough to keep us with Iburst.
 
Can't be spending much money on advertising that "fresh push", as I've not seen or read anything recently that I can recall? Would like to know what the 'significant investments in infrastructure' means. Better desks for their employees? lol.
 
SharkBait said:
Maybe, but then the next question, after the first 2 years, does your monthly amount drop, cause you have already paid off the desktop modem? It might be cheaper to use Iburst, but when you look at all the problems we have, I don't mind paying more for a faster and more stable connection which I can use to play online with.

I will stay with Iburst, if they offer us home users WiMax! I agree with ibb, even if you don't, but the modem has stayed the same for as long as I can remember, same with speed as well. The pricing has changed and we love that, but it isn't enough to keep us with Iburst.
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In all these discussions the incumbent's tax is conveniently forgotten. As long as we all agree that this tax is high but I cannot comment or commit to the roadmap on WiMax.
 
ibb said:
And if you are a <10GB/month user, Cell-C is much less at a higher speed. 5Gb/month on iBurst is R504 including hardware. Cell-C is R250, less than half of iBurst, at 5+ times the speed.

Earlier this year iBurst was for sure a good value proposition. But MWEB and Cell-C changed the landscape for ever.
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Yeah, but 90% of SA is not covered by CellC. Yet... And if latencies on 3G arent better than iburst, I'll still keep my iburst package as an alt connection for when latency is important.
 
r00igev@@r said:
In all these discussions the incumbent's tax is conveniently forgotten.
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No, you're wrong. The R450/month for an uncapped 512K service includes the line rental.

In any case, iBurst charges a similar 'tax', they just call it "Subscription Fees".

For an iBurst 15GB package you pay R369 'tax' and then R39/gig on top of that.

For an ADSL 512K line you pay R326 'tax' and then as little as R19/Gig on top of that from Axxess, etc.

As posted above, even less expensive if you go uncapped, where you pay as little as R98/month.

Axxess 512 Uncapped shows their top August user as having downloaded 182GB. For the same money as an iBurst 8GB account. And that INCLUDES the Telkom 'tax'.

Axxess 4096 Uncapped shows their top August user as having downloaded 776GB. For the same money as an iBurst 15GB account. And that INCLUDES the Telkom 'tax'.

So, including all 'taxes' you have a choice between 8Gb on iBurst or 182Gb on DSL. Or 15GB on iBurst or 776GB on DSL.

See the problem?
 
eltherza said:
Yeah, but 90% of SA is not covered by CellC. Yet... And if latencies on 3G arent better than iburst, I'll still keep my iburst package as an alt connection for when latency is important.
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I take your point about Cell-C's coverage today. Though they did say they'll cover more than 30% by year-end. They claim to have 1600 towers already active on 21Mb/s, compared to iBurst's 250 towers.

How much of SA is iBurst covering? Not 90%. Only MTN and Vodacom cover more than 90% today.
 
ginggs said:
Is that the ADSL line rental, the analogue line rental, or both?
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ADSL line rental only. But even if you include the analogue line rental, it makes no difference. At best it adds 2 to 3GB to the iBurst numbers, so you end up with 11GB vs. 180GB or 18GB vs. 750GB for the same money.

Still not remotely in the same ballpark. Not even the same planet. :)
 
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