What happened to uncapped cellular broadband?

[Niecha]

I was payimg R300 for uncapped wireless broadband, then my contract expired and mtn informed me that they are no longer offering uncapped wireless broadband, I now have to fork out R300 for only 2gigs of data a month...this is a joke...and why isn't the competition commissioner addressing this?

 

[Paul Hjul]

what does it have to do with the competition commissioner? [whatever that may be]

 

[Niecha]

what does it have to do with the competition commissioner? [whatever that may be]

Isn't somebody suppose to be regulating the prices? We seem to have taken a leap back 10 years as far as pricing is concerned? 2 years ago we got offered uncapped cellular internet, why has it disappeared all off a sudden?

 

[MickeyD]

ICASA

 

[Niecha]

They suppose to have a threshold on pricing, and they got people like telkom mobile forcing
people to 3year contracts to make it seem cheaper.

 

[MickeyD]

They suppose to have a threshold on pricing, and they got people like telkom mobile forcing
people to 3year contracts to make it seem cheaper.

You are not forced to sign a contract with ANY service provider. You can choose to do so... or not.

 

[Niecha]

That's besides the point we drifting of the point the main issue is uncapped cellular internet
...moving on

 

[Paul Hjul]

Isn't somebody suppose to be regulating the prices? We seem to have taken a leap back 10 years as far as pricing is concerned? 2 years ago we got offered uncapped cellular internet, why has it disappeared all off a sudden?

NOPE

ICASA have some jurisdiction to price regulate but you really don't want that to become the norm.

 

[Paul Hjul]

That's besides the point we drifting of the point the main issue is uncapped cellular internet
...moving on

We are battling to identify the "main issue" as you appear to harbour the belief that the competition commission(er) is there to price regulate and that regulation is the cause of their having been (and I am not aware of it being discontinued) an uncapped - but throttled at a very low threshold - mobile product when now there isn't.
Whilst now through provider choice you can obtain a capped but more effective product (a sufficiently large cap) at similar pricing

 

[Niecha]

I still believe it should be something between both of them. I guess throttling should be addressed because that doesn't mean uncapped, and while we are getting better speed it comes at a cost and at a cap, and yes it does become a contradicting issue. Are you using uncapped mobile? If not, why not?

 

[Necuno]

// gets 3-d glasses

 

[Niecha]

I use to pay R300 a month for uncapped mobile data and now at the same price I only get 2gigs a month, so all I want to know is why has All cellular services discontinued uncapped mobile internet contracts? The unlimited cellphone contracts don't count and 24 hr uncapped doesn't count

 

[MickeyD]

I use to pay R300 a month for uncapped mobile data and now at the same price I only get 2gigs a month, so all I want to know is why has All cellular services discontinued uncapped mobile internet contracts? The unlimited cellphone contracts don't count and 24 hr uncapped doesn't count

I'm not aware that they ALL offered such a service. IIRC it was only MTN.

 

[Niecha]

You're seriously slowly discrediting yourself cos you seem to sound more and more like someone who represents a service provider. Your point of view definitely not that of a consumer

 

[Niecha]

You should definitely stop responding cause you not adding any value to my question!

 

[MickeyD]

You're seriously slowly discrediting yourself cos you seem to sound more and more like someone who represents a service provider. Your point of view definitely not that of a consumer

Please point me to some proof of what you are alleging - i.e. UNCAPPED mobile products from Vodacom, Cell C and TelkomMobile (MTN not required as I am aware of that product).

And be careful with the personal responses, please.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Since when did CellC have an uncapped offering?

 

[Paul Hjul]

I still believe it should be something between both of them. I guess throttling should be addressed because that doesn't mean uncapped, and while we are getting better speed it comes at a cost and at a cap, and yes it does become a contradicting issue. Are you using uncapped mobile? If not, why not?

[1] Throttling doesn't make it not uncapped - product descriptions should be clear about throttling but its still uncapped, and according to ISPA you can lie about never throttling
[2] No I am not using mobile uncapped and mobile uncapped doesn't make much sense - uncapped connectivity with a wireless last mile delivery system is a different discussion but mobile is something a little different -- proper mobile connectivity involves multiple delivery media
[3] If you want to move large quantities of data use the right product and technology - for medium quanity higher speed data 3G / LTE technology is great but it doesn't beat DSL at 100Gig type usage quantities

 

[Paul Hjul]

You're seriously slowly discrediting yourself cos you seem to sound more and more like someone who represents a service provider. Your point of view definitely not that of a consumer

Although currently I am not primarily a consumer and the views I hold represent that of somebody in the industry, my credentials as a consumer "activist" (a term I generally dislike) are impeccable

The "view" of the uninformed and uneducated consumer is quite meaningless I am afraid because it fails to identify the areas of wasted potential in the industry and demands those things that it derives no actual benefit from and which comes at a considerable cost. Price fixing in unthrottled uncapped mobile will result in a dysfunctional network and you won't be able to download 2 gigs of data in a month

 

[DJ...]

I guess throttling should be addressed because that doesn't mean uncapped

So by your own admission, mobile uncapped never existed, as they were throttled at a threshold.

Unless you can reference an uncapped, unthrottled product from one of the MNOs?