When will iBurst drop prices...?

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Keeper said:
ADSL is expensive if you are looking for small packages - eg a 40MB, because you need to pay the lines and whatnot - but if you go up in the scale ADSL gets dramatically cheaper.

now, does iBurst want 10 casual e-mail checkers, or 1 person that downloads those people's cap's in a 1 hour sitting?
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I suspect they would want both? It's easy to get addicted to browsing, youtube and whatnot. So you want the casual email checker. In a few months time, that casual will want more.

Businesses turn their backs on low end users, arguing that the return on investment is not worthwhile, but usually at their peril. We may scoff at the casual user, but that person is a user and ultimately a source of revenue. Multiply that by x and the casual user can tip economic scales in favour of a company that outweighs its 5 000 high end users.

Or companies introduce exploitative packages. I mean, sure, R69/month (incl modem) for an internet connection looks great on paper, and if you are a poor parent who'd like your kids to gain access to the new information culture, you may just consider that. So, the price doesn't appear exploitative. But, 40Mb? One uses that up in a few hours' browsing. Then there's the 24 month lock in.

And again we may scoff at people who fall for this deal (they should have known better, we say), but it is exploitative of people's ignorance and ultimately not good business practice.

I understand that pricing in South Africa may be inter-dependent on who owns which cables and satellites etc, but infrastructure costs are not the only determinants of what companies charge. Salaries and profit also play a role... What doesn't seem to play a role in pricing is a proper understanding of the market and its diversity. That means not only you and me.

We are happy to pay the prices we pay because, well, that's the South African way. We've learnt for long just to shut up and take it. But because we are happy to pay the prices doesn't mean that the prices are not extortionate. And focusing on the high end users who are happy to pay the high fees, again, doesn't make business sense. It makes quick profits, yes, for sure, but perhaps the grubbing for quick profits is just another South African pathology...
 
iBurst said:
Hi guys.

Please note that Jannie is unavailable this evening.

Thanks
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Indeed, on my nth Frangelico. But this thread is now nicely alive with good ideas and dialog. Let's keep it going.

OOB pops up all the time, I noticed. ;)
 
From what my friend in aus tells me, he gets uncapped use of his iburst connection after 10 or round there in the evening till 5 or 6 in the morning. Not sure if this is only on weekends or all week long but still i think that's a nice touch and would probably lure alot of ppl iburst's way.

I cancelled my subscription to iburst today as i cant be capped to 3gb and then pay an exorbitant amount of money for a quick fill up just to Carry on going again.
Time for something different. Might give adsl a try, even though everyone here seems to have the proverbial pitch forks and torches ready for the lynching most of all the time :p
 
Rustum said:
Businesses turn their backs on low end users, arguing that the return on investment is not worthwhile, but usually at their peril.
We may scoff at the casual user, but that person is a user and ultimately a source of revenue.
Multiply that by x and the casual user can tip economic scales in favour of a company that outweighs its 5 000 high end users.
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So true, before the iPod and iPhone, Apple was going nowhere.

Look where Apple is today.

iBurst has the potential to be a great company, just by listening to it's "Low End Users".

The good thing is that Jannie is listening...:)
 
Rustum, what I am getting at here is it's easier to maintain 100 Power users instead of 10000 Email checkers..

if the internet goes off, it's 9900 more users complaining, phoning in, needing tech support (which cost money) and the billing system gets so big it's unmanagable.

it's better to make R1000 from 10 users than R1100 from 100 users.

I'm just saying - try to look out for the higher end users - it is only them that are complaining, and it is THEM advising the n00bs NOT to go with iBurst when asked for advice.

get right with the Techies - go for Medium-to-high end users - they are the ones using the bandwidth up, not the granny's.

how to make the downloaders happy? Easy - uncapped after 12, to 6 in the morning. and don't throttle - open the taps - why waste it ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
 
@ Keeper. Yes, I see your point. I guess the difference lies really in short- to mid-term vs long-term strategies.
 
Madhawk said:
Your friend uses iBurst in Australia?
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Yes, or at least he was the last time we spoke.
From what he told me it was actually a cheaper alternative then using for example: telstra or virgin who are like telkom here.
 
can someone please inform me, why iBurst could NOT uncap the lines between 12 and 6? and i'm not talking 64kbit/8KB a seconds speeds - I'm talking no restrictions, uncapped intenet.

I would seriously go for that...
 
This must have been one of the better threads i've read in awhile.

Nice Jannie
 
Madhawk said:
Well, I learned something new today, I didn't even know iBurst was in Australia.

But according to this article, they closed up shop on the 19 December 2008.

http://www.cnet.com.au/no-sale-iburst-network-to-shut-down-339292763.htm
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Oh! Ok well that's news to me.

Either way i liked the fact that they were willing to let there users have an open reign on there connection between those times and that they were competitive and better in most instances then there "bigger, better" competition.

Maybe a few lessons can be learnt and carried over from iburst's now extinct cousin from down under!
 
"Bye the way, I made some contacts over at notgoodenough.org, if they don't cancel my account and refund my money, or even worse, charge me again, for something I don't want to, I will find an alternative way to get what I want. I'm not sure how good that will be for their business though."

LMAO!
 
Keeper said:
can someone please inform me, why iBurst could NOT uncap the lines between 12 and 6? and i'm not talking 64kbit/8KB a seconds speeds - I'm talking no restrictions, uncapped intenet.

I would seriously go for that...
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There is no way iBurst will go for that. That will cause people do downgrade their caps and everyone will be on a 1GB account DL'ng like made after hours - gigs and gigs of stuff. I don't think that iBurst can afford that unless they only allow it for 10GB accounts.

What iBurst could do is drop the booster price to R50/GB or something like that OR offer a softcap of 38KB/sec but even the softcap of 38KB I doubt they'll do.
Another option is to double the caps on the packages - make 10GB into 20, 5 into 10 and 1 into 2GB. I don't mind the shaping but the BOOSTER prices are WAY too expensive and are prolly designed to force users not to DL too much - hence I doubt they'll go for this uncapped 'after hours' thing.

iBurst is attractive for low usage but for higher usage iBurst is not attractive at all. Yes one could theoretically DL 20GB extra pm at 64kbps but that will also chow a lot of electricity as your machine is running 24/7. Perhaps iBurst are charged per GB - and if so - uncapped 'after hours' won't work either.
 
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