Neotel usage monitor here in 2010
A common complaint amongst Neotel customers, since the company launched their wireless broadband services in 2008, is the lack of a bandwidth monitoring tool.
A bandwidth monitoring tool will allow Neotel customers to be notified when their bandwidth usage is nearing their package cap, giving them the option to reduce data use or go out-of-bundle.
Such a service is common place amongst South African internet service providers (ISPs) and other operators.
Despite this, Neotel is yet to implement a bandwidth usage monitor for its subscribers. In June the provider’s Executive Head of the Consumer Business Unit, Mukul Sharma revealed that an email notification system was being developed but could not commit to a release date.
Neotel Chief Technology Officer Dr. Angus Hay has now come forward to reveal that the company has “developed a tool for notifying customers of bandwidth usage, which is currently in Beta testing, and will be released in the New Year.”
This should come as welcome news to Neotel data customers on NeoFlex and NeoConnect packages. Currently the operator applies a policy of ‘soft capping’ its data subscribers. This means that subscribers are free to continue using the service after their cap is reached; additional bandwidth is charged at a cost of 8c per MB (R80 per GB).
As a result Neotel data users have no way of easily monitoring their bandwidth usage to ensure that no out-of-bundle charges are incurred, something which many subscribers are unhappy about.
In response Hay explained that, “Neotel has adopted the model typically referred to as soft capping, since our surveys show that customers prefer not to be hard capped when they reach the limit.”
“With the addition of our new tool, we believe that this will give customers the optimum combination of continuous service, and immediate notification of charges that apply when they do exceed the cap. Soft capping is implemented within the billing system, and does not require additional complexity in the network itself.”
Network coverage
A lack of widespread network coverage is also a common complaint amongst Neotel subscribers.
Despite having rolled out 200 towers to date Hay admitted that the company appreciates “that there is frustration from customers who want Neotel’s services who are in areas that we have not yet reached. In this sense, we are never satisfied that we have addressed all customer concerns.”
“Where we identify capacity problems in high usage areas, we add capacity in the form of additional channels. We are continually optimising the network, which is still young and suffers from occasional growing pains. Customers are encouraged to provide feedback to via our contact centre or e-mail, to assist us in network optimization,” Hay concluded.
Neotel bandwidth usage monitor – comments and views
Loading ...