Great Post about the way forward

my heartfelt thanks and congratulations to all those who have made this website & forum what it is

my sense is that the community has grown in all kinds of unexpected ways (health, wealth, leisure and relationships rpm? ) and had its share of growing pains but that it is now a robust and diverse meeting place for many different folks who often manage to enlighten and/or amuse each other

my wish for the community is that it does not lose the essential focus of getting a better deal for consumers with respect of communications. i often feel that the people here do not get that this is potentially the most powerful consumer body in SA and could be an extremely effective force for keeping the service providers, honest, informed and on their toes. Thoughts
- members need to become better informed about the issues that affect them. this is not difficult given that this info surrounds us & it is better to say "telkom/whoever's pricing is too high because" rather than "$#@% Telkom/the Minister/ICASA" (which doesn't really help to raise the credibility of the community)
- telkom is no longer "the enemy" but merely one of them. i suspect that many a VANS that gets it IECNS will adopt telkom-like characteristics sooner rather than later. any service provider that seeks to rip consumers off or to prey on ignorance needs to be held to account
- this site has enormous value to the service providers if only most of them realised it..their customers are having public conversations about them which is the kind of marketing intelligence that they pay research companies millions for. Vodacom, for all their sins , are the only company who have really grasped this and their brand and business has been enhanced through this forum as a result of vodacom3g's efforts.
- after licence conversion consumers in SA will enjoy significantly more rights than they currently do & we need to get informed about these. realising that having more rights and being able to do anything with them are very different things we need to focus on dealing constructively with ICASA & making complaints as a community

rpm, antowan, ic, cara, bwana, BTTB & all others thank you for the hours, the passion, the patience and the laughs - all the best for the future

Thanks for the motivational post dominic, I appreciate it.

I have to be honest, I'm not that clued with everything that surrounds us, ashamed to say so, but it's a fact, I'll try to work on it.

All your points are valid though and I think creating a discussion, as we have done in the past (some times) where members air their questions to Icasa or similar is what's needed.

The point is, the whole community, which it is, needs to be included, excluding how many posts you may have or your status or even reputation.

The way to do this I suppose is to almost approach it as we do the competitions, a sort of free for all in that sense.

Thanks again.

tera

the past month or so I've started to read the telecoms related posts (hidden in those dark sections away from OT ) in the early mornings when no one else is around and can genuinely say that I'm learning things. So I'm slowly but surely getting there

Nice post dom.

Thanks for a great post and excellent suggestions Dominic. You are certainly as much a part of the success of this forum and site as anyone! Great to have an industry leader in the telecoms space active here.

I fully agree with your suggestions, especially:

members need to become better informed about the issues that affect them. this is not difficult given that this info surrounds us & it is better to say "telkom/whoever's pricing is too high because" rather than "$#@% Telkom/the Minister/ICASA" (which doesn't really help to raise the credibility of the community)

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I fully understand the frustration, but it is when I sit with guys from the telecoms providers and they start to quote our users when I realize that a well worded response hits home far harder than short and derogatory comments.

dominic said:

- members need to become better informed about the issues that affect them. this is not difficult given that this info surrounds us & it is better to say "telkom/whoever's pricing is too high because" rather than "$#@% Telkom/the Minister/ICASA" (which doesn't really help to raise the credibility of the community)

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So so true. Something I often forget!

Thanks for the reminder dominic, it reminds me of why I joined this community in the frst place, that is, to learn. Once again I've had an oppertunity to learn, thank you.

Great post

motivational post indeed...feel guilty will flush head down toilet now..brb

<moLe> said:

motivational post indeed...feel guilty will flush head down toilet now..brb

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*giggle*

dominic said:

my heartfelt thanks and congratulations to all those who have made this website & forum what it is

my sense is that the community has grown in all kinds of unexpected ways (health, wealth, leisure and relationships rpm? ) and had its share of growing pains but that it is now a robust and diverse meeting place for many different folks who often manage to enlighten and/or amuse each other

my wish for the community is that it does not lose the essential focus of getting a better deal for consumers with respect of communications. i often feel that the people here do not get that this is potentially the most powerful consumer body in SA and could be an extremely effective force for keeping the service providers, honest, informed and on their toes. Thoughts
- members need to become better informed about the issues that affect them. this is not difficult given that this info surrounds us & it is better to say "telkom/whoever's pricing is too high because" rather than "$#@% Telkom/the Minister/ICASA" (which doesn't really help to raise the credibility of the community)
- telkom is no longer "the enemy" but merely one of them. i suspect that many a VANS that gets it IECNS will adopt telkom-like characteristics sooner rather than later. any service provider that seeks to rip consumers off or to prey on ignorance needs to be held to account
- this site has enormous value to the service providers if only most of them realised it..their customers are having public conversations about them which is the kind of marketing intelligence that they pay research companies millions for. Vodacom, for all their sins , are the only company who have really grasped this and their brand and business has been enhanced through this forum as a result of vodacom3g's efforts.
- after licence conversion consumers in SA will enjoy significantly more rights than they currently do & we need to get informed about these. realising that having more rights and being able to do anything with them are very different things we need to focus on dealing constructively with ICASA & making complaints as a community

rpm, antowan, ic, cara, bwana, BTTB & all others thank you for the hours, the passion, the patience and the laughs - all the best for the future

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+1!!!! Particularly in the following forum sections:

"Broadband and IT News"
"Consumerism and Telecoms Liberalisation"

tears full my nostrils