Neotel lies timeline

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Pilgrim

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Neotel lies timeline:

10 September, 2007


Neotel said that its negotiations to gain access to the SAT3 landing station are progressing well. The company previously indicated that it will leverage the VSNL shareholding in SAT3 to provide its clients with more affordable bandwidth on the cable, and that access to the SAT3 landing station will complete the picture.
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04 March, 2008

According to Angus Hay, Chief Technology Officer at Neotel, the fact that a private consortium controls the SAT3/SAFE system and determines pricing for bandwidth on this cable system remains a big challenge in forcing international bandwidth prices downwards.
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03 September, 2008

Ironically, Neotel's parent company Tata Communications of India is now the largest partner in the consortium owning SAT-3/SAFE. But Hay points out that this gives Neotel little advantage in giving it a bigger say regarding the cable's landing sites. "You can't backdate rights. Tata has more in the consortium but it does not have more rights," Hay says.
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12 March, 2009


Neotel is confident that the activation of the Seacom cable will ensure extra bandwidth for the bandwidth hungry local economy and drive down prices to an internationally comparable level. “The faster and more affordable connectivity and data speeds will boost local business in the run up to the 2010 World Cup,” the company said.
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07 July 2009

“The optic fibre network will provide Neotel, Vodacom and MTN with almost infinite bandwidth capacity to carry more information (voice and data) at higher speeds over greater distances using far less power than copper cables,” says executive head of NBSS, Imran Abbas.
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At the moment they are big mouthed on Seacom. Just watch, in July 2009 you will read an article about how neotel cannot bring down prices because of reason X. We will have to way for them to resolve problem Y so that they can bring prices down. Once problem Y has been fixed we will discover that there is indeed a problem Z.

By the time 2010 WC is over there will be no more pressure to reduces prices and increase bandwidth, so neotel only has to hold out until then. At that point they can tell us the truth:

Neotel does not give a sh|t about the consumers, they want to help telscum keep the prices inflated. :mad::mad::mad::sick:

21 October 2009

“That said, we are positive that this move will benefit the consumer, provided the right mechanisms are put in place to ensure that the benefits of any reduction in interconnection is passed through to the consumer,” says Pandey. “The benefit of being agile and customer driven, means that as Neotel we can already make a commitment to our customers that should the interconnection fees be reduced, we will cut our standard rates,” he concludes.
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As can be seen, Neotel is banging the "Lower the interconnect rates" drum very hard. Time will tell if they actually reduce their price in any meaningful way.

< More lies to follow>
 
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I don't personally think Neotel would actually lie... but remember, saying one thing and delivering it is another story, they might have good intentions but can't deliver for many reasons.

I keep saying it... Neotel is new, let's give them a fair chance, they have to learn from mistakes etc, grow, change, adjust etc.

Patience dude, patience.

"Rome was NOT built in a day" :D
 
I think i have been rather patient since Oct last year.
That's R5000 down the toilet for Jack shyte service and given the run around by the needle heads at their helpdesk !!
 
gdiza, I am only pasting what they said. Sure, I added my own spin at the end, but that is just how I see it.

Time will tell if they produce more hot air/lies or if they actually deliver...

Rome was not built in a day, but for crying out loud, how long has neotel been around?
 
the way i see it noetel promise the world (rome being built in a day) wich we all want to believe
 
Unless you trying to be particularly petty, I'm not sure I see the lies here.

Basically, the statements read:

10 September 2007: Neotel is making progress on getting access to the SAT-3 landing station. It's also hopeful it'll be able to leverage its VSNL relationship to get better pricing from the consortium.

Followed by: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/3165.html

4 March 2008 and 3 September 2008: Neotel is facing an uphill battle in getting better pricing from the consortium, since Telkom and its fatcat incumbent buddies are blocking Tata/Neotel.

Nevertheless, Neotel went ahead and offered very competitive international circuit pricing, and a true physical alternative connection to the landing station.

In response, Telkom dropped it prices dramatically: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/3108.html

(One has to assume that Neotel sells below these prices, or they wouldn't be in the market.)

12 March 2009: SEACOM is going to reduce the actual cost of international bandwidth dramatically, and make for a more competitive international market.

We'll have to wait and see on this one, but I predict that Telkom will drop its SAT-3 pricing by another 50% when SEACOM launches (or just before), and that wholesale prices from Neotel will still be below Telkom. Whilst this is doesn't directly affect consumers, these are very real changes in the telecoms market, and will change our connectivity with the world.

Why would you assume that Neotel's inability to drop SAT-3 pricing is under their direct control? Why do you think they are landing SEACOM? We all know who held the power in the past.
 
So let me ask you this @ Pilgrim:

What has Neotel done / not done for you that you make statements of this nature?

From my experience in this industry and building networks, people demand things to happen immediately (instant coffee syndrome i call it) or if a person / company slips up on a timeline then customers go all wacky and weird on the company / person.

As much as one can plan a network build to a strict timeline there are many factors that affect delivery of that time line and if you have been in project management you will know that it is very rare that things come in on time and budget because of dependencies like vendors / customs / weather etc...

Not making excuses for anyone but be realistic @ least they set a target.
 
Last time I checked Neotel was cheaper than the competition... so I'm not sure how they failed to bring down prices. Main problem with most peeps on this site is that when prices do fall this year they still won't be happy and will continue posting about how prices have not come down at all since 2000. The black on white numbers show that prices over all broadband solutions have been steadily coming down every single year since ADSL was first introduced. It's just not the 1000% all at once price cut that everybody wants.
 
07 July 2009

Ok, time to update the time line.

Now we are fed the marketing pr (aka BS) line that notel is building a "almost infinite bandwidth capacity" network.


“The optic fibre network will provide Neotel, Vodacom and MTN with almost infinite bandwidth capacity to carry more information (voice and data) at higher speeds over greater distances using far less power than copper cables,” says executive head of NBSS, Imran Abbas.
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Any bets on how long until we are told that even though they have a "almost infinite bandwidth capacity" network, we still have to play through our teeth for a drop of bandwidth?

Cannot wait to update this one with the "we have to keep charging high prices" response :mad:
 
To CriticalConsumer
Neotel has set many targets and failed many time per target, most notable.. their launch of consumer service.

TO TMoose
We are not asking for a 1000% price drop, we're asking for realistic prices, try something like 50% which we have no seen even though neotel was very quick to criticise telkom for charging us 6x more on SAT3 and when they get access to it.......... tada.... nothing!!!

Neotel has such a horrible track record in my opinion, its sickening to be honest, I am so sick of hearing news about them, they're not here to deliver a decent service, they are here to make sure their fatcats are fed, just like telkom, so in the end, we have no monopoly but a duopoly. And lets just wait for the

"in the morning the suns is shining too hard and at night the stars are too bright so our optic fibre networks are getting interference and are therefore not able to function and therefore we need to charge you high prices."
 
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Now is Neotel's PR department sleeping or something?

I am actually waiting for the "seacom landed, price dropping by 80%" from them.

Very strange.
 
To be perfectly honest i don't really believe the prices on Neotel are a big problem, what i believe is the problem, is the service and product do not justify the prices they charge.

Yes, Neotel may be cheaper than most ADSL services and blow the Cellphone provider services right out of the water, but IMO their customer service is horrific and their internet services are very inconsitent to say the least.

On Axxess you can pick up a 12 hour a day 4mbps uncapped line that consistantly runs at 3.6mbps (the max taking into account overheads) for R999 + line rental and these guys are extremely jacked up with their tech support. I have over the past few months called them a couple times at 2 am and they are almost always able to instantly solve a problem.

On neotel you can get uncapped 2.4mbps service for R999 per month, but if you see speeds higher than 1mbps you are the lucky minority and are more likely to see sub 512kbps speeds. The tech support is so horrific that you would likely get a quicker and better response by doing an ISP IT related degree and then spending ten years setting up your own ISP.

I definately agree that the cost of bandwidth in SA will take time to drop and don't expect much better prices than are currently available in the market, however when i do pay these exorbatent (excuse the spelling?) prices then i expect to at least get what i am paying for. In the "getting what you are paying for" department Neotel just doesn't shine. In this regard neotels uncapped offering are more closely comparable to a substanderd 256kbps connection with frequent dissruptions and absolutely no technical support. Now IMO R999 for a 256kbps with frequent dissruptions and no tech support is more than daylight robbery if you ask me.
 
Pilgrims comments

Pilgrim,

Seacom is not going to be sold directly to you by Neotel as I see it. You'll have to buy it from other ISP's as I understand it. So Neotel wont be directly responsible for the pricing to you. It depends on how much margin the providers put on the products they offer you.

As business operates the cost of Seacom would most likely have to be covered by enterprise clients first before consumers start seeing the benefits. As far as I see it the quicker ISP's get themselves a chunk of Seacom and start structuring products accordingly the better for us. An unfortunate draw back of capitalism is that you have to wait for business to start competing.

As far as the products that Neotel is offering they have certainly shown a commitment to dropping prices.. even their latest launch the NeoGo goody is giving the mobile broadband market a bit of a shake-up. I have to agree with gdiza "I keep saying it... Neotel is new, let's give them a fair chance, they have to learn from mistakes etc, grow, change, adjust etc."

If he :p can be patient - then so can you.
 
Added the "lower the interconnect rates" angle. They stand to gain a lot from lower interconnect rates. Will they pass those savings on to us? Or keep milking us for as long as they can, only lowering their prices when the rest do?
 
How can you say that is a lie, before the interconnect rates have even been cut?
 
busker said:
How can you say that is a lie, before the interconnect rates have even been cut?
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I am capturing their statements. I will be glad to be proven wrong, but so far neotel have followed a pretty standard procedure: Create hype to help them get something, after they get what they need ignore statements made in order to create said hype.

I would love it if neotel actually kept their promises and did what they said they will do. Sadly, so far they have been all hype. ;)
 
Keep these updates up Pilgrim. I am counting the days for my telkom line to be installed so I can ditch neosmell :)
 
SlinkyMike said:
IMO Neotels absence from a thread like this speaks volumes.
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Given that the rest of the thread more or less proves that these aren't lies, just the misinterpretation of a frustrated customer, why would Neotel join the discussion?

As for passing on the benefit of interconnection, I agree that we should wait and see. My bet is that Telkom (rather than Neotel) is the one that's going to be trying to put spin on why they cannot pass on the benefit. It's fairly obvious that, as a listed company, it would be impossible for them to reduce their voice revenue by even 10% without their share price crashing. As for MTN and Vodacom, it's quite likely that there will be absolutely no change in retail prices, since they're already losing billions by cutting interconnect, so why make it worse on themselves?
 
As far as interconnect rates is concerned. They are by law supposed to be at cost, but that is far from the case.....
 
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