 Neotel are doing a great job for telecommunications in South Africa, absolutely no question about it. Let us compare the cost of an ADSL line from Telkom - include the ISP (whether it be Telkom or another) to offerings available from Neotel.
Let us compare the costs of the services:
ADSL
Telkom - 384kbps line rental (not available without a Telkom line) [R133.33]
Telkom - telephone land line rental [R152.63]
VAT from Telkom [R40.03]
AfriHost 1Gb bandwidth [R29]
Total for the ADSL route - [R354.99]
If you have an ISP like most, the 1Gb would cost you around R69 per Gb, and therefore add R40 to your cost above.
Neotel
NeoConnect Lite 299 - 300kbps - 700kbps [R299]
Phone line rental - [zero]
2Gb bandwidth - [zero]
Free minutes (Neotel to Neotel) 500 - [zero]
So with Neotel you get an extra 1Gb bandwidth and probably a faster internet connection. But the real good and strange thing, is that the calls on your telephone charges are less, _even_ if you call a Telkom number! And, Neotel charge you per second right from the start, no minimum charge like Telkom's per second billing.
Telkom to Telkom per minute is 43c per minute, where Neotel to Telkom is 34c. All of the call rates from Neotel, to any other number including cellular calls are cheaper than Telkom - the immediate per second billing makes a huge difference.
Yippy..... but not so fast! There are some things to think about!!!
This offering from Neotel holds the "line", so that when you are on the internet, you cannot receive calls, and when on the phone, no internet. It acts like a "pause" button while you are busy on the other device.
You can connect one computer via USB to this device for internet access. So if you need the family to connect via the web on your wireless router, think again.
So Neotel do have a solution, but for our scenario it is not viable.
NeoFlex Data + NeoConnect Lite for multiple users
The solution for multiple users on the internet and a phone that works while you are on the internet, you have to opt for the NeoFlex Data, and a basic NeoConnect Lite telephone.
NoeFlex Data - 5Gb bandwidth - 2.4Mbps [R499]
4 users on Ethernet
Wireless access
NeoConnect Lite 99 - basic telephone (device needs to be purchased at R599) [R99]
So the 5Gb offering to replace our current 5Gb ADSL offering would cost [R598].
For the equivalent telephone, ADSL , rental and bandwidth (5Gb) from AfriHost it costs us [R474.99].
Don't forget your connection to the security company for your alarm to notify the control centre - these systems do not yet use the Neotel connection.
Conclusion:
For a person who only needs one device, and one at a time - Neotel by far is the better solution. For the person with multiple users and needing the phone while on the internet - Telkom is the better option (if you have well priced ISP bandwidth). I'm sure Neotel will address the "concurrent" usage issue, and when they do, we'll be queuing up for the solution.
Still cannot get over that Telkom to Telkom is more expensive than Neotel to Telkom!! Eish!
Contributed by:
Malcolm Pearson
www.tech4law.co.za
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Comments
Hi Gary
Firstly, using the CPA - you don't need to honour the contract due to the non-delivery of service.
Next, I would ask to speak to a supervisor and then ask them how to go about get a port - I understand that they may have reached capacity - but there must be somebody who is giving up a phone line in the area.
Then I would check with your neighbour - see if they have an ADSL service and offer to push it up and share until you get a port. I know that would not be 100% by the book - but it gives you a temp solution.
See what other services are available in the area.
Telkom wanting to improve the business - don't be silly!
I have signed another 24 month contract with Telkom for the fastest ADSL they can offer with Land line etc, I have just moved house/office and have been waiting 3 weeks for Telkom to move my line..... Now today they say that i can not have ADSL in Westville because there is no Port for it..... But they say i can have 3G I asked for ADSL because of speed and reliability! What are my options here? Why can't they expand their service and add a extra port for ADSl line??? I thought they would want to grow their company!
Feeling like I am bent over a barrel here!
Gary
Hi Ronnie.
There are many alternatives to just Telkom and Neotel. Which are now more reliable and give you much more functionality. The Cellular industry is now coming around and costs on Data are much closer to ADSL than ever before. Examples of extremely good Data deals are MTN's Uncapped and 8.ta's 10G. As well as P2P solutions(Be careful here as quality is much more imporatant than price). If however the coices are Neotel and Telkom, Your coverage strenght and the number of users on the different networks would determin the best solution. Contact me on info (at) reddoffice dot co dot za for more information.
Thanks Mark
If both are available, I would think the ADSL line would probably be a better choice of the two as it will give you faster bandwidth and a wider range of growth paths and products.
It may not be the cheapest by a couple of hundred rand, but as a business you need the more stable solution.
Hi Jerald: Hope I am not too late with this info. I have helped setup multiple Call centres, and without a doubt the lowest cost for calls is either Neotel or VOIP. I would suggest VOIP for a call centre as legally you would require technology that is more easily available on an IP based system. Unfortunatly, there is too much info to share here, so get into contact with me on info(at)reddoffice(dot)co(dot) za for more detailed information.
It will be a Call Centre and I am comparing prices between Neotel and Telkom. The predicament that I am in is that most of my calls would be to cellphone numbers. I need some advise guys because I have already invested a lot into this business and with regards to rental and call costs it would be a lot.
Kind Regards
Jerald Raghunath
That is shocking - how much does lite cost. As a good few dial up providers offer dial up for free or at R60 per month.
Neotel seem to be doing themselves in, what a wasted opportunity.
Good tips, thanks.
I agree that Neotel need to relook there strategy. They seem to be interested only in the big connections and not the consumer.
BTW, any idea on what can be used if Telkom have no available ports for an area? Who can we kick? Or what alternative is there? 3G is expensive.
If you price what telkom would cost with uncapped internet, it would only cost about ~R500 whereas neotel you looking at about R1000+ with adsl speed...
If your just a basic internet user that just checks there email at home before you go to bed then neotel would be fine, if you like to play games on the internet, think twice about neotel as most wireless internet devices, there is a high latency so you probably will get booted from most of the games you join.
I think that neotel needs to seriously overlook their prices with the new uncapped prices from mweb, afrihost or axxess.
well hope this is any help
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