NeoTel launches data card package

[Nab]

Plug n pay...have your say:

[Stuart]

Wait ... so this is like a 3G thing?

[Synthesis]

For R299 p/m You get
1.5 Gigabytes of data
Out-of-bundle data at 8c per Megabyte
Peak download speeds of up to 3.1Mbps
Peak upload speeds of up to 1.8Mbps
Uncomplicated installation (PC and Mac)
R239 p/m if you buy the modem for R1499 upfront (but you still need to sign a 2 year contract)

I thought Neotel were to better Telkom. I will not sign a 2 year contract for a data card. Who know what happens 6 months from now. NEVER!!! At least vodacom gives you a pay as you go option.
Thanks, but I will stick to my vodacom prepaid data-card for R289 for 1GB.

[lancelot]

As was said before the second Telecom supplier came on line, to expect price reductions from them would be wishful thinking, they are in it for one thing only, profit!
We will have to wait for the next innovation, direct to satellite from our phones laptops etc., pricing based purely on advertising, like eTV. Free communication will happen, sooner rather than later.

[Nab]

I know Neotel's contracts for other products are on a one month's notice basis and I would assume these are too. They don't really do the whole gestapo thing but then again they also don't really do the whole uncapped data thing

[Stuart]

So this is like a 3G thing?

[Nab]

Yes Stuart, it's like a 3G thing (CDMA actually) but with far less coverage for added frustration but a good chance of affordable data.

[Stuart]

Yes Stuart, it's like a 3G thing (CDMA actually) but with far less coverage for added frustration but a good chance of affordable data.

Well, yeah, that's what I was thinking. Neotel doesn't exactly have wonderful coverage. What's the point of rolling out a 3G-like product if you can't get coverage? Isn't the point of 3G mobile Internet?

[Stuart]

My word, Neotel's website is slow!

[Nab]

That said Stu, I chatted to somebody rather NB from Neo at the seacom launch and they are rolling out towers at something like 40 per month (I stand to be corrected). They reckon all it takes is 15 residents sending irate mail and if they have fiber they make a plan. They claim that they are expanding their network and capacity very cautiously so as to not under or oversell themselves which is supposedly the reason's for all the up and down performance of late.

Let's hope they can pull it together. Ideal scenario would be uncapped Neo (Ethernet not usb) with a little DSL account for gaming in the interim but hey, I always liked that spare kidney where it was

[Stuart]

That said Stu, I chatted to somebody rather NB from Neo at the seacom launch and they are rolling out towers at something like 40 per month (I stand to be corrected). They reckon all it takes is 15 residents sending irate mail and if they have fiber they make a plan. They claim that they are expanding their network and capacity very cautiously so as to not under or oversell themselves which is supposedly the reason's for all the up and down performance of late.

Let's hope they can pull it together. Ideal scenario would be uncapped Neo (Ethernet not usb) with a little DSL account for gaming in the interim but hey, I always liked that spare kidney where it was

Look, I have Neotel at home, and have had no problems with it. They were laying their stuff two streets down from our office MONTHS ago, and I was told in March that we would have coverage here "very soon," but their coverage map still shows no coverage.

I have cancelled my 3G with Nashua Mobile, effective 11 August, and was thinking of going directly with Vodacom or possibly Telkom. I MIGHT consider this instead, but the coverage thing would make me hesitate. Their rates are fantastic.

[Stuart]

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Broadband/8965.html

Nice mobile broadband pricing comparison