1 November 2005 - what we know so far

As is customary for Telkom, every now and then they devise new ways to screw their customers. While the contents below have advantages and disadvantages, the majority of people will not be enamoured with the new changes.

 

MyADSL Threads:  ISP Pricing at one glance

 

Without wasting any time - what will happen 1 November:

 

1. More expensive accounts

If you have been surfing with a higher-cap account (5 - 30GB) then you are in for a shock. The 'low' price you are paying at the moment will increase by multiples of 4 or 5 times as much as it is now. In a Telkom document the prices are:

  • 10GB shaped: R560 ex VAT and ISP revenue
  • 20GB shaped: R1100 ex VAT and ISP revenue
  • 30GB shaped: R1620 ex VAT and ISP revenue

2. Hard capping

The accounts mentioned above are all hard-capped, which means that once you reach the amount of gigabytes which your cap has been set at, you get cut off from the ADSL network. The only way to then gain access to the internet is to purchase another account (Telkom would love that) or purchase more GB's (Telkom would love that too). The following pre-defined accounts are also hard-capped:

  • 2GB shaped: R127 ex VAT and ISP revenue
  • 3GB shaped: R157 ex VAT and ISP revenue
  • 5GB shaped: R282 ex VAT and ISP revenue
  • 4GB unshaped: R420 ex VAT and ISP revenue
  • 10GB unshaped: R1000 ex VAT and ISP revenue
  • 20GB unshaped: R1970 ex VAT and ISP revenue
  • 30GB unshaped: R2860 ex VAT and ISP revenue

3. ISP's have more control

Your ISP will from 1 November be able to:

  • Set your IP reset from 1 hour to 24 hours (default is 24 hours)
  • Limit your connection speed from 16 or 64Kbps
  • Limit the IP addresses or websites you can visit
  • 6 session types which govern your speed/freedom (or lack of) for internet usage

You can purchase more GB's once you are hard-capped. This is of course an excellent way for Telkom to make a lot more money and screw their customers in a big way. A few ISP's are currently thinking of ways to get around Telkom's insane prices and stupid policies, so come 1 November we will see what will happen.. until then it's all up in the air, but if you were planning on ordering ADSL, or have already, now could be a good time to reconsider or cancel.

 

There are discussions about the changes at MyADSL.co.za so head over there and see what people are saying. If you find any comments about this baing a good idea, then you know the person who posted the message is a Telkom shareholder. The repurcussions of these stupid decisions to hard-cap aren't mentioned here but as you can imagine, in true TELKOM style, you, the customer, will be worse off.