Who remembers all the hype around Neotel coming to SA to save us from Helkom, MTN and Voda and we thought we will surf till our eyes drop out with close to nothing prices of broadband.
Then there was the hype of the SEACOM cable landing in SA and the speeds of our internet will triple and even a broke man will surf and pay close to nothing and guys like us bought plenty of online games hoping we will play more online without having the terrible online delays and its not funny playing against the Americans and Europeans who use optic cables, your bullets take ages to get across the battlefield and by that time you will be dead AGAIN.
So now I have stopped playing games and I became a bit serious with my online business and I never disconnect from 9am to 2 am the following day. What is so irritating me are the bandwidth prices of wireless networks like MTN, Voda, iBurst and the "savior" Neotel. The prices are so NOT affordable for many South Africans. Wireless technology in SA is essential therefore the prices should not be a ripoff. I for example buy 4 gigs for my little company with 2 "informal" employees and 2 gigs for me. The whole amount will be summoned up to R1200 per month for 3G internet and that’s crazy but I still pay.
I do see a price drop with the fixed line sector and that’s welcome BUT the fact is that most people in SA dont use the fixed line for many reasons therefore they will never benefit from the price drops and the real deal should be a drop in the wireless sector.
I truly and strongly believe that we are being taken for a ride by the wireless sector when it comes to the internet prices and I wonder what should be done for these prices to be dropped dramatically as it hurts small businesses and communication advancement in SA.