South Africa’s confusing ADSL industry
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 8:42written by Eve Dmochowska
So my partner Craig and I have opened up 2010 with our official release of the The Broadband Bible, which is a 66 page pdf that compares ADSL and Wireless plans in South Africa. All in all, there are 35+ ISPs listed, and about 300+ different plans. And it took a long time to put together. You can download it for free here, or read it below.
I did most of the tabulating and comparing myself, which was an eye opener. It made me realise what a convoluted and confusing industry this really is. In fact, as Craig says, it seems that some ISPs make their living my purporsefully making the plans as complicated and difficult to understand as possible, and hiding from an apples-to-apples comparison.
And from looking at our comparison tables, it is mind boggling to understand how some ISPs get away with charging what they charge. Some prices, for a virtually identical product can be up to five times as high as those of the cheapest provider. When you get over the shock, you start feeling a big bout of disgust.
And although it is (hopefully) true that the more expensive ISPs offer faster speeds (lower latencies) and better customer service, this certainly does not come across clearly in their explanations of the service.
What is most interesting to me though, is how the Internet promises “perfect information” (all information supposedly available online, all easily accessible) yet manages to sustain such price discrepancies, for a basic commodity. Basically what it boils down to is that the theory of having perfect information does not (not even closely) lead to attaining the “Perfect Price”. And why not? I guess the extra layer of what needs to happen with the perfect information (careful analysis, rational decision process) is a challenge many simply are not committed to. Which is why, with pretty websites and confusing language, many ISPs get away with overcharging.
All this highlights a worrying trend: is the online audience expecting to be spoonfed all the time, or will there come a time when easily accessible perfect information will become the standard? Certainly Craig and I are going to continue creating “Consumer Bibles”, comparing specs of products so that the audience can make better informed decisions (our next bibles are the Printer Bible and the Laptop Bible, launching January 21 2010). At the very least we hope this will start a trend of clear reporting by the manufacturers, and indirectly force better prices, and better products.
Download The Broadband Bible for free here, or read below
Jan Opperman says:
January 18th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Something you might consider adding in future editions, is DSL line rental. From Telkom the prices for 384, 512 and 1024 are respectively R152, R326 and R413. However, several ISPs offer reduced rates, for example iSAT charges only R371 for 1024.
Eve Dmochowska says:
January 18th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
That’s an excellent idea! Thanks…we’ll do that in the next edition.
Craig says:
January 26th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Thanks for all your hard work. I downloaded the bible today and had a squiz through it. I have a few comments as follows
You list WirelessG as the cheapest for “10 GB per month, Shaped, No line” at R220, but their website reflects that service at R649, which is really QUITE a big difference.
It would be useful to know which backbone each package uses. IS used to be terrible, but I think they are getting better, but I would still like to know which backbone the package runs on, and it is sometimes quite difficult to find that out from the provider as many of them don’t list it in their product pages, and you only find out when you phone and ask specifically, or activate the account and have to change your smtp server in your email settings because you can’t send mail.
It would be handy to have the local bandwidth allowance listed for each service on the specific provider pages, although it is in your top 10 lists.
Lastly, it would be nice to see if the package includes carry over, so if I don’t use it this month, will it still be available next month? For prepaid I know, but handy to know.
Thanks again,
Craig
Michael says:
January 27th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Excellent guide.
Please try to include SAOL too?
I’ve been using them for 1.5 years and they really have some of the best deals around.
e.g. R499 uncapped (384K Line rental included!)
Thanks
Michael
DaveG says:
February 1st, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Great initiative.
A downside is the fluid nature of pricing and packaging of these products – an online version would deal with that. With an online version one could incorporate one aspect that I find everyone wants to know over and above price and that is service quality. A simple rating system for readers to give input using “Would you recommend ISP X to a colleague or friend?” (1) on price, (2) on service, and (3) on reliability, would be a great tool to enable the public to rate their ISPs. Some thought would need to go into countering ’sandbagging’ and abuse, but that could work on unique IP’s or email addresses.
BigG says:
March 19th, 2010 at 10:50 am
Great Guide. Helped me stax. No pressure on the update for March 2010 but will you maybe provide a estimate date for its release?
Darius Deloye says:
March 24th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
It feels excellent to see some well written material like this.
Glenn says:
March 26th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Thanks you for an informative guide. The recent introduction of uncapped ADSL in South Africa changes the landscape dramatically (for the better). Please include these options in the next release.
Cor says:
April 9th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Great guide. (It seems Wireless G would be the best, needs to check them out, but how does one knows if they are a reliable ISP?)
Although I know there is only 4 Cell Phone companies, I would like to know if there is a possibility for a similar bible on the best Cell Phone deals, and maybe a comparison to VOIP Phones, (If VOIP call quality is good enough to Replace Cell Phones.)
Karen says:
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:58 am
What relly boggles my mind is that it seems you have to add your normal telkom line rental onto all these costs, so add approx R150 to whatever ADSL deal you’re looking at. You can’t get an adsl line without a ‘normal’ telkom line, so if you don’t have a land line, these are additional costs to conseider, or am I wrong?
Karen says:
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:58 am
What really boggles my mind is that it seems you have to add your normal telkom line rental onto all these costs, so add approx R150 to whatever ADSL deal you’re looking at. You can’t get an adsl line without a ‘normal’ telkom line, so if you don’t have a land line, these are additional costs to conseider, or am I wrong?
Karen says:
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:59 am
What really boggles my mind is that it seems you have to add your normal telkom line rental onto all these costs, so add approx R150 to whatever ADSL deal you’re looking at. You can’t get an adsl line without a ‘normal’ telkom line, so if you don’t have a land line, these are additional costs to consider, or am I wrong?
Eve Dmochowska says:
April 22nd, 2010 at 2:59 pm
@Karen
Yep…you need a voice line, then you need to add the cost of the ADSL line which varies according to the speed. Some plans include the ADSL line, but you still need to pay for the voice line….
Midkemia says:
May 10th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Hi
I was looking through your updated bible… Really neat and tidy etc. Alot of work has been put into it.
There are a few issues I have with it, im not sure if you guys get a kickback from the ISP’s but some important comments are always left out!
If I look at the uncapped offerings, which is a very touchy subject, as can be seen on mybb.co.za, I know for a fact that AFRIHOST WILL THROTTLE AFTER 20GIG ON A 384 LINE! i know for a FACT that MWEB WILL HEAVILY SHAPE FROM 7-11 EVERY DAY!
We need to know these facts, facts that you have left out of the bible.
You cant be taken serisouly if you leave out facts like this, as most of the knowledgeable guys on mybb.co.za will know that each uncapped offering has its own pitfalls. It would be nice to actually get them down, so it makes it easy to compare apples with apples
Simon says:
May 10th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Thanks for all the hard work. One small (big) problem is that you seem to have got your tables on page 8 and 9 incorrect. The unshaped pricing is cheaper that the shaped pricing?
I would humbly suggest fixing this as soon as possible!
Duidelike Dave says:
May 12th, 2010 at 10:37 am
The prices for Wireless G is incorret. You only get it at R22/Gig if you buy a 9Gig R200 30 day Broadband pass. The price for 1 Gig is R37/Gig. Also the Axxess price of R19 per gig is an introductory offer. Normal price is R25/gig.
nicki says:
July 9th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Maybe decommission this site and point to the new site;http://www.buyersbibles.co.za/index.php/broadband/, otherwise people are confused.
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