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Bandwidth costs take a tumble

By Candice Jones, ITWeb online telecoms editor
Johannesburg, 17 Nov 2009

Bandwidth offerings

The introduction of Seacom has slowly started to make its mark on broadband costs locally, and many alternative broadband providers have started to slash prices or introduce innovative products.

With ADSL still the most popular Internet offering, ITWeb compares the alternate capacity providers' bandwidth products. The uncapped broadband offering is becoming more competitive and consumers can expect to see more to come.

In September, local provider Afrihost kicked off the capacity promotions, dropping its per GB rate to R29 in a limited offer. Despite being a temporary offering, the company's bandwidth cost represents one of the more competitive rates on offer in SA today.

Screamer is offering the best per GB rate in the list of companies investigated by ITWeb. The company's product comes in at a rate of R23. Screamer's per GB extends across its basic ADSL products and its out of bundle cost is one of the lowest in the country, at 3c per MB.

Screamer is also one of two local companies making the most of cheaper international capacity, and is offering an exceptional rate to for its uncapped products. The company is now selling its uncapped 384Kbps offering at R399, 512Kbps at R799, 1Mbps uncapped at R1 499 and 4Mbps at R2 499.

Uncapped data

New entrant DigiChilli has come to market offering only an uncapped service. The company says it is “shaking up the market and proud of it”. The offering is not as competitive as that offered by Screamer; however, as a new provider, the company promises to have some other competitive products in the future.

DigiChilli is offering R500 for a 384Kbps product, R1 000 for 512Kbps and R3 000 for 1Mbps.

Afrihost and G-Connect both have the second most competitive out of bundle rate, coming in at 4.9c per MB. G-Connect only offers the out of bundle rate, which users can buy in a pay-per-use model.

 
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 Comments (14)

andrew said:

Afrihost the best
As well as supplying an excellent service Afrihost are fantastic when it comes to support, unlike most SA Companies. You can turn their service on and off with a mouse click and they actually listen and respond when you have a problem.
Telkom, Eskom, the Banks and all the other institutional bandits could learn a lot from Afrihost.
Well done!
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August 19, 2010 Votes: +0

Kris said:

screamer cancellation
If you want to cancel the screamer contract you have to obtain the form from their office and then submit the completed form to them and no, I was told that the form can not be posted or downloaded but must be collected from their offices. Payments can only be made by bank stop order.
This smells like a scam to me
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December 02, 2009 Votes: +0

S Hamilton said:

Pathetic
These prices are still a complete rip off. BT prices in the UK - 20Mbps (max) speed with uncapped usage ... all for the staggering cost of £24.46 per month. This is only approx R306.00 per month. It is no wonder that internet has not been taken up in large numbers here.
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November 23, 2009 Votes: +0

N Baird said:

Beware!
Hi,
after reading this article I joined screamer.com! The max speed I got with a 4Mps was 300kbps and most of the time under 100kbps.
After MANY emails I asking them to cancel the service (three days). They now send me a bill for the full amount.

Pathetic! They are ripping me off! They are NOT able to give the service they sell. As I see it this is a way to make loads of money quickly. If you have to pay for the full month for trying a service that does not work!!!

Someone should take them to task. I just dont have the time and money so as most other consumers I will just have to pay it and take it!
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November 20, 2009 Votes: +0

johngilmore said:

Axxess
It should also be noted that the R59/GB for Axxess is for a semi-shaped line. This means the line is unshaped after office hours, which is really cool for gaming etc..
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November 19, 2009 Votes: +1

DP said:

Comparison
these comparisons fail to take into the true cost of ADSL - it forgets the cost of the ADSL line and telkom line rental
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November 19, 2009 Votes: +0

johanvzyl said:

Afrihost
I just sign-up with AFRIHOST and DAM I'm happy - nice and fast no problems yet been running a month with them (Hope it last)
5 of my friends also signed up and we are very happy

YOU GO AFRIHOST
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November 18, 2009 Votes: +2

Mazia said:

Mazia
Its a good start.Now show us a comparison on Hosting Costs.
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November 18, 2009 Votes: +1

Candice said:

Re:Correction on Afrihost "Out of Bundle Rate"
Apologies Greg
I took the out of bundle price from your prepaid options, which is listed as R49 per GB. Thanks for pointing out the error.
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November 18, 2009 Votes: +0

Tshidiso1981 said:

Packets On Steroids
I thnk these kinds of solution will make Africa MORE competative on the ICT universal arena. I attended Seacom exhibition in Sandton City and I still thnk they need to sell it more to Mzanzi... Gr8t Stuff
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November 17, 2009 Votes: -1

Michael Kraynor said:

Well done Screamer
IT Web are 100% correct. Screamer is only running a NAT'd connection for a week but that has no effect on the amount of broadband their clients get.
My new connection is "Screaming!!"

Well done Screamer and I look forward to the next big cut.
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November 17, 2009 Votes: +0

Greg Payne said:

Correction on Afrihost "Out of Bundle Rate"
I would like to point out an error in your reported "Out of bundle rate" or "Topup" rate for Afrihost. We currently offer an out of bundle rate of R29 per GB or 2.9 cents per MB incl. VAT.

Greg Payne
Afrihost - Sales Director
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November 17, 2009 Votes: +0

Jonathan Carter said:

Apples and Oranges
Man I wish ITweb writers could do some research before making posts. These packages aren't really all that much cheaper, on Screamer, for example, you don't get a direct Internet connection but you get a nat'd connection. R59-R69 is what data has been costing for a while now, hardly any kind of cut there.
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November 17, 2009 Votes: +4

Donald Nxumalo said:

...
Exciting times! This is the best news ever. Now we are seeing the cost reductions from SEACOM filtering down to the end user. I hear these guys buy their wholesale bandwidth from BCS Group. With LLU this pricing should go even lower. Lets hang in there!
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November 17, 2009 Votes: -2

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