From free to paid
ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 10 May
2007
iBurst is now charging for certain services that were previously free. This comes after its
ridiculous out-of-bundle price stunt a few weeks back, which left many subscribers furious to say the
least.
‘iBurst has announced that from the beginning of May there will be an activation fee
for new iBurst subscribers of R 99-00. The company further introduced a fee of R 171-00 for all downward migration
on month-to-month packages’ (iBurst add new fees to their broadband offerings, MyADSL, 3 May 2007).
In other words, new subscribers will pay a R99 activation fee while month-month
package down graders will pay a fee of a R171.
Are these additional fees really
necessary?
Yes according to iBurst but ADSL South Africa tends to disagree with them.
iBurst gave the following reasons:
-
To get prices more in
line – “…to bring iBurst’s pricing more
in line with the industry” (iBurst add new fees to their broadband offerings, MyADSL, 3 May
2007).
Maybe it’s just us but we think that a decrease in iBurst’s prices will
rather be deemed as getting in line with the industry.
-
Retain customers
and discourage downward migration – ‘They
further indicated that these additional fees would help retain customers and discourage the downward
migration of month-to-month subscribers’ (iBurst add new fees to their broadband offerings, MyADSL, 3
May 2007).
We can’t see how unnecessary limitations and restrictions can serve to
win loyalty.
-
Industry
standards and norms – According to iBurst:
“As part of its commitment to becoming a world-class wireless broadband provider, iBurst constantly
evaluates the way it does business. After studying industry standards and norms, iBurst decided to
introduce two categories of fees that other providers have always charged” (iBurst add new fees to
their broadband offerings, MyADSL, 3 May 2007).
It seems that iBurst conveniently
forgot that:
-
Telkom - ‘Telkom has also
done away with activation or installation fees when opting for their self install option, and is in
fact giving away a free ADSL modem to clients going the self-install route’ (iBurst add new fees to
their broadband offerings, MyADSL, 3 May 2007).
-
MTN and
Vodacom - ‘While MTN and Vodacom have general
activation fees for all new contract subscribers, there is no activation fee for new pre-paid
subscribers using their broadband offerings. Existing contract subscribers can also start using their
broadband offerings without paying an activation fee’ (iBurst add new fees to their broadband
offerings, MyADSL, 3 May 2007).
In other words, iBurst is actually taking you for a ride.
Does the
new activation fee apply to both contract and month-to-month subscribers?
Yes.
ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) sees iBurst’s move as a case of once again
trying to take customers for a ride.
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