More wireless broadband offerings

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 26 July 2006

Both MWEB and Cell C came forth with wireless broadband offerings of their own in the past week.

3G Wireless Broadband, MWEB’s latest product-offering aims to provide customers with wireless or fixed line ADSL (broadband) access coming with all the perks of having an MWEB membership added on top of that.

MWEB’s 3G 500 MB data bundle comes in at R280/month on a 24 month contract similar to the price of Vodacom’s 3G 500 MB data bundle offering. MWEB’s offering is however better in the sense that it comes with free goodies (data card, SIM card & connection plus 1st month’s access) worth more than R3 100. Initially at least, since the free goodies will only be part of the package for a limited time period.

A unique mobile USB modem forms the core of Cell C’s latest offering. Unique in the sense that it “is the only mobile internet access device from a cellular network that can be used for both PC’s and laptops” (Cell C pamphlet).

Cell C’s 500 MB package comes in at R350/month (24 month contract) a little bit more expensive than other similar offerings. However, their 1G at R499/month (24 month contract) offering will at least give iBurst a run for its money taking into consideration that a free modem comes with the deal. iBurst will charge you R579/month on a 24-month contract (incl. laptop or USB modem) for 1G while it will shot up to R599/month with a desktop modem included.

We phoned iBurst and asked them if a discount is possible in regard to similar offerings to that of Cell C. They promised to come back to us on the same day. Needless to say that we’re still waiting for a response from their side. iBurst has to get their customer service sorted or face the loss of ADSL users to other wireless service providers. They have to accept there are new guns in town with better offerings. They will have to adjust pricing on their offerings or at least provide a good reason for keeping prices at unacceptable levels. It’s our hope that other similar service providers will not make the same mistake since they will go down the same road if they do. Sentech for one can take note.

It’s encouraging to see more and more service providers coming forth with wireless broadband offerings. The latest offerings from MWEB and Cell C leave you with better choices. Hopefully it will help to push prices down. Taking into consideration that service providers don’t get infected with the Telkom virus first.