By popular demand I’ve been asked to give my opinons on the newly released Neotel Neoflex service. Frankly I’ve got what I think are more interesting things to write about but I’ll give the masses their humour.
Basically this week Neotel finally released their much awaited (this was supposed to come out in November 2008) data only service to the public. Up until now you had to buy a Neotel Voice and Data contract, something most people did not want. To add to this issue was the fact that you got a really crummy modem/phone combo that was only able to connect via USB. This was seriously inelegant but also totally useless if you want to connect multiple PC’s to the network.
So what Neotel has done is released the Neoflex service with a router that features 4 Ethernet ports as well as Wi-fi abilities. As such multiple computers can connect to the network. So far so good right? Well the other positive about the Neoflex service is that it operates a little faster than the previous Neotel voice/data service at 3.1Mbps rather than 2.4Mbps. I’ve heard reports that the router has a battery built in so has the ability to last for 2 hours if the power goes off. This is obviously great for addicts such as myself that require constant Internet.
Okay so here’s the negative side of things: First of all they’re only offering two contracts. The two options are a ten gig cap at R699 per month and a fifteen gig cap at R899 a month. My disappointment here is that they have only offered such “high” bandwidth cap offerings. Some people might actually prefer three or five gig caps maybe? I’m also of the opinion that Neotel should offer different speed options. Telkom has a great way of segmenting the market with their three ADSL speed offerings. Not everyone wants 3.1Mbps and I think the customer should have the option.
Price wise it all looks pretty good. To get an equivalent amount of data off a 4MB ADSL line you’ll be looking spending about 400 bucks more. Here’s the thing though, ADSL is pretty rock solid and you’re ensured of a specific speed. Herein lies the rub: Wireless services are flaky and that’s the problem. In my only experience with Neotel (using the voice/data modem) the service worked terribly in one area of the house and “better” in another section. It worked best in the garden, hardly convenient for the average user. Not only is the quality dubious but the latency is poor so gaming and VOIP services are degraded (this is true for all wireless services).
In all my experience from using Sentech, iBurst, 3G and briefly Neotel I’ve found the service to vaciallate between shocking and mediocre. I used Sentech for two years and it was abysmal while my past two years of ADSL have been consistent, something I appreciate. Wireless is just something I avoid as I’ve been burnt plenty times by it. Hell even my 3G modem disconnects every 5 to 10 minutes.
The fact that one needs to take a 24 month contract with Neotel is the least impressive issue. If a company really knew their product was viable they wouldn’t lock people into a 24 month contract. People would stay because they were getting a great service at a great price. With the promises that this is the year from Seacom that bandwidth is going to finally be available in SA I wouldn’t get caught into a 24 month contract on anything.
Look, it’s a good price for a fairly decent service but the problem that this service is only in theory. Ideally I’d like one of these bad boys to test out but for now, it’s ADSL all the way.
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You have highlighted Neotel’s dismal marketing. Speed and data-cap differentiation are no-brainers. Perhaps they are not interested in playing the volume game which could possibly suggest some infrastructure weakness.