Posted by ambyzown
On 2008-02-29 17:02:43, Angelgirl wrote:
I thought we were going to enjoy some months of free 3G browsing before these guys start billing.
Me too oh
Posted by brym!
@amby & Angel: Be like me, don't lose hope. Celtel can make our dreams come true when they launch their 3G later in the year.
Posted by OluYom
@brym: You mean 'IF' they launch their 3G later this year? Years after others, Celtel is yet to launch GPRS (though its there most of the time).
I was also slightly discouraged when a Celtel official said sometime last year that 3G would be used to boost voice capacity and quality on Celtel, instead of being data-focused.
How about that for hope? If it happens, fine. If it doesn't, life goes on.
Posted by 2tek
aya, sent you a PM..
Posted by ambyzown
I hear there is another ownership tussle going on within the Celtel board. With so many distractions, how can the company hope of doing well against a backdrop of competing firms with a stable and vibrant board. Its a miracle they've come this far with so many name changes and subsequent re-branding (By the way, I hear there's another one in the offing)
Free browsing on Celtel 3G???? Well anything's possible.
Posted by OluYom
2tek, I have responded. Cheers!
Posted by ambyzown
I've been expecting to read about someone's comment on Jim Ovia's Visafone. Anyone tried it out yet? What about data? Will they be able to compete against starcomms who recently hit 1,000,000 subscribers?
Your comments please.
Posted by Demmy
@all, u all may think i've been absent but i've been with u guys all da way. have we now come to the era of discussing PM's? lol.
someone is enjoying the gist on this forum mates.
Posted by abubakar
Demmy is trying to cover up! You have been absent Demmy! I think we should periodically post msgs to our awol elite and see how long (if ever) they reply.
Did i miss any post saying "send AYA a pm and win prizes!"? Ay, im sending mine now. Is there a car on offer?
After long tussles with which phone to buy and which phone dealer could offer a reliable price (fleet comms still dont know how much thier phones go for, really sad!), i my sis finally got the #1 phone for 2008.... The W910! Looking at the phone, im a bit sad i got my P990! Why didnt i wait 6 months! But seriously, its a high contender when get a little loose change in my pocket (and when the price hits sub 40k!)
I finally updated my P990 2 weeks back and after using it with the OG firmware for soooo long i can really tell the difference. The only setback is upon making a backup on my pc, i still lost some of my settings (email, calender, etc) lost all my sms, mms and emails (can get my emails back from my server though) and some multi media files have gone missing! My favourite movie on my phone The Incredibles went awol. Should have transfered it to a mem card. What pains me is i did a lot of fiddling with my AVI converter before i could get it to less than 60mb and still retain good resolution and stereo sound. Any how, i can always do it again.
Celtel might do it again and give out the free 3g. The only altenative is to offer better service, wider coverage and par prices with glo. I was reading a paper when i saw one of glo's 3g adverts when a statement struck me. "unlimited internet access up to 3GB". Will all of u stand up and clap ur hands, give a round of applause for the biggest play on words i have seen in all my years working in the telecomms industry!!! A LIMITED UNLIMITED OFFER! Even if they give u 3TB every day, it is limited. They went too far on that one! I think i will write to some papers complaining about this one.
Posted by abubakar
@amby: forgot to answer ur post. With regards to starcomms vs visafone, its gonna be hard for visa. Forget my history with starcomms, the fact that so many of thier phones out thier are simless and supposedly "unreprogrammable", visa would have to pull out all the blocks and give out great phones at cheap prices to wean people off starcomms. The cdma market isnt growing as fast as the gsm market, and hence instead of looking for new subscribers, everyone is looking for the scavenger's bounty.
Posted by OluYom
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@abu: Well said!
I saw that on the Glo website about 2 weeks ago, and I was just as amazed as you are. Whoever came up with that one needs to see a shrink, or is an outright thief.
Posted by coolapostle
Someone mentioned Visafone.
I had to visit the Visafone office here in Abuja on my way to Reltel Wireless. I was looking for an "affordable" means of yapping with my new bride while I am in the office. GSM just won't do. My mind was set on Reltel because of the Friends and Families but I wanted to check out Visafone to see if they could offer something better.
Sadly, Visafone didn't impress me. The flashy interior decor (Visa is like Celtel: red, red, red) and super-glossy Flyers were ruined by same-old, uninspiring tariffs. With so many GSM/CDMA players, Visa is coming with nothing new to the table.
Reltel local on-net call tariffs of N6.50/min is 50 percent less than Visafone's N12 /min. That was enough for me. Reltel's cheapest handset went for N2,000 (2 models) while Visafone's cheapest was a Nokia for N7,000. Both had "dual SIM" models. Reltel's had one for 15k and another for 25k while Visa's had only a 25k model.
I know they are just rolling-out and we should give them time. But from what I saw, I think Mr. Ovia is trying to target his usual Zenith Bank elite. Goodluck to him.
Oh, I forgot the Internet tariffs:
Here Reltel Wireless still beats Visafone even though Multi-links has the best internet tariff in Nigeria IMHO.
Here are the tariff plans for All day, Day only, Night only and Weekend surfing
Visa has:
WAP @ 55 kobo /kb
Visa1x (using CDMA 1x) @ 9.5k, 6k, 4.5k, 4.5k
Visa Silver (EVDO up to 150 kbps) @ 12k, 7k, 5.49k, 6k
Visa Gold (EVDO up to 300 kbps) @ 15k, 9.9k, 8.5k, 7k
Visa Platinum (EVDO up to 600 kbps) @ 22k, 15.5k, 12k, 8.5k
Reltel has an odd set of plans:
Weekly @ 2.5k
2 Weeks @ 5k
Monthly @10k
Weekend (Friday 6pm to Monday 8am) @ 3.5k
The Weekly and 2 weeks are all 24 hours.
Ok, I will now take the congratulatory messages. I had a short 3-day honeymoon in Minna. I am back at work. I will let y'all know when the pictures are on Facebook.
Posted by brym!
Hey Coola, Congrats! Wish you guys the best.
Posted by ambyzown
@Mr. & Mrs. Coola congratulations. I wish u both a happy married life. May u grow old together and have plenty children.
Posted by abubakar
@coola: Wife? When did u announce? I hope u are using the term "wife" loosely! If not, i no go take am easy with u when im next in abj! U might have to repeat the ceremony in-toto to appease me!
Truly, we have money in nigeria! Its only in naija the level of capital it takes to set up a pto like visaphone can be used then decide not to fight for the market. I hope they dont think its like the early days of gsm. Just like i said in the discussion (arguement) i had with AYA sometime back on cdma penetration, its hard to get people warmed up to it, hence its slow growth. To enter that market without at least an introductory offer that will turn heads is suicidal! Anyhow, the graveyard for dead ptos still has space for more.
Posted by OluYom
@coolapostle: Honeymoon? When did the wedding hold? No IV to Esato guys, abi? Anyway, welcome to the club
Posted by coolapostle
Thanks! It is great to be married. She turned my house upside down and created a better house. I have to ask where MY STUFF now is.
It is also fun to have someone to talk with always. So far so good.
What's the latest on 3G? Who has made a video call?
Posted by OluYom
On 2008-03-10 11:57:38, coolapostle wrote:
Thanks! It is great to be married. She turned my house upside down and created a better house. I have to ask where MY STUFF now is.
There's the good part! ...at least part of it.......
On 2008-03-10 11:57:38, coolapostle wrote:
What's the latest on 3G? Who has made a video call?
:cough: :wheez: :sputter: Video what? :cough:
Posted by abubakar
@aya: are u telling me that with all the noise about the 1st month having a N30/min special offer, they havent started the service? I hope i read ur cough & sputter wrong and maybe u havent gotten someone else to vid call within the 3g region. Talking of 3g region, apart from lagos, has service come up in abj, ph yet? Once again, i have to wonder if we have any consumer advocacy agency in naija. NCC is playing its normal role as the toothless bulldog. Its shameful what they get away with.
Posted by OluYom
@abu: Just to be sure, I contacted brym so we could try out a video call, but he responded that Glo 3G signal is epileptic at hos end. As a matter of fact, he has had to switch 3G off on his phone to conserve battery power (and also to preserve his sanity, believe me).
After the 2 days I ran my test, its been '3G available but unattached' or '3G login failed' messages since then on my own line each time I pop the Glo SIM in a 3G phone.
Video call ko...
Just today, I received an email complaint about Glo's 3G internet plan (the 3GB limit). The subscriber copied everybody copy-able: NCc, Mike Adenuga, Paddy Adenuga, EFCc, YarAdua, Bill Gates, etc. He was vexing bad. I'll put the contents of the mail up on my blog later today.
Posted by Demmy
@abu, y u pick on me like dt - lol
@coola, congtrats man, i know it's gud to be married even though i'm still singli. but the bad part is u dint really invite us even though u mentioned it in some past posts.
@ll, things happen slowly downhere so u guys need to excercise some more patience.
Posted by pxthomas
On 2008-03-11 10:55:00, AYA wrote:
@abu: Just to be sure, I contacted brym so we could try out a video call, but he responded that Glo 3G signal is epileptic at hos end. As a matter of fact, he has had to switch 3G off on his phone to conserve battery power (and also to preserve his sanity, believe me).
@Brym.... Wither! Hope you are ok.
@AYA.... Make you nor kill me laughter. My wife is wondering if i have gone crazy
Posted by abubakar
@demmy: ok, try. but still this forum isnt look but dont touch. i mind us gisting non-tech issues (THOUGH SOME DO!!!) so even if u dont have any fav or app to talk about, at least say hi. you started this!
today im enjoying the wifi on my phone. i wish we'dhave more hotspots aroundthe nation, instead of to make quasi-silicon valley in abuja.
Posted by brym!
On 2008-03-14 00:04:03, pxthomas wrote:
@Brym.... Wither!
pxt I don't have to guess that your Bible is King James Version.
[ This Message was edited by: brym! on 2008-03-14 13:19 ]
Posted by Demmy
@abu, ok u win
Posted by OluYom
Mtn 3G now live at my end. Ran some tests. Quite fast: getting 128kbit/sec and above. Compare with Celtel GPRS: 18-28kbit/sec. Starcomms 1x: 10-40kbit/sec.
Posted by abubakar
@demmy: officially ur out of the firing range. Now where is Areafada?
@aya: what are mtn's tariff plans? Still 70k/kb? (which would make a 128kb/sec cost N90/sec! Use ur 3G phone as a modem at ur own risk!!) Or have they implemented the N12k/month for unlimited access? (which potentially can knock all other data providers out of business, leaving them to scramble for customers looking for cheaper alternatives like "weekends only" packages or starcomms 250 hrs package.) I just hope they dont go the limited-unlimited route of glo.
Off the topic, a few days back i saw an advert on NTA by PHCN apologising for the low output, claiming it wasnt thier fault but due to some maintenance work on some gas piping in addition to low levels of water in the dams. (though i dispute that both factors are thier fault i have other reasons for this posting) They claimed the pipe repairs were over and "normal" (???) service would commence. The thing is, in my neck of the woods, the situation has gotten worse since that day. In the past 5 days i've had 20mins of power. Is this nationwide or just me?
Posted by Demmy
let's hope we get a good spread soon coz now dt i'm in jos, i see things happen slowly anywhere other than lag n abj.
Posted by OluYom
On 2008-03-16 10:04:47, abubakar wrote:
@aya: what are mtn's tariff plans? Still 70k/kb? (which would make a 128kb/sec cost N90/sec! Use ur 3G phone as a modem at ur own risk!!) Or have they implemented the N12k/month for unlimited access? (which potentially can knock all other data providers out of business, leaving them to scramble for customers looking for cheaper alternatives like "weekends only" packages or starcomms 250 hrs package.) I just hope they dont go the limited-unlimited route of glo.
There was another speedtest I attempted to run, but this one was "heavier" on data than the first one. That should acccount for why my airtime disappeared like that.
MTN still bills 60-65k per kb for data.
I have an MTN data line (flat monthly rate). I'll renew the subscription next month and see if it logs on to the 3G network automatically. If it does.....
Posted by ambyzown
@Aya: 128kb/sec is a handsome speed, but what about stability? no more frustrations like on glo? I would've expected glo to be more stable given the fact that they began work on 3G before the other two. MTN claims 3.5G does that mean they are running HSDPA?
[ This Message was edited by: ambyzown on 2008-03-18 11:23 ]
Posted by OluYom
@amby: My experience and reports from others indicate that MTN 3.5G is more stable than Glo's.
Yes, both MTN and Glo run HSDPA networks (which is why Glo has branded its own 3G-Plus).
Posted by coolapostle
@Video Call! Video Call!!!!
@Abu Is there a package called "Group Call" on Starcomms?
@All Glo Broad Access may shake things up Data-wise. I am still undecided on what to use for internet access at home since Multi-links is just too slow for me.
Also an update on Visafone: They just advertised new cheapo fones for 1.6k and 1.9k.
Posted by brym!
I checked Visafone's site yesterday to get an update of the price of the only smartphone being offered and I was disappointed to find out that Visafone's Motorola Q sells for N61k. This phone is nearly two years old and the GSM version sells for about N40k now. I was expecting Visa to beat Reltel in offering excellent bargain smartphones. So much for expectations, NEXT PLEASE!
Happy Easter all!
@AYA, how are you now? Much better I hope.
@All, AYA had a car accident but all glory to God he came out clean with only slight bruises.
Posted by OluYom
@brym: I am much better. X-ray tests returned no fractures. I just need to take a lot of rest. Drove to the hospital yesterday (inspite of warnings, I admit), and my back was hurting under 15 minutes at the wheels. I'll take it more easy from here.
Still, its great to be alive and not in a mangled up shape.
On the Vosafone smartphone issue, I keep insisting that the greatest probable limitation on CDMA networks is this slavery to the network operators in terms of choice of handset. Remove that, and I'd be using a smartphone on a CDMA network now.
Because of this unholy dependence on the operator for handsets, subscribers are being shortchanged. Would you believe that Starcomms still offers that multi-tasking limited and outdated Palm smartphone for over N100,000? Please. Compared to this, the Visafone Motorola Q offer is a steal!
Posted by brym!
@AYA: Please just follow your doctor's advice, rest.
Don't mind Starcomms, offering Treo 650 for that amount while Reltel sells a more recent Treo 700p for N25,000. Sometimes I wonder how Reltel source their smartphones. I know that they are sourced from a US Operator, Sprint but at what price? They are currenty selling Sprint's Mogul( a windows mobile 6 pocket pc) for N40,000. Now this device is just 9 months old and the GSM version is priced at N80,000. Is it subsidized by Reltel? If it weren't for those frequent data downtimes, this would have been my network of choice.
Posted by Demmy
@all, happy easter celebs.
@AYA, sorry bout the accident, glad to know ur not badly hurt - we thank God
Posted by ambyzown
@Aya: I Thank God on your behalf for the miracle of protection even in the face of danger. And you still found the courage to drive the next day?
Posted by OluYom
@all: Thanks for the love!
@amby: No, it wasn't the second day. The accident was on Tuesday morning. I drove to the hospital Friday afternoon. I tried now. Was tired of being chauffered around
Posted by brix25
Aya, good thing you were spared any serious injury dunno what this place would've been without you?
PS: Have you guys seen MTN's latest financial results? Any opinions and analysis would be welcome.
Posted by OluYom
@brix25: Thanks, my brother. I haven't seen the MTN results though. Should be interesting.
@all: Celtel GPRS has been so unstable these last few days. Anyone else experiencing the same? I'm using MTN for a change, and getting good 3G speeds too.
Posted by brix25
AYA: On MTN's Naija website I see them also talking about EDGE. How widely have they deployed this technology on their network or it restricted to select areas like 3G?
Posted by OluYom
@brix25: EDGE coverage is a problematic one to tell. One, MTN doesn't tell exactly where this technology has been deployed. Two, there is no unique EDGE icon on mobile phones by which subscribers can tell when within EDGE coverage area.
During the periods I used EDGE-enabled phones, I noticed no extra bursts of speeds either, so I doubt that I have used MTN data within their EDGE coverage area.
Posted by brix25
@AYA: Just excited that you guys finally have a semblance of mobile broadband although I'd be the first to admit that speeds can be disappointing and the connection erratic with our local networks.
Posted by OluYom
On 2008-03-23 17:33:21, brix25 wrote:
@AYA: Just excited that you guys finally have a semblance of mobile broadband although I'd be the first to admit that speeds can be disappointing and the connection erratic with our local networks.
Thanks! I'm also not expecting too much from our networks here. I've seen how it can be, with the examples of the EV-DO services on CDMA networks here.
Anyone expecting mobile data utopia here in Nigeria is only going to get disappointed.
Cheers!
Posted by ambyzown
On 2008-03-23 04:35:00, AYA wrote:
@all: Celtel GPRS has been so unstable these last few days. Anyone else experiencing the same? I'm using MTN for a change, and getting good 3G speeds too.
Yes I've been struggling with celtel's gprs for the past week. Sometimes, getting a connection is so difficult, and when I finally get a connection it breaks after about 5mins and goes on and off intermittently. Sometimes, its so frustrating.
Posted by OluYom
@amby: a number of people around me are complaining about Celtel GPRS too.
Posted by brym!
I am experiencing similar problems with glodirect all through the holidays. This evening I switched from GSM to 3G only and you wont believe it , connection is stable and while connection speed is fast. After this post I'll switch to 3G/GSM and observe the data connection performance.
Posted by OluYom
On 2008-03-24 20:14:41, brym! wrote:
I am experiencing similar problems with glodirect all through the holidays. This evening I switched from GSM to 3G only and you wont believe it , connection is stable and while connection speed is fast.
Interesting! I'll pop in my Glo SIM and switch to 3G only too. Expect my feedback.
Posted by OluYom
@brym: I just tried the 3G only thingie on Glo. Still got the usual '3G attached but temporarilly unavailable' error.
However, 3G only on MTN appears to produce better stability and faster browsing. Note that I said 'appear'. The human mind's imaginative capabilities can easilly produce that
Posted by brym!
@AYA: While on 3G only I got a text message and a voice call so what do I need GSM for again? This is really an improvement compared to my fist 3G experience weeks ago. Data speed is still very fast that I dashed to your blog to post a comment.