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Hmmm.... wonder if Dawie Roodt has been secretly following this forum then...
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Posted: 2006-01-11 09:22:42
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Dawie knows that ain't going to happen...Vodacom, MTN and Cell C are dead set against more competition in mobile telephone arena...a fourth network will definitely eat into their profits.
I laughed when I heard Vodacom announcing that they've racked up
stellar subscriber growth over December...what they don't tell the press is that these are not neccesarily "active" connections.
Just imagine this, a tourist lands in Cape Town, he doesn't want to use his Orange sim for fear of exhorbitant roaming costs, so he gets a Vodacom sim...he's only in the country for two weeks...after that he discards the sim...should he counted as a subscriber?
What they should do is check the "unique" subscribers every six months to get a clearer picture of subscriber numbers.
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Posted: 2006-01-11 09:35:13
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Ya this subscriber counting is really not accurate. SIMs are so cheap lately some poeple even buy spare SIM cards.
I think u are right brix they should count uniquely in time intervals.
By the way How serious are the cellphone theft cases taken here in SA.
See I have the number that was called from my cellphone after it was stolen. I wonder if these cases are seriuos enough that the cops can follow up from that.
[ This Message was edited by: bongzino on 2006-01-11 10:16 ]
[ This Message was edited by: bongzino on 2006-01-11 10:17 ]
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Posted: 2006-01-11 11:08:55
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Dunno how serious networks are about recovering your stolen cellphone...I don't know of anyone, anywhere who has ever successfully recovered his/her stolen cellphone..if it's stolen/lost you can bet your bottom dollar that it's "gone" forever. And that blacklisting thing is pretty useless because the IMEI number can be changed, especially on Nokia phones...Correct me if I'm wrong but a "blacklisted' phone can be used outside of South Africa or any other country of origin.
Ever wondered why so many T-Mobile/Virgin/Vodafone branded phones end up in second-hand shops locally?
Thankfully I've never had a cellphone lost/stolen.
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Posted: 2006-01-11 11:59:07
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@ da brixsta,
That's correct. Once it's out of the country in which it was blocked, it will still work fine in any other country,if it's also unlocked of course.
A lot of African countries,in particular, end up with shed-loads of the blocked European cellphone flotsam and jetsam.
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Posted: 2006-01-11 13:28:23
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Quite a bit of that flotsam has been drifting this way. At a cellphone shop of "dubious character" i noticed the extraordinary number of Orange and 3-branded cellphones; the batch which i viewed once more included a non-3G handset from 3! This time around it was a 6600, and no amount of reasoning could convince the idiot-in-charge that what he had was patently impossible, not unless 3's gone soft in the last few months
EDIT- would any of you know a site from which i could download some of those prank ringtones/voicemail greetings? I have one or two, but would be pleased to lay my mitts on some more, preferably in .amr or .wav format.
[ This Message was edited by: Kryptik on 2006-01-11 12:37 ]
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Posted: 2006-01-11 13:34:00
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Anyone who's had a cellphone stolen, how does it feel? Is it similiar to the sick feeling I got in my stomach when realising that somone had nicked my smelly Asics kicks at the gym last month?
Seriously though there's a conspiracy theory doing the rounds that networks aren't doing much about stolen phones because it makes it easier for "more" people to get connected...all a thief needs is a sim and voila. I don't understand this logic.
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Posted: 2006-01-11 13:43:05
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(cue Sherlock Holmes voice:) Elementary, my dear Watson: More potential revenue from 'new' pre-pay customers splashing out on call-time etc. would make perfect logic for the networks.
The LOVE of money being the root of so much evil?
Oh, and that the cellphone theft victims would thus have to obviously buy another phone as well...and I'm sure the networks would so hope it would mean a new branded one as well...
[ This Message was edited by: amawanqa on 2006-01-11 13:01 ]
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Posted: 2006-01-11 13:54:14
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@da wanqsta: But if it's true we can all sue the pants of these companies...check my earlier post about Vodacom inflating the subscriber numbers...shareholders who buy stock on account of this should have the right to sue for lying.
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Posted: 2006-01-11 14:43:26
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@ brix,
fair comment, but we're dealing with multi-billion Rand consortiums here,who have the financial clout and resources to drag out any court case indefinitely,or who knows what other 'settlement figures' or dealings they could organise under the tables,or what incentives could be employed to swing things in their favour?
it would be interesting to know what wheelings and dealings go on behind closed doors...
Maybe I'm just being over-sceptical...
I once tried to take on one of the biggest insurance companies in SA when something genuinely wasn't my fault,and the bastards knew that with my typical SA teacher's salary,how long would I be able to continue to keep feeding the lawyers with money for the next phase or action/court proceedings?
I'm not saying we should roll over and just let them get away with things, but as many top generals have said in history:
'know your enemy'. Whoever dares to take them on had better be sure they have sufficient fire to fight fire.
Yes,the cellphone industry is a mother (or maybe more accurately a mo'fo..!) of a beast.
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Posted: 2006-01-11 15:40:24
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