Month: March 2007

So we all know we’re being ripped off, but do we know how badly? A look at the data versus sms costs of our favourite quadopoly gives a few hints.

So the lowdown is like this:

1 SMS is 160 characters. Each character is 1 byte in size, so an SMS is 160 bytes long.
1 Megabyte is roughly 1024000 bytes. This means approximately 6400 SMS messages can fit in 1 Megabyte of data.

The current cheapest SMS rates from each provider are as follows:
MTN – 21c per SMS
Vodacom – 22.5c per SMS
Cell C – Can’t find a package rate (sucky website)
Virgin – 20c per SMS

And when you look at the cost to transfer data:
Cell C – 50c per Meg
Vodacom – “less than 20c per meg”
Virgin – 50c per Meg
MTN – 39c per meg

In data rates, that means technically it costs 0.003125c per SMS if you could send it on the cheapest data plan, and 0.0078125c per SMS on the more expensive plans. Umm, yeah, rip-off…

So sending the equivalent amount of data over the same network infrastructure, to the same devices with largely the same technology via SMS instead of GPRS/3G/EDGE is

6720% more expensive.

Diiis.Gusss.Ting.

Tags: vodacom, mtn, cellc, virginmobile, mnp, mobilenumberportability, SouthAfrica, costs, SMS, data

Have you ported?

Oh, and the first provider to offer me an N95 will get my business.

Dammit, just when I’m trying my best to become a bored, lazy, TV-watching, cubicle-dwelling, corporate, unmotivated white guy I go and do something stupid like attend the 27dinner.

What the hell was I thinking?

Now I’ve gone and gotten all motivated, again, to save the world while making millions of dollars using new media and tech geekery. And I’m going to enjoy doing it. Have you ever?

I must be, to coin a phrase, overblogging the Stormhoek.

The people who attend these things are just *too* *damn* *inspiring*. And happy. They’re all freaking smiling, what the fuck is with that?

The speakers were great. The food was excellent. The company was overwhelming. The onlookers in the rest of the venue must have been curious and disappointed that they didn’t join us. (the lucky ones…)

I had a long chat with the wine ‘hoekers, Graham and Janice, who were present again with gifts of love. Free T-shirts for all who desired! (and wine of course). They have an interesting situation in trying to bring Stormhoek to the front in the SA market, and a lot of challenges ahead. Graham struck me as intelligent, thoughtful, and insightful. I look forward to many more long chats with him.

When you walk away from a dinner like that with a huge smile on your face it’s insanely satisfying.

If you weren’t there, it’s ok. Thank goodness that you haven’t been tainted with the burden of inspiration by these evil bloggers. I don’t know how I’m gonna cope…

My 27dinner photos.

The link love:
Everyone on this page.

Tags: johannesburg, south, africa, events, web, 2.0, cerebra, geekdinner, people, marketing, blog, blogging, 27dinner

Wow! I must say this a pretty impressive use of technology. Cricinfo broadcasts a ball-by-ball virtual flash-based 3D rendering of the games as they happen (or delayed by a couple of seconds I suppose).

It’s a bit like watching stop-motion sports or something, but it does add a helpful level of visualisation without incurring the insane bandwidth costs of streaming television to your PC.

Nifty, I like. It ain’t the real thing, but it’s as close as we’ll get while at work I suppose.

Tags: cricket, worldcup, 3D, cricinfo, live, watch, tv, streaming, flash

The Onion reports rather cheekily on Anna Nicole Smith while balancing on a moral boundary. Shew, its funny, but could be considered rather tasteless.

Oh well.

Tags: AnnaNicoleSmith, weight, diet, theonion

I can’t wait… It is gonna rock, especially the bands I’ve starred with red.

Tags: oppikoppi, band, lineup, times, stage, music