Cell C has emerged as the most cost-effective wireless broadband provider overall in an independent survey, throwing down the gauntlet to its rivals, Vodacom and MTN.
The 2010 Broadband Survey results show that Cell C’s newly launched HSPA+ broadband offering is nearly eight times more cost effective than its nearest wireless broadband competitor, Telkom.
Vodacom and MTN lagged even Âfurther behind.
A total of 1 908 respondents participated in two web-based speed tests in September to determine the average of each broadband service provider’s local and international download and upload speeds.
The survey results released took these average speeds and factored in what each broadband service provider charges consumers per gigabyte of data downloaded to arrive at a cost-effectiveness rating (Cost/Mbps/GB).
Compared with Cell C’s 6,89 rating, Vodacom scored 94,17 and MTN 161,88. The results will come as a boost to Cell C, which was hauled before the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) earlier this month after Vodacom and MTN claimed that it was misleading consumers by labelling its broadband network as “4Gs”.
4G is a technical term denoting a broadband network’s speed and Âconnectivity capability.
Mobile networks in the United States and Europe have 4G capability, but South African providers, including Cell C, do not.
The ASA found Cell C guilty of “dishonest and misleading” advertising claims and forced it to withdraw its 4Gs logo from all advertising.
However, in a statement published as a full-page advertisement in newspapers, Lars Reichelt, the Cell C chief executive, explained that the company’s newly launched 3G broadband service was “on par with world class standards” offered by 4G networks elsewhere in the world, but apologised for causing confusion.
Reichelt said that Cell C’s 4Gs logo was actually a “marketing term” which denoted “4 Great Speed”, “4 Great Savings” and “4 Great Service”.
The 2010 Broadband Survey results appear to bear Reichelt out on two counts. Cell C’s average download speed was the fastest at 4,84Mbps.
Next was Telkom’s ADSL (fixed line) 10Mbps service (denoting the maximum theoretical download speed), which averaged 4,5Mbps, and then Telkom’s HSDPA (wireless) service, averaging 3,05 Mbps.
Vodacom came fifth, averaging 2,07Mbps, with MTN in sixth position, averaging 1,2Mbps. Neotel NeoFlex (1,01Mbps), Neotel NeoGeo (0.97Mbps) and iBurst Wireless (0,62Mbps) lagged further behind.
Cell C also leads the field in terms of the price it charges its broadband user per gigabyte (GB) of data downloaded; 1GB from Cell C costs R33,32.
Telkom ADSL costs roughly double that, at R76,37 per GB for both its 10Mbps and 4Mbps services.
Vodacom and MTN wireless users have to dig even deeper into their pockets; 1GB of their data costs R194,50, nearly six times as much as that of Cell C.
Being fastest and Âcheapest therefore places Cell C top of the 2010 Broadband Survey’s cost-Âeffectiveness rankings.
But ICT consumer activist Rudolf Muller said the survey results might be “slightly skewed” in Cell C’s favour because it was still in the process of rolling out its 3G wireless network.
“It’s easy initially for a new service provider to start well because it has fewer subscribers on its network. More subscribers sharing a service would, we can assume, lead to a deterioration in download speeds and overall service,” Muller said.
Muller is the managing director of MyBroadband, an online community of broadband and IT users who conducted the 2010 Broadband Survey on behalf of its members.
Muller said MyBroadband would release further results from its survey in due course, including qualitative data such as customer satisfaction.
Only then will broadband consumers know if Reichelt’s third 4Gs claim — 4 Great Service — also bears scrutiny.