To uncap or not to uncap…

Up to recently internet access in South Africa has been billed by the GB – i.e. capped internet, with a few providers such as Internet Solutions offering uncapped solutions to businesses, but at a very high price.

Some months ago M-Web released their uncapped offerings starting from R219 / month.

It is a very attractive offer, but not necessarily cheaper than capped internet.

The following table summarises the costs of capped vs uncapped, based on a per gigabyte price of R59 / gig (inclusive of 14% VAT):

Line speed	Telkom rental	M-Web data	M-Web all incl	Telkom + M-Web Data	All inclusive saving	Gigs at avg. cost
384	R152,00	R219,00	R349,00	R371,00	R(22,00)	3,711864407
512	R326,00	R299,00	R599,00	R625,00	R(26,00)	5,06779661
4096	R413,00	R539,00	R899,00	R952,00	R(53,00)	9,13559322

Avg. / GB price	R59,00

All pricing includes 14% VAT

This information is provided as is and without any warranty whether express or implied.
Information based on pricing as advertised on Telkom and M-Web's websites on 18/08/2010

<p>
  Based on the information in the table above it is clear that uncapped is only cheaper if you use more than 3GB of data / month on a 384 Kbps line, 5GB on a 512 Kbps line and 9 GB on a 4096 Kbps line.
</p>

<p>
  Herewith the same table based on R70 / gig (inclusive of 14% VAT):
</p>

<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="500">
  <!--StartFragment--></p> <col width="101"></col> <col span="3" width="59"></col> <col width="73"></col> <col width="81"></col> <col width="68"></col> 
  <tr height="28">
    <td class="xl24" width="101" height="28">
       <strong>Line speed </strong>
    </td>
    <td class="xl26" width="59">
      <strong> Telkom rental </strong>
    </td>
    <td class="xl26" width="59">
      <strong> M-Web data </strong>
    </td>
    <td class="xl26" width="59">
      <strong> M-Web all incl </strong>
    </td>
    <td class="xl26" width="73">
      <strong> Telkom + M-Web Data </strong>
    </td>
    <td class="xl26" width="81">
      <strong> All inclusive saving </strong>
    </td>
    <td class="xl27" width="68">
      <strong>Gigs at avg. cost</strong>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr height="13">
    <td class="xl25" height="13" align="right">
      384
    </td>
    <td class="xl28" align="right">
       R152,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl28" align="right">
       R219,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl28" align="right">
       R349,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl28" align="right">
       R371,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl28" align="right">
       R(22,00)
    </td>
    <td class="xl29" align="right">
      3,128571429
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr height="13">
    <td class="xl25" height="13" align="right">
      512
    </td>
    <td class="xl28" align="right">
       R326,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl28" align="right">
       R299,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl28" align="right">
       R599,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl28" align="right">
       R625,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl28" align="right">
       R(26,00)
    </td>
    <td class="xl29" align="right">
      4,271428571
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr height="13">
    <td class="xl30" height="13" align="right">
      4096
    </td>
    <td class="xl31" align="right">
       R413,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl31" align="right">
       R539,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl31" align="right">
       R899,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl31" align="right">
       R952,00
    </td>
    <td class="xl31" align="right">
       R(53,00)
    </td>
    <td class="xl32" align="right">
      7,7
    </td>
  </tr>
  <p>
    <!--EndFragment--></tbody> </table>