Economically handling customer complaints
——————– “Even though the percentage of complainants who behave unreasonably is relatively small (generally between 2-6%) they still use up a disproportionate amount of resources, time and energy from a company resulting in high stress to staff members.” ~Australian Parliamentary Ombudsman (2009) ——————– Bad Service is always a key topic. Although my opinion is that service from South African private enterprises has improved considerably over the years, it can still do better. The fact is that although...
Read MoreGNP: Rise of the WISPs
The South African Broadband Internet industry began its digital evolution in the mid 2000s. Since then, internet access, both fixed, wireless and mobile, have become a commodity. Wireless Operators have been investing in new and expensive technologies to create more sources of revenue, improve their ARPUs (average revenue per user), and overcome the competition in the heavily saturated marketplace. Infrastructure, customer acquisition and retention costs each got higher and higher, however, income never did reach their optimistic expectations. Wireless internet Service Providers (WISPs) in...
Read MoreOpinion Piece- Ian Mirk
In today’s evolving market, any client would be reckless in committing capital to the purchase of a new PABX – large or small. Vendors are still supplying either analogue equipment – totally obsolete in today’s digital market and incapable of becoming a hub of highly productive unified communications, or are offering expensive digital PABX’s without offering the balance of the services required to maximise digital productivity. This places the would-be PABX buyer in an invidious position. Stay with the less expensive old technology and miss out on productivity, or invest in new...
Read MoreThe VoIP revolution…initialised
The VoIP revolution…initialised Whilst boarding a flight to Cape Town, a mumbling gentleman browsing away on his iPhone tells me in a German accent that ‘3G in this country is not fast’. Thinking back of the days without mobile internet and 3G, I simply smiled at him. The telecommunications in South Africa is a very (as in local terms) colourful industry. Fortunately, I have walked many steps towards telecommunication freedom being a participant in its growth since the inception of the cellular telephone (Motorola brick size era), and SLIP internet access. I wish back then someone...
Read MoreIs VoIP really secure?
Is VoIP really secure? VoIP has come a long way in South Africa, from the days of Proprietary Hardware based packet transport systems over dual ISDN lines. Mohammad Patel, CEO of O-Tel Telecom, a Licensed Digital Telephony Service Provider with national presence gives his insight in the recent development of VoIP. Our naturally conservative population were reluctant to accept the technology, most probably because the early VoIP service providers were trying to make the technology work over less capable broadband. The advent of ADSL, and the interconnect rate drop in 2010 aided the demise of...
Read MoreScammers find loophole in ICASA’s VoIP regulations
Fraud on the rise with Caller ID Spoofing as fraudsters turn to digital telephony as a new form of Phishing Johannesburg, Gauteng, November 17, 2010- Caller ID spoofing, for those unfamiliar with the term, is the act of manipulating or changing the phone number that appears on someone’s call display when you place a call to them. In a new phishing scam, con artists are using phony caller ID numbers to solicit personal information and money. Thanks to the phony caller IDs, the “spoofers” are able to convince victims that they’re receiving a call from a bank or credit...
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