High Speed Internet For Prince Albert

- Linda Jaquet -

Our Sally Arnold and Anton Joubert have spent the last year lobbying Vodacom to upgrade their local cell phone antennas so that residents of Prince Albert and surrounds can have 3G high-speed, wireless Internet access and 21st century technology. Sally and Anton arranged a petition last year by local residents and made numerous telephone calls and submissions to Vodacom. Their tenacity has paid off.

Vodacom has let them know that it has already installed its 3G antennas outside Prince Albert. Telkom should complete the necessary construction work by early March.

According to their contact at Vodacom, this means that that by the middle of April at the latest, local residents should be able to access this exciting mobile technology and all that it offers.
3G (Third Generation) is one of the latest technologies that enables mobile devices, such as cell phones to offer high-speed Internet access, data, video and CD-quality music services.

It also is a means that allows Internet and e-mail users to transfer data up to seven times faster than using a dial-up connection. You are not dependent on Telkom telephone lines and will have an Internet connection wherever you are – provided there is cell phone reception.

Most people find 3G Internet access affordable because you only pay for the data you transmit and the information you receive, rather than the time you are online. You also can be connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.

Sally and Anton are excited at the benefits that high-speed Internet access will offer Prince Albert. “With 3G you can do everything you do now, but you can do it much better, a lot faster and from almost anywhere!” said Anton. Anton and his wife, Ellen, telecommute daily from Prince Albert to their respective jobs in Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Sally, who runs a design business from home, added that “It will save residents and local businesses, no matter their size, time and money and will broaden horizons and open opportunities for all. The world is really now our oyster!”

Both prepaid and contract subscribers will have access to the technology provided that their cellphones support 3G or HSDPA.

Prices start out at R2 per Megabyte for out of bundle users. Data bundles can be purchased for more frequent usage. These start out at R9.25 for 5MB and range to R389 for 2 GB (as little as R0.19 per MB!).