SKYROVE SHOWERS ITS BLESSING ON CAPETOWN
See, we told you it was the era of the instanet. Mweb offers cheap uncapped ADSL, and all of a sudden businesses everywhere are freaking out, losing their heads in acts of reckless generosity as they bring South Africa up to speed with the global village.
Like Skyrove, who’ve gone and hooked Capetonians up with free, that’s right FREE wireless internet in Greenmarket square for the next six months.
“Goodness gracious!”, I hear you say. “But how much are they giving us!?” you exclaim with one of those half-question, half-statement things.
OK, get ready. Promise you won’t freak out. PROMISE.
Okay.
Ready? Here it is…
…
… ….
…
10 megabytes. 10 MEGABYTES!!! Someone pinch me.
Wow, with that, I could almost afford to navigate to the Skyrove site to read up on their business, and how I too might make use of their services as a paying client.
Almost. But in between my cappucino and haggling with a hawker, I’d hit the 10 megabyte cap.
10 megabytes. Douchebags.
[source : MediaUpdate]
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37 Comments
Henk Kleynhans
30 Apr 2010
Damnit, I told those young interns that we should charge R2.00 per MB from the getgo… I mean, my Wi-Fi is much, much faster than 3G.
But somehow I was convinced that if we just.gave.something for free, say, an hour or so per day of basic emailing & browsing (i.e. 10 MB) that perhaps we’d be able to build a sustainable business out of it when people start paying for all day access. Instead of having “yet another failed muni wi-fi” project that tried to survive on tax money only.
Of course, Seth, you are welcome to sponsor more, say MUCH more, free bandwidth if you want. We’d charge you less than R2.00 per MB. Promise.
Call me.
Henk Kleynhans
CEO
Skyrove
Laxy
30 Apr 2010
Henk
I think you may be missing the point. Although your giving free wifi is very honourable, if you’re going to do it, do it properly, like enough to download mail and read a blog or two. With cheap uncapped ADSL we are now getting to the point where we leave our wifi open so others can use it because it doesn’t cost us any more anyway. I’m not sure if you’ve traveled abroad but in London, for instance, you cannot walk 10metres without running into free unlimited wifi. My point is that all Seth is saying is that your weak attempt to bring South Africa up to speed with the global village didn’t quite cut it.
Interesting that you take advice from interns? Just a thought.
Have a nice day.
Laxy
CEO
Doing more then Skyrove to bring South Africa up to speed with the global village
Anon
30 Apr 2010
I’ve tried Mweb and Skyrove.
Seth, there’s little to be said for Unshaped bandwidth. Sure it’s a bargain, but the consumer is loosing out on bandwidth quality.
Mweb contention rations are crappy. Try streaming video over it and you’ll see. I recommend IS.
I use the Skyrove hotspots to quickly check mail, if i got more than 10 MB i might do more.
Thanks Skyrove for some free Internet. Great job!
Henk Kleynhans
30 Apr 2010
Good points Laxy,
Even in London, I’ve found that if I wanted reliable internet access, I needed to use The Cloud and it was anything but cheap. (4.50 GBP for 1 hour!)
On average, people use 10 – 20 MB an hour. So although we’re not sponsoring enough for you to “go the whole hog” and upload 2GB of holiday photos, the idea is really twofold:
1. Give the morning visitor to Greenmarket Square a daily dose of free Wi-Fi. Enough to check your mails over coffee.
2. Have a Prepaid, per Megabyte payment system for people that want to work there all day (At R0.40 per MB, a LOT cheaper than prepaid 3G).
The reason for this is to make Greenmarket Square a more attractive place to work/play/meetup. (This ties in with the idea of having intact city centres to attract “nerds & rich people” – See http://www.paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html)
Furthermore, it has to be sustainable. Giving unlimited free internet simply isn’t. (In the same way that giving free food or free coffee isn’t, yet I don’t hear restaurant owners being called douchebags when they give a complimentary coffee now and then – An interesting article on price of coffee – http://truthcoffee.com/cult/?p=637)
Best,
henk
p.s. I was joking about the interns.
p.p.s. Why comment anonymously? Especially if you’re doing much more than Skyrove?
p.p.p.s Please go and TRY the Skyrove Wi-Fi in Greenmarket Square for yourself. It really is awesome.
The Devastator
30 Apr 2010
Ouch
Anon
30 Apr 2010
Seth, why not post my comment?
Cliffy
30 Apr 2010
Seth: Calling someone giving something away for FREE a douchebag? Churlish. Should we all not be saying a big thanks for making some effort?
Henk: Thanks mate. Let’s hope this is just the start…
Arthur Charles Van Wyk
30 Apr 2010
I’m not sure you can criticise someone if you don’t do what they do, and do it better too.
I guess for every player there has to be hater.
Rob
30 Apr 2010
My view is that this creates an opportunity for anyone else to one up Skyrove. Its called competition folks. Everyone else offering WiFi at Green Market is charging, or has some strange loyalty program in place of charging.
WiFi is easy to do right? So why doesn’t anyone else go ahead and offer it free?
Hey Vida, Kauai, Buzz – yes it’s you guys I am calling out here.
I take my hat off to Skyrove for installing the infrastructure and offering WiFi in a public space.
If free WiFi truly costs very little to implement and is the new black, it shouldn’t take much time for someone else to offer it.
The clock is ticking, what you waiting for?
Jonathan
30 Apr 2010
@Laxy (CEO)
Really, London, free, unlimited wifi hey? Streets paved with Gold you say? Milk and Honey?
Perhaps the point you’re missing is that Skyrove is a business and as such is attempting to make money by giving customers something for free and hoping that those who aren’t just checking email and reading a blog or two will purchase additional bandwidth. Sure, 10mb seems like a little, but unless you browsing websites littered with shit *cough*haveyouseenhowlongthispageis?*cough*, you’ll probably be okay. And that’s my professional (CTO) opinion.
I think LaxyWifi would be a great name and I wait with baited breath to see your SSID appear in my list of access points.
Lots of love,
Jonathan (CTO, Remember)
Tim
30 Apr 2010
10MB everyday? That’s awesome. That is more than enough to check mail, facebook, twitter, and maybe even some blogs…everyday.
And for those who are already paying Skyrove customers, getting 10MB a day at one or maybe two locations can definitely save some cash.
Well done Henk and Skyrove. This may well be the start of full on free internet in public spaces (to the other monkey commentor, this is how it starts).
Seth, you know what you are, and you know we know, it’s your job, and we mostly enjoy it, so no hard feelings.
tony
30 Apr 2010
Im with Seth on this. 10mb is not even worth going through the hassle of connecting to the wifi.
Lara
30 Apr 2010
I’m with Henk and Jonothan on this.
Regards,
Lara
CFO
(ha ha. not really but what the hell)
bevmerriman
30 Apr 2010
The city and its numerous stakeholders have invested in upgrading older public spaces such as Grand Parade and Greenmarket Square. These spaces together with the city squares in Foreshore have given people who work in the city more opportunities to socialize with each other while enjoying public art, Cape Town’s unique culture and a little history.
For those on the run just checking a mail or two this is a great public service. If you need to do more than that surely you can head to the office?
Check out these two articles:
http://www.capetownpartnership.co.za/creating-meeting-places-in-public-space/
http://www.capetownpartnership.co.za/greenmarket-square-300-years-old/
Jinggs
30 Apr 2010
Yeah,
Lexy- get real, really. This a great initiative and props to Skyrove.
I have seen all of the city centres around South Africa, and the only one worth hanging around is Cape Town- the smallest step starting long journeys and all. 10mb is a start.
Jinggs
Franco
30 Apr 2010
I get the feeling this article was published so you could promote your new sponsor Seth? You could attack any number of SA companies though, not sure why you chose Skyrove though… Some people only use 10mb a day and i assure you it’s unlikely to be unshaped. Next we should make fun of people who donate R50 a month to animal anti-cruelty
Gerhard
30 Apr 2010
Okay so maybe 10MB is a little inadequate, loading 2oceansvibe homepage will eat that up in one go. Im not saying give free unlimited but maybe say a bit more than 10MB like 50MB perhaps.
Other than that its still free, so thanks skyrove.
James M
30 Apr 2010
It is free. Shut up and be greatful that we are at least starting to take steps in the right direction. Ungrateful people! SkyRove you rock! I am sure there are loads of people that appreciate this and are not stuck up enough to complain about getting something for you!
anonymous
30 Apr 2010
Calling someone a “douchebag” because they’re not giving you enough FREE stuff makes YOU a greedy douchebag Seth.
Uncool Seth, uncool.
silverstreak
30 Apr 2010
Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu….
In case you didn’t notice, and you obviously didn’t, my name’s SilverStreak, and I’m the author of this post. Look out for me on these pages.
Devil’s in the detail, ain’t it?
And that’s really my point about this Skyrove free wi-fi business.
The people defending this are saying that we should be grateful for something free, and that when other places give something away for “free”, it’s not actually free at all. And you know what? That’s the damned truth, I agree with you all there. But here’s the thing – Skyrove is doing the EXACT same thing.
Henk himself (Hi, Henk. Sorry for calling Skyrove douchebags. Freely admit that the pen got carried away, and that you deserve and apology if you took personal offense. You’re the better man)pointed out that the 10 megs free is a means of attracted people to buy megabytes at “cheaper than prepaid 3G” at 40c a pop (I write this to you on my 28c p/mb prepaid 3G).
So really, what Henk and his crew are doing is no different from what everyone else is doing when they offer free stuff, right?
Except that when most other companies give something away for free, they give it in moderately useful quantities.
And that’s where my beef lies.
Yes, it’s free. Thanks for that. But it’s 10 megabytes. 10 MEGABYTES. You realise that this page alone is around 500k? For example, how would you ever participate in this meaningful debate with 10 megabytes?
I’m sorry, but I’m obviously far less content with the bits and pieces that we’ve been fed in SA than a lot of other people.
It’s free, and that’s cool. But guys, must we settle for 10 megabytes? Really? (And sincerely?)
Seth Rotherham
30 Apr 2010
Hey Anonymous, unlike your comment, the content on 2oceansvibe is signed off with a name or alias. In this case you will notice that “Seth” was not the writer.
Thanks for the support, though, and look out for SilverStreak’s response in these comments.
anonymous
30 Apr 2010
Seth, my spologies for aiming my flame at you, when in fact it should have been aimed at silverstreak. I should have read the post properly.
In fact, I thank you for letting us know that Skyrove is trying to start something here.
Silverstreak, I bet you’re the type of guy that stands in front of the “taste test” stands in the supermarket and demands “more food on cocktails sticks!!”
idale
30 Apr 2010
Love the site, but this post was a complete waste of time and my free 10mb.
For some real facts about the Mweb uncapped solution vs others, check out this comprehensive comparison. I think it’s a HUGE FAIL on Mwebs part cause they aren’t revealing the shaping in their advertising.
Internet Shootout
Brad
30 Apr 2010
SkyRove, congrats on your marketing initiative and showing your support of Green Market Square
Salami from Killarney
30 Apr 2010
I think Skyrove and Greenmarket Square are going to benefit nicely from this little tête à tête. Good work to Henk on being first to the post here.
Seth, apparently there might be quite a few of us who thought the post was yours. Which makes me wonder how many other previous posts we’ve wrongly attributed to you. Seeing as you are synonymous with 2oceansvibe, perhaps you could more clearly identify guest (or ghost) writers in future – like you do with Chowgaps and the dreadful Spling.
Just a thought. I’m full of them today.
silverstreak
30 Apr 2010
Anonymous, you have no idea…Guilty as charged there.
Although truth be told I’m a sucker for crabcakes.
What makes you think I’m a guy?
The Devastator
30 Apr 2010
All of a sudden I wanna be close to silverstreak.
dion
30 Apr 2010
unbelievable, this is turning into a bigger media storm than when gordon brown called the granny a bigot.
sliverstreak
30 Apr 2010
Devastator, we’re all already closer than you think.
We’re on the vibe, together. We’re practically spooning in cyberspace.
Alan
30 Apr 2010
We’re not London or New York pal. Let’s rather celebrate a local startup which is trying to offer something to tourists and locals in a public space, and not try to rip it apart just to please a sponsor?
Allister
02 May 2010
Here’s an idea. Sponsor Two Oceans Vibe (silverstreak et al) free internet and then get a positive spin on everything! That is if there is space on the side banner areas.
Keep up the good work Henk and co.
David Donde
03 May 2010
Hey Henk, we do sometimes give away free coffee, but someone *ahem* forgot to mention that we give three (3) hrs (hours) of free uncapped unlimited free wifi to all (ALL) of our clients!
David Donde
03 May 2010
Love that Skyrove IS giving free megabytes away!
Rashid
03 May 2010
@Laxy
Where exactly is all this free WIFI in London? I would love to let me PA know, since she spends quite a bit on those wireless access thingies (according to her expense accounts).
FYI Vida gives you 30mb free daily with HipZone.
Rashid
CFO
Andrei
04 May 2010
What is that saying again? o yes … DON’T look a gift horse in the mouth! The skyrove home page is 500kb and the about and contact pages are another 100Kb and 120kb respectively, so…. YES you can “…afford to navigate to the Skyrove site to read up on their business…” and still have some left to check your mail… What have YOU done for the industry? That is the real question..
[...] ladies and gents, we’re talking about free Wi-Fi. We recently ran a story on Skyrove’s offering of free Wi-Fi in Green Market Square, Cape Town. Things have developed ever so slightly. A rival company, HipZone [...]
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