2006-07-28

010 or 001? Local no longer lekker...

ICASA have announced that, from October, South Africans will have to use the dialling code in all calls. No more 7-digit local calls from your fixed-line phone - you will need 10 digits to dial the neighbours. Among other things, this will allow for the introduction of the new 010 dialling code in the Johannesburg area. At the same time, the international prefix will be changed from 09 to the European style 00. Now, if - instead of a local number - I get a local number in the US (which is routed through the Internet to my home in Pretoria), people will have to dial 13 digits to reach me instead of 10. It doesn't seem like a big difference to me - why 010-456-7890 ('Gauteng') and not 001-345-789-2345 ('North America') to reach me in Pretoria?

For Skype and other VOIP users as well as from abroad it will be 80% cheaper to phone me on the 001 number (where I can get services like voicemail to e-mail for free). In the worst case, South African users pay less than to call a local cellphone to reach my 001 number. The North American number has much lower monthly rental and provides very cheap calls all over the world, including to SA. Huh? Who wants 010?

Incidentally, if you want the convenience of 7-digit dialling, get yourself and your friends and family all numbers in the same US dialling code...

2006-07-22

SA - last in Africa?

The good people at Antitrust.co.za have made a video comparing the cost of an ADSL connection in SA and in Mozambique. Watch and weep (unless you are in Maputo, where there are beaches and prawns as well when you get tired of the Internet). The Gizmo Project now offers free phone calls to landlines and cellphones (somewhat complicated conditions apply!) in Malawi and to landlines in Zambia - the only African countries I spotted where the service is available. Guess who has a more liberal telecoms policy than SA...

BTW, Zimbabwean dissidents (mentioned below), NIA (I get the impression from their website that my secrets are safe) leaks and other characters should grab Scatterchat for some secure comms.