Cozahost Newsletter Archive

Previous issues

It's all communications this time:  we discuss how you can send SMS messages via the internet cheaper and faster, and we answer some of the most often asked ADSL questions.

Please forward this newsletter to friends or colleagues who might like to read it.
 

 
Spring is in the air.  Flowers are in bloom.  A new energy vibrates in the air.

Now is the time to shake the ice from the preverbal wings, streeeetch the body, flatten the hair and prepare for take-off - just like that Albatross in a Disney movie.

Ok, I know - you are a respectable knowledge worker and there is no way you are going to shake your feathers in public.  Just imagine yourself doing it then:

You are a bird.  A big one.  No.  Bigger than that.  A huge black one.  A huge black eagle.  With a majestic, awe-inspiring body.  Powerful shiny black wings.  Clear, bright eyes.  Fearsome beak.  Menacing  claws. 

Ruler of the heavens. 

Do you see yourself? 

Now stretch your wings out as far as they can.  Tense all the muscles in your body....agghhh...and now...take a deep breath and...FEEL the awesome power pumping though every vein...YOUR veins.

Spring is in the air.  You have the power.  Go make your dreams come true!

At first it may seem that the above has nothing to do with the rest of the content of this newsletter.  That impression would be correct. Read on if you don't believe me. 

Sometimes, taking a little break - even if it is just in your imagination, is all you need to get the inspiration to reduce the perspiration. :-)
 

Broadband over power lines
Johannesburg is close to launching a broadband over power lines connection trail in Alexandria.  The interesting thing about this technology is that if you have electricity, you automatically have an internet connection too.  If I were running Telkom, that would make me a little bit worried.
     

I don't know exactly why I was impressed, but I think it was because it felt personal and professional.  Not a phone call interrupting me, but a single quick, courteous SMS message.

The next day I picked up my credit card, and for a while I had a warm fuzzy feeling about my bank.

The bank scored big time:  they improved their relationship with me, and they saved themselves a lot of time - not to mention telephone costs. 

Of course, my bank manager does not personally SMS his clients to pick up credit cards.  It is done automatically - by a computer program...and we will tell you how you can do the same thing quickly, easily and cheaply.

Small examples - big payoff

First, lets consider a few examples where small businesses can benefit by collecting email addresses and cell phone numbers from their clients and then using automated SMS messages to generate business, build customer loyalty and instill a sense of competent professionalism in people they deal with :

- A company sends an SMS to it's client to confirm a booking, shipment of an order, reminder of an unpaid invoice, congratulations on a birthday, happy holidays, notification to pick up work that is complete, etc. etc.

- A restaurant sends an SMS to thank a patron for visiting the previous evening, and invites the client back a month later.

- A building contractor sends an SMS to thank the customer after the job is done, and offers discounts to the customer's friends a week later.

- Confirm a meeting per SMS a few hours before it is due (eg a consultation or on-site visit).

Simple and cheap

Of course you can manually send SMS messages to your clients from your cell phone, but that approach has these disadvantages:

• It's expensive at R 1.00 to R 1.50 per SMS (depending on your contract)
• You disclose your personal cell phone number
• It's a time consuming manual task

A better solution is to use an SMS gateway provider.  A gateway provider supplies you with an account, SMS credits and the necessary tools to send SMS messages directly from your email package or from your web site. 

A good example of a SMS gateway provider is Clickatell - a South African company and a global leader in the SMS gateway field.

To get going: Visit their web site, where you can register for a (free) account.  Once you have your account, buy SMS credits (at about 32c per SMS) and you are ready to rock and roll:  Your Clickatell account provides access to a gateway (to integrate automatic SMS messages to your web site or email package), and also an online (web) application where you can send bulk SMS messages to groups of clients at a time.

Armed with the above, you can use your email package (or the Clickatell web site) to "broadcast" a SMS message to hundreds of clients, friends or contacts - in seconds and at less than a third of the normal cost.

Use the technology to build your business

Although the Clickatell gateway is cheap and simple to use, technology by itself does not solve real world problems.  Hammers don't drive in nails: people use hammers to drive in nails.

I'm sure if you ponder the question for a few minutes, you can think of several creative ways to build your customer loyalty (and get new business) using this technology. 

A note of caution:

The golden rule is to ask for your client's permission before sending him anything - including emails and SMS messages.  Spamming your clients is the single most silly thing a business can do!

It is also important not to use SMS messages to "hard sell" your customer. All of us are bombarded by advertisements every day to the extent where we are learning to tune them out automatically.  Simply thank your customer,  or wish them happy birthday / holiday, or make them a genuinely good offer.  They trusted you enough by doing business with you - now you can earn that trust by staying in contact and by not trying to shove products down their throats.
 

 
In the previous issue of this newsletter, I mentioned that if you spend approximately R 400 per month on your internet costs, you should be considering ADSL.  That generated a lot of phone calls and these were the most common questions:

At what point is ADSL more cost effective than a simple modem line?

An ADSL connection is about more that saving direct cost:  It is about being online to the internet 24 * 7, fast access to sites and resources, and a host of intangible benefits.  When you have to justify the cost however, you will find that it is not THAT expensive:

The cheapest ADSL connection will cost you about R 592.00 per month (this includes the Telkom line rental and the ISP access fee).

Compare that to a typical small business with 2 phone lines - one for voice and one for faxes:

The phone line rentals are about R 90.00 each.  If you connect to the internet via one of the corporate ISPs (eg mWeb), that privilege will cost you about R 130.00 per month.  Total monthly (communications) bill = R 310.00 - that is before you make any calls, ie just the infrastructure cost.

Now add R 280 for call charges to your internet service provider, and you are at the point where ADSL starts to be the cheaper option.

With an ADSL line you can make normal phone calls and you can use a fax to email service to send and receive faxes via the ADSL line - so your existing two lines can be replaced by one ADSL line.  You can use VOIP to make free internet calls or cheap international calls.  You can reduce your cell phone costs by using email (instead of calling) and by sending SMS messages via the internet.  You are online 24 * 7.  Your access to the internet is at least 500% faster.

How to go about getting ADSL?

Telkom and only Telkom can supply ADSL services in South Africa, so you have to apply with them to replace your existing line(s) with an ADSL line.  (The process typically takes 3 to 6 weeks from request to installation).  Once you have a fixed date on when your line will be installed, contact Cozahost on the day before the installation is due to get your ADSL user account.

When the Telkom technician arrives the next day to install the line, give him your ADSL user account details so that he can set up all your equipment for you - including linking your PC to the internet.

You can order an DSL line from Telkom's web site - you will also find pricing information and other pertinent details on the site.

Note that not everybody can get ADSL - you have to be within 5Km of a capable Telkom exchange - contact Telkom to check.

What is this "cap" thing everybody talks about?

The "cap" means that Telkom imposes a limit on the amount of data you may up and download on your ADSL link.  In most cases the cap is about 3 Gb, which roughly translates to downloading data with a modem for 218 hours straight.

If you exceed the cap, you are lumped with all the other users who exceeded their cap onto the same "pipe".  The whole unhappy lot of you are then stuck with access speeds slower that of a modem - until the next month.

You can buy multiple internet access account from an ISP (R 188.00 per month each) to double your cap from 3 to 6 to 9 Gb, etc - but you pay Telkom only for the one fixed ADSL line.

Alternatives to Telkom?

No, not really - at the moment.  The cell phone providers (MTN, Vodacom, Cell C) can provide so called 3G data connections, but they are much more expensive than an ADSL line. 

The advantage of a 3G link is that it is portable so you can be online wherever you have a cell phone signal, so, depending on your requirements, that might be the way to go for you.

The wireless providers are still struggling.  I think it might take a while before their infrastructure is completely rolled out and stable.

The SNO will take at least another year before it can enter the marketplace in any meaningful way.

So, bottom line: we are stuck with Telkom for a little while longer and we have to hope ICASA finds a way to substantially reduce internet costs in very near future.
     

At Cozahost we help small companies and professionals tame the internet so that they can concentrate on making money.  We take care of the technical stuff so that they can take care of business.  Here are some of our products and services:
 

  
Dear Diary:

For my fortieth birthday this year, my wife (the dear) purchased a week of personal training at the local health club for me.

Although I am still in great shape since playing on my college football team 25 yrs ago, I decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and give it a try.  I called the club and made my reservation with a personal trainer named Belinda, who identified herself as a 26 yr. old aerobics instructor and model for athletic clothing and swimwear.

My wife seemed pleased with my enthusiasm to get started! The club encouraged me to keep a diary to chart my progress.

MONDAY:

Started my day at 6:00am.  Tough to get out of bed, but it was well worth it when I arrived at the health club to find Belinda waiting for me. She was something of a Greek goddess with blonde hair, dancing eyes and a dazzling white smile.

Woo Hoo!!!!!

She took my pulse after 5 minutes on the treadmill.  She was alarmed that my pulse was so fast, but I attributed it to standing next to her in her Lycra aerobics outfit. I enjoyed watching the skilful way in which she conducted her aerobics class after my workout today.

Very inspiring, Belinda was encouraging as I did my sit-ups, Although my gut was already aching from holding it in the whole time she was around. This is going to be a FANTASTIC week!!

TUESDAY:

I drank a whole pot of coffee, but I finally made it out the door. Belinda made me lie on my back and push a heavy iron bar into the air, and then she put weights on it!  My legs were a little wobbly on the treadmill, but I made the full mile. Belinda's rewarding smile made it all worthwhile.  I feel GREAT!! It's a whole new life for me.

WEDNESDAY:

The only way I can brush my teeth is by lying on the toothbrush on the counter and moving my mouth back and forth over it. I believe I have a hernia in both pectorals. Driving was OK as long as I didn't try to steer or stop. I parked on top of a GEO in the club parking lot. Belinda was impatient with me, insisting that my screams bothered the other club members. Her voice is a little too perky for early in the morning and when she scolds, she gets this nasally whines that is VERY annoying.

My chest hurts when I got on the treadmill, so Belinda put me on the stair monster. Why on earth would anyone invent a machine to simulate an activity rendered obsolete by elevators? Belinda told me it would help me get in shape and enjoy life. She said some other bull too.

THURSDAY:

Belinda was waiting for me with her vampire-like teeth exposed as her thin, cruel lips were pulled back in a full snarl I couldn't help being a half an hour late; it took me that long to tie my shoes.

Belinda took me to workout with dumbbells. When she was not looking, I ran and hid in the men's room.

She sent Lars to find me, then, as punishment, put me on the rowing machine-which I sank.

FRIDAY:

I hate that bitch Belinda more than any human being has ever hated any other human being in the history of the world. Stupid, skinny, anemic little cheerleading bitch. If there were a part of my body could move without unbearable pain, I would beat her with it. Belinda wanted me to work on my triceps. I don't have any triceps! And if you don't want dents in the floor, don't hand me the*&%#(#&** barbells or anything that weighs more than a sandwich.
The treadmill flung me off and I landed on a health and nutrition teacher. Why couldn't it have been someone softer, like the drama coach or the choir director?

SATURDAY:

Belinda left a message on my answering machine in her grating, shrilly voice wondering why I did not show up today. Just hearing her made me want to smash the machine with my planner. However, I lacked the strength to even use the TV remote and ended up catching eleven straight hours of the Weather Channel.

SUNDAY:

I'm having the Church van pick me up for services today so I can go and thank GOD that this week is over. I will also pray that next year, my wife (the bitch), will choose a gift for me that is fun --like a root canal or a vasectomy!!

Author Unknown
    

The Cozahost newsletter is available as an RSS feed: http://news.cozahost.com/newsfeed.xml
 

Thanks for reading this newsletter and we hope you enjoyed it!  Please contact us if you have comments, suggestions or questions - we would love to hear from you!