When Neotel, SA's second fixed-line operator, launched its service, it was common to see someone making calls from what looked like a fixed-line telephone while relaxing in the park.
Those Neotel phones were wireless and not attached to a telephone cable fixed to a building. You could use the phone when away from the office at relatively cheap, fixed-line rates.
But the first- and second-generation Neotel phones looked too bulky to be mobile.
The company has now found what seems to be the answer to this gripe. In partnership with HTC, Neotel recently launched NeoSmart, which it refers to as SA's "first mobile smart landline".
The service allows you to use a dual network Android-based HTC Desire smartphone to make and receive calls when on the move. And you pay fixed-line rates.
You can use one phone to make and receive business and personal calls, access e-mail and even create a Wi-Fi hotspot that connects up to five devices.
This is ideal for businesses that aren't office-bound. Though expanding, Neotel's network is still limited to parts of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg and Port Elizabeth. So you will struggle to get connected in smaller towns.
Bundled with NeoSmart is Neotel's new FreeCallZone service, which, at a fixed monthly rate, enables business employees using Neotel to call each from anywhere in the country other at no additional fee.
Source: Financial Mail via I-Net Bridge
