The year is "over the hill and picking up speed" as we head into the last bit of 2025. If you haven't yet made it to your January New Year's Resolutions - there's still time!

July Winner

Congratulations to ThomasG, who won a double-speed upgrade for the month.

Budget tips to keep your internet costs down

We are all counting our Rands and cents as the cost of living soars. There are some expenses that can simply be avoided (much like speeding fines).

Here are a few tips to prevent paying more for your internet service than you need to:

• Provide for your debit order - save a R50 unpaid debit order fee invoice, suspension of services, plus bank charges applied to your account by your bank. If you need to change your debit order date to match your salary date, please ask our accounts department for help. If your bank details change, please let us know well ahead of when your debit order runs.
• Pay your manual subs payment on time - save a R200 re-connection fee. All clients making manual monthly payments have a due date of the 27th of each month for their subs.
• Pay any other invoices via EFT or your banking app - save R20 ATM fee or R65 cash at the bank counter fee. Make sure you use the right reference so your payment is assigned correctly.
• Pay by card at our offices or via the mobile terminals our techs carry.
• Pay cash at our offices or arrange for us to collect - save ATM and bank counter fees.
• Keep your account up to date and catch up on all outstanding payments to avoid any service penalties, suspension or balance of contract charges. You can access your account balance using the link in any invoice or statement.
• Work with our support team to comprehensively troubleshoot problems and avoid paying a call-out fee. All on-site tech visits incur a standard call-out fee over and above any equipment replacement costs or other work required.

We will be launching a self-help system with regularly-asked questions in the coming months We will also provide account and payment self-management via app or website. Please keep an eye on your inbox for details, as we will be moving clients to this system in batches and will let you know as soon as it's your turn.

Tech Talk

We run a very secure network that automatically fends off many cyberattacks for our clients. However, we cannot control how you use your internet service, or what information you share online, and the many scams still catching people are of major concern. I am hoping this month's tech talk may help.

First rule of internet safety - if it sounds too good to be true, it's a scam. There is no such thing as free money, get rich quick - and Microsoft will not be calling about your computer. Nor will the "Bloemfontein customs control" call you, the bank will not email you to change your details via a link, and you have not inherited a few million US$, nor won anything that requires you to first pay to get it. Although scammers often use the same old tactics, new ones are popping up every day. It's an absolute mission to keep on top of what is real and what is fake, but let's take a quick look at the basics.

Phone calls

We have seen a massive increase in scam and spam phone calls, often from South African cell numbers but clearly not South Africans on the other end, via regular cell call and via WhatsApp. If your phone supports this, make sure you have caller ID installed, and if in doubt check the phone number against a service such as TrueCaller. Reporting scam calls builds up the database of dodgy people using illegally-aquired SIM cards to try and scam you. If in doubt end the call immediately. Do not give away or confirm any personal information. If this is a WhatsApp call or message, block the sender from future communication and report them to WhatsApp.

General Internet safety

Emails: Do not click on links you do not know, and do not click on attachments that are not secure. Email programmes such as Gmail will show you the real "from" email address if you hover your mouse over it, without having to click it.

Websites: Check whether a site is secure in the address bar of your browser - the website address should start with "https", and not just "http". Make sure your anti-virus and anti-malware programmes are up to date and functioning properly. Avoid entering personal information on any unknown site, or signing up for anything that you are not 100% sure about. Do not click on links to change your bank details, or fall for any scams involving paying money over to an account that you have not verified with the company themselves. A bit of research can save you years of trouble.

Apps and social media: Avoid over-sharing on either of these. You never know who you are dealing with online, and whether they are who they say they are. Love scams and WhatsApp scams are still big business, fraudulently taking millions off of lonely or vulnerable people every month.

Child safety: If you have children in your household, please educate them regarding talking to strangers online and off, sharing information or photos, and safe internet use. Yes, you can monitor, block and take away devices without violating their human rights. Their safety is your priority - tantrums or not.

There is so much to say about staying safe online. The internet has crept into every aspect of our lives, taken over information control, tracks what we do and has changed how we interact. Please spend some time educating yourself as to the dangers out in cyberspace and how to stay safe. If you are in any doubt we will be happy to double-check anything you might think is suspicious and help with information.

Useful links:

ISPA Safety Infographic

South African Fraud Prevention Services

SAPS - Police impersonation scams

ISPA Internet Safety guides

From the Archives

Remote sites may be difficult to get to, but the rewards are worth it. Amazing views, interesting nature stuff, a fantastic work environment. And stories to tell.

A couple of years ago we shared a site on the Durbanville hills. Getting there involved a bit of a 4x4 trek through a nature reserve / game farm with a variety of beasts, birds and bugs. The site itself was enclosed by a fence with a gate - rule of law was keep the gate closed to avoid trapping any wildlife inside.

As usual, we had cameras monitoring the site. One day we noticed one company had forgotten to close the gate and were having a bit of trouble getting their visitor out... Watch the video here.

The same culprits loved to hassle us going up to site too.

Shot of the month

We're often out on site at very odd hours and in very strange places - but this means we get some awesome views. Here's this month's picture perfect shot.

Have an excellent month - and happy Women's Day for the 9th.

Michelle Bainbridge

Chief Internet Artisan

Cape Connect Internet (Pty) Ltd

Read Past Newsletters