Don’t be a broadband bonehead

Look at the following broadband prices before you sign any broadband contract

March 1, 2012

Most of South Africa’s broadband providers have reduced their prices or launched promotions over the last few months. Knowledgeable consumers are making the most of these price cuts, but some may make an ill-informed choice if they don’t check all prices first.

Sound advice is to always look at all the available offers before making a decision, and that is particularly relevant in the fast changing SA broadband market.

Just in case you don’t want to spend time on investigating all options, here are some caveats to avoid when buying an ADSL or mobile data package.

Telkom ADSL

Telkom’s bundled Do Broadband offerings – which offers a one price ADSL access and data solution – give much better value for money than purchasing the individual components.

However, many consumers prefer to pay a bit more for the freedom to easily change from one ISP account to the next to serve their needs – completely understandable.

What is not particularly bright is to purchase any data package over 20GB from Telkom. A 20GB ADSL data package from Telkom costs R239, while a 40GB bundle costs R630 – more than double the cost of the 20GB package.

Telkom AllAccess ADSL ISP accounts
Account	Blended data	Local data	Price
Telkom AllAccess 20GB	20GB	30GB	R239

2 x Telkom AllAccess 20GB	40GB	60GB	R478
Telkom AllAccess 40GB	40GB	30GB	R630

3 x Telkom AllAccess 20GB	60GB	90GB	R717
Telkom AllAccess 50GB	50GB	30GB	R810

MTN mobile broadband

MTN has various mobile broadband promotions, and unless you are familiar with these options it may cost you.

The table below highlights some of the caveats to watch out for. It is clear that you should really only consider the MTN 2GB for R149 promotion or MTN’s Uncapped Lite product for R289.

Package	Data	Price
MTN 300MB	0.3GB	R149
MTN 2GB promotion	2GB	R149
MTN 1GB	1GB	R289
MTN Uncapped Lite	3GB (uncapped 256kbps)	R289
MTN 2GB TopUp	2GB	R389

Vodacom mobile data

Vodacom is currently running two promotions: R99 for a 1GB data package and R149 for a 2GB package. It is easy to sum up the best decision: Buy one of these two services or you will make a silly choice.

Package	Data	Night Owl data	Price
Vodacom 1GB + 1GB promotion	1GB	1GB	R99
Vodacom MyMeg 250	0.25GB	0.25GB	R99
Vodacom MyMeg 500	0.5GB	0.5GB	R149
MyGig 1 Advanced	1GB	1GB	R285

Vodacom 2GB + 2GB promotion	2GB	2GB	R149
Vodacom MyMeg 500	0.5GB	0.5GB	R149
MyGig 1 Advanced	1GB	1GB	R285
MyGig 2 Advanced	2GB	2GB	R385

8ta mobile data

8ta is currently running a few data promotions, and like Vodacom you will be well advised to look no further than these promotions to get the best value for money.

Package	Data	Price
Go Big 3GB prepaid promotion	2GB (+1GB after hours)	R149
1GB prepaid	1GB	R200
2GB prepaid	2GB	R266

Go Big 10GB contract promotion	10GB	R199
Internet 2	1.5GB	R210
Internet 4	5GB	R666
Internet 6	10GB	R1200

Go 120GB big prepaid	60 GB (+60GB after hours)	R1800