Why do we still pay for itemised billing?

[milomak]

Life's too short to worry about cap(airtime).

if you know your call patterns, it is not difficult to recharge every week.

This. Though come to think of it, getting airtime HAS become a lot easier since the last time I was on prepaid (+/- 10 years ago)

fnb and absa allow recharging via internet banking.

I've always used the contract to subsidise a new handset every two years.

Assuming I have read these vodacom offers correctly. I can pay R5489 cash upfront or R264pm for the 1st iPhone 4S deal. If I finance that cash price on budget on a credit card (FNB Silver, 18%), the amount paid is R274.03. on a business contract the contract is about R60 cheaper. And on say a Talk500, the phone is free so the calculation becomes difficult. The drawback/pro with the credit card is that interest rates can move. so you might win or lose.

but i can honestly say that i am spending far less on my phone bills (probably R100 plus) since moving to prepaid. And I also am not losing airtime as its rollover period ends. and i was on a 100 or 120 contract with mtn. and this is why on business and high value packages they can give you the phone at a greater discount/free. because on average, customers will be losing rollover minutes that make up for the subsidised cost of the phone and more.

Aren't airtime rates more expensive than contract rates?

when i switched from contract to prepaid at the end of last year, there wasn't a single contract package that met my needs which was cheaper than prepaid.

in short, i think contracts are ripping us off. especially seeing as i haven't heard of downward adjustments since the 6 or so months since i moved from contract to prepaid.

edit - for the more finance types, my calcs are here - http://www.4shared.com/office/ghxrh4...v_Monthly.html

edit 2 - bump that 18% to 20% on the credit card, then the contracts are R16 and R66 cheaper (R29 and R69 if you use 25%).