Switch to FNB Connect Prepaid 3G on your cellphone

[Toxin]

I'm having a big "failure to understand" moment here.

Let me see if I understand this right. Depending on the FNB account I have I could register with FNB Connect, set up a APN on my phone and get 50MB per month at a fixed rate of either 30c/MB or 40c/MB. Basically either pay R15 or R20 for 50MB of data. After which I would pay a fixed rate of 59c/MB.

Is this the gist of what the deal is?

Cause I don't see how this is better than my 500MB bundle thingy from Vodacom? I used 700MB last month (500MB normal and 200MB NightOwl) and spent R150, effectively spending about 22c/MB.

Or am I missing something?

[VernD]

@Toxin

Night Owl
Now all our broadband internet Contract customers get Vodacom Night Owl for FREE! Night Owl is no longer a promotion – Now you get it absolutely FREE automatically, whether you are on Broadband Standard or Broadband Advanced.

Get FREE data to use between midnight and 5am every day when you:
Buy or upgrade to a 24-month Contract or above
Or
Add a Data Bundle or above to your existing Voice or Data Contract (Month-to-Month, or Once-off Data Bundle).

As a Night Owl user, you get FREE data to surf, download and explore the Internet between midnight and 5am.

Who qualifies?
All contract customers with a 24-month Data Contract, Month-to-Month recurring or Once-off Data Bundle qualify for Night Owl. All the Data Bundles in both Broadband Standard and Broadband Advanced from MyMeg 10 to MyGig 20 are included. Please note that Prepaid and Top Up customers do not qualify for Night Owl.

What do I get with Night Owl?
You’ll get FREE data equivalent to the Data Bundle size that you have purchased to use between midnight and 5am. Buy a MyMeg 500 and you will get an additional 500MB of data FREE or buy a MyGig 2 and get an additional 2 GB FREE!
Even if you buy a Data Bundle in the middle of the month, you will still get a Night Owl Data Bundle to the same value of the pro-rated Data Bundle.

To check your Night Owl balance:
Call 155, FREE from a Vodacom cellphone
Or
SMS ‘MM’ to 31050
Or
Dial *111#, select option 1 for “Balances”, then option 5 for “Data Bundle Balance”

(Please Note: balance information is updated after 8am the next morning).
That’s a whole lot more Internet – FREE! Only the Vodacom family get broadband internet at the best value.

http://www.vodacom.co.za/personal/in...irstLoad=true#

It's disingenuous of you to include your NightOwl allocation in the price per MB calculation because NightOwl is a free product whereas FNBConnect 3G is a costed product. Also, NightOwl is available only to contract customers whereas FNBConnect is available to all MTN and Vodacom subscribers.

You can't really compare them as the inherent nature of the products are different. With Vodacom, you're talking bundles whereas with FNBConnect 3G you purchase a monetary credit from which your 3G costs gets deducted. With Vodacom, your bundles expire whereas with FNBConnect you never lose your credit because it's your money. Also, with contract bundles, you get charged every month, whether you use the whole bundle or not, in which case, the network wins on reclaim. With FNBConnect 3G, you pay only for what you use and you can set your account to top up automatically when it's depleted.

[eshwar]

I'm having a big "failure to understand" moment here.

Let me see if I understand this right. Depending on the FNB account I have I could register with FNB Connect, set up a APN on my phone and get 50MB per month at a fixed rate of either 30c/MB or 40c/MB. Basically either pay R15 or R20 for 50MB of data. After which I would pay a fixed rate of 59c/MB.

Is this the gist of what the deal is?

Cause I don't see how this is better than my 500MB bundle thingy from Vodacom? I used 700MB last month (500MB normal and 200MB NightOwl) and spent R150, effectively spending about 22c/MB.

Or am I missing something?

Yes you are. Depending on how much money is put into the fnb account every month, there's a certain amount of absolutely free data you get just for having an fnb account

[Mike Smit]

Yes you are. Depending on how much money is put into the fnb account every month, there's a certain amount of absolutely free data you get just for having an fnb account

Is there somewhere you can see sounds deposited vs data?
I registered for connect long ago but never used it for anything. After seeing this thread I went to login and see how much data I might score but connect site is down for maintenance ):

[Toxin]

It's disingenuous of you to include your NightOwl allocation in the price per MB calculation because NightOwl is a free product whereas FNBConnect 3G is a costed product. Also, NightOwl is available only to contract customers whereas FNBConnect is available to all MTN and Vodacom subscribers.

You can't really compare them as the inherent nature of the products are different. With Vodacom, you're talking bundles whereas with FNBConnect 3G you purchase a monetary credit from which your 3G costs gets deducted. With Vodacom, your bundles expire whereas with FNBConnect you never lose your credit because it's your money. Also, with contract bundles, you get charged every month, whether you use the whole bundle or not, in which case, the network wins on reclaim. With FNBConnect 3G, you pay only for what you use and you can set your account to top up automatically when it's depleted.

Ah, I see what you mean now. I can see how this would appeal to people who don't use much data. With Vodacom you can only carry over the previous month unused data and you have to use up your monthly data before getting to the carried over data. Unfortunately with the amount of data I use each month using FNB connect would work out more expensive for me.

Yes you are. Depending on how much money is put into the fnb account every month, there's a certain amount of absolutely free data you get just for having an fnb account

Yeah but that's ADSL data (from what I've heard/seen). I'm looking for 3G data.

[eshwar]

Is there somewhere you can see sounds deposited vs data?
I registered for connect long ago but never used it for anything. After seeing this thread I went to login and see how much data I might score but connect site is down for maintenance ):

Ah, I see what you mean now. I can see how this would appeal to people who don't use much data. With Vodacom you can only carry over the previous month unused data and you have to use up your monthly data before getting to the carried over data. Unfortunately with the amount of data I use each month using FNB connect would work out more expensive for me.

Yeah but that's ADSL data (from what I've heard/seen). I'm looking for 3G data.

Na, I thought so too. But myself, I qualify for like 50MB or so. Simply because my monthly deposits are not high enough. Also I can't use it since I don't have an MTN/Vodacom contract.

[Mike Smit]

Na, I thought so too. But myself, I qualify for like 50MB or so. Simply because my monthly deposits are not high enough. Also I can't use it since I don't have an MTN/Vodacom contract.

Where do you see what you qualify for and how do you check balances?
I feel stupid cause I have been to the connect website, logged in and hunted all over.

I deposit a fair amount and with Vodacon, so really keen to check this out. Close to giving up though

[AirWolf]

Where do you see what you qualify for and how do you check balances?
I feel stupid cause I have been to the connect website, logged in and hunted all over.

I deposit a fair amount and with Vodacon, so really keen to check this out. Close to giving up though

Insert your ID number here: https://www.fnbconnect.co.za/rewards.shtml

[Mike Smit]

Insert your ID number here: https://www.fnbconnect.co.za/rewards.shtml

Thanks dude. It says I qualify for 3GB free ADSL every month and 30c/MB for the first 50MB.
Does not look so kewl to me ):

[peeryus]

FNB Connect on 3G is working great. But I've downloaded the Digital Phone app and made a few calls. I noticed it's deducting my mtn airtime and my Talk airtime. Is this happening to anybody else?

[VernD]

FNB Connect on 3G is working great. But I've downloaded the Digital Phone app and made a few calls. I noticed it's deducting my mtn airtime and my Talk airtime. Is this happening to anybody else?

I've only used the app to make calls to FNB because calls from the app to FNB are free plus the app has all the numbers saved in its contacts already.

Did you load credit to make calls? You do get R10 credit upfront. And even if you did, the app is basically VOIP so it should be using a data connection instead of GSM to make calls, which means that your call costs should be considerably lower.

[peeryus]

I've only used the app to make calls to FNB because calls from the app to FNB are free plus the app has all the numbers saved in its contacts already.

Did you load credit to make calls? You do get R10 credit upfront. And even if you did, the app is basically VOIP so it should be using a data connection instead of GSM to make calls, which means that your call costs should be considerably lower.

Yeah got the R10 upfront Talk airtime but used it up already.

Just called Premier Banking from the contacts list in the app. Was a 20sec call. My Talk airtime didn't get used but 27c got deducted from my mtn airtime. Is this how this app works?

Thanks

[rph72]

Yeah got the R10 upfront Talk airtime but used it up already.

Just called Premier Banking from the contacts list in the app. Was a 20sec call. My Talk airtime didn't get used but 27c got deducted from my mtn airtime. Is this how this app works?

Thanks

You need a data bundle as well. If not, funds will be deducted at OOB rates.

[peeryus]

You need a data bundle as well. If not, funds will be deducted at OOB rates.

A data bundle with mtn? Or FNB Connect Surf 3G?

[rph72]

A data bundle with mtn? Or FNB Connect Surf 3G?

Any one will do, as long as you have a data bundle.