2 contract renewals this month. Advice needed

squirrel

squirrel

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Hey guys!

So my contract and my mothers will be up his month on the 20th. She generally goes ahead and signs up for packages without inquiring with me first :twisted: Don't know much about contracts but I'm sure there are better deals out there. We're currently with Autopage, both on MTN Anytime 100 Topup. The bill is a total of R293.99 per month. I see the one phone gets charged 60.53 ex vat a month for a 'Lifestyle Package' - what the hell is this?

Our requirements are as follows. Firstly my mother does not want to exceed the current amount we pay. She is looking for a contract with at least R100 airtime and option to topup, but does not care about the phone (her preference would be an old school Nokia, with a non-QWERTY layout). I see from MTN Direct there is the Nokia C5 on AnyTime 100 with 10MB for R89 a month - is this a good deal?

I'm looking for an Android based phone, with also R100 airtime, topup, and if possible a small data package for Whatsapp and light browsing. Alternatively a Blackberry with BIS, but I'd rather go the Android route :)

Is it best to go directly to the provider? MTN Direct, etc? Would like to find 2 contracts from the same place so it will be on the same bill and whatnot.

So what do you guys think? Any help would be appreciated :)

Thanks
 
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isie said:
think the htc desire s or galaxy Y would be the androids in your price range
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Looking around the forum seems the HTC Desire S is discontinued in the country?
 
There are some good deals in the MTN Yellow Trader. I moved from Nashua to MTNSp and the best move I could make . Better deals and no funny charges for al sorts of extras added by these external crooks.
 
Best to deal with MTN directly. But cancelling at Autopage may prove to be a hassle. You first have to convert to prepaid else they will charge a contract cancellation fee if you try to "port" to MTN SP. If you're too late with the "port" your number may no longer exist.
 
ajax said:
Best to deal with MTN directly. But cancelling at Autopage may prove to be a hassle. You first have to convert to prepaid else they will charge a contract cancellation fee if you try to "port" to MTN SP. If you're too late with the "port" your number may no longer exist.
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Heh, so this is why they have a bad rep! Our upgrades are due on the 20th. So what's the best step-by-step process? Thanks for the help
 
hsmnel said:
There are some good deals in the MTN Yellow Trader. I moved from Nashua to MTNSp and the best move I could make . Better deals and no funny charges for al sorts of extras added by these external crooks.
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I see MTN Yellow Trader has the Samsung Galaxy Y for R99 a month on AnyTime 100 Topup with 10MB which looks good for me. Also the Samsung Galaxy Ace on the same deal. Samsung Galaxy Y Pro for R119. What's "Yellow Trader?"
 
squirrel said:
I see MTN Yellow Trader has the Samsung Galaxy Y for R99 a month on AnyTime 100 Topup with 10MB which looks good for me. Also the Samsung Galaxy Ace on the same deal. Samsung Galaxy Y Pro for R119. What's "Yellow Trader?"
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Link: Yellow Trader


If your mom doesn't mind what phone she gets the C5 doesn't sound like a bad deal, but their are a bunch of phones in the yellow trader with R100 airtime that cost R89 a month, for you I would recommend at a minimum getting the Sony Ericsson Xperia pro at R 189 a month it's the only reasonable phone in that price range, definitely stay far away from the galaxy y and y pro and galaxy ace, they are very budget handsets and will make your android experience more of a nightmare than a pleasure.

You may also want to check out 8ta's current special {through I can't vouch for them as I use MTN} I'm not sure how their pricing plans work {with regards to top ups exct.} but they have some incredible deals going on at the moment. On 8ta for about that price you could get your mom a HTC Desire S and yourself a galaxy s2 {which is a premium android handset} through I have heard finding stock can be quite tricky.

Link: 8ta Specials

MyBB thread on 8ta Specials: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/427255-Crazy-8ta-Hot-Spot-Sale!
 
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Yeah cancelling at Autopage is a fun game, to see how many times they transfer you between 3 different departments. Took me 30 minutes with this jump around game and then I just went ape **** on one poor lady on the phone and said I had enough she needs to sort it out. That was on 3rd May. The contract was cancelled, but they can only convert my number to prepaid on the 14th. Who knows why but I guess thats ok.

Anyway, best of luck cancelling those Autopage contracts. I really had enough of them charging random stuff, and the game of cancelling convinced me, to go to direct to MTN / Vodacom / 8ta / CellC whoever you prefer.
 
Thanks for the information guys. With regards to Anytime 100, if it doesn't say Topup, do you have to pay extra for that? Think the C5 will definitely be perfect for my mom but it doesn't say Topup.. also I think she will hate a full QWERTY keyboard, prefers the old school vibes :) She's also only ever owned a Nokia. Cant wait to battle with Autopage eh..
 
squirrel said:
Thanks for the information guys. With regards to Anytime 100, if it doesn't say Topup, do you have to pay extra for that? Think the C5 will definitely be perfect for my mom but it doesn't say Topup.. also I think she will hate a full QWERTY keyboard, prefers the old school vibes :) She's also only ever owned a Nokia. Cant wait to battle with Autopage eh..
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Also if you look on hellopeter you will see lots of complaints about Autopage contracts being 25 month contracts due to funny cancellation terms
 
Anytime 100 I believe is a post-paid contract, not topup. I am currently on Anytime 350 post-paid contract.
 
Tinuva said:
Anytime 100 I believe is a post-paid contract, not topup. I am currently on Anytime 350 post-paid contract.
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They told my wife she had to wait 2 months before she could change her contract to top-up.
 
doobyscoo said:
They told my wife she had to wait 2 months before she could change her contract to top-up.
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was it a new contract or was she converting an existing contract, if it was a new contract they are totaly BS'ing you as i have done this if she was converting it could be they have some rules involved for converting, but if she is upgrading her contract she can do this i have done this as well
(got 3 numbers on mtn)
 
isie said:
was it a new contract or was she converting an existing contract, if it was a new contract they are totaly BS'ing you as i have done this if she was converting it could be they have some rules involved for converting, but if she is upgrading her contract she can do this i have done this as well
(got 3 numbers on mtn)
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Thought as much... she never goes over her contract though so it wasn't a big deal. It was an upgrade.
 
Eh, so why the hell do they advertise with the word topup and sometimes not. Thought maybe it would be an extra charge or something. I think the Nokia C5 on Anytime 100 Topup would be the ideal contract for my mom, pretty set on that. Unless she takes another better QWERTY based phone and sells it to get something non-QWERTY. Think I likee the look of the Galaxy Ace, but need to see it in person. Never owned a touch phone.. my old Nokia E63 actually has a nice keyboard :D
 
doobyscoo said:
Thought as much... she never goes over her contract though so it wasn't a big deal. It was an upgrade.
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AHA - Hence the :cool: 2 months, she was upgrading so probably doing it at 22 months, so the new contract (top up) would only come into effect after 2 months when the initial contract ended

squirrel said:
Eh, so why the hell do they advertise with the word topup and sometimes not. Thought maybe it would be an extra charge or something. I think the Nokia C5 on Anytime 100 Topup would be the ideal contract for my mom, pretty set on that. Unless she takes another better QWERTY based phone and sells it to get something non-QWERTY. Think I likee the look of the Galaxy Ace, but need to see it in person. Never owned a touch phone.. my old Nokia E63 actually has a nice keyboard :D
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Just keep in mind you porting so will have to wait till the contract with Autopage is finished then have them port the sims to prepaid once confirmed you have can go to mtn and sign up for a new contract and wait a day or so for them to finish the credit checks etc
 
So on the 20th when we go in to 'renew' the contract or whatever, thats when we should convert to prepaid and take it from there?
 
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