Afrihost Voice airtime

cavedog

Honorary Master
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
27,028
Reaction score
13,168
Location
PTA
So had Afrihost Voice for some time now and before the launch Afrihost would load airtime that as a expiry date. This means use it or lose it for the the month.

Now I noticed that Afrihost has become more sneaky. They now load non expiry airtime but they check your airtime before loading the new airtime and only load the difference.

For example the R99 Afrihost package comes with R39.50 airtime and 1GB data. So if you only use R1 of the R39.50 then it means Afrihost will only top you up with R1 for the next month.

This is sneaky and not fair because you still pay for the full amount.

Another thing is for some reason manually loaded MTN airtime gets used before Afrihost loaded airtime meaning your topup will be less and less from Afrihost.

Maybe I got it wrong but this is what I noticed and maybe Afrihost can advise. If this is the case then yeah this package is even way worse than just being on MTN prepaid directly with a Afrihost data plan.
 
Yeah I have noticed the same. Might as well just go with MTN directly for voice and use an Afrihost data plan as you say.

So for R58 you get 1gig of data from Afrihost. Only thing though is that at the moment we are getting 10gigs a month which I think will last till April(?), so it may only be worthwhile to cancel the voice portion of it after that.
 
So had Afrihost Voice for some time now and before the launch Afrihost would load airtime that as a expiry date. This means use it or lose it for the the month.

Now I noticed that Afrihost has become more sneaky. They now load non expiry airtime but they check your airtime before loading the new airtime and only load the difference.

For example the R99 Afrihost package comes with R39.50 airtime and 1GB data. So if you only use R1 of the R39.50 then it means Afrihost will only top you up with R1 for the next month.

This is sneaky and not fair because you still pay for the full amount.

Another thing is for some reason manually loaded MTN airtime gets used before Afrihost loaded airtime meaning your topup will be less and less from Afrihost.

Maybe I got it wrong but this is what I noticed and maybe Afrihost can advise. If this is the case then yeah this package is even way worse than just being on MTN prepaid directly with a Afrihost data plan.

I totally understand your confusion around this. I think it's easier to explain what the products are intending to achieve before I get into the technicalities.

Our month to month products are intended to give a contract experience without the long term commitment. Generally contracts provide a certain amount of airtime and data for use in the month, anything used over and above is out of bundle, which we provide for in our ClientZone options. However we also want to be able to allow clients to limit their spend by setting their out of bundle limits using Auto-Limiter, etc.

We also offer Prepaid Data and Airtime so that clients who would prefer to manually manage their products can do so easily. We offer the exact same rates as MTN, so there is no difference between using our prepaid and theirs, except with the convenience of ClientZone and using our App or ClientZone to top up super conveniently.

Our airtime product uses the same prepaid system as MTN, you essentially give us permission to top you up and check your balances. That means that any other topup method will work on your SIM (for airtime at least, data will differ for Afrihost issued sims). There is no rule on which airtime is depleted first, this is added to your airtime "wallet" but we have no way to distinguish which airtime was issued by Afrihost or another vendor, so we strongly encourage our clients to use Afrihost exclusively for topups.

It's definitely possible to use a combination of prepaid data and APN, we want clients to have the flexibility to choose what is easy and convenient for them always :)
 
I totally understand your confusion around this. I think it's easier to explain what the products are intending to achieve before I get into the technicalities.

Our month to month products are intended to give a contract experience without the long term commitment. Generally contracts provide a certain amount of airtime and data for use in the month, anything used over and above is out of bundle, which we provide for in our ClientZone options. However we also want to be able to allow clients to limit their spend by setting their out of bundle limits using Auto-Limiter, etc.

We also offer Prepaid Data and Airtime so that clients who would prefer to manually manage their products can do so easily. We offer the exact same rates as MTN, so there is no difference between using our prepaid and theirs, except with the convenience of ClientZone and using our App or ClientZone to top up super conveniently.

Our airtime product uses the same prepaid system as MTN, you essentially give us permission to top you up and check your balances. That means that any other topup method will work on your SIM (for airtime at least, data will differ for Afrihost issued sims). There is no rule on which airtime is depleted first, this is added to your airtime "wallet" but we have no way to distinguish which airtime was issued by Afrihost or another vendor, so we strongly encourage our clients to use Afrihost exclusively for topups.

It's definitely possible to use a combination of prepaid data and APN, we want clients to have the flexibility to choose what is easy and convenient for them always :)

Yeah I'm sorry but I just don't agree. There is no reason to expire the airtime that has already been paid for since it is indeed just normal airtime.

Second of all. Please top up the packages with the right amount of airtime each month and not adjust it to what Afrihost see the client carried over.

I got R14.50 pro rata top up for January signup. Loaded a addition R60 MTN airtime voucher. End of January I only got R25 top since I did not use the R14.50 because my R60 was used first.

Why? Why did I not get the full R39.50 top up like advertised on the website. Basically Afrihost is cheating the customers it is as simple as that but all is okay I'm just cancelling it and getting the data only option for you guys because the Voice and Data option is a disaster to be honest.
 
Yeah I'm sorry but I just don't agree. There is no reason to expire the airtime that has already been paid for since it is indeed just normal airtime.

Second of all. Please top up the packages with the right amount of airtime each month and not adjust it to what Afrihost see the client carried over.

I got R14.50 pro rata top up for January signup. Loaded a addition R60 MTN airtime voucher. End of January I only got R25 top since I did not use the R14.50 because my R60 was used first.

Why? Why did I not get the full R39.50 top up like advertised on the website. Basically Afrihost is cheating the customers it is as simple as that but all is okay I'm just cancelling it and getting the data only option for you guys because the Voice and Data option is a disaster to be honest.

That's definitely not how the product should work, we work with whatever your airtime balance. So if you were topped up to R39.50 in Jan and added a R60 from MTN, your queried balance would be R99.50. If you used R60 through the month, we'd see a balance of R39.50 remaining and therefore accordingly there would be no top up required to bring you to the starting balance of R39.50 for the new month. If you used R85, then the topup would be R25, based on the overall balance left, being R14.50 (then topped up with R25 to bring you to an opening balance of R39.50 on the first day of the new month).

It sounds like R39.50 might be too low a package if you needed to topup with more than your package value. Alternatively, you can also use our prepaid products to topup when you like for whatever value suits you.

I'm happy to investigate further, because looking at your actual usage and balances may help me give you more relevant answers. Drop me a PM if you're down with that :)
 
Yeah I'm sorry but I just don't agree. There is no reason to expire the airtime that has already been paid for since it is indeed just normal airtime.

Second of all. Please top up the packages with the right amount of airtime each month and not adjust it to what Afrihost see the client carried over.

I got R14.50 pro rata top up for January signup. Loaded a addition R60 MTN airtime voucher. End of January I only got R25 top since I did not use the R14.50 because my R60 was used first.

Why? Why did I not get the full R39.50 top up like advertised on the website. Basically Afrihost is cheating the customers it is as simple as that but all is okay I'm just cancelling it and getting the data only option for you guys because the Voice and Data option is a disaster to be honest.

I have the same issue, put the wife onto Mobile XS and she only received a topup of R 25 to get to R 39.50. This is definitely not a good option as I am expecting a topup every month of R 39.50 regardless of how much has been used. Going to have to cancel and only go with the data option.

Got to say these packages make no sense. Afrihost 1GB bolt on is R 58 and add R 39.50 airtime amounts to R 97.50. Cheaper than Mobile XS and I will get the airtime I pay for? :wtf:
 
Last edited:
That's definitely not how the product should work, we work with whatever your airtime balance. So if you were topped up to R39.50 in Jan and added a R60 from MTN, your queried balance would be R99.50. If you used R60 through the month, we'd see a balance of R39.50 remaining and therefore accordingly there would be no top up required to bring you to the starting balance of R39.50 for the new month. If you used R85, then the topup would be R25, based on the overall balance left, being R14.50 (then topped up with R25 to bring you to an opening balance of R39.50 on the first day of the new month).

It sounds like R39.50 might be too low a package if you needed to topup with more than your package value. Alternatively, you can also use our prepaid products to topup when you like for whatever value suits you.

I'm happy to investigate further, because looking at your actual usage and balances may help me give you more relevant answers. Drop me a PM if you're down with that :)

The issue here is that we are paying the full price every month only to get topped up with a value less than what we pay for. So let's say at the end of the month we are sitting on R38.50 airtime, we are still being charged the full price to get R1 of airtime in the new month.

Even if we have to move onto a different package, this wouldn't make much of a difference as we will still be charged the full price only to receive the difference in airtime value back in the new month.
 
That's definitely not how the product should work, we work with whatever your airtime balance. So if you were topped up to R39.50 in Jan and added a R60 from MTN, your queried balance would be R99.50.
Yes - but that airtime doesn't carry over.

If I go into Feb with R10 airtime - Afrihost only give me the difference = R29 (even tho I'm paying for R39)
If I go into Feb with R99 airtime (I topped up) - Afrihost reset me to R39 = me forfeiting R60 worth of airtime.

Still makes no sense.
 
Last edited:
I have the same issue, put the wife onto Mobile XS and she only received a topup of R 25 to get to R 39.50. This is definitely not a good option as I am expecting a topup every month of R 39.50 regardless of how much has been used. Going to have to cancel and only go with the data option.

Got to say these packages make no sense. Afrihost 1GB bolt on is R 58 and add R 39.50 airtime amounts to R 97.50. Cheaper than Mobile XS and I will get the airtime I pay for? :wtf:

Agree. Now imagine you don't use the voice part or only some if it. The rop up next month will be less and you will end off with a higher price per GB because you will be getting less airtime.

Best solution is still stay on MTN prepaid and just get the data apn option. Your airtime won't ever expire too and if you pay for R60 airtime you will actually get R60.
 
I have the same issue, put the wife onto Mobile XS and she only received a topup of R 25 to get to R 39.50. This is definitely not a good option as I am expecting a topup every month of R 39.50 regardless of how much has been used. Going to have to cancel and only go with the data option.

Got to say these packages make no sense. Afrihost 1GB bolt on is R 58 and add R 39.50 airtime amounts to R 97.50. Cheaper than Mobile XS and I will get the airtime I pay for? :wtf:

Basically our packages will ensure that you have that specific amount of airtime available to you at the start of the new month. In the case of the Mobile XS, you will always have R39.50 allocated. However, the smallest amount of airtime that can be loaded will be R25.

These packages are meant to be closer to a month-to-month contract than a proper Prepaid package. Have you looked at our PrePaid Mobile Data and Voice yet? The airtime and data on the package will be valid for a full year and you can top-up with airtime and data from the ClientZone or Afrihost App as needed. You can find the details Here.
 
The issue here is that we are paying the full price every month only to get topped up with a value less than what we pay for. So let's say at the end of the month we are sitting on R38.50 airtime, we are still being charged the full price to get R1 of airtime in the new month.

Even if we have to move onto a different package, this wouldn't make much of a difference as we will still be charged the full price only to receive the difference in airtime value back in the new month.

The standard Mobile with Voice packages are meant to be used as much as possible, if you are looking for a package that will let you accumulate airtime that won't expire from month to month you should definitely look at our Prepaid Mobile Data and Voice packages.
 
Just please go and check you useage to verify that they are charging you 79c/min. Mine runs at R2. 50/min. Afrihost have acknowledge the issue and assure me that I will be refunded but that was weeks ago, they knew the billing was wrong and still deducted the inflated amount from my account. They apologised but said they couldn't do anything about it.
So here I am, over charged by hundreds of rands and still waiting for resolution.
This was after they lost number for 3 days, clients thought I had disappeared.
Poor service, poor product. Not what I have come to expect from Afrihost at all.
 
Just please go and check you useage to verify that they are charging you 79c/min. Mine runs at R2. 50/min. Afrihost have acknowledge the issue and assure me that I will be refunded but that was weeks ago, they knew the billing was wrong and still deducted the inflated amount from my account. They apologised but said they couldn't do anything about it.
So here I am, over charged by hundreds of rands and still waiting for resolution.
This was after they lost number for 3 days, clients thought I had disappeared.
Poor service, poor product. Not what I have come to expect from Afrihost at all.

You will definitely be credited for the incorrect charges, the case is still pending with MTN, the moment that we have resolved this issue with MTN we will update you.
 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X