Afrihost Voice

cavedog

cavedog

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So got a invite and decided to test it out as the 10GB incentive is pretty cool.

So what happens if you "Opt In" with a existing MTN prepaid simcard? Does your account with MTN get wiped and you moved over to Afrihost or does billing just change to Afrihost?

What if I decide to cancel my Afrihost Voice package. Do I get pushed back to MTN prepaid. Do I loose all the on net promotions when moving to Afrihost voice? :confused:


EDIT:

Ok I'm up and running and well I'm not sure what to think. I won't call this a Afrihost service at all and here is why.

Basically this is a Opt In service where you give MTN permission to share your account with Afrihost for the Afrihost control panel to read available airtime and stuff like that.

This is basically just a normal MTN sim with all it's functions available as a prepaid users except you can mange the sim with the control panel and by manage I merely mean see you data which you still need to run on the afrihost apn and top up you account which is actually just a normal "virtual airtime recharge"

I opted in with a MTN prepaid simcard that is still on the 1c per second price plan and that has not changed because the sim is still 100% MTN with MTN wow and the ability to buy MTN data bundles use the mymtn apn too which means that if you have miss configured or your phone reverted back to default apn all your airtime will be gone but you will get emails about it so that is cool but still feels like everything Afrihost did was for nothing.

Comparing MTN prepaid sim vs MTN prepaid sim opted in for Afrihost voice there is 0% difference ecept for the fact that Afrihost topsup airtime value that expires where as if you just bought a R30 airtime voucher at pep stores or engen garage or even via internet banking that airtime will not expire if unused.

Sadly the month to month product is disappointing but is nice to have access to a control panel to control everything but that can all be undone when buying stuff like MTN signature bundles and promotional voice bundles because the control panel does not know how to "read" those bundles and promos. Why waist time waiting for the control panel to load when you can simply dial *141# to check your balance.

And comparing topping up your airtime via the Afrihost control panel vs buying a normal MTN prepaid voucher I don't know if Afrihost's control panel is easier to be honest. The auto topup might be a nice feature but is nothing more that a system that tops your sim up when it's getting low with no discount at all so you might be better off buying airtime vouchers at discounted rates from takealot.com or pep stores.
 
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cavedog said:
Basically this is a Opt In service where you give MTN permission to share your account with Afrihost for the Afrihost control panel to read available airtime and stuff like that.

This is basically just a normal MTN sim with all it's functions available as a prepaid users except you can mange the sim with the control panel and by manage I merely mean see you data which you still need to run on the afrihost apn and top up you account which is actually just a normal "virtual airtime recharge"
Click to expand...

You're correct, this if an opt in service which allows Afrihost to manage your account. In what way would you have liked it to be different? What is the downside to doing it this way?

cavedog said:
Comparing MTN prepaid sim vs MTN prepaid sim opted in for Afrihost voice there is 0% difference ecept for the fact that Afrihost topsup airtime value that expires where as if you just bought a R30 airtime voucher at pep stores or engen garage or even via internet banking that airtime will not expire if unused.
Click to expand...

Has it been confirmed that airtime expires as well? I know that data expires at month-end, but expected airtime to roll over indefinitely. I'd be quite surprised if you're right here - I've never heard about airtime expiring.

cavedog said:
Sadly the month to month product is disappointing but is nice to have access to a control panel to control everything but that can all be undone when buying stuff like MTN signature bundles and promotional voice bundles because the control panel does not know how to "read" those bundles and promos. Why waist time waiting for the control panel to load when you can simply dial *141# to check your balance.
Click to expand...

*141# indeed shows your total amount of airtime and you data on the myMTN APN, but it won't display your data on Afrihost's network/APN. For this, the app needs to be used. I agree that the app UI has to be reworked to put all this information on the very first page. Currently, a user is required to navigate with three clicks inside the app to view one's balance. This is far from ideal. I'm sure they'll optimize the app for this new offering in the future. I hope Afriman can take note of my comment here.

cavedog said:
And comparing topping up your airtime via the Afrihost control panel vs buying a normal MTN prepaid voucher I don't know if Afrihost's control panel is easier to be honest. The auto topup might be a nice feature but is nothing more that a system that tops your sim up when it's getting low with no discount at all so you might be better off buying airtime vouchers at discounted rates from takealot.com or pep stores.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree with you here. There is simply no way that buying vouchers from third parties, even from within your banking app, beats the ease with which one can add airtime or data using Afrihost's app or website. While I'm convinced the app can be improved significantly (I'll be happy to make suggestions to Afrihost), it is wonderful to have a single integrated home from where services can easily be managed.
 
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My take:

Considering Afrihost APN data works on prepaid sims, rather just stick to a normal MTN prepaid sim which has access to the same 79c/min call rate and then add Afrihost APN data onto it at a cheaper rate than the packages offered as part of Afrihost Mobile....

The thing that has kept me on Vodacom with a separate Afrihost data sim in my mifi in the car is the SMS spam when you are on MTN prepaid - which is disgusting. I use a MTN prepaid sim in a SMS router at the office and I constantly have to login and delete spam from MTN and other..... I cannot live with that on my handset.
 
I want to test a strange observation here.

For the last couple of years, I've been using MTN Prepaid with MTN data (myMTN APN). More specifically, I made use of MTN's long term data bundles where one can purchase an auto-renewable data bundle (6 months or 12 months) upfront.

The last couple of weeks, maybe even months, my mobile data through MTN's APN would often not work at all, regardless of the tower ID or the strength of my connection to the tower. I experienced this across different towns in the Western Cape and suburbs of Cape Town. Webpages wouldn't open, Google Maps searches would take up to a minute to complete, Whatsapp voice notes wouldn't send or receive. This was quite frustrating, and I started to consider moving to Vodacom.

On Monday, I switched to Afrihost, which means switching to the afrihost APN. Since then, all my data troubles have been a thing of the past. This is quite interesting - it seems to indicate that the issue is not with MTN's network per se, but specific to their APN.
 
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Viva said:
I want to test a strange observation here.

For the last couple of years, I've been using MTN Prepaid with MTN data (myMTN APN). More specifically, I made use of MTN's long term data bundles where one can purchase an auto-renewable data bundle (6 months or 12 months) upfront.

The last couple of weeks, maybe even months, my mobile data through MTN's APN would often not work at all, regardless of the tower ID or the strength of my connection to the tower. I experienced this across different towns in the Western Cape and suburbs of Cape Town. Webpages wouldn't open, Google Maps searches would take up to a minute to complete, Whatsapp voice notes wouldn't send or receive. This was quite frustrating, and I started to consider moving to Vodacom.

On Monday, I switched to Afrihost, which means switching to the afrihost APN. Since then, all my data troubles have been a thing of the past. This is quite interesting - it seems to indicate that the issue is not with MTN's network per se, but specific to their APN.
Click to expand...

Could be. It could be a issue with your number and the apn you were using...

BTW thanks for your reply. I do agree with some of your points like using the Afrihost control panel is pretty damn cool and works very well hand in hand with the MTN prepaid sim BUT

Afrihost expiring the airtime is not cool. Why not just load non expiry airtime Afrihost? *141*1# reveals the expiry date of said airtime.

Would be nice if they can configure the control panel to read "promotional airtime and data" supplied directly by MTN. MTN shares this info with Afrihost so you might as well just create a section for it in the control panel.

The issue with revert to default apn will always bug Afrihost Voice clients and I see a ton of queries incoming with regards to this.

Why not offer topup discounts? I'm sure Afrihost is getting discount on airtime so would be nice offer a airtime discount.
 
Viva said:
I want to test a strange observation here.

For the last couple of years, I've been using MTN Prepaid with MTN data (myMTN APN). More specifically, I made use of MTN's long term data bundles where one can purchase an auto-renewable data bundle (6 months or 12 months) upfront.

The last couple of weeks, maybe even months, my mobile data through MTN's APN would often not work at all, regardless of the tower ID or the strength of my connection to the tower. I experienced this across different towns in the Western Cape and suburbs of Cape Town. Webpages wouldn't open, Google Maps searches would take up to a minute to complete, Whatsapp voice notes wouldn't send or receive. This was quite frustrating, and I started to consider moving to Vodacom.

On Monday, I switched to Afrihost, which means switching to the afrihost APN. Since then, all my data troubles have been a thing of the past. This is quite interesting - it seems to indicate that the issue is not with MTN's network per se, but specific to their APN.
Click to expand...

yip, had the same problem - took it instore i think and they changed the apn from mtn data to mtninternet which seems to have worked

try it and let us know
 
To confirm the conventional MTN airtime and the Afrihost airtime are in separate wallets and are displayed as seperate items on both the app and on *141#

I am trying them out and I can only see the MTN airtime I have loaded and I cant see the Afrihost airtime
 
AfriPeople:

What about debit order payment option for Afrihost Voice?

I have numerous family members on PP MTN (the retired crowd) that would opt for the ease of this service, but they have debit cards and bank accounts... no credit cards, so no-go for AH voice.

I setup a test account for one of them with my credit card and ported no problem, but now its linked to my credit card and cannot be switched to DD.
Not looking forward to the monthly recon, so please, fix this and provide a working direct debit option.

ClientZone does allow the setup of the account, but not the switch - yellow error box displayed - blank with no text... ??

Call centre says 'not yet implemented'. 'They will find out and let me know...'

What is the ETA?
 
Another thing.

In ClientZone, the cost of respective data top-up bundles is not displayed in the drop-down.

Capture.jpg
 
acp said:
I have numerous family members on PP MTN (the retired crowd) that would opt for the ease of this service, but they have debit cards and bank accounts... no credit cards, so no-go for AH voice.
Click to expand...

I've never had a problem using my debit card to pay for Afrihost products and services.
 
deweyzeph said:
I've never had a problem using my debit card to pay for Afrihost products and services.
Click to expand...

Neither have I...

All AH connectivity services are eligible onto DD, with the exception of AH Voice it seems.
 
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