Best Prepaid (Voice & Data)

cobusv

cobusv

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Hello Guys,

I'm sure this has been discussed to death but i'm really in two minds as to what is currently the best mobile prepaid out there. I just finished up a contract stint with MTN but i have no desire to sign up for another contract as this is too expensive and i really dont see the value in having a contract other than to perhaps get a phone, but this to does not make sense as its better to purchase a phone cash.

i'm looking for some advise as to what is the best prepaid mobile deal to get, i'm using more data than voice

any guidance will be appreciated.
 
You will find a mix of deals between the networks and there are pretty decent deals. Most people just load airtime and call. That is a BIG no no on prepaid.

So here are a few option that offer great value for money on various networks.

MTN Prepaid any price plan. But the MTN Signature R35 bundle. This reduces your effective call rate to less than 60c per minute. Add Afrihost APN and get 1GB free every month for 3 months and after 3 months you buy a 1GB bundle for R68 and get 1GB free so that is 2GB for R68.

On Vodacom you have the R19 for 1Gb daily bundle and then 60min all network voice bundle for R12 valid for 1 days

On Cellc you have R99 for 240min any network voice and well priced data bundles on the app for example 1.5GB anytime+1GB nite for R80 or 2GB+2GB for R100 or 3GB+3GB for R149

On Telkom you get Telkom More price plan. That plan gives you whatever amount you recharge back in free airtime. That free airtime calls any network anytime and is valid for 7 days after recharge. With Telkom Mo Nice data and voice deals you will find it very hard to use any other network. The deals vary but new simcards usually get 4GB Telkom data for R60 valid for 30 days. You get very competitive all network voice bundles under Mo Nice too. They have a better network than Cellc and offers much more value for money when you use the free airtime and Mo Nice bundles correctly.
 
I make a lot of phone calls. Cheapest mobile prepaid call rate I found is Cell C Anynet calling plan, R200 for 15 hours & is valid for 30 days. There are various Cell C anynet calling plans, for example the one Cavedog mentioned above. These Cell C anynet calling plans can be purchased as needed, or on a recurring basis. If you don't need these, the next cheapest call rate I found was Cell C's prepaid 66c/minute plan. While most of the mobile providers have prepaid phone call options which give "bonus" free minutes, be wary of these, because often the per minute call rate is much higher than the ones without any "bonuses". Your loaded airtime never expires, as long as you make 1 call every 3 months.

A VOIP phone connection can be used at home and on your smartphone, and some of the plans are cheap, eg Axxess, Vox, Mweb.

For my home internet connection, because I don't need 100's of Gb/month, I use Cell C prepaid Gb valid for 365 days. There are several of these, the cheapest per Gb rate being R2000 for 200 Gb (R10/Gb). For my smartphone internet connection, for which I use very little data, I use Telkom's once-off 1-2 prepaid Gb, which have a validity of 2-3 months.
 
When you go onto prepaid, look at the various prepaid calling plan options that are available on each network. The default option is probably not the cheapest and I would recommend that you create a spreadsheet to compare the different options. If the calling plan/special offer comes with freebies (e.g. doubling of your airtime or minutes that are only valid for 1-7 days etc), know that an actuary has looked at the statistics and have made the sums on how to make you pay for them in some way.

To my knowledge the cheapest default voice calling plans are:
Mtn : Pay per second / Mtn bundle bonanza charges R0.99 per call
Vodacom: Vodacom Prepaid 79c
CellC : 66c prepaid
Telkom: Sim Sonke charges R0.75 to all networks and 30c to Telkom mobile numbers. Their FreeMe bundles are worth it if you make a lot of calls to landlines and or want data on your phone.

Personally, I use Mtn Prepaid (Pay Per Second plan) for voice calls and an entry level Afrihost data bundle on my phone for the periods when it is not connected to wifi. At work I have a mifi router with a Telkom prepaid sim using an internet started pack bundle which work out much cheaper per GB than adhoc bundles. E.g. 12*1GB costs R505 while 12*2GB costs R1005, effectively R42 per Gigabyte of data. If you need more data, then it will probably be worth looking at other options like Telkom's Smartbroadband prepaid provided that you have Telkom Mobile reception.

I can highly recommend investing in a mifi router as it will allow you to share your data with other devices or family members. It is small, portable, battery operated and allows you to buy the cheapest data bundles from whichever operator offers the best deal at the time.

If you want to remain with Mtn, look at Afrihost as a possible option for data. Many data bundles now last 60 days or at least one calendar month and it will most likely work out cheaper if you buy a larger bundle that is valid for 2 months versus buying them on a monthly basis. Once again, use a spreadsheet and do the calculations.
 
cavedog said:
MTN Prepaid any price plan. But the MTN Signature R35 bundle. This reduces your effective call rate to less than 60c per minute. Add Afrihost APN and get 1GB free every month for 3 months and after 3 months you buy a 1GB bundle for R68 and get 1GB free so that is 2GB for R68.
Click to expand...

What is MTN signature?
Pay for 1GB of monthly data and you'll GET 2GB – just like that! Simply dial *141*2*999# to get the bundle that's right for you! ... Use your monthly MTN SIGNATURE BUNDLE to call MTN-TO-MTN, MTN-to-other networks, plus use it for data and SMS.
 
We use telkom prepaid with a free me bundle for R70 and top ups every now and then with a all networks minutes bundle of 25 min for R17.
 
I have my 4 MTN SIMs on prepaid and Afrihost. 2 SIMs get around R200 of airtime every month, one gets about R100 and the fourth is for a GSM model on the gate motor and I load 10 SMS's every 2 months. In the last 6 months every SIM has got a free 1Gb data package every month valid for 2 months. So I haven't paid for data in 6 months.
 
Space said:
What is MTN signature?
Pay for 1GB of monthly data and you'll GET 2GB – just like that! Simply dial *141*2*999# to get the bundle that's right for you! ... Use your monthly MTN SIGNATURE BUNDLE to call MTN-TO-MTN, MTN-to-other networks, plus use it for data and SMS.
Click to expand...

MTN Signature bundles give you an allocation of airtime that can be used for calls and data.

The R35 bundle gives you R45 airtime. Calls deplete it at a rate of R0.79 per minute so the effective call rate is like R0.58 per minute.

Very good value for money as it calls any network any time.
 
cavedog said:
The R35 bundle gives you R45 airtime. Calls deplete it at a rate of R0.79 per minute so the effective call rate is like R0.58 per minute.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this explanation. I have been unable (or lazy) to do this arithmetic to get the effective call rate.
 
Dairyfarmer said:
I have my 4 MTN SIMs on prepaid and Afrihost. 2 SIMs get around R200 of airtime every month, one gets about R100 and the fourth is for a GSM model on the gate motor and I load 10 SMS's every 2 months. In the last 6 months every SIM has got a free 1Gb data package every month valid for 2 months. So I haven't paid for data in 6 months.
Click to expand...
Which package have you registered for on Afrihost to get the free 1gb?
 
Yes, Airmobile for data (if you don't need lot of data on mobile) plus MTN signature bundles for voice is one of the best combination for prepaid at the moment.
 
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