Cell phone data share options

[AndyHiggins]

I am ideally looking for a solution where I can have hundreds of company owned devices linked to a single data contract (ideally so there is one account with the cell phone provider where the data used across all the devices is pooled and charged for collectively).

I see MTN have a data share product: https://www.mtn.co.za/pages/mtndatashare.aspx (but only 20 MTN numbers can be linked to it).

Vodacom also have a similar product: https://www.vodacom.co.za/vodacom/services/internet/data-sharing-sim (but is even worse in that only 4 sim card can be linked).

Are there any other alternative options where more than 20 sim can be linked to the same data pool?

 

[airborne]

I’ve seen threads like this before and last I recall MTN datashare was the best option but still only 20 sims.

 

[retromodcoza]

I run a series of Bitcoin ATMs in Durban which each have a SIM card. (7 units) . I tried pretty hard to get a unified solution with an allocation of data and multiple SIMs. After a lengthy paperwork nightmare and going round in circles with sales people from multiple networks and a few agents I gave up.

I bought 7 MTN prepaid SIMs and set them up with a bozza gigs package (in my case 10GBS per month) on recurring. I have their numbers in a spreadsheet , and on the 5th of every month I top them up with enough airtime to buy the needed recurring data. I need to remember to do this , which is a pain.

Cost R10 + R100 per SIM per month for the data (10GBs).
Setup time : 2 hrs.

If someone has a better idea or if a sales rep is on here who wants to make it easy for me I'll buy what you're selling.

 

[AndyHiggins]

I run a series of Bitcoin ATMs in Durban which each have a SIM card. (7 units) . I tried pretty hard to get a unified solution with an allocation of data and multiple SIMs. After a lengthy paperwork nightmare and going round in circles with sales people from multiple networks and a few agents I gave up.

I bought 7 MTN prepaid SIMs and set them up with a bozza gigs package (in my case 10GBS per month) on recurring. I have their numbers in a spreadsheet , and on the 5th of every month I top them up with enough airtime to buy the needed recurring data. I need to remember to do this , which is a pain.

Cost R10 + R100 per SIM per month for the data (10GBs).
Setup time : 2 hrs.

If someone has a better idea or if a sales rep is on here who wants to make it easy for me I'll buy what you're selling.

As part of the above did you try the MTN data share option? https://www.mtn.co.za/pages/mtndatashare.aspx

 

[retromodcoza]

As part of the above did you try the MTN data share option? https://www.mtn.co.za/pages/mtndatashare.aspx

• Per MTNs TOS the Bozza gigs deal is not available for data share
• At the time the normal data contracts were quite a lot more expensive and even when shared did not make financial sense given the options
• Normal prepaid data which could be shared was too expensive given the options.
• There wasn't a contract deal large enough that I could buy for the 7 sims I needed at the time

I see their price list has been updated. So it may work nowadays. However for 100s of SIMs you'll need several "shareable" data contracts with a lot of data.

Shop - MTN South Africa

www.mtn.co.za

LTE contracts aren't "shareable" and any data promotions usually come with this provision as well.
I guess the question with it is "What is the cheapest shareable data per GB that I can buy"?

Theres a further problem. Lets say you buy 20 prepaid sims to leach off 1 contract with the data on it. Those prepaid sims have to be topped up every 3 months to prevent them from expiring .

 

[airborne]

• Per MTNs TOS the Bozza gigs deal is not available for data share
• At the time the normal data contracts were quite a lot more expensive and even when shared did not make financial sense given the options
• Normal prepaid data which could be shared was too expensive given the options.
• There wasn't a contract deal large enough that I could buy for the 7 sims I needed at the time

I see their price list has been updated. So it may work nowadays. However for 100s of SIMs you'll need several "shareable" data contracts with a lot of data.

Shop - MTN South Africa

www.mtn.co.za

LTE contracts aren't "shareable" and any data promotions usually come with this provision as well.
I guess the question with it is "What is the cheapest shareable data per GB that I can buy"?

Theres a further problem. Lets say you buy 20 prepaid sims to leach off 1 contract with the data on it. Those prepaid sims have to be topped up every 3 months to prevent them from expiring .

The MyChoice data contracts allow datashare to 20 sims and from my experience as long as the sims use datashare data they don’t need to be topped up and they remain active. I was also expecting that schelp but it hasn’t happened once in 4yrs over many prepaid sims I’ve datashared.

Try find a Black Friday 500gb R499 sim deal that someone no long wants, they are Mychoice with datashare.

 

[retromodcoza]

The MyChoice data contracts allow datashare to 20 sims and from my experience as long as the sims use datashare data they don’t need to be topped up and they remain active. I was also expecting that schelp but it hasn’t happened once in 4yrs over many prepaid sims I’ve datashared.

Try find a Black Friday 500gb R499 sim deal that someone no long wants, they are Mychoice with datashare.

This is good information. I was told differently and didnt pursue it , but if they dont expire while using shared data then this will be a solution for me. Thank you for it.

 

[HandyTechTipper]

Would this solve your problems?: https://simcontrol.co.za

 

[airborne]

Would this solve your problems?: https://simcontrol.co.za

Decent pricing, could be cheaper on data but if you don’t need too much it’s still good.