Checking data usage when using prepaid 3G

[frankvw]

Hi, everyone,

I am using Vodacom's 3G prepaid offering. I wonder if there is a way to check how much of my data package I have used. This is possible when you use 3G on a subscription, but since I currently do not have a permanent residence yet (Home Affairs, long story which) Vodacom won't give me a subscription and I have to use prepaid.

Can I check my data usage somehow (preferably online) when using prepaid? If so, how?

All suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

// FvW

 

[Ockie]

register your number on www.vodacom4me.co.za then you can check your data usage on there. Remember to purchase data bundles as it works out cheaper.

 

[davemc]

Without a permanent residence, you could not have been cleared with RICA.
Interesting.

But, anyways, vodacom's help centre can be reached by dialing 111 on your vodacom cell phone for free in South Africa.

 

[Terencek]

No not entirely true about RICA; there's an 18-month grace-period for registration so if he already had a prepaid number it will continue to work fine for that time (minus what has already lapsed, a couple of months) without RICA

 

[Antonf]

Without a permanent residence, you could not have been cleared with RICA

A lease agreement works just fine, and to get that is as easy as browsing the web...

 

[frankvw]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I will register the SIM card's phone number as suggested. That's exactly what I needed to know!

As far as RICA is concerned, I am not (yet, pending Home Affairs pulling their fingers out, which so far has taken five years and could take forever) officially a resident in South Africa at this time. That's why I have to use prepaid; Vodacom won't give me a subscription without it. At the moment I am in SA on a tourist visa. I am not sure if (and how) RICA applies to that. I'll have to look into it.

That said, I am using SIM cards that I bought here on my first trip to SA in 2003 and so far they still work. I will eventually (have no other choice than to) comply with the RICA thing, but I haven't gotten around to that yet. I might also have a bit of a problem explaining how I am supposed to have a residential address here but not a residence permit

But the horrors of Home Affairs are mercifully off-topic here, so let me leave it at this.

Thanks again for the advice to all who replied!

// FvW