contracts with mtn

[rexter]

i just noticed the other day that mtn has a different approach to their contracts.if for example you take a pro call 200 contract previously you would get 200 free minutes but now it has changed to R200.00 worth of airtime and the cost per minute is around R2.00 which you end up getting only 100 minutes. did anybody else notice this and is vodacom the same? I am seriously going to move over to vodacom if they are different from mtn. This is just another way that we the public get ripped of by mtn.

 

[Sponge Bob Square Pants]

i just noticed the other day that mtn has a different approach to their contracts.if for example you take a pro call 200 contract previously you would get 200 free minutes but now it has changed to R200.00 worth of airtime and the cost per minute is around R2.00 which you end up getting only 100 minutes. did anybody else notice this and is vodacom the same? I am seriously going to move over to vodacom if they are different from mtn. This is just another way that we the public get ripped of by mtn.

Vodacom still offers FRee minutes with contracts....MTN NOT.
Maybe thats why MTN lost 750 000 customers last year.
MTN is also retrenching staff this year and alot of stores will be shutting their DOORS

 

[Sensorei]

Vodacom still offers FRee minutes with contracts....MTN NOT.
Maybe thats why MTN lost 750 000 customers last year.
MTN is also retrenching staff this year and alot of stores will be shutting their DOORS

Good to hear they lost that many customers. Sucks about the retrenchments, hopefully they get rid of the useless customer care apes. MTN has been literally stealing money from people and they should not get away with it. My move to MTN started out great but now I'm wishing I'd stayed with the lesser of the two evils, Vodaskom.

My wife has a vodacom and mtn contract and after being overbilled 2 months in a row she stopped using the mtn phone completely, she didn't even use any of her free minutes which all went to waste. Well guess what, mtn still billed her for R40 of phone calls that were never made! Thieving bastards! She stopped itemised billing and opted to use mtn's online service to check the billing details a few months ago and now now the service is "currently unavailable". No big surprise.

 

[Pooky]

I just subscribed to an MTN contract. I'm paying R100 a month for R200 airtime. I reckon that's a pretty good deal.

 

[d1gg3r220]

it actually depends on what you getting, cos i believe with blackberry deals, MTN is better, else you can go onto their website and check their monthly special where you can get bargains and stuff, they have their pros and cons.

can check it out on www.mtnsp.co.za

 

[Sensorei]

it actually depends on what you getting, cos i believe with blackberry deals, MTN is better, else you can go onto their website and check their monthly special where you can get bargains and stuff, they have their pros and cons.

can check it out on www.mtnsp.co.za

What's the point of a cheaper blackberry contract if the Blackberry Internet Service is useless? We have a vodacom and mtn blackberry at home and the difference is worth paying a bit more for.

 

[rexter]

it actually depends on what you getting, cos i believe with blackberry deals, MTN is better, else you can go onto their website and check their monthly special where you can get bargains and stuff, they have their pros and cons.

can check it out on www.mtnsp.co.za

blackberry is not the issue, i have 5 contracts with mtn totalling around R5500
a month and now 1 is up for renewal it is a procall 500 not worth getting the R500.00 airtime... in march i have a procall 1000 thats going to be up for renewal and im not prepared to get R1000.00 airtime i want 1000 free minutes or else i am definetly going to port to vodacom if they can give me the free airtime then the 3 other contracts will be following... mtn can go the hell from me

 

[d1gg3r220]

blackberry is not the issue, i have 5 contracts with mtn totalling around R5500
a month and now 1 is up for renewal it is a procall 500 not worth getting the R500.00 airtime... in march i have a procall 1000 thats going to be up for renewal and im not prepared to get R1000.00 airtime i want 1000 free minutes or else i am definetly going to port to vodacom if they can give me the free airtime then the 3 other contracts will be following... mtn can go the hell from me

lol i see, maybe with your current contract, it is better to move to vodacom then~ haha~

 

[rexter]

well i got the ball rolling today 1 contract came up for renewal with mtn and i had it cancelled took a new one with vodacom... next renewal is by end of february 2010 that will also be cancelled and will take another with vodacom...

 

[SukkaFoo]

Posssibly I am missing a trick here, but from their respective websites:

Vodacoms Talk 120 package costs R300, and you get 120 minutes

MTN's Anytime 350 (which is the closest price I could find) costs R350, and you get (assuming you use it all for calls) 179 minutes and 25 free sms's

This doesnt appear to be that out of kilter...

 

[Jola]

I can't comment on the above example, I haven't checked it, but I have a MTN contract renewal coming up, and my evaluations have shown that the MTN pricing has increased by at least 50%, and is significantly more expensive than Vodacom.

I don't know if the example above includes the value of the phone, etc. I took all that into account in my calculations.

 

[foxhole]

I'm also doing the same calculations between MTN an Vodacom

Vodacom - Talk 240 - R480 and you get R240 min free

MTN ProCall 500 - R500 about 256 min free

The difference is that MTN is per second billing and Vodacom is per minute billing. My ave use is about 277 min for the last 4 months and I had to pay in a ave of R200 per month. So my bill with Vodacom is about R680 were my bill with MTN would have been R500 + 75 topup = R575.

So i'm thinking about moving to MTN

 

[rexter]

I'm also doing the same calculations between MTN an Vodacom

Vodacom - Talk 240 - R480 and you get R240 min free

MTN ProCall 500 - R500 about 256 min free

The difference is that MTN is per second billing and Vodacom is per minute billing. My ave use is about 277 min for the last 4 months and I had to pay in a ave of R200 per month. So my bill with Vodacom is about R680 were my bill with MTN would have been R500 + 75 topup = R575.

So i'm thinking about moving to MTN

i think you are missing the point.... previously the mtn procall500 would give you 500 FREE MINUTES but now you get R500.00 WORTH OF MINUTES WHICH IS LIKE GETTING R500.00 AIRTIME that to me is not the same because if you calculate your 256 free minutes you are actually paying R1.95 a minute and you a losing 244 free minutes :erm:

 

[foxhole]

i think you are missing the point.... previously the mtn procall500 would give you 500 FREE MINUTES but now you get R500.00 WORTH OF MINUTES WHICH IS LIKE GETTING R500.00 AIRTIME that to me is not the same because if you calculate your 256 free minutes you are actually paying R1.95 a minute and you a losing 244 free minutes :erm:

That would mean that you paid R 1.00 a minute. You can have a look on MTN for their old packages, and if you got 500 min for free you were on the Procall 600, which was over R 900

 

[ajax]

That would mean that you paid R 1.00 a minute. You can have a look on MTN for their old packages, and if you got 500 min for free you were on the Procall 600, which was over R 900

ProCall 600 was R949 per month for 600 anytime minutes and that was per minute billing AFAIK.
To get 600 anytime minutes or thereabouts with the new contracts you will need the Anytime 1200 which is R1200 per month. This gives you 750 minutes with per second billing. Or the Anytime 750 at R750 per month which gives 468 minutes.

If we ignore the losses due to per minute billing, on ProCall 600 you effectively payed R1.58 per minute. On Anytime1200 or Anytime750 you effectively pay R1.60 per minute. So very much the same rate per minute.

But now remember, you don't lose "partially unused" minutes on Anytime and you get 100 sms for free per month. And if you surf the net, it comes of the Rand value and is not billed in addition to your subscription.

Therefore the Anytime contract is better.
Ps. I don't work for MTN, I just like to do the math.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

I just subscribed to an MTN contract. I'm paying R100 a month for R200 airtime. I reckon that's a pretty good deal.

Well you can now pay R800 upfront and get R100 pm for 24 mths.

http://www.talk4less.co.za/


EDIT: I'm buying a new phone cash and going to go this route instead.

 

[Voldemort]

Youare comparing an MTN 200 package to a procall 220? vastly different mate, herewith is an explanation thereof, obtained from one of our pricing managers:

"Brief differences:
Old Procall 220, Subscription R389 which gave you 220 Anytime minutes and per minute billing
New MTN 200, Subscription is R200 and you get approximately 90 Anytime minutes, 25 inclusive SMS’s and per second billing

However the correct package for this person to compare Procall220 with is MTN Anytime 350, where the Subscription is R350 pm and the inclusive minutes of up to 183 Anytime minutes. The minutes may seem less, but combined with the lower subscription and the benefit of per second billing the customer is in a better position.

Additional benefits are:
a. 50 inclusive SMS’s
b. the customer can use the inclusive value for Voice, International calls, SMS, MMS and data
c. the customer may carry over up to 6 months of unused value.

Additional points:
a. As a rule of thumb, it is best for a customer to look at his/her monthly spend, say it is R600 and then select the package with the subscription value (and name) closest to this e.g. MTN Anytime 500. In other words the focus moved from knowing how many minutes you need per month to how much do you spend per month or want to spend per month
b. Yes Vodacom also have value based price plan, VC still offers the old minute based price plans.
c. Many international operators are changing to value based plans due to the additional benefits customers get from these."

I hope this clears up your confusion

 

[Jola]

IMO this is all smoke and mirrors.

I have an MTN contract that I have to renew at the moment, and no matter how I do the calculations, I cannot get within 50% of the cost of the previous contract - this is if you factor in the value of the included phone.

These new contracts just don't work for me, there are no additional benefits, just a huge additional cost. If I look at some of the evaluations above, they all leave something out, be it the value of the phone, or something else.

The contract has expired, but for the time being I am continuing with the old minutes-based contract on a month-to-month basis until I decide what to do. But it looks as if a transfer of the phone number to VC is the answer.

 

[oronte]

IMO this is all smoke and mirrors.

I have an MTN contract that I have to renew at the moment, and no matter how I do the calculations, I cannot get within 50% of the cost of the previous contract - this is if you factor in the value of the included phone.

These new contracts just don't work for me, there are no additional benefits, just a huge additional cost. If I look at some of the evaluations above, they all leave something out, be it the value of the phone, or something else.

The contract has expired, but for the time being I am continuing with the old minutes-based contract on a month-to-month basis until I decide what to do. But it looks as if a transfer of the phone number to VC is the answer.

As far as I can tell they do, since a phone is always more expensive on Vodacom than on MTN, their contracts are better, and you can choose Anytime Off peak if you need more minutes (to compare with Weekender). I guess it depends what you need. I've saved quite a lot on my Anytime 200.
If you want smoke and mirrors look at the Vodacom business call contract that they offer all top of the line phones on which offers absolutely nothing.

 

[rexter]

Youare comparing an MTN 200 package to a procall 220? vastly different mate, herewith is an explanation thereof, obtained from one of our pricing managers:

"Brief differences:
Old Procall 220, Subscription R389 which gave you 220 Anytime minutes and per minute billing
New MTN 200, Subscription is R200 and you get approximately 90 Anytime minutes, 25 inclusive SMS’s and per second billing

However the correct package for this person to compare Procall220 with is MTN Anytime 350, where the Subscription is R350 pm and the inclusive minutes of up to 183 Anytime minutes. The minutes may seem less, but combined with the lower subscription and the benefit of per second billing the customer is in a better position.

Additional benefits are:
a. 50 inclusive SMS’s
b. the customer can use the inclusive value for Voice, International calls, SMS, MMS and data
c. the customer may carry over up to 6 months of unused value.

Additional points:
a. As a rule of thumb, it is best for a customer to look at his/her monthly spend, say it is R600 and then select the package with the subscription value (and name) closest to this e.g. MTN Anytime 500. In other words the focus moved from knowing how many minutes you need per month to how much do you spend per month or want to spend per month
b. Yes Vodacom also have value based price plan, VC still offers the old minute based price plans.
c. Many international operators are changing to value based plans due to the additional benefits customers get from these."

I hope this clears up your confusion

in my opinion this is a load of bull... to me there is no benefit in any of mtn contracts. these changes were made to benefit mtn and not the customer if mtn really was onverned about the customer they will drop the charges for sms and charges per minute then tell us they are doing it for the customers.