Convince me why i should move from Vodacom to Telkom? (or stay with Vodacom)

[titeroper]

Hi all

Could really some help and wisdom from the hivemind here please?

I have been a loyal contract (pay-out-my-ass) subscriber to Vodacom since 1999.
I rarely travel outside JHB, only to Cape Town and stay in an LTE-A enabled area, so I assume coverage is good?

Contract pricing from Telkom appears to be better right now.

Should I port over to Telkom contract or still stay with Voda? Why(Why not)?
Or alternatives?

Thanks

 

[satanboy]

Don't.

 

[Lupus]

Telkom is cheaper, that's about it. Coverage can be iffy, support is bad.

 

[phoneJunky]

I moved 3 years ago and it worked out well for me. I have had some small issues when I am in some remote places (say 50kms away from smallish towns) - TM roams on MTN when there is no TM signal, but sometimes that is not there either. Luckily all the places I stay I have wifi, then I can call over whatsapp/facetime. I have not have issues in any city or town. I still however think that vodacoms coverage was better in these remote places.

But I would switch again if I have the choice. I am on the freeme 2Gig and all my calls to landlines and TMs are free. The people I contact the most are either on TM or I can reach them via FaceTime audio/video. I also use Apple Music and music streaming is free on the FreeMe 2Gig and higher packages from this month I think. My phone isn't and LTE model so I can't give you any advise there.

 

[Dairyfarmer]

It's the devil you know scenario. One good thing about Telkom is you can do month to month and try it out.

 

[Dlamaqhinga]

Best would be to buy Telkom Mobile prepaid SIM card and test using it and decide based on your real experience

 

[Alacrity]

Vodacom: lot of tricks to make more money which I find very annoying.

Telkom: service all over the place. Can go from good to nothing in no time and vice versa.

 

[titeroper]

Thanks for the feedback from everyone so far.
Demo SIM sounds like a great plan.
Will do so and test.
@phoneJunky - will likely grab an iPhone again after my LG Nexus 5x so this was helpful to me re Apple streaming and Facetime calling as Apple users make up the majority my calling circle too.

 

[Compton_effect]

I changed my Vodacom contract to Prepaid and took out a contract with Telkom with a dual SIM phone.
Everyone in my household has a Telkom number and data is dirt cheap. I use my old Vodacom number for business calls or if Telkom is iffy.

 

[Sumen]

Vodacom: More devices than Telkom, set date when new deals come out, contracts with phone is similar in price to Telkom, included mins and SMS and data.

Telkom : contracts are super cheap without devices, contracts are aimed at people who use data than mins and SMS

Now make your own decision

 

[Dairyfarmer]

@Sumen you forgot the one big plus with Telkom - month-to-month "contracts" that are not much/any different to what the long term contracts are, sans the device.

 

[deesef]

I've been on Telkom since they first launched their mobile service. I have always had one "business"service and 2 or more "normal customer" services.

Coming from Vodacom, the biggest differences are:

1. No more bill-shock if your data cap is depleted. Telkom's OOB rate is significantly less than Vodacom's. Also, Telkom lets you know when your data is depleted and gives you choices re OOB, stop data till next month or top-up with an additional bundle.

2. Telkom roams on MTN, so there is generally voice coverage. Vodacom has better 3g coverage outside of the main centers. Impact of this is mainly that various holiday resorts have little to no data via MTN and Telkom.

3. The Telkom Business service via their call centre is excellent. Their normal call centre for plebs is no worse than Vodacom's.

As others have said, get a prepaid sim and a used phone and use this in parallel to your Vodacom service for a while. You will then be on a better position to choose.

 

[mr_norris]

If a contract is not necessary:

- Port to MTN Prepaid, buy airtime when you need to
- Get AH Mobile data
- Be happy