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Finding the right price plans
- Thread starter rpm
- Start date
I think Virgin's pricing might be a bit misrepresented in this statement,
What is important to note is that those first five minutes can occur at any time during the day, and then the lower rate will apply for the rest of the day. So depending on your calling patterns it can be significantly cheaper.
e.g. First 10 minutes on Virgin = R19.50, 10 minutes on Vodacom during peak = R29.90. If those first ten minutes happen during "peak" times Virgin is cheaper, and if another 10 happened during peak time Virgin is about half the cost of Vodacom. (note: this is all prepaid and based on the values in the article)
What is important to note is that those first five minutes can occur at any time during the day, and then the lower rate will apply for the rest of the day. So depending on your calling patterns it can be significantly cheaper.
e.g. First 10 minutes on Virgin = R19.50, 10 minutes on Vodacom during peak = R29.90. If those first ten minutes happen during "peak" times Virgin is cheaper, and if another 10 happened during peak time Virgin is about half the cost of Vodacom. (note: this is all prepaid and based on the values in the article)
The article also does not cover the per second billing aspect which must make a huge difference?
If Virgin are 2.35 peak time am I correct in assuming a call lasting 30 seconds will cost half..ie R1.20 ish? or have I miseed some small print somewhere?
If Virgin are 2.35 peak time am I correct in assuming a call lasting 30 seconds will cost half..ie R1.20 ish? or have I miseed some small print somewhere?
diabolus
Executive Member
Yea, that part is probably [to me] the crux of all this. Confusion, and generating price plans that are difficult to compare with competitors [i.e. like Virgin] . Essentially everyone is price-fixing and tweaking their models to look different. I actually think, especially Virgin is guilty of this when they came in, it looks amazing on paper but if you start to do the calculations it's not!
kaspaas
Expert Member
I did a study on my own bill.
Estimated difference was less than 5% between the various operators.
One would require a real specialised usage pattern to get real savings by moving between operators.
Estimated difference was less than 5% between the various operators.
One would require a real specialised usage pattern to get real savings by moving between operators.
Abe
Expert Member
I had a look and Virgin was definitely cheaper for me. I would imagine that it is very different for each person so why try and create some master plan? Mine was cheaper because almost all of my calls were "Peak" calls.
I was unimpressed with the article because it totally ignored the per second part. How many prepaid users speak for exactly a minute at a time. Most calls I get from prepaid are in the form of "Hi it's X, please call me back" which takes about 15 seconds even with the who is that??? part. In this case, Virgin works out to be much much cheaper as you can get almost four times as many calls in for the same time.
The really interesting part is that I spoke to some people a couple of nights ago and their children are spending all of their holiday pocket money on airtime. Between MixIt and calls, half way through the holiday it's all gone.
I was unimpressed with the article because it totally ignored the per second part. How many prepaid users speak for exactly a minute at a time. Most calls I get from prepaid are in the form of "Hi it's X, please call me back" which takes about 15 seconds even with the who is that??? part. In this case, Virgin works out to be much much cheaper as you can get almost four times as many calls in for the same time.
The really interesting part is that I spoke to some people a couple of nights ago and their children are spending all of their holiday pocket money on airtime. Between MixIt and calls, half way through the holiday it's all gone.
DavidJ
Well-Known Member
Because in a market where there is genuine competition (as opposed to a price-fixing cartel) single, simple, clear "master plans" are usually plainly cheaper (or not) in all situations NO MATTER the (ugh) "usage pattern". As a general rule, the complexity of product offerings is inversely proportional to the level of competitiveness in a market. A player that truly intends to be cheaper also wants you to know, easily and immediately without having to think about it or do any 'calculations', that they are cheaper than others (e.g. imagine for a moment a cellular network saying they had only one plan - 50c per minute any time of day - it would be obvious to consumers this "master plan" would beat all the others). In South Africa we don't experience this kind of thing enough to even be familiar with the concept - we just think it's normal to be led by the nose by cartels into a deliberately confusing array of offerings supposedly targeted at different types of users.
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Fantastic1
Senior Member
Before Stephen Whitford from Intrinsic Media publishes things like this he must get some facts correct as he never mentioned that on the prepaid pricing for Vodacom, that it is ALL PER SECOND from the very 1st second, whereas all the other networks are per second only after the 1st minute of that call...
and by the way... Vodacom offers Talking Points and the others don't.
Vodacom has the best turn around times compared to the others and has the most amount of distribution points in the country.
for your information We are wholesale distributors for all cellular networks, & we experience and know which network offers the best service to clients and to there wholesalers / dealers / etc.
1. so Stephen Whitford from Intrinsic Media, try buying airtime for virgin & see what you find out ,
2. apply for a contract at all networks at the same time & see who responds quickest with stock on hand of the handset
Vodacom - is instant with stores having stock on hand
MTN - is generally 1-7 days with phone to be ordered after approval
cell c - is generally within 1 hr
virgin - hey mighty problems with there billing + over 1 day for approval
3. take 3 similar faulty phones with the same problem to each network repair centre oh ... cell c + virgin does not have repair centres
like the others.... ohhhhh
by the way if you leave your phone in at a mtn repair centre you might as well buy a new 1 - it might take upto 2-3 months to come back
vodacare takes an average of 1 week max. to repair phones, in some cases within 24 hrs.
I wait for Stephen Whitford from Intrinsic Media to respond or even contact me
and by the way... Vodacom offers Talking Points and the others don't.
Vodacom has the best turn around times compared to the others and has the most amount of distribution points in the country.
for your information We are wholesale distributors for all cellular networks, & we experience and know which network offers the best service to clients and to there wholesalers / dealers / etc.
1. so Stephen Whitford from Intrinsic Media, try buying airtime for virgin & see what you find out ,
2. apply for a contract at all networks at the same time & see who responds quickest with stock on hand of the handset
Vodacom - is instant with stores having stock on hand
MTN - is generally 1-7 days with phone to be ordered after approval
cell c - is generally within 1 hr
virgin - hey mighty problems with there billing + over 1 day for approval
3. take 3 similar faulty phones with the same problem to each network repair centre oh ... cell c + virgin does not have repair centres
like the others.... ohhhhh
by the way if you leave your phone in at a mtn repair centre you might as well buy a new 1 - it might take upto 2-3 months to come back
vodacare takes an average of 1 week max. to repair phones, in some cases within 24 hrs.
I wait for Stephen Whitford from Intrinsic Media to respond or even contact me