Help: Is this the best mobile internet deal currently?

Foxhound5366

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Oct 23, 2014
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So Telkom somehow sensed that I'd be moving and would need a decent mobile data deal before getting some more permanent internet ... and they launched this special: https://secure.telkom.co.za/today/campaign/deal-of-the-month/

R99/month = 5GB data/month + 500MB off-net data/month + Huawei E5573 4G router

That sounds very appealing, considering 5GB data alone usually goes for R300-R400/month. Is that the best deal around for now?

Thanks for any advice!
 

supersunbird

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Are you mostly in developed areas (basically the cities and their suburbs) covered by Telkom cellphone signal? (vs MTN roaming, which the 500MB is useful for)

What we need to find out is how data is consumed if you have Telkom only data and 500MB off net data (can roam on MTN as I said) on the same SIM...
 

Foxhound5366

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Oct 23, 2014
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Are you mostly in developed areas (basically the cities and their suburbs) covered by Telkom cellphone signal? (vs MTN roaming, which the 500MB is useful for)

What we need to find out is how data is consumed if you have Telkom only data and 500MB off net data (can roam on MTN as I said) on the same SIM...

Yes boss, this is intended mostly for use in my apartment in Centurion, and I've checked Telkom's coverage map and it shows that my suburb is squarely within Telkom's LTE coverage area.

So, is it a good deal? :p
 

supersunbird

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It's a 24 month contract, that already is a major fail.

Nah, its not, if I listened to that when I got my 10GB for R199 contract back in 2011 I'd have had a much harder time. Even if one had ADSL its good backup, also useful when going on holiday.
 

rodga

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Yes boss, this is intended mostly for use in my apartment in Centurion, and I've checked Telkom's coverage map and it shows that my suburb is squarely within Telkom's LTE coverage area.

So, is it a good deal? :p

probably the best deal at the moment, I tried to get it a a similar deal a few months back, but they were sold out
Been using TM in Centurion for a good couple of years now, no problems
 

Foxhound5366

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probably the best deal at the moment, I tried to get it a a similar deal a few months back, but they were sold out
Been using TM in Centurion for a good couple of years now, no problems

Thanks bro. I can confirm I picked up one of these :) It was seamless ... applied this morning, approval within three hours, got handed the sim + device. Done deal.

Plugged it in at home and set it up, and it all works as advertised. Gotta move it around a bit to see what the average speed test results are, but so far I'm happy enough. 5GB for only R100 is a great deal any way you slice it, contract or not, and I'm really impressed with Huawei's slick new mobile app that allows you to manage everything related to the device through your phone.

Good luck to anybody else getting one of these, hope you do!
 

iWish

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Apr 1, 2011
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Can one apply at a telkom direct store or is it an online deal only?
 

iWish

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Thanks. Will do so. Hopefully there's a few deals left.
 

Foxhound5366

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Oct 23, 2014
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Here's something that will interest anybody considering this deal. This is the speedtest I just did with it (just plugged into my laptop - not hanging at a window or anything):

5455903793.png

To be fair though, in the peak evening times this device is suffering *exactly* the same network slow-down that is being reported on the Telkom LTE Uncapped thread by all users ... speeds then crash to around 2Mbps (I'm hoping it's just a temporary thing). I still want to experiment then with moving it around a bit in the house to see if picking up a different tower will help at all, but for a mobile device that's a deeply impressive speed test result :)
 

Proton

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Mar 20, 2008
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I applied in march, I only received mine 3months later! That is how crap telkom's service is people... Anyways.. Apart from the service, I also think this is the best deal they had!! And I am now regretting that I didn't take 3x of these lol
 

cavedog

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Oct 19, 2007
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Here's something that will interest anybody considering this deal. This is the speedtest I just did with it (just plugged into my laptop - not hanging at a window or anything):

View attachment 373719

To be fair though, in the peak evening times this device is suffering *exactly* the same network slow-down that is being reported on the Telkom LTE Uncapped thread by all users ... speeds then crash to around 2Mbps (I'm hoping it's just a temporary thing). I still want to experiment then with moving it around a bit in the house to see if picking up a different tower will help at all, but for a mobile device that's a deeply impressive speed test result :)

Awesome because you are on capped account if the slowdown occurs have you tried switching it to 3G. I'm sure 3G will avoid that congested hop 5 in the backhaul until Telkom upgrades it hopefully.
 
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