How cellular operators rip you off

[Dell fan]

Upgraded my wife and myself to a Talk75S.
We were on weekender everyday.

Riddle me this: When a Talk75S works out so much cheaper than a weekender everyday why are only people with higher incomes allowed to get it?

Not true at all, the weekender and Talk75 both fall in the PO500, so if you qaulify for the weekender you are allowed to get a Talk 75 and even a Talk 120/130

 

[Moolz]

Upgraded my wife and myself to a Talk75S.
We were on weekender everyday.

Riddle me this: When a Talk75S works out so much cheaper than a weekender everyday why are only people with higher incomes allowed to get it?

false,it's available all who are eligible to weekender. So is the talk 120,130,200,240

 

[GuileX]

They also could not tell me what any of the phones that I was receiving “free” were worth if I wanted to buy them without a contract.

My nokia 5800 was stolen so i went to MTN asking them how much they ask for it.

They told me R8845.00

I said whoah wtf. so i went online to find out that most of the company's only ask like R2100.

I went back to MTN asking again how much they gave me the same answer.

I then asked the "consultant" why does everyone else ask R2100 for the 5800 and MTN asks R8845.

He says its old stock. what a bunch of fukin retards.

 

[Ecco]

I am not here to defend anything. I am here to explain and give info. You can see the breakdown of the charges on your montly invoice sent to you together with your monthly statement. It will look similar to this:



You do see what you are paying for without IB. But should you require to see who you phoned for whatever reason, then that is a VAS which you will then pay for. Should you not subscribe to the IB service, but you have a query or need to check something on your billing, you may request the IB from customer care and they will fax it to you at a charge.

Regards:
OC

Lol. So when i go to Makro to buy stuff, it should only show me something like this:

Food: R1000
Clothing: R500
Electrical: R450
Toys: R60
etc etc

I can see what i paid for, but i cant see the individual items - such BS from the cellphone companies. Make us pay for something which basically equates to an invoice or receipt. Something you will never be require to pay for elsewhere.

 

[AstroTurf]

Not true at all, the weekender and Talk75 both fall in the PO500, so if you qaulify for the weekender you are allowed to get a Talk 75 and even a Talk 120/130

I'll tell my work college and two friends that were no allowed to upgrade to the Talk 75 but were allowed a weekender package this.

 

[ScrnScrm]

The networks make their money because there billing and packages are so hard for the average person to understand. I can't re-iterate how important it is to understand what you are paying for, and what the alternatives are. If you know exactly what a call is going to cost before you make it, you can see if any alternative is cheaper. I did a quick break down on my bill, and it is easily possible for me, with my usage patterns, to get a better deal. Here are the numbers :

Talk 500 - R1090,84 per month, with 600mb Data, and 300 Sms'es. I get 500 anytime minutes, 180 weekend minutes, and this includes the mandatory Itemised Billing and SIM insurance.
I make about 300 minutes of calls peak time to vodacom numbers, 100 minutes to other peak time, and about 125 minutes to friends/family/"other half" peak time. I don't really use my phone afterhours (about 30 minutes max per month).

If I switched to PAYG, and loaded the Big Bonus Voucher, my monthly cost would be :

Data Bundle : R189
Sms Bundle : R67,50
300 Minutes peak to Voda : R555
100 Minutes peak to other : R250
125 Minutes peak to family (they are all voda) : R231
30 Minutes off peak to family : R32
R1324 Total.

So thats about R235 total more expensive using PAYG.

HOWEVER, lets throw in a curve ball here. A have FNB Connect on my cell phone, and it works really well. I have also installed it on all my friends and familys' phones. So here are the numbers routing the bulk of my private calls this way, and some of the business calls :

Data Bundle : R189
Sms Bundle : R67,50
300 Minutes peak to all Networks : R300 (but approx 150mb data)
100 Minutes peak to other via Voda : R250
125 Minutes peak to family (they are all on FNB Connect) : R0 (but approx 63Mb data)
30 Minutes off peak to family : R0 (but approx 15Mb data)
R806 Total.

So that is R284 a month cheaper than my current package, or R6816 over the course of the contract. I havent included data because in my case, I always have about 200mb free a month anyway.

My point here is that if you are smart, and use and look deeply at alternatives, you can save a lot of money, and not be bound into punitive contracts.

And before anyone asks, FNBConnect has worked really well for me. Quality is acceptable to good the vast majority of the time, and I already send all my overflow via this service (i.e. when I run out of free minutes, I force myself to use FNB Connect rather than the cell network). It works really well with the Nokia and iPhone platforms.

As soon as my contract expires, I know what I will be doing... I dont mind the extra inconvenience of using SIP - especially when its rewarded financially PLUS the added benefit of not being locked to a provider!

 

[ScrnScrm]

I repeat: Itemised Billing is not "Value Added" hence it can't be called a VAS. Maybe there should be a new acronym like "TFS" (Theft from Subscribers).

+1

I have just worked it out : over the duration of my contracts with Vodacom, I have parted with R3146,82 for itemised billing (which is Mandatory on my contract). What a rip-off...

 

[nalu]

Smart Phone + Skype + Wifi!

Buy a smart phone install skype and use wifi networks to talk and use the internet as much a s possible.
I would get a contract but the name of the game is to obfuscate the charging of interest! If you don't pay the interest on the cost of a phone you get nailed on something else.

 

[K3NS31]

My 0.2, if anyone's interested:
For years I was on various Voda contracts, slowly working my way up from Weekender to Talk 500 as my income and talking habits (and work needs) developed. A few months ago I finally cut the chord and moved to Pay as You go or whatever they call it these days.
In my case - Virgin Mobile - R100 / month and then I top up after I've used my 100 bucks worth of airtime + data. This particular "contract" gets me 500 FREE sms's per month, as well as 0.99 per minute calls to other Virgin numbers (here it pays to ensure your friends are on Virgin too).
ALSO, I can cancel at any time with 1 month's notice cos I didn't buy a phone. But even if I had taken a phone, I could simply cancel by paying the remainder of the price at time I cancel (unlike Voda, who have an early cancellation penalty that you have to pay no matter when u cancel, even if it's far into your contract, which bears no relation to the price of the phone, either.)
This works out so well, I could afford to take out a new phone on a Voda Weekender (R99/month) and stick my Virgin sim into it. So I'm paying 2 "contracts" and still coming off far cheaper than before (also, don't underestimate how much u save with free sms's. I really thought I didn't sms a lot, but my reduced bill says otherwise)

So to the author - very good article, but you screwed up by not going into a Virgin store.
To Voda and MTN - we hate you so very much you scum sucking &%@**@#$^

 

[alkit]

not exactly sure why the mtn shop did not give the correct info, but you definitely can get a contract with you own phone. The 2 I know of are the mtn anytime R200 for R99 per month and anytime R100 for R59 per month.

I like MTNs model because they usually have cheaper contracts than vodacom, are all per second billing and you can use the inclusive airtime for anything.

If you don't mind not having per second billing, you can't go wrong with Cell C's new all week 100 contract. I just got 1 of those WITH an LG phone for R49 per month. Works out to 49c per min WITH a free phone and free itimized billing. And once your 100 mins is up, its only R1.5 per min thereafter.

 

[K3NS31]

not exactly sure why the mtn shop did not give the correct info, but you definitely can get a contract with you own phone. The 2 I know of are the mtn anytime R200 for R99 per month and anytime R100 for R59 per month.

I like MTNs model because they usually have cheaper contracts than vodacom, are all per second billing and you can use the inclusive airtime for anything.

If you don't mind not having per second billing, you can't go wrong with Cell C's new all week 100 contract. I just got 1 of those WITH an LG phone for R49 per month. Works out to 49c per min WITH a free phone and free itimized billing. And once your 100 mins is up, its only R1.5 per min thereafter.

Nice. I'm definitely switching to Cell C if Virgin don't get access to their 3.5G network when the upgrade's done.
That's the other nice thing about not being on contract - u can switch to and fro as your needs change and different pricing becomes available. We've all told people this about ADSL, howcome so many of us (MyBB users) are still tied in to cell phone contracts???

 

[Netguy]

Suggestion:
Buy a reasonable handset of your choice via Junkmail, Gumtree, Bid-or-Buy, etc. Head over to http://www.mtnsp.co.za/Upgrades/Pages/Overview.aspx (where you compare handsets, packages, etc) and select UYO (Use Your Own phone) under Manufacturer, leave the other fields on 'All' and select 'GO'. You now get presented with a list of subscription prices for MTN 50, 100, 200, 350, 500, 750, 1200 and 1500 - these are the package prices excluding the cost of a handset. Do print these for use at the MTN store, very few staff members seem to know about these - maybe due to small commission levels!!

 

[tommy57]

Why tell us all this Sh**t we all know about the rip off its Dark Africa after all.

 

[SFW007]

to Lloyd Gedye

This is so typical.. you been living under a rock for so long you now decide to take out a contract....:-(
and feel consumers are been ripped off ,yes, they are but you feel now that you in need of a contract consumers are been ripped off.
tomorrow you want a tumble dryer i guess we can expect an article for that too.

Bottom line inter connect rate needs to be slashed , LLU , EASSY e.t.c

 

[arf9999]

to Lloyd Gedye

This is so typical.. you been living under a rock for so long you now decide to take out a contract....:-(
and feel consumers are been ripped off ,yes, they are but you feel now that you in need of a contract consumers are been ripped off.
tomorrow you want a tumble dryer i guess we can expect an article for that too.

Bottom line inter connect rate needs to be slashed , LLU , EASSY e.t.c

Shoot the messenger, why don't you.

 

[alkit]

Suggestion:
Buy a reasonable handset of your choice via Junkmail, Gumtree, Bid-or-Buy, etc. Head over to http://www.mtnsp.co.za/Upgrades/Pages/Overview.aspx (where you compare handsets, packages, etc) and select UYO (Use Your Own phone) under Manufacturer, leave the other fields on 'All' and select 'GO'. You now get presented with a list of subscription prices for MTN 50, 100, 200, 350, 500, 750, 1200 and 1500 - these are the package prices excluding the cost of a handset. Do print these for use at the MTN store, very few staff members seem to know about these - maybe due to small commission levels!!

Thanks a ton for that site... very helpful as often I find myself needing to advise ppl about mtn specials.

 

[kgatlem]

I guess until such time!!! when the eggs hv hatched I'll pay via credit card my type of cell n continue as normal by paying the bank the difference

 

[alphabyte]

Interesting reading, people. My contract (Vodacom Weekender) expires in a few months, now I'm wondering:
1. What happens if I do nothing? Does the service just continue at the prevailing rate, until such time as I give (presumably one month) notice? I ask this because someone has made reference in this thread to 'forced upgrade'.
2. I may be interested in one of Game's specials, e.g. on certain contracts you get a Game gift voucher of up to R3000. The catch is that while some offers are on new contracts or upgrades, others are available only on new contracts. So if I use up my full 2 years on the present contract and then go to Game, will this count as a 'new' contract, and can I keep the same number?

 

[Ockie]

Interesting reading, people. My contract (Vodacom Weekender) expires in a few months, now I'm wondering:
1. What happens if I do nothing? Does the service just continue at the prevailing rate, until such time as I give (presumably one month) notice? I ask this because someone has made reference in this thread to 'forced upgrade'.
2. I may be interested in one of Game's specials, e.g. on certain contracts you get a Game gift voucher of up to R3000. The catch is that while some offers are on new contracts or upgrades, others are available only on new contracts. So if I use up my full 2 years on the present contract and then go to Game, will this count as a 'new' contract, and can I keep the same number?

1. The contract will only be extended once you do your upgrade and gets issued with new equipment. Untill such time, the contract will continue on a month to month basis or untill your give 1 months notice for the line to be cancelled.

2. If a deal is only available on a new contract, then no, you will not be able to get that deal and keep the same number as it will be a upgrade and not a new contract. I can understand why you would think that...but that is how it works. Some deals gets extra subsidies provided it is a new contract and not a upgrade. Our system clearly distinguishes between the two.

 

[deweyzeph]

Interesting reading, people. My contract (Vodacom Weekender) expires in a few months, now I'm wondering:
1. What happens if I do nothing? Does the service just continue at the prevailing rate, until such time as I give (presumably one month) notice? I ask this because someone has made reference in this thread to 'forced upgrade'.
2. I may be interested in one of Game's specials, e.g. on certain contracts you get a Game gift voucher of up to R3000. The catch is that while some offers are on new contracts or upgrades, others are available only on new contracts. So if I use up my full 2 years on the present contract and then go to Game, will this count as a 'new' contract, and can I keep the same number?

Do yourself a favour and switch to prepaid.