Iphone 4 prepaid pricing for Vodacom.

[VioAdmin]

Firstly, I said "I think the prices are quite reasonable given the demand" that is my opinion. You are entitled to yours.

You can jailbreak/unlock, but to get the phone directly in the US they require a signed contract.

I know it can be bought cheaper in other countries, I did that! But for the effort I went through, paying 8-odd grand is probably worth it. Maybe my time is more valuable to me than yours is?

As for the quality of the network... come on! The US have the worst cellular network in the world! Ours isn't great, but AT&T and Verizon are in deep trouble over there. This whole antennagate debacle is only happening over there, everyone in Europe (and me so far in SA) have been fine without worrying about this signal dropping problem.

Fair enough.

@ The quality of network statement. No way in hell can you compare the networks in SA to US. No...way. I was in the US for a long time and barely had any problems...BARELY. Their 3G over there is really 3G and the coverage is almost everywhere unlike here. Those companies A&T/Verizon have great services. They are only criticized because the US has a lot of competition which is a great thing. Here we have Vodacom, MTN, CellC, thats IT. Not many places to run to... No way can you compare anything technical with SA to US. Maybe I haven't been in SA long enough but so far, I cannot compare them.

 

[tony2007sa]

really? where about in hong kong? Im going there next month, maybe ill go pick one up. How much are they there?

I am in hk at moment. The networks here in hk don't offer iphone4 on prepaid, you can only get it via a 2 year contract, if you wana buy it for cash some private stores are selling for 7000-8000 hk dollars, or else you can order it via hk apple store "online" but then you ll have provide a valid hk address for delivery, and it takes for about 2-3 weeks to deliver, price for 16g 4988hkd 32g is 5988hkd.

 

[[)roi(]]

Fair enough.

@ The quality of network statement. No way in hell can you compare the networks in SA to US. No...way. I was in the US for a long time and barely had any problems...BARELY. Their 3G over there is really 3G and the coverage is almost everywhere unlike here. Those companies A&T/Verizon have great services. They are only criticized because the US has a lot of competition which is a great thing. Here we have Vodacom, MTN, CellC, thats IT. Not many places to run to... No way can you compare anything technical with SA to US. Maybe I haven't been in SA long enough but so far, I cannot compare them.

Your statement on the quality of data services is unfortunately true and not only apparent for the cellular companies; however I beg to differ if you were also referring to voice.

On the point of buying and shipping goods to South Africa - I have long hope to find a viable and cost effective means to bypass the local Apple ripoff artists. If you have had good experience with importing these items then please share your experience, process and the companies involved.

 

[Tag11]

Fair enough.

@ The quality of network statement. No way in hell can you compare the networks in SA to US. No...way. I was in the US for a long time and barely had any problems...BARELY. Their 3G over there is really 3G and the coverage is almost everywhere unlike here. Those companies A&T/Verizon have great services. They are only criticized because the US has a lot of competition which is a great thing. Here we have Vodacom, MTN, CellC, thats IT. Not many places to run to... No way can you compare anything technical with SA to US. Maybe I haven't been in SA long enough but so far, I cannot compare them.

My experience of the US networks is limited to 4 or 5 US clients of mine that have visited SA and praised our networks. They say that roaming between states is sometimes problematic (additional costs apply, like when we roam internationally) and you get billed for receiving calls as well as initiating calls. They also say that if you're on AT&T and travel to another state, you sometimes cannot get a service at all if AT&T don't have an offering in that state. (Differs per network provider)

My info is 2nd hand, so perhaps you know more, but at the end of the day, I'm getting (over and above the one I imported) a brand new iPhone 4 at zero additional cost, just by upgrading my MTN package (and it's a middle of the range package which I would have renewed anyway) - I won't say that's iYoba or Ayoba (I hate those words!) but it's a great deal!

 

[Tag11]

I am in hk at moment. The networks here in hk don't offer iphone4 on prepaid, you can only get it via a 2 year contract, if you wana buy it for cash some private stores are selling for 7000-8000 hk dollars, or else you can order it via hk apple store "online" but then you ll have provide a valid hk address for delivery, and it takes for about 2-3 weeks to deliver, price for 16g 4988hkd 32g is 5988hkd.

That is the case with most places. What I did was order via Apple on-line, reference the address of someone I knew, had it delivered to them, and then had it brought back to SA by someone that was travelling back after the date of arrival. In NZ the delivery was supposed to be 3 weeks, but luckily I was conservative with my planning because it actually took a little longer than 4 weeks to arrive.