Mobile data promotions - the inside story

[jes]

Mobile data promotions: industry insider speaks out

Industry insider gives the real reason behind the multitude of mobile data promotions in the market

 

[Inevitability]

Normally these articles have that ubiquitous "statesman-like" pic of AKC, staring into space, somewhere to our left ...

 

[vonAtlas]

This sounds like better reasoning for the lack of permanent lower data pricing compared to the reasons given in the previous article.

 

[Beri]

so why not apply then.......

 

[Sodan]

“Some operators hide behind promotions to give the illusion of significant price cuts. This is good for marketing, but it is not in the best interest of consumers,” he said.

Wow. And the real reason is mentioned dead-last in the article.

 

[grok]

Wait, what? So hiding behind promotional prices to appear cheap when you're actually the most expensive actually has nothing to do with it?

 

[Randux]

“Some operators hide behind promotions to give
the illusion of significant price cuts. This is good
for marketing, but it is not in the best interest
of consumers,”
Exactly theres no other reason(s)

 

[Morpheos]

So in other words. Screw the client/consumer, we will milk them any way possible and there is nothing you can do about it!!

 

[TrueSeeker]

“Some operators hide behind promotions to give the illusion of significant price cuts"

zzz Is there anybody who didn't know this?

 

[whatwhat]

All the SA cellphone providers are listed, or for profit organisations. Nothing they do is for our interest.

 

[munky82]

All the SA cellphone providers are listed, or for profit organisations. Nothing they do is for our interest.

Also the base of capitalism. Nobody does anything for free, every move a company makes is to appease the stockholder. Always check how far a company will go to keep you as a customer. If you get a service for free (Facebook/Google) you are NOT the customer but the product (for advertisers).

That is why contracts are the devil. They lock you down for two years and don't give a damn about you afterwards as long as they deliver the minimum required. Case in point: My gf bought 500MB for R99 contract in January 2012 (the best deal at the time). A few weeks later they dropped the promotion to R99 for 1GB, and a R200 to switch to it. Now it is 2GB for R99 from most providers.

The more we stay away from contracts the better. If a virtual number service like what Google Voice have in the US launches here the networks would be *****ed. You would switch sim cards monthly between providers while people just phone your Google number.

 

[Inevitability]

Now it is 2GB for R99 from most providers.

That's just the price on the promos if you activate a new SIM... Not so for a bolt-on bundle, sadly...
CellC 2GB = R310
Vodacom 2GB = R249
MTN 2GB = R245
TelkomMobile 2GB+1GB = R149

And NOBODY offers you the ability to activate the new SIM (to take advantage of a special like R99pm/2GB) and then just share the data with your current account so that you don't have to use a different SIM. How difficult can it be to link 2 SIMs together and allow them both to share the same data bundle???... Too difficult for our 4 networks, I'm afraid

 

[RichardG]

Don't sign on the dotted line, rather go prepaid route that way you've peace of mind and won't receive a visit from OOBShark Always hungry for moola OOBShark.

@Inevitability you forgot to include Afrihost to the list.

Mobile Two (2gig data + 3gig promotional) = 5 gig for R145
Mobile Three(3gig data + 7gig promotional) = 10 gig for R197

 

[Inevitability]

@Inevitability you forgot to include Afrihost to the list.
Mobile Two (2gig data + 3gig promotional) = 5 gig for R145
Mobile Three(3gig data + 7gig promotional) = 10 gig for R197

Indeed! And it re-inforces the point that, promos aside, no operator is willing to give us a bolt-on data bundle @R99 for 2GB.
Yet they can give it to us as a promo contract, and only on a new SIM. What's up with that? I'll tell you... it's precisely the point made by yourself and munky82 ... they want to lock us in with those promo contracts so we can't get the lower rates when they arrive. If bolt-ons were priced the same as promos, everyone would just get rid of it as soon as the promo ends, or as soon as a newer promo with cheaper rates arrives.
Sadly the operators keep succeeding in diverting the attention of the masses towards the 'flashing neon lights' of these kinds of promos, and away from basic things like: data-bundle sharing across SIMs.
Ok... I've had my rant for the day.

 

[Sneeky]

Skelms!

 

[entrepr]

Vodacom and MTN cannot simply reduce their permanent prices, because they may face predatory pricing complaints from their competitors

I'm not sure this is fully true because the big operators claim the pricing is already below cost for them.