Mobile network data expiration investigation underway: NCC

The_Librarian said:
And others.

IMO it will have to be a choice from the consumer, not the service providers.
Click to expand...

I would even have paid a small bit more for the "expires at end of next month" but no, VC just did away with it totally.

Hope they are forced to have it only expire after a year or something.
 
Selling the same thing (data) to the same consumer twice, or more times = enormous profit.
How much do these poor networks that suffer so terribly make in terms of revenue each year, and how much do South Africans subsidise their expansion into other countries...
 
Keep in mind this affects more than just data.. think contract phones, most contracts have a max 3 - 6 month provision in which you need to use data or it will kinda roll off the max cap.. and then leaving the contract you forfeit this allocation immediately
 
So the cellular companies admit that they are pricing data on the basis that a lot of people will lose their unused portion at the end of the month. Thus most people are already paying more for the data they actually use (percentage of what you buy). So why not just price data at the correct price and not have it expire?
 
MTN sucks

MTN recently changed their data expiry - no notification to consumers.

MTN data used to expire after 60 days.
Changed to 30 days as that's the "industry norm".
Out of Bundle (OOB) rate was charged at the In Bundle rate until the end of the month.
Now they charge 99c/MB OOB as that's the "industry norm"

Sounds like collusion between network providers and designed to screw MTN customers.

MTN now charges the same as other networks.
The OOB/60day advantage is gone.
There is no longer any advantage staying with MTN.

Rather use a network that has better coverage and better speed (LTE).

MTN sucks
 
Vodsscum defending it's abnormal profits as usual
 
Vodacom and MTN must clarify if this 30 days expiry is international or national industry standard. Cause it was up to 60 days with them and they are by far the biggest, so the national industry standard would have been 60 days.

Also, the voucher argument they used is flawed, when I buy a data bundle via online banking or from airtime, there is no voucher. How and where do I buy a data bundle voucher that will only expire in 3 years? Vodacom must explain this to me and show me where I can buy this voucher...
 
supersunbird said:
Vodacom and MTN must clarify if this 30 days expiry is international or national industry standard. Cause it was up to 60 days with them and they are by far the biggest, so the national industry standard would have been 60 days.

Also, the voucher argument they used is flawed, when I buy a data bundle via online banking or from airtime, there is no voucher. How and where do I buy a data bundle voucher that will only expire in 3 years? Vodacom must explain this to me and show me where I can buy this voucher...
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You can buy a physical voucher, at many places, which you can then keep in your pocket for 3 years before it'll expire. The moment you redeem it, the data usage rules kick in, whatever those are.

When you buy data online, the voucher 'purchase' and 'redemption' happens simultaneously.

Think of it this way:

A voucher is a token for a product that you can use at some point.
The moment you redeem the voucher, the voucher itself expires and the product you bought activates.
The product rules and terms now apply.

I used to buy prepaid electrify vouchers and kept them for future use. The moment I typed the voucher code into the meter, the voucher is nullified but I can use the electricity.

Same concept. Except data cannot be stored, while electricity or water can.
 
jannievanzyl said:
You can buy a physical voucher, at many places, which you can then keep in your pocket for 3 years before it'll expire. The moment you redeem it, the data usage rules kick in, whatever those are.

When you buy data online, the voucher 'purchase' and 'redemption' happens simultaneously.

Think of it this way:

A voucher is a token for a product that you can use at some point.
The moment you redeem the voucher, the voucher itself expires and the product you bought activates.
The product rules and terms now apply.

I used to buy prepaid electrify vouchers and kept them for future use. The moment I typed the voucher code into the meter, the voucher is nullified but I can use the electricity.

Same concept. Except data cannot be stored, while electricity or water can.
Click to expand...

I have never encountered data vouchers, but ok, thanks.

Does the electricity expire after 30 days? (and I if you mean I can store electricity on a battery, then the same applies to storing data on my hard drive :D)

And the supposed "industry standard" for the 30 day expiry, is it national or international?

I miss the till-the-end-of-the-next-month (aka up to 60 days) bundles :cry:
 
supersunbird said:
I have never encountered data vouchers, but ok, thanks.

Does the electricity expire after 30 days? (and I if you mean I can store electricity on a battery, then the same applies to storing data on my hard drive :D)

And the supposed "industry standard" for the 30 day expiry, is it national or international?

I miss the till-the-end-of-the-next-month (aka up to 60 days) bundles :cry:
Click to expand...

If you stored all your data on your hard drive, there's no problem.

Was more referring to electricity storage systems such as we have here in Cape Town.

Not sure if there is a standard, per sé, but a month is pretty common.
 
I think that we are being cheated, bottom line is you get what you paid for & should not be forced down your throat to use it in a certain amount of time, If they did a roll over of 60 window I'm sure customers would be a lot happier problem here is people are forced to by less data bundles at a time, then purchase again which any brainwave can understand that it becomes more costly per bundle
 
jannievanzyl said:
If you stored all your data on your hard drive, there's no problem.

Was more referring to electricity storage systems such as we have here in Cape Town.

Not sure if there is a standard, per sé, but a month is pretty common.
Click to expand...

There is still the issue of my unused data bundle disappearing *poof* at the end of 30 days...

And of course one does not get any notification when that happens, so I might go out of bundle if I can't remember the exact time I bought the bundle. At least with the up to 60 days one you knew exactly when it would go *poof*.
 
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