MTN Data costs

[KickTheBucket]

Can anyone explain why there is such a large price discrepancy between a data bundle added onto your cellphone contract opposed to taking a data contract?
For the former (for example): R149 for a 300MB bundle;
For the latter (for example): R139 for an MTN 2GB package.

Why would there be such a price difference for ultimately the same thing?

 

[Bryn]

Can anyone explain why there is such a large price discrepancy between a data bundle added onto your cellphone contract opposed to taking a data contract?
For the former (for example): R149 for a 300MB bundle;
For the latter (for example): R139 for an MTN 2GB package.

Why would there be such a price difference for ultimately the same thing?

The real question is why you are with MTN...

 

[Heebs]

Don't mean to Troll but Bryn26 is right!!

Cell C R155 for a Gig!

 

[KickTheBucket]

Because you can't cancel a contract 3 quarters of the way through....

 

[Superhero]

You can cancel a contract 3/4 of the way through. You phone MTN and tell them that you want to convert your contract to Prepaid. Tell them you don't want the airtime/free minutes/sms messages etc. You just want an amount to get out of the contract. Then, they bill you for 1x month + the price of your handset when you got it (devided by 24) X number of months remaining + VAT and tada, you have your amount.

To give you an example, on Topup 200 with iPhone 4 taken out 18 months ago, the settlement amount to get out of my contract is R450 (one month's bill) + R170 x 6 (the phone x number of months remaining) = R1500 - you pay it and the next day you're prepaid and ready to port to cell c.

Just be careful, they sometimes misunderstand you and think you want to "pay off the contract" in which case they take the R450 per month x 6 months remaining - that's not what you want!!!

Trust me, porting to cell C is a huge saving and the R1500 that you spend up-front to get out of your contract now will pay for itself in 2 - 3 months. Just think about it, almost R3 per minute to phone on MTN vs 99c on Cell C. On MTN, R49 buys you 75MB. On cell C, R49 buys you 326MB!! You can't even compare - MTN is 3x more expensive on everything. Also don't be put of by people telling you Cell C has bad reception - I've converted everyone to Cell C that I know - no one has any complaints and they actually have money now to go on holiday.

 

[KickTheBucket]

Well that's some useful information - thanks a mill!

Off the top of my head, I'd probably be in for around R1500 which I feel is possibly a bit of a waste so I'll probably stick it out. Will definitely port to CellC in June...

 

[KickTheBucket]

Wait.... actually that might not be such a bad idea. You reckon they'll know what I'm talking about when I request to convert to prepaid?

 

[ClintZA]

KickTheBucket, what contract are you on? I'd be interested to do the maths. I'm with MTN and I pay R499 for an Anytime 350 contract.

Over the 24 months the contract will cost me R11,976. The SGS3 currently still sells for around R6500. Subtracting the phone cost I am paying MTN R5476 for the contract over the term. That is R228 per month for R350 value per month. Now I fully get that the rand value of calls and data on Cell C are far cheaper but I cannot see that buying out of the contract will help me a lot. That R228 gets me 179 minutes per month or 114MB at the inbundle rates on MTN Anytime350. At 99c Cell C would get me 230 minutes or 230MB. More for sure but this ignores the buy out cost I would need to pay MTN.

Please note I have ignored bolt on bundles and the like.

 

[Superhero]

KickTheBucket - they are extremely "dof" when you phone that 808 number. So I can predict your call for you:

1. Phone 808
2. Eventually get through to agent
3. You tell them that you want to convert your contact to prepaid - you no longer want a contract, you want to go on prepaid completely. You also tell them that you don't want to pay off the remaining months, you simply want to cancel the contract and pay the fee that they calculate. The consultant will then agree as if they completely understood what you said. Then they will take about 5 minutes while you're on hold to calculate how much you still have to pay. To your surprise, the consultant will say "sir, you need to pay R6000". You will then say "but how on earth can it be so much money!". The consultant will then say "R600 per month x 10 months left of contract". You then tell consultant "no, no, I don't want the free minutes or anything, I just want to cancel the contract and pay the handset clawback fee - that's all".
4. Consultant will now understand and tell you that the only people that can help you with that is cancellations/retentions. You will be put through. Here you must go through the same point as in 3 above.
5. Eventually you will get to the 1x month fee + monthly phone fee x remaining months + vat. That's the CPA way of doing it and they know it.

I exited my contract like this last month - 6 months in advance.

 

[KickTheBucket]

@ClintZA: I'm also on an Anytime 350. I don't know exactly how much I pay for the contract, but altogether I pay around R540 per month for everything (contract, BIS, insurance and whatever else they charge me for). I've got a crapberry bold 9700 (phone price I think is around R5k).
On the Anytime 350, you get R350 worth of airtime - used for calls/ smses/ whatever. I'm assuming the a Cell C Straight Up 200 could give me almost the same value because of the call charges vs MTN.
The reason why I'm keen on doing this is to get rid of the crapberry and get a real phone.

@Superhero: I'll give them a call if I get a chance tomorrow and see what they say. I'm with Nashua Mobile, so I don't know if that'll make a difference. Only way to find out is it try I guess

 

[ClintZA]

On the Anytime 350, you get R350 worth of airtime - used for calls/ smses/ whatever. I'm assuming the a Cell C Straight Up 200 could give me almost the same value because of the call charges vs MTN.

Again, please note this exercise is more for me but may assist you. I see the SGS3 on Cell C Straightup 200 for R449 per month, so R50 cheaper than what I pay on MTN Anytime 350. For this you get 200 minutes + 200 MB of data per month. I currently only get 179 minutes and 75MB of data. I don't often use 179 minutes talk time so some of that R350 can go to data. If I talk for 60 minutes per month it leaves me with R233 for data, or 116MB.

I ignore SMSs altogether as I just do not use them anymore. I get 50 free SMSs on my MTN contract. I use less than 10 every month.

Still better to have more and not use it but for me it would not be worth paying to buy out of my contract just to move.

The reason why I'm keen on doing this is to get rid of the crapberry and get a real phone.

Ah, so you'd literally just be cutting your losses to get a new phone. That is a different scenario to mine as I am happy with my phone but always looking around for cheaper call/data options

 

[Bryn]

Again, please note this exercise is more for me but may assist you. I see the SGS3 on Cell C Straightup 200 for R449 per month, so R50 cheaper than what I pay on MTN Anytime 350. For this you get 200 minutes + 200 MB of data per month. I currently only get 179 minutes and 75MB of data. I don't often use 179 minutes talk time so some of that R350 can go to data. If I talk for 60 minutes per month it leaves me with R233 for data, or 116MB.

I ignore SMSs altogether as I just do not use them anymore. I get 50 free SMSs on my MTN contract. I use less than 10 every month.

Still better to have more and not use it but for me it would not be worth paying to buy out of my contract just to move.



Ah, so you'd literally just be cutting your losses to get a new phone. That is a different scenario to mine as I am happy with my phone but always looking around for cheaper call/data options

Have you seen Virgin Mobile's S3 deal? R299pm for the 32GB S3, R200 airtime pm, 200 messages pm and 200MB pm.

 

[KickTheBucket]

What's their network like?

 

[Bryn]

What's their network like?

Fine apparently.

 

[KickTheBucket]

Ok, so they said I don't have a phone subsidy on my contract, so there isn't an option to pay off the phone. However, the termination cost is around R1300 or so which I'm willing to pay.
Only problem now is they don't have stock of the iPhone 5 16GB, so I'll have to wait till they get (which may be never)...

 

[ChilliGirl]

Ok, so they said I don't have a phone subsidy on my contract, so there isn't an option to pay off the phone. However, the termination cost is around R1300 or so which I'm willing to pay.
Only problem now is they don't have stock of the iPhone 5 16GB, so I'll have to wait till they get (which may be never)...

Was that a branch or MTN direct?

 

[NeonNinja]

Not everyone has Cell C reception people.

 

[Bryn]

Not everyone has Cell C reception people.

Then go with Virgin Mobile or 8ta?

 

[KickTheBucket]

Was that a branch or MTN direct?

It's through Nashua Mobile