MTN DataShare and LTE device+SIM contract

[sn3rd]

Hi everyone

I currently make use of MTN's weekly data bundles because they are cheaper per GB than monthly bundles (R65 per GB vs. R160 per GB; even the 3 GB monthly bundle works out to R110 per GB).

There are a few problems with this approach:

1. Sometimes I forget to add a new bundle, and the old bundle expires, and then I get charged at OOB rates.
2. Sometimes I deplete the week's data early without realising, and then I get charged at OOB rates.
3. MTN DataShare does not apply to the weekly bundles, so I can't share this data with other subscriptions. As a result I have to buy multiple 1 GB weekly bundles but I only need about 1 GB per week in total.

Does MTN DataShare apply to LTE device+SIM contracts, where a monthly data allocation is provisioned? I'm looking at something like https://shop.mtn.co.za/crs/jump/product/4870046/ShareLink-B593S, where the rate works out to R53 per GB. Ideally I'd like to optimise further and use DataShare.

Anyone with experience/comments/advice?

 

[whatwhat]

Good luck.

I never got datashare to work on both contract or prepaid sims, even when all the USSD codes showed linkage it still kept counting data usage against the sim and not the datashare.

 

[sn3rd]

Just an update for anyone that wants to use this. I never got a response from Dr_Data; seems he has been away for a while.

I initially was not able to activate DataShare using *141*5# as it returned an error message saying to contact support.

I made a number of calls to 808, 809, 1555, etc; no-one really had any idea of what was happening and I received feedback like "your SIM is not RICA'd", "it should already be working", "it is not possible", "call <insert other department here>; they should be able to help" and "our systems are completely offline". Someone on 1555 helped me to activate and my menu on *141*5# updated accordingly and DataShare reflected as active, but I was still unable to link a number (I received an error message saying that it was not allowed)

Eventually I went to an MTN Service Centre and the lady attempted to assist. She had to (first remove and then) add three different services:

1. DataShare Owner
2. DataShare Link
3. DataShare Member

Adding DataShare Owner and DataShare Link worked fine. However attempting to use *141*5# to link a number returned the same error message. She figured out that although the system said that DataShare Member was added, refreshing the list of services showed that it disappeared. We tried this a few times; same behaviour.

She was 90% of the way through logging a ticket with their service desk when I tried *141*5# again so that she could get the exact error message, and the service just started working.

I've since linked and unlinked a few different numbers and so far everything seems to work the way one way expect.