Porting from MTN

[MagicDude4Eva]

Porting from MTN to CellC

Has anyone recently ported from MTN to CellC. It seems that CellC's deals are cheaper and offer more value for money - i.e. this deal below:


Basic questions:
- What's their coverage and signal strength like (Joburg Northern suburbs)
- How is their data connectivity (i.e. with MTN I hardly ever get 3G - Fourways, Bryanston)

Any reason why I shouldn't port?

 

[Mr Big T]

Why dont you get 2 Cell C sim cards and use one for voice and one for data on pay as you go before you port?

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Why dont you get 2 Cell C sim cards and use one for voice and one for data on pay as you go before you port?

I actually just need voice+data (my MTN contract has run out in September) - still uncertain if I want to go through porting hell and then realise that CellC's coverage is worse than MTN's ;-)

 

[hislordship]

I'm in Ferndale, no 3G coverage on MTN either, but full on Cell C. Friends in Orchards have no Vodacom 2G coverage indoors! MTN only 2G and I show up and get full 3G on Cell C
Cell C has been around for over 10 years already, enough time to build a substantial network.
Plus if you're really unhappy, you can roam on Vodacom anyway.

 

[falcon786]

Magic Ive previously ben an MTN subsciber for over 10 years and six months ago I decided to change over.

My main fear was coverage and data speeds.They were a bit unfounded but also sometimes founded so it depends where and how you use your phone.There are two aspects to consider 1 is cost the other is quality and in my case it was well worth it and a very good decision to port.You should decide for yourself though.

I found that where I work and live (vereeniging and surrounds) i used to get speeds of around 600 kpbs with mtn up to a max of 1,8 mbps when the network was quiet.With cell c i get average around 1,2-1,8 mbps and when the network is quiet it can go up to around 3,3 mbps.So the speeds on Cell C are generally higher however I would say MTN has better uptime,around once a month mtn data used to go down for the night in my area on cell c it happens around three times a month but thankfully only for an hour or two.

The signal Ive experienced in and around JHB itself has been excellent on Cell C also and the speeds are better than in the vereeniging area.

Where I do experience a problem though is when I go visit my inlaws in balfour(mp) where there is no Cell C 3G so it roams on vodacom edge and is largely unusable,call quality is great there on edge but I had to resort to buying a pre paid mtn sim for data.So if you do go to rural areas often I suggest you first check out the Cell C 3g coverage there specifically or get an MTN 3G pre paid card for those occasions.

Now that being said I have to say I wont go back to MTN as my main provider because of their excessive costs,while previously my MTN bill used to come out to around R520 with calls and data while on cell c i pay around R350 for the same usage.

 

[D1RTY D4WG]

Plus if you're really unhappy, you can roam on Vodacom anyway.

This - nuff said

Edit: porting was painless for me and far easier than expected

 

[falcon786]

I initially took out a straight up 100 on month to month but yesterday decided to take that iphone deal at R399-00 since its the best deal ive seen in a very long time.

Porting is very easy also the only people that can mess it up is MTN if you are not specific about "cancelling" your contract.
What I mean by this is DONT CANCEL your contract instead tell them clearly that you want to port to MTN prepaid first.

Once you are on mtn prepaid its easy as pie as cell c will do everything for you no need to deal with mtn anymore.Mine was a painless process but a cousin of mine told MTN he wants to cancel his contract and MTN the numb nuts did not inform him properly that means you will loose your number so he lost his number.


So just follow this process:
1.change over to mtn prepaid
2.then walk in to a cell c store and ask them to port your mtn pre paid number which is easy for them to do.

 

[Mr Big T]

I have an Autopage contract (Vodacom) and was wondering what will happen to the airtine balance when I port. Maybe I should port to Vodacom pay as you go first and see what happens? Maybe I dont loose the airtime that way and can then port to someone else when the airtime is finished?

 

[falcon786]

I have an Autopage contract (Vodacom) and was wondering what will happen to the airtine balance when I port. Maybe I should port to Vodacom pay as you go first and see what happens? Maybe I dont loose the airtime that way and can then port to someone else when the airtime is finished?

You will lose the airtime.
However its always best and non risky to first port to your networks pre paid before porting to other networks.

Pre paid porting is a breeze while contract porting is risky and a headache IMO.
So yes port to vodacom pre paid but you wont keep your airtime.

 

[Mr Big T]

Thank you very much for that. I have learnt something new today. The porting thing was really worrying me.

 

[falcon786]

Thank you very much for that. I have learnt something new today. The porting thing was really worrying me.

No problem buddy,as long as you don't "cancel" your contract but rather put it on pre paid everything will be easy.

 

[Mr Big T]

No problem buddy,as long as you don't "cancel" your contract but rather put it on pre paid everything will be easy.

So should I go to Vodacom or to Autopage to make the change to pay as you go?

 

[ajax]

So should I go to Vodacom or to Autopage to make the change to pay as you go?

You go to Autopage. Wait until you are on prepaid. Then wait another day or two for their billing system to "stabilise" with the changes.
Then as another interim step first port to Cell C prepaid. Then only apply for a new contract.

 

[falcon786]

You go to Autopage. Wait until you are on prepaid. Then wait another day or two for their billing system to "stabilise" with the changes.
Then as another interim step first port to Cell C prepaid. Then only apply for a new contract.

I agree go to autopage although there is no need to port to cell c prepaid at all,that would be an unnecessary step IMO because I just went from mtn prepaid to cell c contract its was very easy and cell c did everything from their side within a few hours.

 

[abuusamah]

So just follow this process:
1.change over to mtn prepaid
2.then walk in to a cell c store and ask them to port your mtn pre paid number which is easy for them to do.

How long does the porting process take ?

 

[Cell_C]

How long does the porting process take ?

Hi,

It normally takes 24 hours or less.

Regards
CellC|TM

 

[falcon786]

Yeah they say 24 hours however mine took around 4 hours,the nice part is that its almost seamless so you just leave your mtn/vodacom prepaid simcard in until it shows no signal(up to that point you can make and receive calls on your old sim) then you know your new sim is active so you pop it in and you back online with your old number on the new sim.

Quite easy.And no downtime besides the few seconds it takes to swap out your sim cards once the old one looses signal.

 

[abuusamah]

For me it's been about 22 hours and I'm still waiting. It's ok because I'm using up my MTN airtime but I'm itching to start using my new phone.

 

[abuusamah]

23 hours and still nothing.

 

[falcon786]

23 hours and still nothing.

Lol my dad also ported and his took 8 hours so yours is definitely taking longer than usual,maybe so many are porting due to their fantastic iphone 5 deal combined with the year end leave everybody takes is affecting your porting time