Pre-paid Data Bundles [PPDBs] How To

Satguy said:
Guy's maybe I am just plain doff, but I can only purchase prepaid data bundles for my Family Top up 135 using *111# then selecting the appropriate options. This is a bit of a pain because the sim is in a datacard which is in a wireless router. It has been said that the purchase of data bundles can also been done via vodacom4me, however I have registered on vodacome4me using the sim's allocated cell number and searched hi and lo for an option to purchase data bundles without success, where do I look?
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on Vodacom4me go to My Account then Data Bundles
 
Ok, i've found the following very cool, but now i want to know "how many times can i do this ? "

I loaded a 2GB bundle on 30 April :
Your current account balance is R15.77 You have 1922.26MB available to use. Your data bundle will expire on 2007-05-30.
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I went a bit overboard with my usage and today that 2GB was used up [long before 30th May] . So i loaded up some more cash and tried to load a new bundle [1GB this time] on 14th May :

Your current account balance is R20.02 You have 1024.00MB available to use. Your data bundle will expire on 2007-06-14.
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I now got a brand new 30 days window [overriding whatever my previous bundle was.]

So question is, does it mean i can buy say 500MB "chunks" [or a size i KNOW i will use up in 30 days] and do this contiiously [i.e. buying one every week] or is there a limit to this?

PS: All above is on the same prepaid sim/number

PSS: I was going to buy an MTN bundle, but saw this "option" to simply buy a new bundle [on MTN you would need to use a new sim as you can't buy a bundle until previous one expired] ....since it worked i guess i'm sticking to Vodacom some more ;) This is alot more convienent i must say.
 
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diabolus said:
Ok, i've found the following very cool, but now i want to know "how many times can i do this ? "

I loaded a 2GB bundle on 30 April :


I went a bit overboard with my usage and today that 2GB was used up [long before 30th May] . So i loaded up some more cash and tried to load a new bundle [1GB this time] on 14th May :



I now got a brand new 30 days window [overriding whatever my previous bundle was.]

So question is, does it mean i can buy say 500MB "chunks" [or a size i KNOW i will use up in 30 days] and do this contiiously [i.e. buying one every week] or is there a limit to this?

PS: All above is on the same prepaid sim/number

PSS: I was going to buy an MTN bundle, but saw this "option" to simply buy a new bundle [on MTN you would need to use a new sim as you can't buy a bundle until previous one expired] ....since it worked i guess i'm sticking to Vodacom some more ;) This is alot more convienent i must say.
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Uh, you do realise that your per MB cost goes up when buying smaller bundles?
 
diabolus said:
Ok, i've found the following very cool, but now i want to know "how many times can i do this ? "

I loaded a 2GB bundle on 30 April :


I went a bit overboard with my usage and today that 2GB was used up [long before 30th May] . So i loaded up some more cash and tried to load a new bundle [1GB this time] on 14th May :



I now got a brand new 30 days window [overriding whatever my previous bundle was.]

So question is, does it mean i can buy say 500MB "chunks" [or a size i KNOW i will use up in 30 days] and do this contiiously [i.e. buying one every week] or is there a limit to this?

PS: All above is on the same prepaid sim/number

PSS: I was going to buy an MTN bundle, but saw this "option" to simply buy a new bundle [on MTN you would need to use a new sim as you can't buy a bundle until previous one expired] ....since it worked i guess i'm sticking to Vodacom some more ;) This is alot more convienent i must say.
Click to expand...

You can only have one active bundle (with a 30 day expiry), but can immediately buy another one as soon as it expires which again lasts 30 days.

So you're reading it correctly.
 
vodacom3g said:
You can only have one active bundle (with a 30 day expiry), but can immediately buy another one as soon as it expires which again lasts 30 days.

So you're reading it correctly.
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Awesome, yes i expect one can't run "active" bundles simultaneously as the obvious logistical issues will appear like "which bundle will your data subtract from" etc.

ic said:
Definition of Active Data Bundle being a Data Bundle that has not reached its expiry date and has a remaining data transfer allocation?
Click to expand...

Yea, or differently put:
A bundle "expires" when

a] it reaches expiry date [30 days]

OR

b] it is depleted [reaches 0MB]

It's the option that i've discovered that works like magic. MTN required me to have 2+ seperate simcards . Basically no more simswopping to avoid "out-of-bundle" rates.
 
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vodacom3g said:
Are the other networks different with their ppdb's?

/edit - Just saw your reply on MTN above, thanks....
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Yea, it's still a mystery why MTN do this [not allowing you to buy a new bundle until expiry date is reached ] . Considering how easily it can be bypassed [multiple simcards] . End result is still alot of schlep and having to keep track of all your simcards and when the bundles [which are depleted] actually expires so you can use the sim again.

Of course MTN do have different out-of-bundle rates [i.e. R1.20 on a 2GB bundle]. But no one is going to willingly venture in that zone if you can simply buy another bundle and avoid it completely.....
 
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diabolus said:
Yea, it's still a mystery why MTN do this [not allowing you to buy a new bundle until expiry date is reached ] . Considering how easily it can be bypassed [multiple simcards] . End result is still alot of schlep and having to keep track of all your simcards and when the bundles [which are depleted] actually expires so you can use the sim again.

Of course MTN do have different out-of-bundle rates [i.e. R1.20 on a 2GB bundle]. But no one is going to willingly venture in that zone if you can simply buy another bundle and avoid it completely.....
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Obviously I don't know the MTN systems, but I do know that often these funny quirks are not intentional, but rather limitations of the back-end systems. As you rightly point out, it's easy enough to bypass using multiple sims, so I suspect their engines probably can't handle it.
 
vodacom3g said:
Are the other networks different with their ppdb's?

/edit - Just saw your reply on MTN above, thanks....
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There's only one other network with ppdbs afaik. It may/not be intentional but I think it started like that intentionally. The idea was obviously to only allow one bundle per month not thinking of the implications.
diabolus said:
Of course MTN do have different out-of-bundle rates [i.e. R1.20 on a 2GB bundle]. But no one is going to willingly venture in that zone if you can simply buy another bundle and avoid it completely.....
Click to expand...
I think those are only for subscribers. On a prepaid bundle you get charged the standard R2 or I did at least.
 
diabolus said:
Awesome, yes i expect one can't run "active" bundles simultaneously as the obvious logistical issues will appear like "which bundle will your data subtract from" etc.



Yea, or differently put:
A bundle "expires" when

a] it reaches expiry date [30 days]

OR

b] it is depleted [reaches 0MB]

It's the option that i've discovered that works like magic. MTN required me to have 2+ seperate simcards . Basically no more simswopping to avoid "out-of-bundle" rates.
Click to expand...


Whichever comes first, applies here.
 
Hi V3G:)

Can you transfer airtime from a top-up contract to a prepaid sim to purchase a data bundle? The reason I ask is that I don't want to keep swopping my top-up sim from phone to modem and I don't want to miss any calls when the top-up sim is in the modem.

Thanks.
 
SecretCode said:
/me buys vodacom sim
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OK, now (this morning) /me has bought a vodacom SIM (despite the lack of roll-over)

But ...

At first I couldn't even use *100# (response: "request not completed") or make a payment using online banking recharge. But after a while (about 1 hour) I got a flood of SMSes and both these facilities recognised me. So I have airtime on the number. Still, I'm not a patient man.

But *111# then returned "The *111# service is temporarily unavailable", and I could not register at www.vodacom4me.co.za - it said "Subscriber not on the Vodacom network". Why does it take so long? I am not a patient man!

I tried again about 90 minutes later on, and was able to register and buy a data bundle. Loaded the SIM in my E220 and attempted to connect, with the APN 'myMTN' that appeared, and also 'internet'. In all cases the connection failed with Error 619.

Back to vodacom4me, where I found the option to add services.
'Activate GPRS for internet' is not available until you've activated GPRS; 'Activate GPRS' says "We are currently experiencing problems servicing your request."
'Activate Data' says "Please give up to 24 hours for this to take effect."
What's up? :mad: Is the lack of these service activations the reason I can't connect? Why isn't the Data service automatically activated when you buy a data bundle? (Seriously, that one should be fixed.) And why does it take so long? (I'll lose a day of my data bundle!) I am not a patient man!

Seriously ;), am I on the right track and can any of this be accelerated?
 
SecretCode said:
OK, now (this morning) /me has bought a vodacom SIM (despite the lack of roll-over)
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Make sure to request the WAP/MMS settings [even if you have it already]. This seems to activate GPRS . Also yes, it took at least 2 days to be "completely activated" . 1 day just to get on the network, another day for the GPRS.

All those issues sound exactly like i had beginning of the month [1st of may]. I'm surprised it is STILL ongoing! .
 
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Still not connecting! Can someone from Vodacom respond?

Requesting the WAP settings via the handset using *111# also ends up with 'The *111# service is temporarily unavailable'.
 
SecretCode said:
Still not connecting! Can someone from Vodacom respond?

Requesting the WAP settings via the handset using *111# also ends up with 'The *111# service is temporarily unavailable'.
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Have you spoken to (082)155 to check what's up?

Also, I see you're using MTN settings. These (myMTN) obviously won't work.

Maybe check that your dashboard is set up fot the Vodacom network, etc.
 
Hi v3g :)
vodacom3g said:
Have you spoken to (082)155 to check what's up?
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I did about an hour ago. Someone called "Candice" said she would enable 'internet' for me and it would take an hour or possibly longer, but couldn't say if it was already in the process of being set up. (On vodacom4me the services panel line for 'internet' says 'set up gprs first'.)

It may be that vodacom4me and *111# are just not working atm (see the messages I reported above).

vodacom3g said:
Also, I see you're using MTN settings. These (myMTN) obviously won't work.
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I've just realised how dumb that was :( ... but I did try with APN 'internet' as well.

vodacom3g said:
Maybe check that your dashboard is set up fot the Vodacom network, etc.
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I've used the Huawei original dashboard and gingg's E620 Tool with the same results. Can I download Vodacom dashboard software?
 
btw ... what is the difference between GPRS, 'internet', and 'data'?

vodacom4me (in my account > services) says GPRS and internet APN are already enabled but my (non-3G) handset says 'Enable GPRS first' when I try to browse.

When I last looked GPRS and Internet were not active - they were listed on the 'modify services' page instead.

On the 'modify services' page it also offers 'Activate Data'. Isn't gprs data? Do I need 'Data'? :confused:
 
Update: I clicked 'activate data' on vodacom4me at the time of my last post. Now the 'services' panel shows "Data 9600 b/s":eek:
 
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