Pre Paid Data Bundles [PPDBs]

Should this thread be closed (locked)?

  • Yes, put it out of its misery

    Votes: 7 41.2%

  • No, I don't like euthanasia, leave it to die painfully & alone

    Votes: 10 58.8%

  • I'm confused, maybe all of the above

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    17
  • Poll closed .
Realisticaly what price/MB are we looking at?
I know what i'm hoping for: R50 card with 100MB. But thats not gonna happen.
 
well, realistically, i guess i'm not really expecting much difference. i mean that i don't expect that it will be cheaper than contract pricing, but hopefully at least the same. it would be great if there was a tariff-drop across the board, but i don't know if that is something vodacom are considering at all (for pre-paid and contract)

what i do want, though, is to be allowed more than 1 month to use the data. if i were a casual user, for instance, i would be much more inclined to get a 150MB or 250MB bundle, if i knew i had, say, 3 months to use it. i think more people would go for it, translating into more revenue for vodacom. basically a "rollover" option for pre-paid, i guess

just my 2c :)
 
vodacom3g said:
What is your general expectation, in terms of pricing, for the pre-paid data bundles, i.e. how should it (realistically) differ from contract pricing?
Click to expand...

I would expect it to be slightly more expensive than on contract. After all, voice calls are cheaper on contract (except messenger). Say if 200 MB costs R250 on contract, R300 on pre-paid would be acceptable.

But I think the biggest pro for me would be roll over. Then I'd buy 1 GB of data and use it as I please, so then a 15-20% markup on contract prices would not bother me much.

For example, 1 GB for R700, valid 6 months from date of activation
500 MB for R400, valid 4 months from date of activation
75 MB for R130, valid 2 months from date of activation

But I was thinking it could be more practical to just bundle the data together with the current prepaid options. So if I buy a R1000 pre-paid voucher for voice, I can talk, but also surf for 70c per MB and it is valid for however long the current period is on this voucher (1 year I think?)
And R275 would give me talktime and surfing R1.20 per MB and last 6 months, etc.

Why do you ask Vodacom3G? Is this just out of curiosity? If memory serves you said earlier this year that we would get prepaid data by winter? Then the system should be in the testing phase by now?
 
caspa said:
Ajax....Who's side are you on.
Click to expand...

Vodacom3G asked for a "realistic" reply, not wishful thinking! :)
My suggestion is a good start, something that can be improved upon by means of competition between the networks.
 
The delivery of pre-paid has slipped a bit due to system development constraints but is being driven hard to completion.

The product descriptions are being finalised but it's always good to get the forum input. So far most comments are in line with our thinking as well.
 
Last edited:
Prepaid Vouchers ??

I just had a look in the MTN forums and this is what i got from their website:

http://www.mtn.co.za/?pid=232081
In addition, the following is only applicable to the data bundles on prepaid price plans:

* The following prepaid price plans will be able to convert airtime into data bundles: Pay as you Go Classic, Pay as you Go PayBack and Pay as you Go Call per Second.
* Prepaid airtime will be used to pay for data bundles.
* Data bundles can be purchased in three denominations, namely 10 and 100 Megabytes, and 1 Gigabyte.
* Prepaid customers cannot purchase a data bundle while a data bundle is already active on the customer’s account. (Note: An active data bundle means a data bundle with- or without data credit left, anywhere in its 1 month lifespan).
* Prepaid data bundles are not evergreen. Data bundles remain active for 1 month from the day of purchase. (e.g. when a bundle is activated at any time on the 9th of the month, the bundle will be deactivated on the 8th, at 23:59:59 PM and unused data credit will expire).
* Additionally, the applicable out-of-bundle rate remains valid for one month. (e.g. when a bundle is depleted on the second day it was activated, the bundle remains active and the customer will be charged the applicable out-of-bundle rate for the remainder of the month from the activation of the bundle).
* A prepaid customer has the option to purchase either a once-off data bundle (valid for 1 month) or a recurring data bundle (automatically renewed if sufficient airtime credit is available).
* Activating the recurring bundle recharge does not attract an additional fee (activation / cancellation fees / charges).
.....
.....
...
* When a data bundle has been depleted, the applicable out-of-bundle tariff will apply.
* When no data bundle is loaded the Basic data tariff will be applicable.
* Data credit cannot be converted back to Rand value.
* Prepaid customers will be able to purchase data bundles by calling the 141 IVR.
...
Click to expand...

Am i missing something here, or does it mean i'll be compelled to get an MTN prepaid sim to "top-up" my Vodacom contract instead of going out-of-bundle??? Does Vodacom have any similar plans in the works?

EDIT: sentence in bold is what i think "might" be the catch, but might not, i don't know. Reason : Nothing stops someone to buy 2+ prepaid simcards for R5-R10 and loading bundles on each sim "as you need them", and then recycling through them and therefore creating a manual ROLL-OVER effect.
 
Last edited:
Hmm.. the catch to me seems that the bundles are not "evergreen". Thus, no roll-over whatsoever. I definitely do NOT like that.
 
Vodacom does have Prepaid bundles in the pipelines, I suspect they will be available shortly.

I do not like MTN's Fineprint. Infact I do not like MTN. But seriously, have a close read and you quickly realise how restricted things are.
 
Well it still comes down to one important thing:

Don't need a contract to get in-bundle rates. You can buy 100MB for R100 and 1Gb for R500 on >>prepaid<<.

So even without roll-over this is still a very good option, especially when then prepaid MTN sim can work in your Vodafone Datacard.....

Essentially nothing stops me from loading up a 100MB on an MTN prepaid sim whenever i've used up my Vodacom bundle...

Now if only i had MTN 3G coverage :/
 
The rates are much better, R100 for 100MB is not bad at all imo. Ofcourse it could be better. But I think its a great start.
 
I am resurrecting this thread.

Vodacom3g, when are we getting prepaid data bundles?
And what about rollover?
 
V3g any news on prepaid data bundles, please cause only option is to use mtn, which i would rather not do as i prefer to use voda!!
 
ajax said:
I would expect it to be slightly more expensive than on contract. After all, voice calls are cheaper on contract (except messenger). Say if 200 MB costs R250 on contract, R300 on pre-paid would be acceptable.

But I think the biggest pro for me would be roll over. Then I'd buy 1 GB of data and use it as I please, so then a 15-20% markup on contract prices would not bother me much.

For example, 1 GB for R700, valid 6 months from date of activation
500 MB for R400, valid 4 months from date of activation
75 MB for R130, valid 2 months from date of activation

But I was thinking it could be more practical to just bundle the data together with the current prepaid options. So if I buy a R1000 pre-paid voucher for voice, I can talk, but also surf for 70c per MB and it is valid for however long the current period is on this voucher (1 year I think?)
And R275 would give me talktime and surfing R1.20 per MB and last 6 months, etc.

Why do you ask Vodacom3G? Is this just out of curiosity? If memory serves you said earlier this year that we would get prepaid data by winter? Then the system should be in the testing phase by now?
Click to expand...

I second rollover. I'm currently using the promotional bundle on MTN (for buying a 3G SIM) which consists of 300 megs to use over 3 months. During the first month I used only 50 megs and it was great not having to worry that if I didn't use the data by the end of the month I would lose it. Then again I may still be in that situation at the end of the 3 months ;)
 
When can we expect these bundles to come out?

Despite the fact that i am on a vodacom contact - i apparently cannot add bundles (data or sms) to my package. Apparenty my "TopUp" contract is not really a contract package but just a glorified pre-paid deal. I am a little unimpressed by that as i was only made aware of this after having signed up and been on the contract for 5 months :mad:

Anyway - if v3g could just mention that slight information blunder to the powers that be so that others won't screwed by it...

So back to the main issue - i am currently using well over R200 of data transfer per month at the pre-paid tarriff and i would really like to rather be buying bundles for this quantity of use. :cool:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X