Pre Paid Data Bundles [PPDBs]

[Kneebough]

v3g is right cause if you think about it, you have to have a contract with vodacom (3g enabled phone to use as a modem) which you will be paying more than R100 p/m to have and then you bolt on a 1 Gb data bundle for R499. It's more expensive than getting the data card and 1 Gb contract for R599.

 

[alchamy]

Aha, so there will be carry-over with a carrot-incentive to stay with Vodacom, sounds fair to me .

I can live with that, what is the lowest amount you will be able to purchase? Will it also carry 30 days?

 

[Newb-lite]

If you're not going to get the latest and greatest data card when you renew your contract, I would suggest you should switch to bundles.

o ok .. i concede this point.

it just feels that the prepaids are getting nicer flexibility. i would like to be able to have my base of eg:1 gig , but if im going to over use one month id like to be able to do like the prepaid guys would , and buy an extra gig for the month... without being then contractualy bound to 2 gig a month from there on.

 

[ambo]

You can buy more than one bundle in a month, and GET THIS: If you buy a new bundle (valid for the next 30 days), any unused data in the previous bundle will now have the same lifespan.

Sounds the same as the sms bundles - except that there are no smaller sms bundles so it doesn't make a huge difference

 

[diabolus]

...and will you be able to do this on contract too? (or am i getting me another prepaid sim tomorrow and cancelling my bundles on my contract ?)

 

[Mams]

Have a look at this

From: ............(Customer Care)
Sent: 31 October 2005 04:00 PM
To: 155 Data Support
Subject: Prepaid Data Bundles


As per N... W.....



Prepaid data bundles launch has been postponed until further notice – Please don’t communicate any product information to subscribers prior to launch date



The launch date will be communicated to you shortly.

 

[Mams]

Have a look at this

From: ........... (Customer Care)
Sent: 31 October 2005 04:00 PM
To: 155 Data Support
Subject: Prepaid Data Bundles


As per N...... W.......



Prepaid data bundles launch has been postponed until further notice – Please don’t communicate any product information to subscribers prior to launch date



The launch date will be communicated to you shortly.

 

[erike]

They know how to get you all excited for a minor let-down

 

[ajax]

GET THIS: If you buy a new bundle (valid for the next 30 days), any unused data in the previous bundle will now have the same lifespan.
So, say you buy a 500Mb bundle on the 10th. It will expire 30 days later. By the 8th, you've only used 400Mb. If you now buy say a 100Mb bundle, you have 200Mb valid for the next 30 days.
In other words all data capacity available to you always carry the lifecycle of the last purchase.
This can lead to some clever 'bundle management'

This sounds promising. V3g, tell me if the following would be ok:

I would be very happy with 150 MB a month. For the sake of the calculations, let's make it 166 MB.
Let's say I buy 1 GB of data on day 1. Then on day 30, after not using even 50% of my 1GB, I buy a 20 MB bundle for R35. So, what's left of the 1 GB "carries over" to the next 30 day period. Then on day 60 I still have lots of unused data, so I buy another 20 MB for R35. I keep doing this so that I in total I buy an additional 5 x 20 MB bundles on top of my 1 GB bought on day 1.
In other words, over a 6 month period, I will have bought 1.1 GB of data for the price of R500 + 5xR35 = R675. This equates to 60.05c per MB or R112.50 per month for 6 months for 187.3 MB per month!

Question 1: Is it correct to say that if I keep buying 20 MB bundles on day 30/60/90 etc I can keep using ALL of the data bought in total up till that point?
If this is true, Vodacom just won a loyal customer for at least the next 6 months

Question 2: Seeing now that I have to keep very good record of when I bought what and remember every time to "recharge" on 30 day increments, it would be silly to lose all of the unused data if I forget and only buy another bundle on day 31? Will the system "remember" how much I had left and "reactivate" my "lost" data just like unused prepaid airtime when your time window expired?

Sorry for this long and complicated post, but I think these questions are important

 

[vodacom3g]

what is the lowest amount you will be able to purchase? Will it also carry 30 days?

Same as the normal bundles, i.e. 20Mb and it will carry.

 

[vodacom3g]

v3g, this might be a dumb question - does one have to buy a physical pre-paid-data-bundle voucher?, or will pre-paid-data-bundle purchases also be available online via vodacom4me.co.za?

Need to check.

 

[jarr]

v3g, this might be a dumb question - does one have to buy a physical pre-paid-data-bundle voucher?, or will pre-paid-data-bundle purchases also be available online via vodacom4me.co.za?

or maybe like a certain competitor's offering which merely "converts" your existing airtime into data for the amount you choose?

ie, you currently have R50-00 worth of airtime, and by dialing 111 or 0821187 you choose to load a 20MB bundle for R35-00, leaving you with R15-00 airtime and 20MB data

 

[Mams]

They know how to get you all excited for a minor let-down

MINOR LET down??????????
i cancelled my data bundle because the guy on 155 said the new prepaid bundles come active on the 1st November.
Now im not using any bundle WAITING for the prepaid bundles and paying R2 per mb!!!already used 20mb = R40 whereas i could have paid R12...............

Called 155 today: " sorry sir, the prepaid data bundle launch has been cancelled "..." we have no idea why nor when it will be launched "

This is what they were told:

From: L Van Der Merwe (Customer Care)
Sent: 31 October 2005 04:00 PM
To: 155 Data Support
Subject: Prepaid Data Bundles


As per Neil Wyeth



Prepaid data bundles launch has been postponed until further notice – Please don’t communicate any product information to subscribers prior to launch date



The launch date will be communicated to you shortly.













“This e-mail is sent on the Terms and Conditions that can be accessed by Clicking on this link http://www.vodacom.net/legal/email.aspx "

Now why has it been delayed and till when? Voacom wants to screw us for a bit longer????
Our posts showing that you can manage bundles easily and avoid loosing MBs and money have caught their eye so they want to change the system?????

TIME will TELL

 

[vodacom3g]

The guys are still doing some final stability and performance testing.

 

[murray654]

Update please

Is there any update re prepaid data bundles? - e.g. new revised expected date of release? ...something to look forward to.

 

[piranha786]

I just got a email from vodacom - Data bundles is available

 

[ajax]

I just got a email from vodacom - Data bundles is available

For pre-paid? How do you get it?
I dialled the number for recharging which is 100 and there wasn't an option to load data bundles.

Please copy that email here, won't you!

 

[jarr]

For pre-paid? How do you get it?
I dialled the number for recharging which is 100 and there wasn't an option to load data bundles.

Please copy that email here, won't you!

and maybe v3g could confirm this? - too many "false alarms" lately

 

[piranha786]

It is in a PDF YEBO Newsletter NOV 2005 so I just copied the part related to prepaid

Prepaid & Top Up Customers
Prepaid and Top Up customers now have the
option of buying a data bundle that lasts for a
period of 30 days. This means that customers
can now get a megabyte of data for as little as
49 cents as opposed to R2.00 per megabyte.
The table on the left details the different options
that are available.
Customers can purchase these bundles in
three different ways i.e.
• By sending an SMS to the number 100.
The SMS must contain the respective data
bundle they would like to purchase eg.
My Meg 150
• By dialling *111# and selecting a data
bundle from the menu
• By visiting www.vodacom4me.co.za
The charge for the data bundle selected, will be
deducted from the customer's airtime account
and from then on the customer's data bundle
will be held and managed separately from his
normal airtime account.


NEW DATA TARIFF OPTIONS
Vodacom has introduced a number of new
data offerings for Contract customers, Top Up
and Prepaid customers.

These options include:

AD-HOC DATA BUNDLES AND DATA BUNDLES
FOR PREPAID AND TOP UP CUSTOMERS
Data Bundle Cost Data Effective
Included Charge per MB
3G 20 & My Meg 20 R35.00 20 MB R1.75
3G 75 & My Meg 75 R110.00 75 MB R1.47
3G 150 & My Meg 150 R149.00 150 MB 99 cents
3G 250 & My Meg 250 R200.00 250 MB 80 cents
3G 500 & My Meg 500 R350.00 500 MB 70 cents
3G One & My Meg One R499.00 1 GB 49 cents
3G One & My Meg Two R998.00 2 GB 49 cents
3G One & My Meg Three R1497.00 3 GB 49 cents
3G One & My Meg Five R2495.00 5 GB 49 cents
3G One & My Meg Ten R4990.00 10 GB 49 cents

 

[vodacom3g]

I just got a email from vodacom - Data bundles is available

Probably another 'false alarm' The guys are still busy with testing.

piranha786, won't you PM me the mail you got? It's probably a marketing action that was triggered a while ago based on the 1st of November launch date.