Pre Paid Data Bundles [PPDBs]

[74466]

i have to disagree with the bundle carry over idea. sure for us working class it is cool and would save up money, but looking at another side of the story.

teenagers and students is a very big data business and how and wierd can a student or teenager afford to pay R400 ONCE OFF for a bundle, and once the bundle runs out in 4 or 5 months where do they get another R400 for yet another bundle?

 

[adsl3g]

It's a better price/performance ratio than 50c/Mb on GPRS/EDGE.

Not so in my case unfortunately, I do not have VC or MTN 3G - only MTN and VM EDGE. So the price performance thing does not work for me at least at my place of residence and I am quite happy with VM and MTN EDGE speeds - oh and I do also not seem to get VC EDGE at least according to the map and judging from GPRS speeds on VC it is not EDGE.

 

[adsl3g]

i have to disagree with the bundle carry over idea. sure for us working class it is cool and would save up money, but looking at another side of the story.

teenagers and students is a very big data business and how and wierd can a student or teenager afford to pay R400 ONCE OFF for a bundle, and once the bundle runs out in 4 or 5 months where do they get another R400 for yet another bundle?

I also agree with this - I'd rather use data out of bundle at a cheap rate on EDGE than get a databundle - I do not know what my data usage will be in a month... Using out of bundle cheap rates you don't have to work within a target and check every 2 days to see what is left etc etc. I rather like the idea of roll over bundles and then the service stops when the bundle is depleated. With out of bundle cheap rates, i can use the data until my card is empty - using a pre paid sim.

What would be nice is a re-charge voucher just for data that only dies once it is depleted.

 

[kedul]

I mostly get the sms much later

 

[Prometheus]

All Vodacom needs to do is give us carry-over. Then you buy 1 GB of data for R400 (3G only of course) and pay 40c a MB without worrying when it will expire, as long as you have an active time window of course. This will lead to better load distribution over time as there won't be a frantic download frenzy just before expiry.

It is another opportunity for Vodacom to be "first" with another customer demanded feature for their products.

Actually my vote goes to VM for being first this time. By introducing a 50c/mb flat rate they have beaten almost all bundle prices and there is no hassle to buy a bundle and no need for carry over. Sort of like a bundle you pay off as you use it. I like the idea of one balance for everything at affordable rates. The only thing I don't get is why you pay less for your calls after the first five minutes and less for sms's after the first five on the same day but not for data. Maybe because where they come from people don't use mobile as a primary cheaper connection. Hooray for Virgin being first.

I would have done
... "just downloading anything before expiry for the sake of not feeling like you've lost munny " ....

If only I knew on the last day of the month weather I am not actualy on my limit yet .. with the delay in Vodacom4Me showing the usage, I often loose out lots of megabytes on my add hoc add on bundles .. too scared I will pay R2.00 per MB.

Maybe they should add a special APN that disconnects the moment the bundle runs out

They should tell you how much is left together with your prepaid balance like MTN does.

 

[diabolus]

don't u get the sms's from VC??
Yesterday, while hanging on for an operator on dialing 082155, I memorised the recording playing over&over ..."...when u have get a databundle, u will receive 2 free sms's from VC, one to notify you that your databundle is getting low, and another to tell u that yoru bundle has just run out..."

Yes you do, but you don't get it WHILE you are downloading say, a 100MB file . I only get the SMS when i disconnect/reconnect, and even then it's usually too late, especially if we're talking about "finishing off your bundle" , because this happens in a few hours . Sometimes i don't even get the "used bundle 80%" one, because i've went from 80% to 130% in one download ....and then you get this when you disconnect :

Vodacom: You have used your monthly data bundle,and can continue at the out of bundle rate. NOTE:This information can be up to 3 hours old, from last disconnect

This is exactly why i prefer prepaid [MTN] or flat-rates [Virgin] , as i don't get penalized for downloading MORE [and one would think Voda/Mtn/Virgin WANTS us to download more, yet bundles actually artificifically limits you ].

 

[Prometheus]

This is exactly why i prefer prepaid [MTN] or flat-rates [Virgin] , as i don't get penalized for downloading MORE [and one would think Voda/Mtn/Virgin WANTS us to download more, yet bundles actually artificifically limits you ].

With MTN you can actually download a bit more than your bundle once it reaches zero before it disappears from your balance and you are charged the out of bundle rate. And Virgin and Cell-C actually adds some money to your account sometimes.

 

[Mams]

Guys..ive been away for a month...are PPDB on Vodacom here? or are we still waiting?

 

[davidwza]

Very simple question

please can someone tell me if you can purchase a pay as you go sim card and load data bundles onto it with Vodacom, i am yet to find anyone at any shop both at Vodaworld and telephonically who can answer this simple question, I know you can do it on MTN.

 

[Rikkelz]

No, Vodacom do not offer PPDBs (Pre Paid Data Bundles) yet. So you will be charged the full R2/MB (R2048/GB).

Virgin Mobile is 4 x Cheaper.

 

[BeVonk!]

Virgin Mobile is 4 x Cheaper.

but 5 x slower

 

[internaut]

What we as the consumer need is for VC to run into some serious competition as far as price and data throughput is concerned. VM is getting there but still have not got the guavas to take VC head-on in the ssSSPEED stakes. So for now my dear friends they are gonna shag us for a month of Sundays for every cent we can take a bond out on.

 

[redarrow]

but 5 x slower

Not for everyone
In my case I recieve such a pathetic signal from Vodacom that it would probably be faster to send a floppy disk back and forth via postage...

For example, I happen to be online via Vodacom right now because my prepaid VM sim ran out of airtime, and I'm not going to run out now to get some so I just use my prepaid Vodacom cellphone... This page took exactly 186.687 seconds to load and if you think thats bad... It was the second attempt to load the page - I hit reload when the first attempt reached over 220 seconds..

And this is not an isolated incident btw... it's quite normal on Vodacom GPRS around here...

For me VM is way way way faster...

EDIT: excuse my off topic rant... using this connection puts me in a bad mood

 

[internaut]

Doesn't it feel like like you're stuck in the past, redarrow?
/me thinks - I'll have to give him about 3 minutes before he sees this.

 

[AirWolf]

i live outside 3g coverage and pick up good coverage 50% of the time. im using my phone as a modem for my pc. when im picking up gprs it is also frustratingly slow. i usually give up if it takes more than 30seconds to load a page

 

[redarrow]

Doesn't it feel like like you're stuck in the past, redarrow?
/me thinks - I'll have to give him about 3 minutes before he sees this.

More like 24 hours...
I gave up trying to surf on VC yesterday..
Now I got some more VM airtime... I'm back

Page only took 12.220 seconds to load on VM GPRS

 

[internaut]

Looks like it was an overall WEB problem. I gave up after a while as well and realised that my 3min estimate was a bit ambitious.

 

[Prometheus]

but 5 x slower

Not for everyone
In my case I recieve such a pathetic signal from Vodacom that it would probably be faster to send a floppy disk back and forth via postage...

For example, I happen to be online via Vodacom right now because my prepaid VM sim ran out of airtime, and I'm not going to run out now to get some so I just use my prepaid Vodacom cellphone... This page took exactly 186.687 seconds to load and if you think thats bad... It was the second attempt to load the page - I hit reload when the first attempt reached over 220 seconds..

And this is not an isolated incident btw... it's quite normal on Vodacom GPRS around here...

For me VM is way way way faster...

EDIT: excuse my off topic rant... using this connection puts me in a bad mood

Same scenario here. Average Vodacom GPRS speed is 500B/s. On VM it is in the region of 5-10KB/s and on EDGE (which Vodacom doesn't seem to have ) it's 20KB/s. So VM is the way better connection and Vodacom should get their act together as ever since 3G they are neglecting their GPRS customers.

 

[broken1]

After 37 pages of this thread...I STILL have not come to the conclusion WHEN ARE PPDB coming? I am going to buy a 3g/HSDPA card in the next week or so, so that I can be connected while on the move...but I can't pay R2 per meg, when I know virgin is offering 50c per meg.

I saw the 3g 150 bundle is R120 which works out to 79c per meg. I would pay that cause it's faster...BUT WHEN? I can't use my contract card in my 3g card as I would need it for calls.

 

[Prometheus]

It's too little too late. To make it worth my while they must remove the bundle expiry or it wouldn't match VM's deal. Otherwise I would still pay R399pm to even have the chance of beating VM's 50c/MB which would not be worth it if I lose my balance and end up paying more than 50c/MB. Then they are still stuck on the R2.00/MB out of bundle charge after depleting your bundle while MTN charges you a lower rate after your bundle is depleted. Bundles and bundle expiry are now completely outdated and you STILL don't even have them on prepaid which is the majority of your users.

Hey, you stopped free vlive without even a warning as it served your interest. So why don't you have ppdbs? It's because you don't want to give "cheap" rates to your customers as you are happy with milking them dry. IT'S PATHETIC!!!!!!! FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE VODACOM, WAKE UP FROM YOUR PREHISTORIC SLUMBER AND SMELL THE STUFF KNOWN AS COFFEE.