Prepaid vs contract: how much we spend on mobile networks

[Kevin Lancaster]

Prepaid vs contract: how much South Africans spend on mobile networks

Results from a new IAB and Effective Measure poll look at how much contract and prepaid mobile subscribers pay in relation to one another.

 

[ColinR]

Contract pricing is too high. I go for the lowest call rate, and prepaid gets all the love!

 

[Fudzy]

Contracts are just a cheaper way to get handsets.

 

[Chevron]

Contracts are just a cheaper way to get handsets.

And remove hassle of worrying about airtime.

 

[ColinR]

Airtime is hardly a hassle anymore, in the days of scratch cards, sure. Now every bank has an app. One click, loaded.
If you bought in prepaid, you monthly contract spend, you'd go for months without needing to load.

 

[MickZA]

The infographic below summarises the findings of the poll.

... I pity any poor sod trying read that on a mobile, I battled on my 24" monitor at 200% !!!

 

[krycor]

Contract pricing is too high. I go for the lowest call rate, and prepaid gets all the love!

Here's the thing.. if you look at contract pricing the 'minutes' bundled with smart phone for me just free & accrues for when i desperately need it in emergency, not home(i have a landline for lengthy calls to parents or gf/siblings not on wifi for whatsapp) so its kinda just there.. so for me its just extra. The new iPhone contract i have works out to free airtime last i checked and most of my contracts actually work out this way.

 

[LCBXX]

Telkom Contract with a cheap handset (sold) with 100min Voice and 1GB Data, with rollover (R99pm). Add additional voice minutes as required. Bought handset separately. Rarely costs more than R200pm.

 

[rubber_otter]

And remove hassle of worrying about airtime.

I use prepaid to remove the fear of the OOB Shark

 

[Masataka]

Bought my Xperia Z2 for R4.5k new, and spend about R60 on a mix of airtime and data each month - having wifi at home and the office pretty much negates the need to use mobile data.

If I went with the contract option, after 2 years that would have cost me 12k.

 

[koeks525]

I probably spend around R200 a month on my phone... got a 1GB TopUp contract from Vodacom which is R85 a month... load R100 airtime to make phone calls and send SMS's... There is an additional R9.50 which I pay each month for Caller Line Identity

Loving Vodacom's LTE network... Maybe when Cell C looks better I may go back.

 

[cozinsky]

I probably spend around R200 a month on my phone... got a 1GB TopUp contract from Vodacom which is R85 a month... load R100 airtime to make phone calls and send SMS's... There is an additional R9.50 which I pay each month for Caller Line Identity

Loving Vodacom's LTE network... Maybe when Cell C looks better I may go back.

I did not know it was possible to load airtime on a data contract?

 

[MartyMarts]

Cell C prepaid... wifi + R50 to R70 airtime keeps me covered for a month. I seem to keep 'forfeiting' some of it though - I think it expires after 30 days? Bastids.

I suppose a contract makes sense if you want to keep recycling high-end devices every 2 years.

 

[koeks525]

I did not know it was possible to load airtime on a data contract?

Well I am on a TopUp contract. When I went to Vodacom I told them to link the contact to my existing phone number

 

[kianm]

Contracts are like imprisonment. Once you sign that dotted line ,your options get cut down to none

 

[RogerWilcoZA]

I moved from Vodacom Smart L contract (R529 p/m) to MTN Prepaid last month. With my usage I see a nice saving. For example,

Vodacom Smart L: R529 p/m for 250 minutes + 500 SMS (never use these) + 500mb data

MTN prepaid: R200 p/m airtime (actually used R170 with R30 rolling over last month) + 500mb data through Axxess APN @ R98p/m = R268, works out to approx. R260 saving p/m for the same service.

A big plus as well is not being locked into a contract for 2 years, where your unused minutes and data go poof every month instead of rolling over.