Setting up a corporate APN

[TedLasso]

Double posting as I need to know for two mobile networks: Vodacom/MTN

I would appreciate any advice on what the approx costs to setup a dedicated APN on the major mobile networks would cost and if there is a minimum number of devices required to enable this?

We have about just under 100 users across both networks but data utilization is a nightmare. People keep on complaining about data being 'lost', used up without their knowledge etc. I was led to believe that a corporate APN can
1. Help share the data between the devices by allocating / transferring to those that need it legitimately .
2. Provide insight into how it is being used e.g the data that is lost was actually all spent on instagram.

These SIM cards would be used for both Data in tablets and also possibly on corporate phones under consideration.

Is it also possible to have an APN that can host Sim cards from multiple networks? The reason we have a mix of both is that there are some areas in South Africa where 1 network just doesn't work so hence us giving our users the choice to choose between Vodacom/MTN.

Would appreciate if anyone can provide any insights on this topic

 

[irBosOtter]

Could cost between R30 000 and R50 000 a month for a corporate APN with 100Gb data to share between sims.

We getting quotes to replace our Vodacom corporate APN, vodacom are *** expensive!
And you can usually choose between Vodacom/MTN network sims

 

[CataclysmZA]

For a dedicated APN, it would be quite costly, and you'd need to speak directly with Vodacom to get a quote.

For your fixed users that don't move about, have you considered using Vodacom Broadband Connect for Business?

 

[ChrisJ]

We have an APN on Telkom with around 350 sims are use about 200gb per month for about R30000. The Telkom APN roams onto MTN where there's no Telkom coverage. All the sims are provisioned for direct internet access and users connect on our VPN if they need to access corporate services. Allocation of sims and data is very simple with any changes made, active immediately. We way over-allocate data with 900gb currently allocated but very few use their "cap" amount, used so the effective rate per GB per user is quite low. We hard-cap our users, some senior staff then have a separate Rand allocation that can be used in an emergency to get more data - the rest have to contact us to get more data allocated.

You can request access logs of sites visited, we did this initially but gave up as it's very easy to see when someones been playing on Youtube or downloading movies from the session transfer logs. You can also create access groups and block/whitelist certain sites.

We've been with them for around 4 years now and were one of their very first APN clients having been a guinea pig for some of the functionality. We looked at MTN and Vodacom initially but their pricing was horrendous compared with Telkom. I think RSAWeb are offering an APN with both Vodacom and MTN sims.

 

[TedLasso]

Thanks chaps. Will look into it. I contacted 4 companies last week via their websites. Only 1 responded.

It looks like Telkom could be the one as we need voice too and I think they are the only mobile operator who will provide free minutes to other Telkom numbers. Since we are considering replacing fixed landlines with mobiles for all staff, we could provide a SIM with voice (calls between ourselves would be ‘free’) and data (managed by APN) in a phone which users can then just start a hotspot to use other corporate devices.