The best smartphones you can get on contract in South Africa for less than R800 a month

[mylesillidge]

Best smartphones you can get for under R800 a month

Smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung launched a slew of new devices in 2021, and South Africa's major mobile network providers are offering them on contract.

These high-end devices have hefty price tags if you buy them cash, resulting in many South Africans preferring to get them on contract.

 

[2021]

I can't justify spending that much a month on a cellphone these days. With work from home and wifi, it makes little sense to have such large contracts.

 

[Martin 007]

I don't know what the difference is between a R2 500 and R20 000 phone in terms of making / receiving a call. In addition to exit these contracts is painful operation, I rather pay cash and pay as I go. Standard Bank sells one gig of data for R85, voice calls on WhatsApp or Zoom are near perfect. Phones break and after two years are ready to be replaced. Lots of better things to spend my money on.

 

[Fred07]

I also don't waste money on contracts anymore just to use an expensive flagship which I don't need. Hate the bills and locked in contracts and billing fights .

Pay as you go is stress free .

 

[Lupus]

I can't justify spending that much a month on a cellphone these days. With work from home and wifi, it makes little sense to have such large contracts.

Sadly WFH is going to start disappearing this year, corporates want their offices filled

 

[backstreetboy]

No thanks. Air mobile prepaid 2gb for only R60 plus another gig free. Much cheaper and more data than these so called "large" contracts.

 

[Dan C]

I also don't waste money on contracts anymore just to use an expensive flagship which I don't need. Hate the bills and locked in contracts and billing fights .

Pay as you go is stress free .

I buy my phones cash. But I do have a sim only contract which is R89 / month. It gives my more than enough airtime per month. Hell some months go passed where I don't make a single call.

 

[Lupus]

No thanks. Air mobile prepaid 2gb for only R60 plus another gig free. Much cheaper and more data than these so called "large" contracts.

How does the free gig work? Cause I have that 60 rand deal.
I see MTN has this for R79, 10Gb

https://www.incredible.co.za/media/wysiwyg/IC159943_MTN_Cat_Banner_332x216_2.jpg

 

[Jean Claude Vaaldamme]

My whole family moved to Telkom recently. They offer above your normal free minutes etc, an additional free minutes for Telkom to Telkom. It starts from 500min/m on the lowest contracts up to 3000min/m. So now we can get some of the cheaper contracts as we don't really care about data, and we have plenty free minutes to call each other and landlines.

 

[Fred07]

MTN deal for R150 a month. A gig a day for 30 days. That suits my style because I don't use more than a gig a day anyway.

I can read the news, visit here, visit Imgur (not for long...eats data), Sunday Times, check my mail and a bit of porn lol.

 

[Johnatan56]

Sadly WFH is going to start disappearing this year, corporates want their offices filled

What? My South African contract had no intention of changing, here the one I got is majority work from home with exception of a few days a month (average max 1 per week) which is for team building days.

Lots of companies are moving to a WFH only model, if your company doesn't want to do that, start searching for a new place.

Where a friend works at, before pandemic they never considered WFH, now they are 3 days at home a week and that will continue permanently as got added to contracts now.

It's going to become rarer having contracts without some days WFH baked in, all depending on the job.

 

[backstreetboy]

How does the free gig work? Cause I have that 60 rand deal.
I see MTN has this for R79, 10Gb

https://www.incredible.co.za/media/wysiwyg/IC159943_MTN_Cat_Banner_332x216_2.jpg

You just claim it monthly from the great Afrihost app. That's a great deal just wish it wasn't a contract.

 

[Lupus]

What? My South African contract had no intention of changing, here the one I got is majority work from home with exception of a few days a month (average max 1 per week) which is for team building days.

Lots of companies are moving to a WFH only model, if your company doesn't want to do that, start searching for a new place.

Where a friend works at, before pandemic they never considered WFH, now they are 3 days at home a week and that will continue permanently as got added to contracts now.

It's going to become rarer having contracts without some days WFH baked in, all depending on the job.

Large corporates with offices want their people back. They need to justify those offices

 

[Johnatan56]

Large corporates with offices want their people back. They need to justify those offices

So what you're saying is that some large corporations will want to waste money on rent instead of scaling it down and letting people work from home?

You're generalizing all companies, a lot will keep the WFH model, again depending on your job.

 

[Lupus]

So what you're saying is that some large corporations will want to waste money on rent instead of scaling it down and letting people work from home?

You're generalizing all companies, a lot will keep the WFH model, again depending on your job.

They aren't renting, it is stupid I know but that is the mindset of a lot of big companies

 

[Polymathic]

I can't justify paying R800 on a device without at least 75GB of mobile data a month

 

[wireddreams]

To the "I can't justify. I can't justify" gang... No one asked you to justify anything. Buy your cheap Nokias and leave us larneys to buy proper phones. You're so annoying. Yerrrr. These contracts aren't for strugglers or social grant recipients

 

[Johnatan56]

To the "I can't justify. I can't justify" gang... No one asked you to justify anything. Buy your cheap Nokias and leave us larneys to buy proper phones. You're so annoying. Yerrrr. These contracts aren't for strugglers or social grant recipients

I'm pretty sure I'm not classified as a struggler, nor as a social grant recipient.

The argument is more that it's no longer (if it ever was) worth spending that much money on a phone. Lots of midrange R6k phones that would meet most people's requirements.

They aren't renting, it is stupid I know but that is the mindset of a lot of big companies

That's a minority of companies who own it, for most it's long term leases.

 

[El Presidente]

To the "I can't justify. I can't justify" gang... No one asked you to justify anything. Buy your cheap Nokias and leave us larneys to buy proper phones. You're so annoying. Yerrrr. These contracts aren't for strugglers or social grant recipients

Somehow, it feels very wrong to call oneself a "larney"

 

[Dan C]

To the "I can't justify. I can't justify" gang... No one asked you to justify anything. Buy your cheap Nokias and leave us larneys to buy proper phones. You're so annoying. Yerrrr. These contracts aren't for strugglers or social grant recipients

A lot of 'strugglers' are lured into getting these larney phones on contract.