Vodacom - Cannot upgrade/downgrade with a 24 months contract ?

Dolby

Dolby

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An extension of my previous post ...

My Smart M+ contract ends on the 13 November and my idea was to phone in and downgrade to a Smart S thereafter. But - the guy that just phoned me said it was impossible unless a sign a new 24 month contract for the plan? He said my only if I choose to stay on Smart M+ ... do I get a month by month.

According to him, any upgrade/downgrade I do will start a new 24 month contract (without the device).

Is that right ?
 
You buy airtime as and when you need.. No minutes, but I believe you may be able to buy minutes with your airtime for better value (don't quote me on that)..

There are a few prepaid price plans you can choose from with various pricing for calls.. You can find them here with the relevant pricing..

https://www.vodacom.co.za/vodacom/terms/pricing-guide/

You then also use your airtime to buy data bundles of you do not wish to get raped by out of bundle data prices per megabyte..
 
I'm wondering how much I'd save ... the plan is R299.00 with 200 minutes / 650MB
 
Where are you based? Do you have good Telkom or MTN signal? Get yourself the Telkom FreeMe on prepaid.
https://secure.telkom.co.za/today/shop/plan/freeme-bundles-plan/

FreeMe Boost bundles are valid for 31 days from the date of purchase, where after the bundle expires
Click to expand...
You can also set it recurring.
FreeMe Boost bundles offer customers a data allocation, with the following common benefits as part of the bundle:
5.1. 100 SMS to use in the 31-day validity period,
5.2. 300 minutes of calls to Telkom Mobile and Telkom fixed line numbers to use in the 31-day validity period &
5.3. 500MB Instant Messaging data that can be used for messaging and voice calls on WhatsApp, Viber & BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) in the 31-day validity period.
7. FreeMe Boost bundles can be purchased using available airtime on Prepaid, TopUp, Saver or FreeMe TopUp plans or from the available customer spend limit on Contract, Smart Contract, SmartPlan, FreeMe, Unlimited Lite or Smart One-rate plans.
8. FreeMe Boost bundles can be purchased using Telkom’s Self Service Menu on *180#, via the Telkom Mobile Application, at leading retailers and Telkom Direct Shops.
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You can roam onto MTN 3G if no Telkom signal.

if you need the minutes:
1540996934620.png
But tbh, do you really call that much? Out of bundle calls are R0.70/minute. On bundle is R0.40 per minute for your 200 minutes.


1GB FreeMe is R100 a month or R70 for 500MB, R80 for 200 minutes. So R150/R180 instead while you could adjust to needs, plus you're getting a couple of hundred MB in social media bundles and to Telkom number calling minutes.
 
Johnatan56 said:
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He said my average is 120 minutes and right now I'm on a 400 minute.

I do use Telkom for data though, so it's only really the voice I need to worry about. Telkom at home the signal is fine - but there is a part of me that would rather stick with voice on Vodacom. But yea, seems like it would be 1/3 with Telkom.
 
Dolby said:
He said my average is 120 minutes and right now I'm on a 400 minute.

I do use Telkom for data though, so it's only really the voice I need to worry about. Telkom at home the signal is fine - but there is a part of me that would rather stick with voice on Vodacom. But yea, seems like it would be 1/3 with Telkom.
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So R40 for 100 minutes, then another R14 OOB. That's for the months you go over the 100, plus the calls to Telkom numbers would reduce your total. Your total bill will be under half of the cost of the contract you want to move to with more benefits. I see no point in sticking with Vodacom. Plus prepaid, so just leave whenever you want, take advantage of Telkom Mo'Nice specials, etc.

Personally don't have a problem on calling with Telkom versus Vodacom, don't really see a difference. Admittedly I rarely do, as mostly calling via WiFi. Checking my outbound call logs, I am at about 3 minutes this month, lol, and 55 seconds are to a Telkom number. Rest is mostly Telegram and WhatsApp.

EDIT: I do have about 15 minutes incoming calls, don't really have a quality problem. Telegram call quality is still better for me though, actually find it better than Vdoacom's VoLTE on a G5 depending on the other person's device and connection.
 
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He didn't even phone me back now ... so I guess I go another month on the wrong package :/
 
Dolby said:
He didn't even phone me back now ... so I guess I go another month on the wrong package :/
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One thing forgot to mention, 2GB or larger has Telkom LIT music, works for Apple and Google Music. Still want Spotify support. :(

And Telkom Mo'Nice, just checked my offers, I have a 50 minutes all network for R21. So cheaper than out of bundle if you want to buy that instead every 14/30 days dependent.
 
Johnatan56 said:
One thing forgot to mention, 2GB or larger has Telkom LIT music, works for Apple and Google Music. Still want Spotify support. :(

And Telkom Mo'Nice, just checked my offers, I have a 50 minutes all network for R21. So cheaper than out of bundle if you want to buy that instead every 14/30 days dependent.
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You would forgive me for thinking that you work as a salesman for Telkom..
 
WAslayer said:
You would forgive me for thinking that you work as a salesman for Telkom..
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Yeah, I kinda start advocating products when I research things a lot, my contract is up for renewal in just over a month, so was scoping market again.
It's just sad that there is no competition among Vodacom, MTN and CellC, only one is Telkom, which is crazy, it's TELKOM.

I also kinda advocate Vox on OpenServe, Cool Ideas on everyone else, Linux alternatives if not needing MS centric apps, etc.
I don't like people being taken for a ride when they could have settled for something cheaper, especially if it better suits their needs.

I'd be a terrible business owner, trying to go too far for every customer, lol.
 
So a little later I decided to call them back, as I wanted to arrange everything by 1 November.

The plan is 200 minutes and 650MB (which I won't use) @ R229.00 for 24 months.

Using the Telkom SIM for data, I should have saving R700+pm from December :)

EDIT : The R299 is if I take a month by month apparently. And there is *also* a R1.6k migration fee if taken monthly
 
Dolby said:
An extension of my previous post ...

My Smart M+ contract ends on the 13 November and my idea was to phone in and downgrade to a Smart S thereafter. But - the guy that just phoned me said it was impossible unless a sign a new 24 month contract for the plan? He said my only if I choose to stay on Smart M+ ... do I get a month by month.

According to him, any upgrade/downgrade I do will start a new 24 month contract (without the device).

Is that right ?
Click to expand...

No....that is not correct. You can do a downward migration without affecting the contract term.
 
Ockie said:
No....that is not correct. You can do a downward migration without affecting the contract term.
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I think you are right. Problem is with downward migration fees during duration of the contract as mentioned in the post. If you could clarify this issue, I think OP would be satisfied.
 
Ockie said:
No....that is not correct. You can do a downward migration without affecting the contract term.
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Ok - already done :(

Someone else in upgrades said the same thing ie I cannot move to anything other than what I have, unless I sign a 24 month contract.
 
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