Vodacom.. YOU DOGS!!! rant...

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plugger123

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So I heard vodacom have an option of a second sim that you can use for your 3G modem. A data sim only in addition to your standard sim card. Would make it really convenient so that I don't have to swop out the sim continually when using Vodacom's 3G.

So I go to the shop today and according to them you cannot do it with a topup contract. Crap!!! and I still have 23 months left on this contract. I would not have taken this contract if I knew this was not possible.

I will probably get nowhere to try and get a data sim or by phoning 111. So this is my attempt to at least do something. At least I can show Vodacom the middle finger in a forum.
 
plugger123 said:
So I heard vodacom have an option of a second sim that you can use for your 3G modem. A data sim only in addition to your standard sim card. Would make it really convenient so that I don't have to swop out the sim continually when using Vodacom's 3G.

So I go to the shop today and according to them you cannot do it with a topup contract. Crap!!! and I still have 23 months left on this contract. I would not have taken this contract if I knew this was not possible.

I will probably get nowhere to try and get a data sim or by phoning 111. So this is my attempt to at least do something. At least I can show Vodacom the middle finger in a forum.
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Seemingly unimportant, but which shop was this?
 
Never go on a rumour.

Make sure it is stated in black and white, or even on their Website somewhere.
 
ic said:
Seemingly unimportant, but which shop was this?
Click to expand...

Vodashop Kolonade Pretora. Man, this sucks. Will phone them tomorrow and try and do something about it but I doubt I'll get anywhere.
 
plugger123 said:
So I heard vodacom have an option of a second sim that you can use for your 3G modem. A data sim only in addition to your standard sim card. Would make it really convenient so that I don't have to swop out the sim continually when using Vodacom's 3G.

So I go to the shop today and according to them you cannot do it with a topup contract. Crap!!! and I still have 23 months left on this contract. I would not have taken this contract if I knew this was not possible.

I will probably get nowhere to try and get a data sim or by phoning 111. So this is my attempt to at least do something. At least I can show Vodacom the middle finger in a forum.
Click to expand...

On http://www.vodacom.co.za/services/data_sim/terms_and_conditions.jsp:
The Data SIM will only be available to Contract subscribers (excluding Top Up) via their relevant Service Provider.
Click to expand...
 
plugger123 said:
Vodashop Kolonade Pretora. Man, this sucks. Will phone them tomorrow and try and do something about it but I doubt I'll get anywhere.
Click to expand...
Seems like you should have read the readily available DataSIM Terms & Conditions first, and the retail outlet staff are correct. As I often say, do your research first before making any long term commitments - one only has oneself to blame for not doing the necessary research.
 
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ic said:
Seems like you should have read the readily available DataSIM Terms & Conditions first, and the retail outlet staff are correct. As I often say, do you research first before making any long term commitments - one only has oneself to blame for not doing the necessary research.
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It seems plugger only heard of DataSim after he had already taken out the Top-Up contract.

As I've often indicated in the past, one of the primary reasons why we still have separate post- and pre-paid billing systems, is due to the ability of the post-paid system to handle complex setups.

And this is probably one of them. But I've asked in any case.....
 
vodacom3g said:
It seems plugger only heard of DataSim after he had already taken out the Top-Up contract.

As I've often indicated in the past, one of the primary reasons why we still have separate post- and pre-paid billing systems, is due to the ability of the post-paid system to handle complex setups.

And this is probably one of them. But I've asked in any case.....
Click to expand...
The reason I still have not taken out a TopUp contract is quite simply that all indications are that DataSIM [something I really want] is *not* available to TopUp customers, and I insist on using PPDBs instead of CDBs.

As we know, there is a thread in this forum all about DataSIM, and it is well documented that DataSIM is not available to Vodacom's pre-paid and TopUp customers, ergo my lack of sympathy - as the saying goes 'search the forum' - something that few people seem to do lately - which is really frustrating to put it mildly.
 
I actually phoned vodacom before taking out the contract to enquire about the 'data' sim card. The word 'contract' was used in the conversation and not 'top up contract'. So.. this must have been where the discrepency came in. All in all I should have read everything thoroughly before taking out the contract. Big bummer... Maybe I can switch the contract for another...
 
plugger123 said:
Maybe I can switch the contract for another...
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There was a thread a few days back that suggested that migrating between contracts is easier and less traumatic than cancelling, if you are going to do this, I recommend the [searchforum]4U Contract[/searchforum] - don't know if it will be a valid migration option for you though.
 
plugger123 said:
I actually phoned vodacom before taking out the contract to enquire about the 'data' sim card. The word 'contract' was used in the conversation and not 'top up contract'. So.. this must have been where the discrepency came in. All in all I should have read everything thoroughly before taking out the contract. Big bummer... Maybe I can switch the contract for another...
Click to expand...

Yes, these Top-Up contracts can be confusing.

Essentially there are three different offerings from Vodacom.

1) Pure pre-paid.
2) Pure post-paid, i.e. the 'normal' contracts.
3) 'Hybrids' where you get a contract but it's run on the pre-paid system and you get the advantages of the pre-paid billing system (no bill shock, real-time billing, etc. - all the stuff ic loves :)) These include the Top-Up contracts.

Converting to a normal post-paid contract should be feasible.
 
Hehehe, once again, the weird TopUp contract that has the worst of both worlds (prepaid and topup) and few of the perks :p

I remember how upset people were when they found out that vodacom yebo4less did not include TopUp (although they did fix this, to some extent)

My two pet peeves about TopUp:
1. No airtime transfer for the original airtime.
2. No datasim.

I may still have made use of vodacom if they allowed this to buy data bundles. But alas, thank to their corporate "screw the hostages" attitude I had to seek greener pastures.
 
Pilgrim said:
Hehehe, once again, the weird TopUp contract that has the worst of both worlds (prepaid and topup) and few of the perks :p
Click to expand...

And there I always thought TopUp was designed to give the best of both worlds. :) Device+automatic monthly recharge + pre-paid billing and management.

Guess it's the old glass-half-empty / glass half-full-situation.
 
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