New Vodacom, MTN 3G prices compared
Do Vodacom and MTN want to confuse the public even more with their new data rates? Looking at the endless maze of options and revised pricing tables available from the two largest operators in South Africa, one would not be wrong in suggesting that there is absolutely no way a normal consumer will understand anything at all.
This, despite Vodacom Group CEO Pieter Uys’s “reassurance” that its new packages are “simplified”.
MTN were first to move. But instead of overhauling their packages last month, they simply cut their out-of-bundle rates. This is only valuable for those 3G/HSDPA users who use more than their allocated bandwidth, realistically only a small percentage.
Bizarrely, it also launched a one-day mobile broadband service for R50. Quite who would use this (especially at that price) remains to be seen. And there’s a 90 minutes access package for R25. Ditto – there’s just no obvious use for this at all.
Vodacom’s new packages are even more peculiar than a decision to launch time-based billing.
There are big changes to the out-of-bundle rates – tit-for-tat with MTN. But, Vodacom has also increased the amount of allocated data to packages. So if you’re on a MyGig One contract, you’ll now get around 1.2GB (gigabytes), instead of just 1GB. You’ll get 205MB extra allocated data. Uys does admit that Vodacom is planning to rename its packages.
To add confusion, there’s an important distinction between Vodacom’s “Broadband Standard” and “Broadband Advanced” services.
If you use more than your data allocation, on the standard service, you’ll end up paying significantly more per MB for usage out-of-bundle. This ranges from between R2 and 45c per MB. On the standard packages, there is a difference in pricing between prepaid/top up (prepaid)/month-to-month/one-off bundles versus those for 24 month contract customers (including top up on contract).
On the advanced service, the in-bundle and out-of-bundle rates are the same, but the monthly charge is slightly higher. This is ideal for users whose data requirements are more unpredictable. The advanced packages have a single price, regardless of whether you’re a prepaid/month-to-month/contract user.
Confused? You won’t be the only one.
Thankfully both Vodacom and MTN have dropped the price distinctions between the different speeds of services. Previously you’d pay extra to be able to use higher speeds. Now, this depends solely on the capability of your phone or 3G modem. Even though the operators are advertising 14.4mbps HSDPA, very few devices support this.
Contracts
| MTN | Vodacom Standard | Vodacom Advanced | |||||||
| Data | Per month | Out of bundle | Data | Per month | Out of bundle | Data | Per month | Out of bundle | |
| 150MB | 150MB | R 89 | 65c | 175MB | R 149 | 85c | |||
| 250MB | 250MB | R 129 | 65c | 300MB | R 159 | R 1.50 | 300MB | R 189 | 63c |
| 350MB | 350MB | R 209 | 50c | ||||||
| 500MB | 500MB | R 249 | 38c | 600MB | R 249 | R 1.20 | 750MB | R 279 | 37c |
| 1GB | 1GB | R 349 | 29c | 1.2GB | R 349 | R 1.20 | 1.5GB | R 389 | 25c |
| 2GB | 2GB | R 449 | 19c | 2.3GB | R 449 | R 1.20 | 2.5GB | R 471 | 18c |
| 3GB | 3GB | R 649 | 19c | ||||||
Bundles (one-off/month-to-month/prepaid)
| MTN* | Vodacom Standard | Vodacom Advanced | |||||||
| Data | One-off | Out of bundle | Data | One-off | Out of bundle | Data | One-off | Out of bundle | |
| 5MB | 8MB | R 9.25 | R 2 | ||||||
| 10MB | 10MB | R 10 | R 1 | ||||||
| 20MB | 30MB | R 28 | R 2 | ||||||
| 75MB | 110MB | R 88 | R 2 | ||||||
| 100MB | 100MB | R 80 | 65c | ||||||
| 150MB | 175MB | R 119 | R 2 | 175MB | R 149 | 85c | |||
| 250MB | 300MB | R 139 | R 2 | 300MB | R 189 | 63c | |||
| 350MB | 350MB | R 169 | 50c | ||||||
| 500MB | 500MB | R 189 | 38c | 600MB | R 189 | R 2 | 750MB | R 279 | 37c |
| 1GB | 1GB | R 289 | 29c | 1.2GB | R 289 | R 2 | 1.5GB | R 389 | 25c |
| 2GB | 2GB | R 389 | 19c | 2.3GB | R 389 | R 2 | 2.5GB | R 471 | 18c |
| * Excludes the new MTN 75MB and 300MB packages available for prepaid customers only. | |||||||||
For example, if you are on contract and use around 1GB of data per month, your options are:
- MTN (1GB) for R349/month
- Vodacom Standard (1.2GB) for R349/month
- Vodacom Advanced (1.5GB) for R389/month
For its contract users, Vodacom wants its users to move to the Broadband Advanced service. But in terms of bundles, generally it makes more sense to go with MTN or Vodacom’s standard service. It really depends if you are going to use more than your allocated bandwidth.
The only thing, arguably, more confusing than these new data rates are MTN and Vodacom’s websites… especially Vodacom’s “new” one. Try find anything!
Vodacom and MTN mobile broadband prices << comments and views
* To buy or change a data package: MTN contract customers contact your service provider, MTN prepaid dial 141, Vodacom contract customers dial 082 155 or contact your service provider, Vodacom prepaid customers dial *111#.
* Hilton Tarrant contributes to “Broadband”, a column on Moneyweb covering the ICT sector in South Africa. Why do the mobile operators have to make it so bloody complicated?
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