Why I ditched my mobile operator for Telkom

Forgive me MyBroadband, for I have sinned. It has been three years of prepaid bliss, and now I’m back on contract.

It was the right time – my phone was sluggish, its battery was starting to wane, and the Samsung Galaxy S7 was just so pretty.

No problem, I initially thought about getting a new phone, as I had saved for this eventuality. Then I looked at the rand/dollar exchange rate, and it looked back, and laughed.

Subsequent investigations about the various purchase options revealed there were device and contract deals that offered great value for money, particularly on MTN and Telkom.

It was cheaper to pay for a 2-year contract than to buy the Galaxy S7 cash.

Samsung Galaxy S7 launch-day price comparison

Choosing the right contract

The trick to going on contract for a phone is not to let it distract you with its shiny curves.

You need to have a rough idea of how much airtime, data, minutes, and SMS messages you need.

If you’re too cheap, the extra bundles and out-of-bundle charges could add up to be more expensive than going for a slightly more expensive contract, or just sticking with prepaid.

Get a big contract, though, and you’re paying for services that you don’t need.

In my case, I was already a somewhat-happy MTN prepaid subscriber – so the simplest route would have been to stay with the network.

However, its deals offered slightly more than I needed (excluding promotions), and were more expensive than Telkom’s.

Number porting isn’t the chore it once was, so a low-level Telkom SmartPlan package became my first choice.

Telkom vs MTN

Don’t worry, I have not forgotten what Telkom did to us in the Dark Years of ADSL. This is strictly a marriage of necessity.

Telkom is in a strange place, though. On one hand, it is still the near-monopoly residential fixed-line behemoth everyone loves to hate. On the other, it is the small mobile operator sticking it to the man.

That’s what I tell myself at night, anyway.

I also remind myself how rubbish MTN’s online self-service portal is, and that Telkom has the most consumer-friendly out-of-bundle (OOB) data policy of all the mobile operators.

If you run out of data, Telkom doesn’t bill you R1 or R2 per MB and slap it on your bill at the end of the month. It cuts you off, and asks how you would like to proceed: OOB, or load a bundle.

Afrihost does this too – on the MTN network – but sadly couldn’t supply my shiny new toy along with my mobile service.

Fantastic promotions and other benefits

That said, I have not seen Telkom’s captive portal for OOB on my new contract yet, because on a SmartPlan 100 I have uncapped mobile data (with an FUP) until the end of June.

Telkom also gave me a 64GB microSD card for my phone, and for the first 12 months of my contract I can make free calls to other Telkom Mobile subscribers.

The Galaxy S7 range also supports Telkom’s LTE-Advanced network, and Telkom contract subscribers get free access to its Wi-Fi hotspots around the country.

Honeymoon phase wearing off

Of course, it’s not all gigabytes and BB-8s.

Telkom doesn’t have nearly the coverage that Vodacom does, and while it might let you roam on MTN, I’ve never had a good roaming experience.

The other mobile operators also have lower-frequency 900MHz spectrum, which offers better indoor penetration.

Telkom’s lack of lower-frequency spectrum is noticeable, as Telkom’s network struggles in shops or buildings where I previously had no problem with MTN.

Despite the occasional coverage issues, I’m happy with my move. For the moment, anyway.

It is early days yet, and you can only make a final judgement when you’ve seen the contract through to term.

More on cellular contracts

The best smartphone contract deals in South Africa

Best contract value: Vodacom vs MTN vs Cell C vs Telkom

Vodacom has the worst deals for smartphones, MTN has the best: Tariffic

Samsung Galaxy S7 launched in SA – Vodacom and MTN contract prices compared