Samsung Galaxy Tab pricing comparison
Cell C advertised an ActiveChat contract bundled with the Samsung Galaxy Tab over the weekend, claiming to be first to market with the device.
ActiveChat contracts are voice contracts and include an amount of voice minutes that can be used any time during the day. Cell C offered the Galaxy Tab on an ActiveChat 220 package which includes 220 anytime minutes.
Bundling Samsung’s answer to Apple’s popular iPad with voice minutes is a strange choice, but one of the much touted features of the Galaxy Tab is its ability to make (and receive) phone calls.
In addition to making voice calls, the Galaxy Tab sports the following hardware: 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 application processor, PowerVR SGX 540 graphics processing unit (GPU), 512MB RAM, 7” 1024×700 TFT LCD touch display, 3 megapixel rear-facing camera and 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera.
It’s also able to connect to 900 MHz UMTS networks, meaning it is able to run on Cell C’s HSPA+ network. Unfortunately it only supports download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps, so it can’t make full use of the speeds potentially offered by HSPA+.
Vodacom responded to Cell C’s advertisement with a rather underwhelming pricing announcement on Wednesday. MTN has had pricing information for their Samsung Galaxy Tab data contracts on their site for some time, but it’s unclear when the operator’s retailers will receive stock of the device.
Contract offerings and pricing
While Cell C seems to have a single contract package for the Galaxy Tab, both MTN and Vodacom offer a variety of packages.
MTN currently offers data-only 24 month contracts from 75MB to 2GB for between R299 and R639. An MTN retailer warned that they couldn’t guarantee that they would receive stock of the device this week and that the pricing on MTN’s website is only valid until the end of the month.
The same is true of the Cell C package as the operator’s advertisment states that the offer is only valid until 30 November 2010 and while stocks last.
Vodacom’s Samsung Galaxy Tab contracts are being offered in both 24 and 36 month terms from 175MB to 3GB.
You can get a Vodacom Broadband Standard contract over either 24 or 36 months ranging from R379 to R829 per month. Vodacom Broadband Advanced contracts are available over 24 months from R449 to R849 per month.
The below table compares the 24 month contracts from MTN, Vodacom and Cell C that include 500MB of data.
| Samsung Galaxy Tab contract package comparison | |||
| Contract components | MTN | Vodacom | Cell C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Package name | MTN 500MB | My Meg 500 Advanced | ActiveChat 220 |
| Contract term | 24 months | 24 months | 24 months |
| Bundle size | 500MB | 500MB | 500MB |
| Inclusive anytime voice minutes | 0 | 0 | 220 |
| Monthly price | R 439.00 | R 499.00 | R 429.00 |
While one may debate the usefulness of 220 anytime voice minutes on a contract bundled with a tablet, Cell C currently offers the best value on 500MB Samsung Galaxy Tab contracts, followed by MTN.
One has to wonder whether Vodacom is even looking at what its competition is doing. Perhaps they’re banking on Cell C and MTN increasing the cost of their Galaxy Tab packages after next week Tuesday.
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