Vodacom Talking Points data bundles: Less is more
Vodacom provides prepaid customers with a rewards scheme that grants them Talking Points every time they recharge.
Every R10 spent on a recharge results in a reward of 1 Talking Point. No registration is required to earn points, but if you want to exchange your points for a new cellphone Vodacom requires you to register for RICA purposes, according to the Vodacom Talking Points web page.
If you recharge with an amount that’s not a multiple of 10, Talking Points are calculated by dividing the recharge amount by 10 and then rounding to the nearest whole number.
You can use these points to buy SMS bundles, MMS bundles, data bundles, discount bundles for Vodacom-to-Vodacom voice calls, or cellphones.
According to Vodacom, 85% of redemptions are for SMS bundles. These bundles cost between 100 and 500 points to buy bundles of 100 to 750 SMSes.
The below table from Vodacom’s website shows which bundles you can get and how many Talking Points it costs.
| Points Balance | SMS Bundles | MMS Bundles | Data Bundles | Vodacom to Vodacom calls |
| 100 | 100 Free SMS Bundle valid for 90 days | 100 Free MMS Bundle valid for 90 days | None | 5% discount valid for 90 days |
| 150 | 150 Free SMS Bundle valid for 90 days | 150 Free MMS Bundle valid for 90 days | MyMeg 110 Free Data Bundle valid for up to 60 days | 10% discount valid for 90 days |
| 250 | 300 Free SMS Bundle valid for 90 days | 300 Free MMS Bundle valid for 90 days | MyMeg 175 Free Data Bundle valid for up to 60 days | 15% discount valid for 90 days |
| 500 | 750 Free SMS Bundle valid for 90 days | 750 Free MMS Bundle valid for 90 days | MyMeg 300 Free Data Bundle valid for up to 60 days | 20% discount valid for 90 days |
| Points can be exchanged for any combination of rewards based on the number of points accumulated. e.g. If you have 500 points you have the option to exchange your points for five 100 Free SMS bundles (100 Points per bundle) or five 100 Free MMS bundles (100 Points per bundle) etc. as long as it totals to 500 points. | ||||
Looking at the data bundles, one can see that by getting the smaller reward using fewer points, the amount of data per Talking Point spent is actually maximised.
According to Vodacom they are not trying to “encourage or discourage users to redeem their Talking Points for smaller bundles.”
Vodacom explained that they introduced the data bundles reward as part of the Talking Points programme in December 2009.
The below table compares the old structure to the current one and indicates where you can get the most megabytes for your points.
| Vodacom Talking Points | Old data bundle | Current data bundle | ||
| Bundle Size | MB / point | Bundle Size | MB / point | |
| 150 | MyMeg 75 | 0.5 | 110 | 0.73 |
| 250 | MyMeg 150 | 0.6 | 175 | 0.7 |
| 500 | MyMeg 250 | 0.5 | 300 | 0.6 |
The table clearly shows that the best way to spend your Talking Points on data is to get the smallest bundle multiple times rather than getting the larger bundles.
Even with the data bundle increments from December 2009 you would be spending your points more effectively by buying the middle bundle and not the largest one.
Since prepaid customers don’t get better out-of-bundle rates on Vodacom Broadband Standard packages there is simply no reason to buy the larger bundles.
Vodacom Talking Points data bundles: Less is more << Comments and views
Loading ...