Cell C kills best prepaid data deals

Cell C has quietly scrapped three of its best-value prepaid data bundles from its Home Connecta Flexi range.

MyBroadband Forum members noticed the change on Cell C’s website and mobile app on Monday.

The list of available Home Connecta Flexi data-only bundles now consists of just five offers, ranging from the 4GB bundle for R45 to the 80GB option for R189.

The following bundles are no longer available:

• 200GB — 100GB anytime + 100GB nighttime — R389
• 400GB — 200GB anytime + 200GB nighttime — R699
• 1TB — 1,000GB anytime — R899

The update is surprising given that the operator recently announced changes to its Home Connect Flexi options, with no mention of removing the larger bundles.

The table below shows the remaining data-only Home Connect Flexi bundles on offer.

Cell C chief operating officer Andre Ittmann told MyBroadband the three large bundles were retired because there was less demand for them.

“We have noted that customers using Home Connecta Flexi are primarily making use of the product on-the-go in mobile devices as opposed to home routers, which resulted in lower demand for the larger bundles,” Ittmann said.

“Therefore, the commercially sustainable approach, which still offers customers great value, was to revamp the Home Connecta Flexi bundle range.”

Ittmann acknowledged that some customers found value in the larger bundles and said Cell C was “continuously looking for ways to address their needs with compelling data offers”.

It should be noted that the operator still offers the 200GB, 400GB, and 1TB bundles on 24-month Home Connecta contracts.

Andre Ittmann, Cell C chief operating officer

MyBroadband previously tested Home Connecta Flexi, and we were impressed with its performance as a mobile data plan.

Our testing showed that the coverage enjoyed by Cell C’s Home Connecta Flexi package was much broader than what is claimed on the operator’s official fixed LTE coverage map, even though it does not guarantee connection outside these specified areas.

Cell C’s high-end Home Connecta Flexi bundles also offered far better value than similarly-priced bundles from Vodacom and MTN.

For the same once-off price of R699, which gets you 200GB of anytime data, Vodacom and MTN each offer 30GB.

Telkom’s biggest FreeMe prepaid data bundle costs R10 less but only provides 28GB of data.

The price per GB was even more attractive for the top-end 1TB Home Connecta Flexi bundle, which worked out to around 90 cents per gigabyte.

While some other operators and ISPs offer select packages with higher allocations or uncapped data on a month-to-month basis, they do not have the full flexibility of a prepaid offer.

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