Pay as you go cellphone clients in South Africa get a raw deal compared to contract holders.Sms's aren't exactly cheap in peak times and phoning costs an absolute fortune. These high costs come with no added benefits or perks... just the constant purchasing of recharge vouchers!
In England I was a pay-as-you-go customer of the network, O2. Wow do they treat you well there. All I had to do was top up by 10 pounds a month, and I got 300 free 'sms's (or 'texts' as they call them there)
If I then topped up by another 5 pounds within that month, I got 300 free off peak minutes as well!
I was free to use my 15 quid of credit to send international sms's.
Thats another area where we are ripped off here. A local sms in England costs 10pence (the equivalent of about R1.60, which may sound expensive because of the high exchange rate, but in terms of earning power, its very cheap!) and an international one costs double a local one.
Here an international sms costs 4 times that of a local one!
Cell C, MTN, Vodacom and Virgin... stop ripping off the people who are too poor to afford a contract!
(P.S - In England, South Africans are called, and call themselves "Saffas")
Cara Booysen
5 comments:
I agree Cara, there is now doubt that the Pre-Paid user gets the raw end of the deal!
What surprises me is that people actually persist to use those type of deals - when there must certainly be accessible and affordable contracts available to them!
I would contest your generalisation, however, that Virgin Mobile is making big strides in terms of equalizing the gap... For example, their SMS and call rates are very similar pre-paid or contract with the only difference that a contract payer receives a phone at an extra cost!
Oh, and just to add... Paying 10/15 quid a month and then getting SMS's and call's - does not make them FREE. They are built into the cost as are our mobile phones that come on contract!
They may be cheap, but they are not free!
Hey Cara i agree it ridiculous how they rip you off on a pay as you go! I have been on a contract for around 5yrs and every month i end up with a cheaper bill than some of my friends who are on pay as you go! That says it all!
They are free Mike! my sister bought a UK sim card a few months after me, after the special deal sim cards had stopped selling, also with O2, and her sms's also cost 10p, but she gets no free ones.... so mine were totally one hundred percent free!
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