Cellphones have become an indispensable part of our lives. Unfortunately, those cellphone bills can become all too costly, all too quickly. Here is a basic summary of some good options to help keep those costs down.
Looking at cellphone contracts and costs can be quite the headache, especially when you consider that there are three different major cellphone networks. We looked at three different types of cellphone users:
- The weekend user: Typically a student with a small budget, who uses airtime mainly over weekends and off-peak periods, such as after 8pm. If this is you, you might choose to use prepaid airtime or a top-up contract, which gives you a set amount of minutes per month. Once your minutes run out, you have the option of topping up your phone with prepaid airtime.
- The average user: Someone using their phone for everyday purposes, during both business hours and off-peak periods.
- The high-end user: This is the person who uses their cellphone for business purposes and needs a high volume of data as well as minutes.
These are some packages to consider:
The weekend user
| MTN | Vodacom | Cell C |
| The MTN off-peak packages are relatively cheaper and are targeted at consumers who mainly use their cellphones during off-peak periods such as the weekends. Off-peak packages range in price from R55 to R210 a month and you also have the option of choosing a top-up package, which means you can load prepaid airtime if you run out of minutes before the month is up. | The Flexi 200 will cost you R199 a month for R200 airtime, which you can then top up. A Smart L plan will get you 250 minutes, 500MB of data and 500 SMSs a month for R579 a month. | If you are the type of person that uses your phone mainly for data and whatsapp messages, then the Cell C SmartChat1GB Top-up plan might be for you. For R199 a month, you get 512MB of data to be used any time, plus 512MB of data to be used between midnight and 6am and R25 airtime. You also receive a handset, such as the Blackberry Z3. The cost drops to R99 a month if you have your own handset. |
The average user
| MTN | Vodacom | Cell C |
| My MTN Choice offers you 500 anytime minutes a month for R600. A 2GB data plan will cost you an additional R139 a month, bringing your total costs to R739 a month. | For R999 a month on Red Advantage, you get 700 minutes airtime, unlimited SMSs and 1GB of data. Note that this monthly bill includes the cost of a new handset. | Chatmore gives you 400 minutes airtime and 300MB of data a month for a monthly fee of R319. |
The high-end user
| MTN | Vodacom | Cell C |
| MTN Sky – pay R1 599 a month for unlimited calls and SMSs plus “uncapped” internet service, which is actually subject to a fair-use policy of 10GB a month. If you have your own handset and do not wish to purchase a phone via the contract, the cost drops to R1 299. | The red VIP plan will cost you R1 999 a month for unlimited calls, unlimited SMSs and 5GB of data each month. | Cell C offers an Infinity Prepaid voucher for R999 which gives you unlimited airtime for calls to any local network at any time, 1 000 free SMSs and 1GB of data. Another option available via Cell C is Infinity Select, a contract package which gives you unlimited airtime, unlimited SMSs and 10GB of data a month for R999 a month if you have your own phone or R1 399 a month which will include the cost of a new handset. |
What works best
With social messaging such as Whatsapp and BBM still available, students or weekend users rarely use their phone for actual phone calls any more. If this is the category you fall into, the Cell C SmartChat 1GB top-up plan makes the best sense. It’s cheap, allows you unlimited Whatsapp messages, data for internet surfing and can be topped up if you require more data or airtime.
If you are an average cellphone user, Vodacom’s Red Advantage plan seems a bit steep at R999 a month. Cell C emerges as the cheapest option once again with the Chatmore option for R319 a month. If you use a lot of data, you might consider the MTN option, which gives you 100 more minutes and 2GB of data but bear in mind that at R739 a month, it is more than double what you would pay for the Cell C package.
If you are a high-end cellphone user who is constantly on your phone, the Vodacom Red VIP plan is clearly the most expensive option at R1 999. MTN comes in cheaper at R1 599 with a bigger data option of 10GB (fair-use policy) but Cell C emerges as the clear winner at a cost of R999 a month.
Prepaid vs contract
Given the increases in contract rates by all networks recently, many people are considering opting for pre-paid rather than contracts.
If you have an uncertain income or you already own a decent phone that you don’t need to replace, you might feel that the pay-as-you-go option is more suitable than a contract. Remember that once you enter a cellphone contract, it is a binding agreement and the cellphone provider company is entitled to recoup “reasonable costs” from you if you want to cancel the contract ahead of the scheduled time.
Cell C offers you a prepaid rate of 99 cents a minute, which works out to R198 for 200 minutes, R495 for 500 minutes and R990 for 1 000 minutes. These all sound cheaper than the contract rates but you need to remember that this prepaid cost only refers to the airtime you use for making calls. You will be charged additional costs for SMSs and data usage.
There are other prepaid options that offer good value for your money. For example, if you buy R100 prepaid airtime on Cell C, you receive a “supacharge” benefit. So, you receive the R100 airtime plus a further 200 minutes of airtime, 200 SMSs and 200MB data. The catch is that the bonus airtime and SMSs can only be used to contact other Cell C numbers, and they expire within five days.
If you are making a choice between using prepaid airtime vs a contract, you should consider the following:
- Do you need a new handset?
- Can you afford to buy a phone upfront for cash?
- Are you someone who is likely to run up a high cellphone bill if you have unlimited access to calls? If so, it might be easier on your budget if you opt for a prepaid or a top-up package.
- Are you willing to be tied into a cellphone contract for up to two years?
- Will you make the effort to constantly recharge or top up your airtime?
- Do you need to monitor your calls? For example, if you use your phone for business purposes and you need to claim costs from your company, itemised billing will be quite useful and a cellphone contract will work better for you.
*Note that contract fees are likely to increase depending on the handset you choose to take with your package.
This article originally appeared in City Press.
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