This year we’ve seen major changes in the internet market in South-Africa thanks to all the new undersea cables giving much needed bandwidth to southern Africa. In the ADSL (fixed line) market Mweb dropped a big bomb on the market with their launch of the first affordable uncapped. In the mobile market CellC have launched their 3G data products which dramatically reduced the prices for the more cap hungry users. South-Africans now even have 5 cellular networks to choose from with Telkom/8ta entering the market last month!
With so many packages available from so many networks it’s not always easy to find the cheapest option for your needs so this is why we did this summary of all the packages that the 5 networks have to over. We calculated in 50mb increments what packages gave you the cheapest rate per MB and then listed the top 5. To trim it a bit down a new increment is only shown if there was a change in the top 5.
The above table includes all the data products from MTN, Vodacom, CellC, Virgin Mobile and 8ta.
More about each network’s products:
MTN
Probably the easiest to understand from the bunch. You buy the bundle and if your bundle is used your out-of-bundle rate is the same as your in-bundle-rate. Contract and prepaid users make use of the same packages.
(Packages tested: MTN 10, MTN 75, MTN 100, MTN 300, MTN 500, MTN 1Gb, MTN 2Gb)
Vodacom
They offer two ranges of packages- the standard ones and the advance ones. Be very careful for the standard one since it’s out-of-bundle rates are very expensive. Their advance bundle range works the same as MTN’s bundles (OOB=IBR). If your a prepaid user you can only buy the standard packages.
(Packages tested: VcMegS 8, VcMegS 30, VcMegS 110, VcMegS 175, VcMegS 300, VcMegS 600, VcGigS 1.2, VcGigS 2.3, VcGigS 3, VcGigS 5, VcGigS 10, VcGigS 20, VcMegA 175, VcMegA 400, VcMegA 500, VcMegA 800, VcGigA 1, VcGigA 1.5, VcGigA 2, VcGigA 2.5, VcGigA 3, VcGigA 5, VcGigA 10, VcGigA 20)
CellC
If your considering their new data packages you must remember that you will be required to pay the full price for 12 months up front but considering that they’re really undercutting the competition it might be wise to save up. Also make sure you have coverage in your area before you commit for the 12 months! Also don’t expect the two older brothers (MTN/Vodacom) to wait too long before they offer something to counter CellC prices.
(Packages tested: CC 25mb, CC 100mb, CC 200mb, CC 500mb, CC 1GB, CCDB24, CCDB60)
Virgin Mobile
Once the prepaid data king, but now starting to look very average with them not offering any bundles. On the other hand they over the perfect solution for people that wont use the internet that often and don’t want to be forced to use their data in a certain time frame. Also keep in mind they are still on EDGE so don’t expect the same speed as the competitors.
(Packages tested: VirginM)
8ta (Telkom)
Well they are new guys on the block. They don’t over anything to scare the big boys yet but if you’re not a heavy user and one of their talk packages fits your needs then you wont be overcharged for your internet needs at least.
(Packages tested: 8ta, 8ta-100, 8ta-250, 8ta-500, 8ta-1gb)
Since all the networks price their products to be competitive against their rivals, don’t expect this rankings to stay the same for too long!
I need to change asap! Thx for the table!
Might just hold out a few months more before switching to CellC