Once again it is the newcomer amongst the mobile networks that seem to shake up the pricing for 3G in SA.

Local mobile broadband provider, 8.ta has today announced reduced broadband rates for its Once-Off Internet packages as well as its Post-paid Internet packages. In addition to this 8ta has also revised its contract terms which now include month to month, 12 and 24 months terms. The month to month contract excludes a modem while the 12 and 24 months contracts will include a modem.

“Today 8.ta has reduced its broadband pricing, responding to the need for affordable broadband Internet in the South African market. Effectively, 8.ta has tailored these packages to give users the freedom to choose packages that suit their pockets.

“Existing 8.ta Internet subscribers will automatically be migrated to the new price plans, and after their contracts are up for renewal they can also opt to subscribe on a month to month or 12 months contract basis,” says Managing Executive of Telkom Mobile, Amith Maharaj.

Once the monthly recurring Post-paid Internet package has been depleted, users will be charged an out-of-bundle rate of R 0.30 per MB while the Once-off Internet subscribers will be charged an out-of bundle rate of R1.00 per MB. Compare this to other mobile broadband solutions out there that still get charged more. For example Vodacom charges R1 per out of bundle meg for contract users, and R2 (!!!!) for prepaid users.

Post-paid and Once-Off Internet subscribers will also benefit from the following value added services:

• Free 8.ta email account with 5GB mailbox giving users access to 25GB online storage and free access to online Microsoft Office suite, which includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Send 5 SMSs daily and receive 50 FREE SMSs to use on that day.
• 8·ta also provides users with a ‘safety net’ to check their balances on the self-service portal and via USSD and make out of bundle purchase decisions in real-time, using the redirect functionality.
• Users will also receive a free call-out and support services with every 3G data modem purchased.

Now we have to wait and see to see if the other cellular networks will match this offering. Post-paid Internet Bundles – Month to Month contract:
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As 2011 draws to a close we thought it might be a good time to look back and see what products we really enjoyed using in 2011. Some of our choices might be controversial, but hey, horses for courses. Let us know what you think in the comments?

Best Phone: Samsung Galaxy S2

Even the most ardent fans of iPhone have to agree – the Galaxy S2 is a truly great phone. It is very fast, is built well (despite being made of plastic), the screen is beautiful, the camera is excellent – the list goes on. Pricing is also pretty good, and the phone is still great several months later, which you cannot typically say of the Android phone marketplace. You cannot go wrong. Not even Samsung’s bigger and faster Galaxy Note could change our name. Now we just have to get our hands on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Close second: Apple iPhone 4S. Expect our review in the new year.

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8.ta, South Africa’s fourth and newest mobile network operator, is going to market with a big, fast and low cost mobile broadband promotion that will get South Africans using the Internet more. With the lowest mobile broadband rates supported by its new network; 8.ta is living up to its promise to change the mobile communications market.

The new post-paid Internet 5 Promotion offers subscribers a 10GB data bundle at R199 per month with the option of an additional 10GB Midnight Surfer data bundle at R100 per month for use between 12am and 5am. Subscribers in essence, will be getting 20GB’s of data at R299 and will therefore be paying as little as 1.5 cents per MB – the lowest mobile broadband rate available in South Africa, says Amith Maharaj, Managing Executive of Telkom Mobile.

“To mark the launch of our new high speed network 8.ta is “Going Big” with an amazing promotional data offer for a limited time period. Mobile broadband users will agree that the value provided in this offer cannot easily be found anywhere in the world”, Maharaj said.

Maharaj further added that “while the sale of the offer will be for a limited time, it is important to note that customers who sign up will be eligible for the Internet 5 promotional price as well as the Midnight Surfer price for the full 24 months”.

The offer will be available from Sunday, 26 June at 8.ta flagship stores, selected Telkom Direct stores, via the Call Center on 081125, online at www.8ta.com and Nashua Mobile.

With 8.ta’s new data promotion, high monthly subscription is removed as the barrier to entry for first time subscribers while seasoned mobile broadband subscribers will find the price per MB to be extremely attractive. (more…)

8ta today announced their Blackberry deals, and it really looks good. Compared to other networks their deals are a lot more comprehensive for the average user, and they really have some great value add ons. While Blackberry is a very good deal in SA, most people do not realise that youtube videos are not part of the BIS package. BIS is Blackberry’s data solution which has unlimited internet and email usage (except for streaming).

So 8ta is shaking things up by adding Youtube streaming to their packages, upto a total of 500MB. So if you are big Youtube fan, these contracts might sway you in 8ta’s direction. Also, if you are someone who mostly phones home from your phone, the 8ta Blackberry deal allows you to select one Telkom number which you can call free of charge, something which we believe will be very popular. This is also on top of 8ta’s other small value adds – like giving 50 free SMS’s for every 5 you send.

8ta also somehow managed to decrease the pricing of BIS on their dedicated BB packages – they charge only R49 per month, which is around 20% cheaper than other networks.

At the moment 8ta is first focussing on the lower end of the Blackberry market with only the Blackberry Curve 8520 and 9300, but the Bold 9780 and Torch 9800 will be announced later.

So what do their deals look like?

If you want to use your own Blackberry on the 8ta network, you can get BIS for R59 a month, and Blackberry Enterprise Service for R89, which is pretty much in line with other networks.

But lets look at their Blackberry Contract Deals:

BlackBerry Curve 8520 with BIS – R90 per month

BlackBerry 9300 & BIS plus LG C105 – R500 per month

These deals look really good, especially the 8520 deal. It will only further cement Blackberry’s lead in the SA smartphone space…

Source: MyBroadband

A few weeks ago Telkom’s mobile network, 8ta, surprised us with some pretty great prepaid deals. These included the lowest all day cost rate to mobiles in SA, but some pretty great deals like for every 5 SMS’s you send, you get 50 for free. But many of us were waiting to see what they would bring when they announce their contract pricing. Well wait no more.

Contracts range from R90 all the way up to R500. But unlike the prepaid deals, these deals seperate the costs between on-net and calls to other networks. What bothers me are that these contracts are not really clear upfront about what you get, you have to go dig a bit on their site:  

Contract 1 gets 90 minutes to 8ta and landlines, and only 15 minutes to other networks. This also gets 25MB of data. R90 pm

Contract 2 gets 130 minutes to 8ta and landlines, and only 30 minutes to other networks. This also gets 25MB of data. R130 pm

Contract 3 gets 230 minutes to 8ta and landlines, and only 60 minutes to other networks. This also gets 25MB of data. R230 pm

Contract 3s gets 230 minutes (13800 sec) to 8ta and landlines, and 60  minutes (3600 sec) to other networks. This also gets 25MB of data. R230 pm

Contract 4 gets 500 minutes to 8ta and landlines, and 200 minutes to other networks. This also gets 50MB of data. R500 pm

What you should note is that all except one of these contracts have only per minute billing, which I find odd. The phone selection is not bad at all as well – you might want to go take a look at what is available. 8ta is also making the deal a little sweeter for contracts – you can phone one landline number for free for the length of the contract. So if you phone one number a lot, it might make sense to look at a 8ta contract.

But presently the bigger concern is the mobile broadband deals – competition is heating up with Cell C taking the market by storm with their deal.

So how about 8ta’s data deals?

Internet 1 – 650MB for R195 p/m
Internet 2 – 1.5G for R280 p/m
Internet 3 – 3.2G for R500 p/m

At present these deals look quite competitive with Vodacom and MTN, but do not come close to Cell C’s current deal. If you are someone who wants to get a notebook with your data contract however, 8ta’s deals look very good,  but 8ta might want to consider giving more info about the netbooks and notebooks they are supplying with the contracts…

Competition is a wonderful thing. Just last week I commented on the lack of competition in the market since 8ta announced their new call and data rates, and finally Vodacom has come out with their guns blazing. But their latest broadband “starter pack” is perhaps rather aimed at Cell C’s offering of either 2GB per 12 months for R1499 once off or the 5GB per 12 month for R2999 (which also gets a faster connection). Both of these include the modems needed.

Vodacom is aiming at the lower end of the market – users will pay only R400 once off, which includes a 3G modem and 100 meg per month for 12 months. While 100 meg might sound like much, this is ideal for very light users of the internet. Users can of course add bundles if the 100 meg runs out. This aimed at either people for whom computing is not a major concern, or people who already have wifi access at home and work, and need something for those times when you are on the road. What I am wondering about as well – does the 100MB included carry over if not used?

What puzzles me as well is that Vodacom can offer this great pricing, yet still asks R88 for 110 MB data bundles? Also – how about more options? 100MB is a bit light in my opinion, and I want to see how Vodacom can compete with Cell C, which is still the best offering for users who want to actually use their computers a bit more on the road.

Source: Mybroadband

Despite 8ta‘s low call costs and reasonable data rates, the thing most people seem to most impressed by is the innovative free call and sms deals. These include:

Well it turns out the first one million customers on 8ta will be getting this for life. How cool is that?

I have already got an 8ta SIM card, and I havent been particularly impressed by how long 8ta has taken to activate the SIM card. I bought it on Monday at 16:00, RICA’d it as well. It was only fully activated on Wednesday at 3PM. They apparently had a backlog of activations.

I am trying it out on a Nokia N8, and so far the signal and data connection speed is very brisk. It locks on mostly to MTN’s network. I will be posting my impressions with 8ta in future as well. Call quality seems fine, but I havent really moved around yet.

The thing that pulled me towards 8ta was the landline calling rates – at 65c per minute all day it is the ideal solution if you do not want to pay for a landline just to make the occasional phone call.

I am however very disappointed that other network operators havent stepped up to the plate. Vodacom dropped their allday calling rate to R1.40 for prepaid, but nothing else really. Maybe they will improve their rates once 8ta announces their contract pricing?

Will keep you posted.

Last night Telkom released the initial pricing for their 8ta mobile network, and boy does it look good. 8ta has a number of small incentives in their prepaid package which immediately makes them the cheapest mobile network in SA.

But first off pricing:

Calls to landlines (this includes Telkom and Neotel) will be 65c per minute, at all times during the day. Calls to another cellphone is R1.50 per minute (this can be to Vodacom, MTN, Cell C or 8ta), again at a flat rate all day. International rate – 8ta will charge R2.50 per minute to more than a 100 countries (isnt that much less than Telkom’s fixed line rates?). What is perhaps more significant is the call incentive that 8ta uses – for every 3 seconds of incoming calls, you get 1 sec to phone out. FINALLY – a reason to keep that telemarketer on the line!

SMSs and MMSs will both be charged at 50c each – but if a customer sends 5 sms’s in a day, they will get 50 free sms’s in a day. Wonder if a person even needs a prepaid SMS bundle with something like that?

Data costs going to be R1 per meg if a user does not use a bundle, which is already half of what Vodacom charges, but their data bundle pricing also seems to improve on existing offerings:

1GB for R250, 500MB for R150, 250MB for R100, 100MB for R50. Great. These can be accessed at 7.2 HSPA, but 8ta might also upgrade to LTE in future.

All these pricing details are just for the prepaid users, so we will have to see how their contract pricing will improve on these even further. (Update: 8ta has now announced their contract pricing) Initially 8ta will use their own network as well as use a roaming agreement using MTN basestations, so clearly the Vodacom Telkom breakup was nasty. So reception should not be a problem.

So only time will tell how Vodacom and MTN will compete with this pricing – if the recent iPhone launch is anything to go by, Vodacom and MTN clearly have some flexibility in their prices. When MTN announced their lower end deal on the iPhone 4, Vodacom had to go and lower their initial iPhone 4 pricing as well 2 days later. Competition is a great thing.

Also, how will 8ta compete with Cell C’s latest mobile broadband offerings? We tested it, and it pretty much blows away the competition in SA.

But I am sure most people are still wondering how on earth Telkom can offer these good deals for mobile, yet their fixed line service pricing has remained overpriced and stagnant. We can only hope that they approach their fixed line business with the same new found vigour…