Discounted airtime for your cell phone – where’s the best price?

It’s been a while since I updated my “Buying Airtime Calculator” calculator (Feb 2009), so I decided to do another Bing search (anyone noticed that I’m avoiding Google?).  Truth-be-told, I was spurred to update the calculator after I saw a Tweet from @HifiCorp: “Now you can talk for more while paying less with our discount prepaid airtime offers! http://bit.ly/l2Q3Zz”.  The link takes you to a very large pdf file – I’ve snipped the great pricing:

Or in tabular form from the calculator here:

	Vendor	CreditCard	Date	Airtime Value	Actual Cost	Discount
Vodacom	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	5.00	4.70	6.00%
Vodacom	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	12.00	10.90	9.17%
Vodacom	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	29.00	26.90	7.24%
Vodacom	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	55.00	49.90	9.27%
Vodacom	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	110.00	99.90	9.18%
MTN	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	5.00	4.60	8.00%
MTN	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	10.00	9.30	7.00%
MTN	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	15.00	13.90	7.33%
MTN	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	30.00	28.50	5.00%
CellC	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	5.00	4.60	8.00%
CellC	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	10.00	9.30	7.00%
CellC	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	25.00	22.70	9.20%
CellC	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	35.00	30.80	12.00%
CellC	HiFiCorp	Yes	Jun-11	50.00	45.50	9.00%

Download the updated calculator which also lists the outlets that I could find here:  http://www.mediafire.com/file/l6bq6ioa44wwl7q/BuyingAirtimeCalculatorJune2011.xls

Anyone notice that they don’t list the new provider 8ta?  Do they even sell 8ta airtime?

That’s not just a question “out of the blue”… I’m getting suspicious about why GoogleAdsense suspended my account almost immediately after I posted this article on 8ta’s “special”: ‘I knew there had to be a catch with that 8ta deal for a Blackberry for R90 per month.... with free calls to a landline number’.
8ta was an advertiser on my blog – in fact the questions that I received were from readers asking about “my ad” on “my blog site”.
Since Google Adsense will not tell me the reason(s) for the suspension I will continue to speculate – and believe that this is the reason.

I knew there had to be a catch with that 8ta deal for a Blackberry for R90 per month.... with free calls to a landline number

I received a couple of calls asking me if this was a great deal for a Blackberry 8520.  Over the phone it seemed to be a brilliant deal (especially how it was read to me over the phone): it included a free phone, and BIS, for only R90 per month, and (as it was read to me) free calls to any landline number. plus had 500MB free YouTube streaming per month!

So, I had to investigate…

Here’s the ad:
 
Here’s the small print – with catches highlighted in red:

Blackberry 8520 @R90 for the first 3 months; includes free BIS subscription worth R49.
Thereafter R139 x21 months.

· 500MB Free YouTube streaming
· Call one Telkom landline number for FREE
· Send five SMSs per day and receive 50 FREE to send for that day
· 90 FREE minutes 8ta to 8ta / national landlines
· 15 FREE 8ta minutes to other local SA networks
· 25MB FREE data
· Free SIM & connection

So, don’t be fooled: it doesn’t offer free calls to all landlines – only to one nominated landline.
It’s R90 for the first 3 months – the remaining 21 months are charged at R139.

I recently purchased great contract deal from Vodacom’s RED specials on TopUp 135 for R135 per month:
(Unfortunately, it’s no longer available from the Vodacom Direct web site).

Things to watch out for that make it great:
Free phone, Free SIM, Free connection, Free delivery, 2 year warranty on phone, includes R135 free any time minutes (note: that it’s any time minutes, and not off peak minutes), the unused minutes roll over for up to 5 months (so you don’t lose the unused minutes).
So, for R135 per month, you got R135 airtime and a free phone!
These are per minute rates and they are cheaper than the Vodago rates.

The deal details (no longer available):
“
Blackberry 8520 RED including BIS FREE at R129 per month when signing an initial 24 month contract on Top up 135 (per minute billing only).

FREE SIM, FREE CONNECTION AND FREE DELIVERY.

This offer includes a 2 year handset warranty and for your own peace of mind, should you not be satisfied with your purchase you can return it within 14 days from delivery.

Phone features:
Dedicated Multimedia keys
Full QWERTY keyboard
2 megapixel camera
BlackBerry® Media Sync and Wi-Fi
”