PrePaid airtime offers not to be missed: R400 gives you R1,176 airtime (VC), or R800 for R2,400 (MTN), or R800 for R2,760 (CellC)

Here’s an airtime offer that seems too good to be true!  MTN and CellC have also thrown in some free SMSs! Pay these once off fees with no credit check and get lots of free airtime.  This seems to be a fantastic offer!  What’s the catch??  If you’re on a VodaGo prepaid account, on the old per minute billing, then I see this is a per second billed plan… so the per minute cost is probably more, and so you win on the “short” calls (i.e. those that terminate before the 30sec mark), but lose on the “long” calls (i.e. those that terminate close to the 59 sec mark).
I wonder if there are any other catches?  Like, what happens after the 24 month period?  Does it revert back to the VodaGo per minute billing? – Probably not, so this is a way of getting people onto a “contract” and on to per second billing?
What happens if this offer’s minutes (R49 in the Vodacom case) run out during the month, can you topup by buying airtime at your currently used outlets?  {See here for an HTT article on where to buy your airtime: http://handytechtips.blogspot.com/2009/02/buying-airtime-can-be-done-in-numerous.html}

Here are more details:

 

Vodacom TopUp49 for R400.00 once off giving:                  R49 airtime per month for 24 months – a total of R1,176 Airtime                  Total Saving of 66%                  FREE SIM connection                  FREE CLI activation                  Calls billed per second

 

MTN TopUp100 for R800.00 once off giving:                  R100 airtime per month for 24 months – a total of R2,400 Airtime                  25 SMSs per month for 24 months – a total of 600 SMSs                  43.5 minutes talktime per month for 24 months a total of 1,044 minutes of talktime                  A total saving versus prepaid of R2,854 or 83%

 

Cell C ControlChat 100 for R800.00 once off giving:                  R115 airtime per month for 24 months – a total of R2,760 Airtime                  100 SMSs per month                  FREE SIM connection                  FREE CLI activation                  Calls billed per second                  Friends and family discounts to 7 numbers

Download the application forms here: http://www.mobile2mobile.co.za/downloads  {make sure that you have the latest Adobe Reader else you will get an error “There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired.”}

Update on Wed23Sept2009:  Feedback from mobile2mobile CEO Warwick Ward-Cox answering some of the questions that I posed above:
”
From: Warwick Ward-Cox
Sent: 23 September 2009 09:04
To: HandyTechTipper@gmail.com

Morning HTT,

You are correct it’s an awesome deal,  I've personally taken out 3 now for the family.  This has to be the cheapest way to get airtime,  and with the networks now reducing call costs these deals will in the future be even more attractive if not already  ;)

The catch,  well you don't get a "free phone".  At the end of the 24 months, you have the option to carry on and pay an additional amount and carry on with the contract, or you will be downgraded to prepaid at the end of the 24 months.

Oh yes, and we don't do any network activation, until your deposit reflects in the bank account and has been cleared,  so depending on where you EFT from it can take about 3 days or so to be activated.  If it’s a cheque deposit then minimum 8 days until the cheque has cleared.  

Regards

Warwick Ward-Cox

Mobile 2 Mobile
http://www.mobile2mobile.co.za
”

Send 1 free SMS every 2 hours to any network in South Africa; and 5 SMSs every 4 hours to Zim - and it works!

Further to my posting "Did you know that you can send 20x free SMSs to Vodacom cell phones?", here is a site that allows you to send 1 free SMS every 2 hours to any network in South Africa: http://www.onlinesms.co.za/

For sending free SMSs to Zim:

Register for free here: http://www.smszim.com/register.asp

Activate your account (an email will be sent to you)

Send SMS here: http://www.smszim.com/sms.asp

Then you can send 5 SMSs every 4 hours.

Here are more South African free SMS sending sites:
Mahala SMS: (no registration required) send 2 FREE SMS's everyday!
BlueWorld: Register first, then send free SMSs (I haven't tried this one yet).

Setting up your PC to connect to the Internet using your cell phones (modem settings for Vodacom, CellC, and MTN)

In my previous blog "In this day and age I'm amazed by the low number of people that use their cell phones to connect to the Internet for email, www access, cheap IM etc" I referred to using my cell phone to connect to the Internet from home.

I dived into the article stating that "I connect my laptop to my phone (using BlueTooth or the cable)" but I neglected to describe the pains that I went through in setting up my PC's DialUp networking to use the phone (Nokia modem) to connect to the Internet!

So, I have decided to share this information here:

{note: for simplicity, I have only described the use of a USB cable to connect the cell phone to the PC (running MS Windows). Using BlueTooth instead of a cable is also possible, but I have found the cable more reliable. See http://handytechtips.blogspot.com/2008/03/forget-about-bluetooth-use-blooming.html for more details.}

Installing the cell phone modem:

1) Install the software that usually comes with your cell phone. For Nokia, it's called "Nokia PC Suite" and can be downloaded from the www.nokia.com web site. Ensure that the Nokia USB modem is also installed.

2) Plug in the USB cable and Windows should recognise that a phone has been plugged into a USB port and will install new drivers.

3) In the control panel: Start->Settings->Control Panel->Phone and Modem Options->Modems and select the cell phone modem, then click "Properties" then "Advanced" and enter the following in the "Extra initialisation string": (see below for your network's initialisation string) 4) In the control panel: Start->Settings->Control Panel->Network connections->Create a new connection->Next->Connect to the Internet->Next->Setup my connection manually->Next->Connect using a dialup modem->Next->Select (and tick) the new modem (untick any others)->Next->enter a name eg. "Nokia N70" ->Next->Enter the phone number: *99***1# -> Enter the username and password (see below for your network's username/password) ->Tick "Add a shortcut to my desktop"->Finish

5) A new dialup connection will now be listed in the "Network connections" list. Right click this new item (Nokia N70) and select "Properties"->Options->Untick the following 2 items: Prompt for name and password; Prompt for phone number; -> then click "OK"

6) Double clicking on the "Nokia N70" shortcut on your desktop should start the dialup process over your phone.

Here are the network dependent settings:

Vodacom:

Extra initialisation string: +CGDCONT=,,"internet"

Username: leave blank

Password: leave blank

CellC:

Extra initialisation string: +CGDCONT=,,"internet"

Username: leave blank

Password: leave blank

MTN:

Extra initialisation string: +CGDCONT=,,"myMTN"

Username: mtnwap

Password: mtnwap

Note: I am aware that the Nokia PC suite's (version 6.85.14.1 download the latest from here: http://europe.nokia.com/A4144905) "Connect to the Internet" can also be used and the setup process allows you to select the network that you're on (Vodacom, MTN or CellC).