DISQUS

Usman · 1 year ago

Well i am sure you will be getting these charges. i was badly screwed as i used it befoe knowing the chages

Henk Kleynhans · 1 year ago

Hi Elaine,

First of all, forget about the whole roaming nonsense. Switch on an "Away Greeting" and get a SkypeIn number which you can divert to any phone.

A prepaid SIM card that you can put in your phone will cost you R1. (that's $0.10). Yes really. As opposed to the $60 I paid for a T-Mobile SIM card at SFO, or the $25 you'd pay at RadioShack.

Although mobile operators still rip off customers here, prices are a bit different.

- Prepaid calls are $0.20 per minute (actually, they do per second billing here)
- Mobile browsing is $0.20 per MB (T-Mobile USA is $1). (you can easily buy bundles, e.g. 500 MB will cost you $18)
- You do NOT pay for Incoming calls. AFAIK this is a US phenomenon. You'd have blood on the streets if you tried charging people for incoming calls in Africa.

There are 3 mobile operators to choose from. If you're not happy with one, simply get a SIM card from another one. It will cost you $0.10. (+ $10 if you want to keep your old phone number)

Welcome to a lot more cellular freedom.

Gadgetking36 · 1 year ago

Well this is indeed good news. I think the charges are pretty commensurate with the services being offered. I hope the same deal will be offered here in Phil soon.

Henry · 1 year ago

Someone from South Africa.
First thing you do is to get a Vodacom pay-as-you-go sim card for R4.99
($0.50). That will give you unlimited incoming calls for R0.00 ($0.00). You can then buy data bundles and call bundels from R6.00 - R200.

If your mates from UK wants to contact you... your number will be +27 82 xxxx xxx.
ie, just remove the leading zero of the mobile number you are given and stick a +27 infront of it.

Google maps do not work, infact for the little street info that is available, you will only get old apartheid names no long in used.

Bandwidth is expensive, so expect to pay though your teeth.