Vodacom,MTN and Virgin Mobile prepaid GPRS review

!!GPRS SETUP GUIDE MOVED!! This post has been updated recently. For the GPRS setup guide, see: http://psichron.za.net/wordpress/?p=10 Cell Phone Network Operator Review: This is a review of my experience with Vodacom, MTN and Virgin Mobile’s prepaid GPRS options. Includes comparison of cost, reliability, ease of use, marketing, support, and overall impression.

Cost:
+1 Vodacom: About R5 for the sim, including no airtime. Data @ R2/Mb
+2 MTN: About R4 for the sim, received R10 free airtime. Data @ R2/Mb
+3 Virgin: R55 for the sim and starter pack, including R50 airtime. Data @ 50c/Mb

Reliability:
+1 Vodacom: Poor. Sometimes difficulty connecting, especially in certain areas. Frequent Disconnects.
+2 Virgin: Inconsistent. Would work fine one day, serious difficulty connecting the next. Sometimes suffer from domain name lookup issues. Occasional disconnects, some days worse than others.
+3 MTN: Excellent. Admittedly I only tested it before their last systems upgrade. Always connects, always on. Disconnects rare.

Ease of use:
+1 Vodacom: You need to call an operator to have your sim activated for GPRS. Dial *111# ,select “MMS settings” and follow the prompts for vodacom to send you the correct configuration settings.
+2 MTN: Call *123* to get the correct settings for your phone. GPRS works out the box.
+3 Virgin: GPRS works out the box, settings automatically sent to phone.

Support:
+1 for all. All three networks have representatives on myadsl.co.za.

Marketing:
-666. Vodacom: If it was not for that meerkat, they wouldn’t have lost any points. Their ads used to be witty, but the sheer retardedness of its current campaign makes me choke on my own bile every time I see an ad. That meerkat should burn in hell.
-100. Virgin: All I can say is “What a joke.”. Are we all mentally handicapped that their advertisement team decided to write everything as if for primary school kiddies? I guess you can’t do any better if you have a sub-100 IQ yourself, or maybe it’s their American Mentality. Their website is horrible.
0. MTN: “Y’ellow summer”. Irretating ads and severely challenged slogans, but they do much for promotion. Cancels out.
1. CellC: I just put this in here to show that not all ZA’s operators have 3rd rate morons in their marketing dept. Ads range from OKish to brilliant.

Connection type:
All GPRS users connect from behind a single gateway IP address. There is no way you will get your own IP for GPRS. Unless you know some important people, you are stuck behind NAT. (There is cases of 3G users with unique IPs on some networks.)

Overall:
If you leave out marketing the totals are as follows:
4. Vodacom: (YOU FAIL!) Vodacom’s reliability issues might be due to oversubscription.They should definately lower data costs. They have some cool extra features though.
8. MTN: (THINKOFTHECHILDREN!) Reliable, but should also definitely look at their data pricing.
9. Virgin: (LOZL!) After being with Vodacom, there is nothing like checking your balance and seeing you still have airtime left.

Winner: VIRGIN MOBILE. The other two network are just way too expensive.