Telkom prepaid price plan comparison

By Myles Illidge

Mobile operators in South Africa offer various prepaid tariff plans with different rates and bundles for voice, data, and SMS messages. Telkom gives customers a choice between two regular prepaid mobile plans, and a broadband service.

MyBroadband compared the mobile operator’s prepaid price plans to determine which is best for data and voice-centric customers.

The network operator’s current prepaid price plans are Telkom More, Telkom Thola More, and Prepaid LTE — also known as the SmartBroadband Wireless Prepaid tariff plan.

Telkom’s SmartBroadband Wireless service is best suited for data-centric customers.

It lets customers choose from a broad range of data bundles exclusive to the tariff plan. These exclusive bundles available are summarised in the table below.

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Telkom More and Telkom Thola More are both based on the concept of giving customers bonuses on airtime recharges.

Customers on the Telkom More plan receive double their recharge value, provided they buy at least R5 worth of airtime. The extra airtime received can be used for calls, SMSs or data.

On the other hand, Telkom Thola More customers don’t get airtime bonuses directly. Instead, they will receive free data, on-network minutes, and SMSes for recharges of R5 or above.

Therefore, the Telkom More plan is more flexible than Thola More.

The Thola More plan automatically assigns free data, on-network voice, and SMS messages for recharges over R5.

The mobile operator doesn’t list plan-specific rates for its prepaid options. However, Telkom Mobile’s data, voice, and SMS rates are as follows:

• Data — R0.30 per megabyte
• Voice — R2.75 per minute
• SMS — R0.50 per message

Telkom More is the default prepaid price plan on which new customers are automatically placed.

“Telkom More gives you double your airtime value, with every recharge of R5 or more. The extra airtime you get can be used for calls, SMSs or data,” says Telkom.

However, existing customers can switch to the Telkom Thola More plan by dialling *180# or calling 180 to migrate their plan.

“The Telkom Thola More tariff plan offers customers additional free benefits such as data, on-network minutes and SMSes, for every airtime recharge of R5 or more,” says Telkom.

“The amount and value of the free benefits will depend on the amount of the recharge.”

The mobile operator doesn’t specify the rewards based on recharge amounts. However, MegaTel — an approved Telkom reseller — provides more detail.

The bonuses are summarised in the table below.

For the Telkom More plan, free airtime allocations expire seven days from the recharge date and will always be used first when making calls or buying data bundles.

On the other hand, the Telkom Thola More plan rewards customers with free data, on-network minutes, and SMSes. These allocations vary based on the recharge amount.

According to MegaTel, the free data and airtime allocations are valid for three days when recharging with R5 to R49.99. The validity period is bumped to seven days for recharges of R50 and above.

SMS allocations work slightly differently. For every recharge of R5 to R19.99, five free SMSs will be allocated per tier with a validity period of one day.

For recharges above R20, the free SMSs remain valid for seven days from the recharge date.

The number of free SMS messages allocated jumps when recharging with R50 or more.