Posted by mario2002
Jeffreysbay/Kareedouw :-)
Posted by brix25
@mario: Do you do any surfing? You're in one of the best surfing spots in the world
Posted by Rhino8
@brix, i havnt had time yet. Bt it aint givn me trouble at d mo. Just stopped. Worx a dream. Just ask if ya want sum free games.
Posted by Siosal
What bug's did you pick up and on which firmware?
Posted by RicK700i
@ brix,how much did you pay for your K700i?
Posted by brix25
Paid R2199...quite cheap @ Clicks
Posted by RicK700i
Thats flipping cheap. For a phone like that.So why didnt chu buy the Nokia 6230?
Posted by JK
@BRIX
its on fam top up for 79 p/m for 24 months
Posted by brix25
@Rick the 6230's screen is too small and it's just an ordinary Series40 phone.
Posted by Rhino8
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Where can i get that deal? My bro also want k700
Posted by RicK700i
Its 99 p/m on MTN mycall at Nashua Mobile,if you cant get it for 79 p/m
Posted by Siosal
How many here on prepaid? Had my contract for about 4,5 years. Pay about R150p/m with sms bundle.
And i got about 4,5 hours free talk time on it, but i don't make too many outgoing calls. Lots of incoming though.
Posted by brix25
I'm on prepaid...out of choice cellphone companies are screwing contract subscribers the hardest when it comes to debit orders and billing. Does any ever get to finish the free off peak minutes in a month? IActually considered get this phone on contract but didn't want to be stuck in a contract for two years. BTW anyone knows when number portability goes into effect?
Posted by JK
Im on a Talk 240....
Posted by RicK700i
I still have 77 smses to send in 9 days and about 93 free minutes left.
Posted by brix25
Hey Rick any nice videos on yourphone? Seems like it's only porn out there...can't get any hiphop clips in 3gp:-]
Posted by Rhino8
@brix go to prodigits.co.uk/rhino8 i think i got a link on there with some pretty nice clips.
I got a talk1000 contract on vodacom with a mymeg 10 gprs bundle for business, and spend 2-3hours a day on outgoing calls and alot of time on web wiv my laptop. (Glad da co pays that bill) and got my prepaid out of choice 4 private use.
Posted by Rhino8
@brix
Whats this sh*t bout MTN launching a 3.5g HSDC.... In 3g?
Any info?
Posted by uthetha ituvi
Well this forum has finally prompted me to register at esato! I, like many other SA citizens, work in the UK now, but roots and ties with 'Mama Africa' are still strong. I'm originally from East London and now find myself living in the ORIGINAL East London...hmm, don't have cool beaches here though!
I know and realise that there are numerous factors why phone prices are more expensive in SA, but some of the differences with UK prices really gets me wondering sometimes...
Obviously, competition is far stronger here etc. etc. Many people also say that it's not always fair to compare prices by simply looking at the exchange rate, but I can't help it..I have bought so many cellphones for friends and family over here and they have gladly paid me the Rands equivalent when I fly back home for our annual holiday. An example or two: the cheapest k700i I have found here so far, on PAYG, is about £139, from the 'Orange' network. Fair enough, it's locked to Orange, but another £10 later and it's unlocked and flashed,ready to receive another Vodacom, MTN or Cell C sim card...in total:£150. You do the currency conversion and the maths. I just went to the Edgars website..R2499 for a Nokia 7250i. At www.orange.co.uk, they are, at the moment, on special on PAYG for £49.99...(usually £69.99)
I'm sorry if I seem so critical of SA cellphone pricing, but when the average SA citizen is not earning nearly what they could here and then have to pay prices like these, I can't help but think that some 'fat cats' are making a huge killing. I will continue bringing in as many phones into SA as I can..I refuse to see family and friends being ripped off so badly.
Phones to da People!!!!!!!
Posted by Rhino8
@uthetha
Welcm to esato,and especially to sa forum.
Posted by Siosal
@uthetha: Welcome.
Thinking now...I wouldn't mind getting a prepaid phone for private use...sounds good.
I like the fact that i can't get another phone for two years because you see so many phones taht make you drool and you wish you could get them, but then the very next month something twice as good comes along. And you can be glad you didn't get it...(K700i excluded)
Posted by brix25
Once again let me welcome Utheta to the thread... sometimes I feel people are ripped off bcoz they're too lazy to shop around. UK prices on cellphones are less expensive bcoz there's more competition in that market. In SA prices for low end phones is competitive bcoz the market is crowded with manufacturers trying to get a bigger slice of the pie.
Posted by Siosal
Did you see the thread posted by that guy who wants to rip the camera out of his k700?
All cause he can't be bothered to take his non camera phone to work cause he's not allowed a cam phone there.
Posted by uthetha ituvi
Thanks for all the welcomes, guys. It is great to be 'on board'.
As I mentioned in my first post, there are various factors, that we all know about, as to why they are so much cheaper abroad. I agree with brix regarding the low end phone prices, they are indeed on a par with prices here if you just use the exchange rate as a reference. This would also be the key market area too. Obviously the k700i is not a low end phone. However, the massive price differences are really amplified as soon as you look at mid-end and higher class handsets. The price increments v/s handset features is far greater in SA.
Just some further facts: many of the handsets that were UK PAYG that I have unlocked and flashed are all working fine in SA, even with their foreign network firmware and branding. By unlocking new phones, you do invalidate the warranty. Which then leaves sim-free handsets, which thus cost a bit more. Check out www.mobilefun.co.uk or www.mphone.co.uk. Still leagues cheaper than SA sim-free, eg. Nokia 6230 for £194.95 sim-free...(I quoted Nokia as a reference, as we know how Nokia-mad SA is, and yes, I am a loyal SE fan.)
Warranties are covered internationally, as long as the imei number is on the invoice. The only 2 phones that have given any probs out of the many I have sent to SA is a sim-free Ericsson R520m, about 3 years ago. The repair place in JHB wouldn't fix it, as the invoice I had from www.expansys.com did not have the imei number printed on it. The other was with the memory card that came with an unlocked UK t-mobile Nokia 3650.
Going back to the cheaper UK PAYG unlocking option, we were able to get wap/gprs and mms settings from the Nokia site when the SA networks did not support some of the handsets. I unlocked a few UK t-mobile SE T630 phones, which were £99 + unlocking. Vodacom were able to send all the settings to the SA users via sms no probs.
Oh, and contracts here are minimum 1 year, not 2. After that year, should you phone up the network and wish to cancel, they usually get their retention departments to give you fantastic deals and upgrades to stay on. I am on my third UK contract now and have benefitted, handset-wise, greatly from this.
If any of you need facts or info, I'm only too glad to supply you with these. I don't ship or airmail handsets from here, as too many parcels seem to go 'astray' at JHB International...
All I'm aiming to do is hopefully expose the facts for comparison purposes, maybe rally enough support and noise to get people more aware of the price differences and ask more questions...but I guess the same old answers of 'import costs' etc will be given. Funny that, because countries eg. NZ and Aus also need to import..
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!
Posted by brix25
@Siosal: the question one needs to ask is whether said gentleman is a retard. Off topic still getting to grips with my new phone...downloaded some awesome 3D games...but now I'm trying to connect the "my friends" feature so I can chat to friends via MSN.
Posted by Rhino8
@brix, so wud u hav liked any extra features on k7? I only want memo card and 3g extra.
Whats the sh*t mtn mite launch u talked bout on nigerian 4um?
Posted by zani_003
Hey ppl ! Howzit ? Im new here ! And dig Mtn & SE ! Whens Mtn launchin 3g ? I cant wait
Posted by brix25
@Rhino...what I was refering to on the Nigerian was HSDPA, the next evolution of 3G...Vodacom have been trialing it and MTN might just launch it...it still uses 3G architecture only improvement is transfer rates(1Mb/s)... BTW I'm happy with the phone although I've discovered a bug today (it switches off by itself when I'm playing games for an extended period)... BTW welcome Brad, hope you keep the posts coming.
Posted by Rhino8
@brad.
Welcm, i h8 mtn,they gprs 20times mor expensive.
@brix
Mine neva resets during gameplay, use to reset on wap tho
@all

What do u think bout se k750i?
Posted by brix25
@Rhino...the K750 is nice but maybe I should get it in 8 months after it's launch in Europe, should be affordable by then. The phone might costs R5000 or on some ridiculous contract when it eventually launches here in May-June (wishfull).
Posted by Rhino8
Ill phone sony latr and find out! It may be my next phone, but its disappointing that its nt got 3g :-[
Posted by rapidblue
@brix25...Vodacom is trying to launch super 3G hopefully by the end of the year. That means speeds of up to 2Mb/s! We have experienced up to 1Mb/s in Vodaworld, which means Vodacom is definitely testing it and playing around with it.
Posted by Siosal
@brix25 & Rhino8:
My phone only reset once when i was typing an sms, although i have to say i think that was my fault.
@clara not being 3g:
I'll live...i think the specs are perfect for me, and there is only one person i would actually like to see in a video conference call.(I have a tendency to pull faces when people annoy me over the phone.
@K700i improvements:
Memory card is the only thing i can think of.
Maybe push to talk.
@all:
Buying goods through your phone using gprs and bluetooth...your thoughts.(ie: never needing a wallet again...and yes i know security on a phone would have to be increased.)
Posted by JK
Mr blue
if im not mistaken isnt 384k/s the fastest, and it doesnt even get to 384kb/s... even with the data card...
Posted by brix25
@786KBR...Nah mate 256kb/s ain't the fastest... HSDPA otherwise known as Super 3G is intended to compete with WiMax technology which will eventally launch in SA in the near future... WiMax works like WiFi but can cover a 50km radius.
Posted by JK
3G runs at 384kb/s not 256...
who is launching super 3G???? Iv never heard of it... besides MTN so iv heard are building their 3G network.... in my opinion they about 5 years behind!!!!
Did you know MTN have no idea what to do... they launched blackberry then removed everything because they werent ready!!!
Posted by brix25
@KBR...sorry about that, my bad. Don't know about anyone being 5 years behind considering that most European operators only switched on their 3G networks late last year...in the US they don't have a UMTS network running although CDMA2000 is widespread.
Posted by RicK700i
@ brix25,did you get my pm with the K700i links?
Posted by JK
@brix
Yes they switched it on but how long did they take to develop it???
excuse my exageration maybe it 2-3 yrs behind.. or even 1 but that still behind!
[ This Message was edited by: 786KBR on 2005-03-03 09:22 ]
Posted by brix25
@Rick ...thanksmate got ur pm. @KBR786: It took government less time to hand out 3G licences than what it took in Europe. Right now the technology is still in beta phase...so Super 3G should launch later this year.
Posted by JK
@brix
So are you saying MTN is not going to launch 3g, but rather "super 3g"???
I find that very very hard to believe,,, u mean later of THIS year!!!!?
If they do (which I seriously doubt) then VERY WELL DONE!!!!!
[ This Message was edited by: 786KBR on 2005-03-03 12:54 ]
Posted by Rhino8
MTN did launch prepaid gprs b4 vodacom, and also launched contract gprs b4 voda.or at least started to test it b4 voda.
Posted by JK
NOPE Voda was first then MTN... MTN then tried to out do Voda and launched EDGE!!
Posted by brix25
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No, I'm not saying that...all I know is that they've been testing it.
Just read this article
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3434341
Posted by rapidblue
Actually MTN launched GPRS before Vodacom but stuffed it up so bad that when Vodacom launched it a lot of people were sacred to use it (had heard all negative reports). And speaking of Blackberry (a few posts back), we got some in stock yesterday :-) Will be selling them from Monday :-) (Vodacom, that is).
Posted by JK
Do you work for vodacom??
Whats so nice about Blackberry it looks like a calculator!!
Posted by Rhino8
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Just wajnted to ask that. And what does it cost?
Posted by brix25
@rapidblue: Will the Blackberry be Vodafone branded?
Posted by JK
Theres 2 Blackberries...
One Vodafone branded and one normal one...
They are very cheap*
R3500....-normal, vfone - cheaper.
* for what its worth to some people....
as for me, if its possible throw in a mp3, camera 3g and make it smaller somehow then Id like 1!!
Posted by brix25
@KBR: The Blackberry is not aimed at those wanting a camera and mp3 ringtones. Business users wanting their email on the fly will find it more usefull.