Alfa - Prepaid to Postpaid for free, where's the catch?

samer

I've been hearing it pretty much everywhere, but it stroke me when the ministry of telecommunication itself (or someone pretending to be the MoT) sent me this SMS:

Thabet Khattak... for free. $15 monthly, %40 cheaper. 11cents/minute, 3 times cheaper than recharge. Thabet khattak now. Wizaret el itissalat

What's up with that? I doubt they're feeling charitable :)

rolf

Customers on postpaid lines tend to talk more and count less i guess, since they wont be in the dreaded situation where they run out of units.
There also might be a charity element, since Lebanon has one of the highest mobile costs in the world.

gilly

Part of the contract for the new companies that are managing Alfa and MTC was to get MUCH more phone subscribers. So I think this is a part of their strategy.
As for 3 times cheaper than recharge, that's true as of now...In April, recharge will be 3 times cheaper than this :P (exaggeration, but it will be cheap)

BashLogic

well its more of being three times more realistic and follow global trends on lowering the tarrif.
as always everything is so monopolized that to break a monopoly it lands three times slower in lebanon :P

mir

recharge is gonna get cheaper as well ? is that confirmed ? any idea about the new numbers

funny how we don't believe it anymore when something gets better.. we only expect things to get worse somehow

battikh

khtout seibteh are also definitely better for the government for security reasons. with post paid numbers you HAVE to give your personal information, and if you will sell it you will definitely change the ownership to the new guy's name (so that the bills dont keep coming under your name). while with prepaid numbers, most of the old numbers are anonymous and you can sell them without worrying about changing the ownership as there are no bills coming into your name. so a single number can pass by 10s of people without the official ownership being changed. so no way to track which number is with who and who is using a certain number...

mir

Good thinking batikha !

rolf

Yep battikh but if i was a criminal Id buy a units line "only for business", even if its more expensive.
But I guess it will still help, especially for non-premeditated crimes.

gilly

mir wroterecharge is gonna get cheaper as well ? is that confirmed ? any idea about the new numbers

funny how we don't believe it anymore when something gets better.. we only expect things to get worse somehow

Forgot to put a link in my post:
http://wirelessfederation.com/news/14241-mobile-call-rates-in-lebanon-to-slide-in-april09/
The blog post in that link was on Feb 2, 2009.

According to the new price scheme, the monthly subscription for postpaid subscribers will slide to $15 from the current $25, experiencing a 40% drop.
The per minute calling rate for the postpaid cards will also fall to $0.11 from the current $0.13, a drop of 16%. The downfall will lure the customers to shift from the prepaid to postpaid schemes.
On the other hand, the cost for a prepaid card for a duration of 1 month will fall from the current $45 to $25, while the cost of a one-minute call will drop to $0.36 from the current $0.50.

mir

pre-paid :
25$ per month instead of 45$ ( 0.36$ per minute)
postpaid :
15$ instead of 25$ (0.11$ per minute )

-- shu sabatna ? :P

gilly

Oops...I left out an important detail
Am I the only one that heard about prepaid cards also lasting three months instead of one?
I'm pretty sure that's why I've convinced myself to stick to prepaid...I don't talk alot on my phone so it ends up being cheaper (effectively $8.33 per month, $25 per 3 months)
But if they still make them last for one month per $25, I'm moving over to postpaid.

Edit:
Nevermind, it's in the same post on that site:

According to Bassil, Egypt’s Orascom Telecom and Zain [companies that are now managing Alfa and MTC] will issue three months validity prepaid cards in April and are expected to raise their subscriber base by 400,000 each in April.

Yay for me I guess :P and for people who don't waste their units within one month.

mir

:cool:

so 3 months... 25 $ ( instead of 135) ... am i dreaming !

gilly

Let's hope not!
They should be out on April 1st, one of my relatives called Alfa and asked about it
And no it isn't an April Fool's joke :P

xterm

If there's no catch, that's freaking awesome i was about to move my wife's prepaid to postpaid.

Lets hope internet moves in the same direction too.

rolf

1st April? :rolleyes:

mir

lol
let us hope it is not an april fool joke :)
yay ! go faster march :P i just want to see if it is true :P

gilly

I just got an SMS from my brother. Apparently, messages on Alfa are now cheaper: 0.36 units per message instead of 1 unit. Also, you can find out how many units you have at ANY time for FREE by dialing *11#
Both confirmed and working on my phone :D

(P.S. I'm on a prepaid line)

gilly

Also, when the new prepaid cards are released, they apparently cost $75 for 3 months :(
Effectively $25 per month, which is still cheaper than the $36 or $48 you pay now for a one month card (depending on whether you don't mind going through the grace period or whatever)
Not as much as we were hoping though :( but $25 for three months is just asking for too much...
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=100041

You should consider those postpaid ones then I guess. I know I will.
(Sorry I got everyone excited :( )

tich

An official from the ministry told the paper that the new cards will be available in the first month of April.
I like the sound of that...
I thought they were releasing them on the second month of April...
yay, for the first time in Lebanon something is not delayed, instead, it's sped up!!
kudos for teh ministry :)

gilly

Hehe yeah I found that funny too, first month of April :P