FNB Platinum - best in Credit Card in SA for now

After my frustrations with Easypay I paid once for my telephone and electricity at Checkers (my local supermarket) and then realised that I could just add them both to my FNB platinum card via their internet banking list of recipients. Duh! What a pleasure, I must also thank FNB for the time they took to confirm how simple it is to get a platinum card and the benefits of the SLOW lounge at the airports. I also send kudos for a flawless Android App which makes banking (using my credit card account) a cinch.

It really saves to fly Mango (or Kulula) and hang out in better luxury than the SAA lounges. There are a number of other benefits like free card delivery and secondary cards, petrol cards with benefits, and some less useful ones like the platinum support but overall this is IMHO the best credit card in SA today by far.

Paypal integration also good as you may expect as they own Paypal in SA. And their CEO is a young practical approachable guy who spoke at the Silicon Cape event last year.
Much more than that I must also admit that I've owned an FNB credit card since my Bar Mitzvah so it's realy my oldest bank account (even when I was out the country for four years I managed to maintain it thanks to my late fathers help).
This leaves much to be desired for my other bank ABSA. As opposed to eBucks which I consider the premium loyalty banking service in the country (linked to dozens of online and offline services including most notably Engen and Kalahari as well as Woolworths, Makro, Kulula, Dischem, etc.) ABSAs Leisurelink closed down over 2 years ago. At the time we thought it was just ABSA insourcing. 18 months later I was sorry to say that had become the biggest thorn in ABSAs side. The promise was: "If you are an Absa Rewards member, earn Cash Rewards and qualify for great specials and discounts every time you use your Absa debit, cheque or credit card to pay at any of our participating Rewards Partners". Going to www.absarewards.co.za site one got: "The site's security certificate has expired!: and "The Absa Rewards programme has terminated with effect from 1st April 2009 however after paying a nominal fee (of a few hundred rand a year) one got absolutely nothing. Apparently the rules changed at the beginning of this year and the ±1% in 'ABSA rewards' was re-instated for all credit card purchases (for the 18 months prior it was only purchses from 'selected' partners that one earned rewards. I have yet to see what benefits can come about from these rewards and I'm aware ABSA is operating the Woolworths credit card which I considered getting for our domestic recently until I saw something better... see my next post....
Had to slot in an info graphic made by Scott Mooney a connection of a connection old family friend:

South Africa - prepaid 3G HSDPA on Vodacom (and MTN)

I've been exploring the options for travelers or those that don't want to (or can't) get a contract with Vodacom. A few months ago I blogged about how we have some of the cheapest (and accessible) 3G in the world so I recently went through a process recently of getting a Vodacom 'data bundle'. Unfortunately it's not as straight forward as you may expect.

You can get Internet access on the 3G/HSDPA network using your pre-paid (any Vodacom pre-paid card costs around R5 at any Pick n Pay or Spar, etc.) or contract SIM card using any phone or PC/USB card. If you phone doesn't 'just work' then you can register at Vodacom4me and follow instructions to download the settings to your phone (for MTN just enter *123*13#).

At the cost of R2, standard 3g HSDPA (or GPRS) may be globally competitive but it isn't ideal if you plan to use more than 100 MB.

The Vodacom web page here (and btw, MTN is similar here) describes the "Prepaid and Top Up data bundles". The table shows (prepaid) prices from 19c per MB to R1,19 (depending on the bundle) as an alternative to R2,00 using a 'data bundle', although it doesn't say anything about how to get a data bundle. So what do you do?

As a contract customer one would ask ones 'service provider' (SP) who usually won't know but will get back to you and explain that there are a few forms that you need to complete and fax to them (although interestingly you can order a once off data bundle at any time as well as a monthly recurring one).

So for prepaid the SP did not know and suggested to buy a 'pre-paid data bundle'. So I assumed that one could buy a data bundle anywhere where one buys airtime. After looking at half a dozen places that sell airtime I learned it's not the case. After I bought what I thought was a R49 data bundle from Spar, I followed the instructions and found that it was an SMS bundle, so I ended up with 60 useless SMS's. I spent half and hour navigating the ridiculous Vodacom IVR and waiting for a real person who kindly explained that the only way to get a data bundle is to load normal airtime first and then convert that to a data bundle by dialing *111# and following the voice prompts. I did that and then easily added a 500MB bundle for R189.

Some observations:
- although advertised, you can't get less than a 500MB (pre-paid) data bundle on Vodacom (although you can on MTN).
- you have a maximum of one month in which to use the data bundle (ie. use it or lose it)
- if you want to use pre-paid on a HSDPA or 3G modem, you need to take out the card and put it into a phone every time you want to reload a data bundle
- it may be desirable to buy the exact amount of pre-paid airtime rather than 2 x R110 vouchers but more on this thread

This is still the best (lowest cost with maximum coverage) way for an international traveler to get Internet access in South Africa.