A common mistake that many smartphone users make is to use their airtime when browsing the internet. This is a much more expensive option than buying a data bundle.

What is a data bundle?

A data bundle gives you a set amount of data for a set price. This means there's a fixed cost for a certain quantity of data – for example 100MB, 250MB, 500MB or more. 

When you buy a data bundle, you benefit from highly discounted rates versus simply using your airtime.

If you’re a Vodacom Top Up customer for instance, if you use data out of bundle, you’ll be paying R2 per MB  – that means 500MB of data could cost you R1 000. 

Current data promotions, on the other hand, mean that as a Top Up customer, you can buy a MyMeg 500 data bundle for only R99. (Take a look at the Vodacom site for current promotions.)

So how much data do you need?

Choosing the right amount of data for your needs depends on how you use your phone. 

If you’re simply using your phone to check email and use instant messaging services like WhatsApp, you won’t need huge amounts of data. If you receive 100 emails and spend 10 minutes a day chatting, you’ll probably work through about 175MB each month.

However, if you like downloading music, taking and sharing photos and watching videos, you’ll need more. To put this into perspective, with 500MB of data, you’ll be able to download 12 music tracks as well as 44 photos and watch about an hour of video.

Vodacom has a very nifty data calculator that will help you figure out how much data you’re likely to use each month and find the data bundle that best suits your needs.

How do you buy a data bundle?

There are several ways to buy data – on your phone, online or via the VodaPay App. Find out more here .