If you want proof of just how little it actually costs cellphone networks to let you surf the interweb here it is.

You may have read about Vodacom’s glitch on December 31, around 200 000 customers being double debited. First they rectified the problem by promising to immediately reimburse those affected, but now they’ve gone just a little further and handed each person a 500mb data bundle to help ease the pain. Over to News24:

Vodacom’s executive head of corporate affairs Tshepo Ramodibe told Fin24 on Wednesday that all reimbursement payments have been made by the end of Tuesday and that the additional data giveaway is to say sorry to customers.

The free 500MB data bundles, though, expire after seven days, Ramodibe said.

“This is a token gesture to say guys, we’re sorry and this is an apology on our part,” said Ramodibe.

I suppose when you boast around 30 million subscribers, a frighteningly high amount if you ask me, you can afford to make it rain with the odd data giveaway. It just makes you realise how over the odds you’re paying though each time you top up, but I think you knew that already…

[source:news24]