WhatsApp voice calling could be the next big thing

WhatsApp voice calling has been in production for quite some time and now it is finally a reality for Android users. But, can you really think of replacing it with regular calls? It’s true that WhatsApp has more than 10 million users in South Africa, not to mention a huge portion of the world is using it too and it is only growing…

BUT WhatsApp calls are not free (unless you are using someone else’s WiFi), so both people in the call need to spend data and it seems that the caller needs to spend a bit more. In South Africa WhatsApp voice calls may only cost you 2c per minute and as much as 92c per minute in out-of-bundle or ad-hoc data usage.

Using Android, tests were done on WhatsApp voice calling and the results showed that the VoIP call can use up to 470KB of data per minute. Multiple the data usage by the converted MB prices from SA mobile operators and you will be able to see what WhatsApp voice calling might cost you!

Take a look at the WhatsApp voice call data costs…

WhatsApp voice call data costs
100MB in-bundle data	Price	Per-MB rate	WhatsApp per-minute
Cell C	R19	R0.19	R0.087
Vodacom	R29	R0.29	R0.133
MTN (+55MB/3d)	R29	R0.29	R0.133
Telkom (All)	R30	R0.30	R0.138
500MB in-bundle data	500MB in-bundle data	Per-MB rate	WhatsApp per-minute
Afrihost*	R29	R0.058	R0.027
Axxess*	R29	R0.058	R0.027
MWEB*	R39	R0.078	R0.036
Telkom (Own)	R69	R0.138	R0.063
Cell C	R85	R0.170	R0.078
MTN	R99	R0.198	R0.091
Vodacom	R99	R0.198	R0.091
1GB in-bundle data	Price	Per-MB rate	WhatsApp per-minute
Axxess*	R49	R0.048	R0.022
Afrihost*	R58	R0.057	R0.026
MWEB*	R69	R0.067	R0.031
Telkom (Own)	R119	R0.116	R0.053
Cell C	R149	R0.146	R0.067
Vodacom	R149	R0.146	R0.067
MTN	See 2GB
2GB in-bundle data	Price	Per-MB rate	WhatsApp per-minute
Axxess*	R79	R0.039	R0.018
Afrihost*	R99	R0.048	R0.022
MWEB*	R99	R0.048	R0.022
MTN	R149	R0.073	R0.033
Telkom (Own)	R149	R0.073	R0.033
Cell C	R245	R0.120	R0.055
Vodacom	R249	R0.122	R0.056
Items marked with an * are data-only services

What about the quality of the calls? Well, the present quality of the WhatsApp calls is definitely debatable… Some users have made calls locally and internationally and say that their calls were clear and have been without any problems; however other users have said that the calls are slow and almost unusable! The standard of the call actually depends on 2G and 3G. If you are using 3G the call quality should be pretty decent, but with 2G, there is quite a bit of lag!

WhatsApp voice calling could be a real game changer when it comes to the cost of calling in South Africa and this update will soon be available on iOS and Windows. So, yes, WhatsApp will let you make calls, but big changes in data plans are on their way.

Have you used WhatsApp voice calling yet? What do you think of it?

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Written By: Christine Romans
CopyWriter at The Computer Guyz Cape Town