Vodacom 3G sucks!

[Morticia]

I'm no computer genius, so I cannot comment om the technical side, but yes, the dropping off the network and slow speed after 18h00 is just so annoying - I would rather watch 7de Laan on SABC2 than connect via 3G...........

[Dave A]

...after 18h00 is just so annoying - I would rather watch 7de Laan on SABC2 than connect via 3G...........

I'd rather watch 7de Laan in slow motion...

[murdock]

hey easy on the 7de laan...i watch it because its not like all the other soapies...with everyone shagging the father the brother the uncle the son the sisters husband the daughters husband etc etc...it helps me to go brain dead for a half an hour while i eat my dinner...otherwise i would be sitting in my office eating my dinner.

[Morticia]

Oh Murdock, ever so sorry!!!

Shall I arrange a party for you at Alice's club or perhaps at Cherry on Top? That way you may also enjoy your dinner in "style"......

[Dave A]

hey easy on the 7de laan...

Would you enjoy it in slow motion, though?

I wondered if we'd p someone off with that crack
I know my in-laws are keen followers too. It's actually quite popular, I think.

[murdock]

so long as bruinwaves organises the party

[Morticia]

Goes without saying!!! And everybody can go for a zhoozsh and mani's and pedi's at Laura Lee before the party.......

[Dave A]

At the risk of jinxing this - I'm not suffering disconnects in the evenings like I used to. Either Vodacom has stepped up capacity on my local tower or my neighbours have given up and freed up enough bandwidth...

[omni]

Buy yourself a modem from an independent company. I bought myself a Slipstream from IP-Dimensions, http://www.ipdimension.net/ and put my SIM in it and no more disconnections.

[mister]

I can only agree that Vodacom 3G sucks here ion Oudtshoorn. And I tried to resolve the problem with the local vodacom store, with no effect. My 3g Device works well in Mossel Bay where I regularly can use it, but as soon as I get to Oudtshoorn, it can only stay connected for a few minutes. I;ve often waited for more than an hour just to get a signal, and then, when I get it for a few minutes, it just drops out....

EVERY DAY

I even had problems trying to make this post... as USUAL.

And theres nothing Vodacom seems to want to do about the problem

By the way, that campain "surfing for free" is a load of crap. First of all, who surfs the net between 12:00 and 05:00? Secondly, you can only get the benefit, if you buy a GIG of internet, which costs R289, oh, and don;t forget, PREPAID USERS do NOT get such a benefit, ONLY contract customers.

But you only find this out when you spend R289 and then see your data drop after 12:00 (that is, if you can get a signal after 12:00!!) and oh, yeah, then you only fin out that you do not get the benefit because you are not a contract customer.

Typical FALSE MISLEADING advertising!

[boerseun76]

please can someone tell me what is going on i phoned 155 vodacom today and they say there is only a 7.2mb network up. so what happend in the last 9 months to there 21.1mbps network as been stated by there CEO is working " Vodacom announced in February that it has switched on its 21.1 Mbps HSPA+ network in Midrand – the first live HSPA+ network in Africa.

Vodacom has now confirmed that it already has an extensive 21.1 Mbps HSPA+ network which is live, and that a large portion of their mobile broadband subscribers’ SIMs has been enabled to enjoy the higher speeds.

Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys said that they currently have 136 live 21.1 Mbps HSPA+ sites, mainly situated in high density areas like Sandton, Cape Town and Midrand as well as areas which will service the 2010 World Cup tourists like airports and stadiums."

NOW 9 months later and no sign of any of the above i hope cell c network is coming up soon not just for the speeds but mainly for the cost R999-00 2gig x 12 compare to vodacom/mtn R389-00 per 2gig data = R4668-00 for the year

[irneb]

Really not sure what you guys are on about. (Apart from the off topic 7de Laan stuff) ... I find my 3G (or rather HSPA) running fine, I do get drops in connection, but SOOOOO MUCH LESS that I get that same drops using either the ADSL (from Telkom) or the wireless (from IS) at our offices. Not to mention, it's faster than the ADSL and on par with the wireless - only it's uptime is more!

I don't think the drops in connection is an ISP particular problem. It seems more like the whole country's got that hassle. BTW, this is Sandton - so there's maybe just some other problems in other areas. I know that if I go to some places (usually small towns / countryside) the connection drops to EDGE / GPRS and becomes slow as hell.

[Dave A]

Just don't move, irneb. You're blessed.

The problem of disconnects is something called "cell breathing" - when a tower gets too many connections, it starts booting of the weaker signals and ones that have been dormant for a while.

My Telkom ADSL drops me maybe once a month - and all I have to do is switch off the modem and switch it back on again.

When you get dropped on V3g, it's not so easy.
You have to go into the task manager, stop the VCM service, go through the "safe to remove hardware" routine, remove the modem, plug the modem back in, fire up the software, type in the PIN number, then reconnect.

Big difference. And on a bad night, you'll be doing that every half an hour to an hour.

If you don't go through this routine and just click connect, after waiting 30 seconds or so for nothing to happen you get an "unexpected error" message. And then you have to go through the whole routine above anyway.

[irneb]

please can someone tell me what is going on i phoned 155 vodacom today and they say there is only a 7.2mb network up. so what happend in the last 9 months to there 21.1mbps network as been stated by there CEO is working " Vodacom announced in February that it has switched on its 21.1 Mbps HSPA+ network in Midrand – the first live HSPA+ network in Africa.

I've never seen that type of speed anywhere in SA. Even that "extended" service of 7.2 never really ran faster than the standard 3.6 (it's a waste of money) ... I wouldn't count on anything reaching 20+ ... not in SA.

NOW 9 months later and no sign of any of the above i hope cell c network is coming up soon not just for the speeds but mainly for the cost R999-00 2gig x 12 compare to vodacom/mtn R389-00 per 2gig data = R4668-00 for the year

That's another thing I wouldn't count on. CellC ... their "own" network? You're kidding right? They're still piggy-backing off MTN/Vodacom. You really think they will get faster speeds (or even just the same) than their carriers? It wouldn't make financial sense to either MTN/Vod to allow preference to CellC's connections. That's maybe why it's soooo much cheaper (or supposed to be): you'll probably only get a speed comparable to EDGE (225kb/s) / GPRS (48kb/s) for that price. I've got a few friends who were on CellC a month or so back, and that's the throughput rates they were getting while my Vodacom ran at a calculated 2-3MB/s. If I got the extended package I would see only spikes (of no more than a second or so) going above 4MB, averaging exactly the same as with the standard. That's why I say it's a waste of money, now they want to sell a "plus" package ... ha ha ha ha!

If I test using http://www.speedtest.net to one of the local stuff (Jhb / Midrand), best and worst of 10 tests each:

• ADSL (dual 4MB/sec lines):
• Wireless (12MB/s to Sandon City Tower):
• HSDPA:
  

[irneb]

Just don't move, irneb. You're blessed.

Not sure? I get the same figures here in Sandton CBD as I get at home (Fourways). The Wireless / ADSL I have to change the gateway IP's in the lan's setup. And if I have a drop in my HSDPA (this is why I don't use that STUPID USB "Huwaei modem" of theirs) I simply click the disconnect on my phone (Motorola Milestone), then click the connect again (or rather "touch") - no need to (even unplug the USB or go through that rig-marole with the modem. And that I have only needed to do 3 times in the last month. With the ADSL and Wireless I have to do it every 30minutes!