ICASA tackles delayed SMS problems

[Dave A]

Cellphone companies were meeting the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa's (Icasa) council on Wednesday to discuss consumer complaints about technical problems, the authority's spokesperson said.

Sekgoela Sekgoela said representatives of Cell C, Vodacom and MTN would be present to answer to complaints of dropped calls and delayed SMSs.

"The meeting is to get them to explain the root cause of the problem," said Sekgoela.

They had received numerous complaints from consumers on the matter.
full story from M&G here

I was helping my wife set up her internet banking the other day and slow SMS sends were a major obstacle. The first SMS arrived well over an hour from when it was "sent," and on the next day she received an SMS that had been sent two days previously. It seems clear that SMS and instant messaging are not the same thing.

Hopefully they get to the bottom of it, but if ICASA is paying attention to slow message transfers, maybe they could take a look at some of the email snarl-ups that happen from time to time. Sometimes an email can take over an hour to get through "the system," particularly if it involves an international leg.

[twinscythe12332]

yup. sent 2 smses. the second was received before the first. Houston, we have a problem.