Vodacom 3G sucks!

[irneb]

Well Bell is quite average but Rogers has got real ground-breaking technology infrastructure and coverage yet equals it with massive prices...there are several low profile. whereas Telus, Northern tel and Virgin are ok but the best internet is from Bell mobility and Rogers...Bell cheaper ofcourse. Afterall Bell is the first ever telecomunications company of canada. What about SA can't you change or are these regional issues?

As Dave's stated, we've got 2 choices, Telcom / IS for the main connection.

For the wireless / cell: Vodacom / MTN. The others (Cell-C, Virgin, etc.) are all just piggy-backing on top of those two's infrastructure. And actually those two are "owned" (partially between 35 & 60% shareholding) by our national telecoms company (TelCom), who has just introduced their own brand now called 8ta ... how great that's gonna be is really up for grabs (we know from experience how bad TelCom's land line support is). But all these actually use Telcom's connection for international, or through the "only" other competitor IS ... not sure if the main company is IS (Internet Solutions), but it looks that way. Under them is a whole bunch of "ISP's".

There's two other which seems a bit more independent (locally at least) called NeoTel and iBurst, for their international link they still use either of the 2 giants. They only have wireless connections - no land-lines. But I'm unsure if they perhaps use one of Vodacom / MTN's cell networks. I think iBurst may be under IS, as their coverage is rather poor when not in the major city centres.

The rest are all simply using the infrastructure of the 2 major players. E.g. the X-DSL which we have for our ADSL work through Telcom. For these guy's wireless, they use one of the cell companies or in some areas a WiFi connection - as per our Verison under IS.

In SA there are 100's of "ISPs". But actually they're just middle-ware taking a cut between the customer and the supplier. Very few of them have their own infrastructure, and those who do - only in very small specific locations.

[Dave A]

There's two other which seems a bit more independent (locally at least) called NeoTel and iBurst

iBurst is actually owned by Vodacom, although it doesn't operate over the cellphone infrastructure. Let's face it - we're pwned.

[AndyD]

Let's face it - we're pwned.

j00 m34n 7h3y'r3 pu11ing 0ur p4n7z d0wn?

[irneb]

4nd 7h3n 63nd1n9 u5 0v3r 4nd 74k1n9 u5 fr0m 63h1nd!

[Dave A]

Oh trust me - I don't need MS to diagnose this problem

Vodacom is a firken nightmare for me tonight.

[irneb]

That's the usual problem with that dongle modem from Voda-sucks. Mine was working at best for about 20min, then no connection, unplug - restart - reconnect ... doesn't want to read the modem ... restart again with the modem connected - blue screen ... disconnect, reset, plug in before the Win Logo comes up, finally ... connect ... ahh another 20min (max).

That's the major reason I went with my phone directly. I've now got a Motorola Milestone ... frikken awesome speeds (max of 12MB/s - average of 4MB/s) and yes I've tested phoning from & to it while downloading (no prob whatsoever).

I'm a bit green , because the Milestone 2 just came out: Has built-in 3G hotspot for up to 5 devices. No cables needed . Although I suspect battery life's going to be poor when you've got both its 3G and WiFi turned on.