*READ FIRST* MTN Network Status & Issues (DNS, Throughput and Latency)

[bar1]

C:\Documents and Settings\3g>ping www.google.com

Pinging www.l.google.com [216.239.59.99] with 32 bytes of data

Reply from 216.239.59.99: bytes=32 time=291ms TTL=237
Reply from 216.239.59.99: bytes=32 time=279ms TTL=237
Reply from 216.239.59.99: bytes=32 time=278ms TTL=237
Reply from 216.239.59.99: bytes=32 time=276ms TTL=237

Ping statistics for 216.239.59.99:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 276ms, Maximum = 291ms, Average = 281ms

C:\Documents and Settings\3g>ping mybroadband.co.za

Pinging mybroadband.co.za [41.203.17.1] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 41.203.17.1: bytes=32 time=114ms TTL=47
Reply from 41.203.17.1: bytes=32 time=103ms TTL=47
Reply from 41.203.17.1: bytes=32 time=92ms TTL=47
Reply from 41.203.17.1: bytes=32 time=91ms TTL=47

Ping statistics for 41.203.17.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 91ms, Maximum = 114ms, Average = 100ms


I am happy
:-)

[AK65]

And I am happy for you

I note you posted your reply at 11pm. The system was probably fixed by then. I eventually gave up trying to download a file of 16MB, when the expected download time ballooned to 3 hours or something like that with a screaming 2kB/s.

My company also had internet problems with similar ping times and we are provisioned by Verison. MTN owns or has a stake in Verison...........

We'll see what's up today......

[Chevron]

I've been having problems with the 3g/gprs for while now. Datadude fixed it for a few weeks and now on monday and last night I experience the same problems.

It's always between 6 and 9 in the evenings though.

[bar1]

I am new to the MTN network.

I was wondering,
What kind of speeds do you guys usually get?
and whats the fastest speed you ever got?

[Piesang]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr_Data]

I also got this sort of thing. However, other than the notice of a phone pay-in for certain contracts printed in font size 4 there are two more hidden payments. The first is R100 just for kicks. It is printed in small letters at the bottom of those terrible yellow papers they call price lists. OK, so R100 if you stay with them, no reason at all. After 3 hours of waiting and filling in papers the sale person was on the phone with MTN trying to approve my upgrade or something like that. I was informed of a R300 globack (kloubak, clobeck, glowback, not sure, could never hear what they say but they seem to understand what I say when I repeat it) cost. They told me that everyone must pay this if they do NOT take the Anytime 500 package. Ridiculous.

So, R400 to stay with them and get a contract which will probably cost me R3 a minute. R200 +- SIM connection fee if I move to Vodacom. Mmm... Depends on what they want to charge for concellations...

The branch employees told me that many of their customers are choosing to rather cancel their contracts. This is probably the worst move MTN has made in a long time. The whole thing is strongly marketed as being easy and simple, but I suppose I haven't watched the "3 words" commcercial enough to believe that my experience thus far was simple.

There is a rumour that Vodacom is going down the same road. I suppose I'd better sign for 2 years of a proper contract ASAP.

P.S. From what I could gather, the cloback cost is based on your current contract phone and is a sort of penalty for upgrading. I am not sure if this means that you pay the last 3 months of your phone cost so that you can go on the new package immediately.

Hi
If you send me the following details, I will try and provide an explanation of the charges that you are faced with:

Your MTN Cell Number:
The contract you were/are on:
The contract you would like to go onto:
The handset you wanted on the new contract:
All the Pricing details you were quoted:

From the information you have supplied, you need to remember that MTN does allow you to upgrade in month 21 I think. This is provided that you are staying on the same contract. Logically you still have 3 more months to pay off the old handset so if you choose a lower contract in month 21, there will be additional fees. If you waited till the end of the 24months you wont.

But as I mentioned, send me all the details and I will get a detailed explanation of what happened in your case.

Regards
DD

[ginggs]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I take it you feel rather strongly about this?

Unfortunately this is nothing new, I've been an MTN subscriber for about 14 years. When my first contract came to an end they wanted to charge me an "upgrade fee", and IIRC, they wanted me to hand in my old phone too. I just terminated the old contract and took out a new one.

This year one of my contract SIMs developed a fault and MTN wanted to charge me R180 for a new one, yet you can buy pre-paid SIMs for under R1.
I terminated the contract and got a pre-paid SIM.

Another problem I've had with them is when one has just signed up for another twenty four months, paid the "upgrade fee", and gotten a brand new phone only to find the old SIM isn't compatible, they don't hesitate to hit you R180 for a "SIM swap" while customers signing up for a new contract get their SIMs for free.

[gpe]

I would like to think I'm more computer savvy than the average Joe, having worked with computers since I was about ten and studying comp. sci at school for 3 years. I'm just thankful that MyBB exists.

Can you imagine if the MyAdsl forums never existed ?

No one would be able to get 3G activated and working , not to mention all the numbers for cell phone settings which change and redirect.

I'm a little less than convinced that customer loyalty is a priority to MTN.

[Dr_Data]

Hi
SIM not compatible, how?
Regards

[ginggs]

SIM not compatible, how?

Different operating voltages and different capacities as far as I know.
In particular I recall a problem with the old 8K SIMs and newer phones.

Edit:
A brief history lesson here and here.
Customer loyalty is not enough, it takes an intergalactic pirate to get a free SIM out of MTN!

If you didn't know about the 8K SIMs maybe you aren't quite a Data Doctor, more like a Data Intern.

[Terencek]

MTN appeared to be having problems most of yesterday Tuesday. But seems to be fixed now.

[CeeBee]

I was online last nite, to do some work from home on office VPN.
I got FULL HSDPA signal for first time in long time, but the speed , eeugh.
Several Speedtest.net tests gives max download at 75kbps to 145kbps... looks more like EDGE speeds. This on the Jhb server, me in Pta.
I tried the CapeTown server, usually much worse, coz its so far away.
Damn... ping rates are better, and speeds are better.
So I can just deduce that MTNs having some gremlins with us up here.
Speeds has been crappy most of the week nites that I tried connecting

Even here at the office again today (Lanseria), as has been a few days this week, the EDGE and 3G Signal has gone bust.
Only GPRS and if u don't hold ur phone high up, it looses even that, so no phone calls
Hope they sort it out asap.

[lilggg]

Well its dejavu again,mtn is &*)& once again.Does ne1 hav ne idea wtf is going on with mtn.

[diabolus]

Yep my MTN is kaput too. It connects and then nothing. Horrible latency if it DOES get data through. And i'm in Centurion.

Fortunately i'm all geared up with Vodacom Prepaid, so i'm resorting to that. MTN was my connection of choice, but the last 6 weeks i don't know, something horribly going wrong.

Vodacom is now my primary, MTN backup...i just need to figure out how to use 2GB every month on a "backup" connection.

I really need to get out of my MTN data contract, 10 months remaining and it's just going downhill every month.

[YelloFever]

Hi everyone - we are looking into these problems as a matter of urgency. Please can you PM me the MSISDN (cell number) in the modem/handset when you have these performance issues? We have setup a special task team to investigate and report back to me with solutions.