Cell C Network Issues: Disconnects, Coverage, Throughput Problems - Report Here

[Cell_C]

Location: Randburg Cresta area
Time of issue: About five days now
Device: Black Cell C modem
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): Prepaid
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: n/a
www.speedtest.net results (if possible): n/a
Any other information relevant to the problem: Zero thoroughput - this is scandalous!

Guys, has anyone considered approaching the Consumer Forum for a full refund. I am not sure Cell C is geared up to provide such a service on a large scale - clearly they are battling with the technical issues. The call centre is no good.

Good day stacatto

please can you use a program called mdma , to get the tower id (cell id )
at do a speed test www.speedtest.com
and ill try help you to the best i can

regards
~AM~

[Dolby]

I'm still down ... 7 days flat now.

I started MDMA and watched for a few minutes as RSSI jumped from -81 to >113 and back continually.

Occasionally locks onto tower 31260 - but often the Cell I'd is just blank

What is the issue exactly? Seems a large portion is out - about 4 neighbouring suburbs

I've spent R100s of rand staying connected this week ... And although Vodacom was bad, I was never down 25% of a month!

[147GTA]

Location: MIDRAND, Carlswald AH
Time of issue: 7 Days now
Device (Huawei / ZTE): Huawei White stick
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): Pre
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: submitted but none yet
www.speedtest.net results (if possible): not possible
Any other information relevant to the problem: ZERO throughput. Works fine for ~30s after connecting, thereafter tower ignores the modem 99 times out of 100.

Very frustrating. Like others here, I posted this via Vodacom - can't use cell C for anything.

[Dolby]

http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/show...=22820&cat=500

I had no signal for a number of days early April - and now 8 days with nothing .... approaching half the month.
I have around 3GB left (I can't use) and spent close to R500.00 this month to use my backup 3G.
I've watched RSSI jump from -81 to >113 constantly over a few minutes - as well as cycle between cell ID 13703, 10423, 3126 and one other - but most the time it doesn't give any ID.

Could somebody PLEASE do something?

[jem]

Location: PRETORIA, Villieria
Time of issue: 4 Days now
Device (Huawei / ZTE): Huawei Black stick
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): Pre
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: will submitted tomorrow
www.speedtest.net results (if possible): 0.21 down 0.15 up
Any other information relevant to the problem: Last 4 days speed is non-existant. Not router, tested directly on pc as well.

Edit: Previous to this I was getting 9-11mbit/s down and ~3.5up

[Cell_C]

Good Day All

i am looking in to all of these queries,
next week Tuesday having a meeting with the top guns
well will be stream lining a system to be implemented ASAP,
so that when have an issue in area can find out and responded ASAP

Please note if happens once wait a few hour and try again then complete as bove and will get it rolling

regards
~AM~

[PKruger]

Location: Hospital Park, Bloemfontein
Time of issue: 2011-04-30; from about 15h00
Device (Huawei / ZTE): Huawei Black Stick
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): post
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: Couldn't be bothered to try, takes too long to answer
www.speedtest.net results (if possible): fluctuates, last results: ping= 85; download (CPT server) = 1.9; upload = 0.39
Any other information relevant to the problem: frequent disconnects; connects, but no throughput; connects, but only www.cellc.co.za

RSSI: -85dBm
MCC: 655
MNC: 07
LAC: 46
RNC ID: 305
Cell ID: 49343
SNR: -87, -8

[147GTA]

Location: MIDRAND, Carlswald AH
Time of issue: 7 Days now
Device (Huawei / ZTE): Huawei White stick
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): Pre
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: submitted but none yet
www.speedtest.net results (if possible): not possible
Any other information relevant to the problem: ZERO throughput. Works fine for ~30s after connecting, thereafter tower ignores the modem 99 times out of 100.

Very frustrating. Like others here, I posted this via Vodacom - can't use cell C for anything.

Well, something has changed in the Midrand area. Since ~Thursday 28/4, the modem and tower have started talking again. On Thursday, the tower must have been talking Hebrew and the modem Finnish because there was lots of network comm lights but very little data actually coming through. From Friday 29/4, the download is passable but upload is v poor. At least I can use it for general browsing now.

Speedtest result Sunday 31/4 10:56am (signal good, RSSI -71)
Upload 1.68Mb/s
Down 0.02 Mb/s !!!!
Ping 151 ms (used to be <100.... but much better than 800+ of last while).
Intresting is that it sees me as being in Cape Town, whereas it used to correctly see Gauteng. Don't know if this means anything or not.

I would guess that the bad speed is not due to network congestion or cell tower breathing as the RSSI/signal strength is still good, even when data throughput is poor. (the little bit I understand about towers is that if the loading is high, coverage shrinks and therefore I would draw the conclusion that if the signal strength is still excellent, loading cannot be too high).

I don't know much at all about cell networks but an obvious question would seem to be is this problem related to shared Cell-C/Voda towers only? How do Cell-C and Vodacom co-ord their software updates to ensure compatability?

I actually don't want to have to learn all about 3G and cell towers - I just want to browse the damn internet and occassionally play a bit of old school Starcraft on BNET. Cell-C 3G is like buying a new car and having to understand & fix the electrics before being able to drive it.

There have to be common factors in the areas affected. C'mon Cell-C, start using standard problem solving tools -> IS/IS NOT, FISHBONE DIAGRAMS, 5 WHY'S, DOE etc.

[kidnotorious]

Good day stacatto

please can you use a program called mdma , to get the tower id (cell id )
at do a speed test www.speedtest.com
and ill try help you to the best i can

regards
~AM~

@ CellC rep... so you guys are now asking for cell tower IDs? When my still unresloved issues started in January I offered to provide Cell Tower IDs and was told they were not needed

[EttieG]

Location: Blouberg Rise
Time of issue: 3:20pm (Actually any time of day since the 16th of December 2010)
Device: Black Cell C modem
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): Prepaid
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: Too Many to mention with no conclusive answer.
www.speedtest.net results (if possible):
Any other information relevant to the problem: Feedback from Cell C is that there is only one active tower in Blouberg / Table view area with HSPA software/harware or something to that extent - cell c's signal web page however is more red than Vodacom's new colour for this region. I've been sitting with downloads & upload speeds of 0.6mbps & 0.01mbps since the 16th Decemebr 2010 - Still nothing done from Cell C side.

Hoping that they might read this & with a bit of luck fix something that should not have been broken.

[BobsLawnService]

Cell_C. I sent my details but have yet to get a response. Here are my latest speeds :

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1276560984.png

I would include my details but I have sent them through to you twice.

[ribbo]

Location: Kenilworth, Cape Town
Time of issue:From 30 April
Device (Huawei / ZTE): Huawei E1820
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): Post
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk:
www.speedtest.net results (if possible):
Any other information relevant to the problem: Since yesterday I could only get EDGE connection. 3G off cell #40392 unuseable. Current RSSI -95dBm - previous to the 30th of April -75 to 79 dBm.

[fsgoldstein]

Location: Claremont, 7708, Cape Town
Time of issue: From 1 May
Device (Huawei / ZTE): Huawei E1820
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): Prepaid
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk:
www.speedtest.net results (if possible): http://speedtest.net/result/1276719904.png
Any other information relevant to the problem: Last night at about 1:30 could only get EDGE connection (usual 3G Cellid's 40081 and 40391 not available). Today can get 3G off usual towers (RSSI varies from -69 to -83dBm), but download speeds are terrible and, in most cases, less than upload speed.

Speedtest 2nd May: http://speedtest.net/result/1277929220.png

[renierp]

Location: Northriding, Randburg
Time of issue: whole day
Device: Huawei 1820
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): Prepaid
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: TT1368493
www.speedtest.net results (if possible):


Any other information relevant to the problem:
I have had about 3-4 hours where I could not browse the internet at all. After my call to Cell C, the rest of the day has been active, but at pathetic speeds and constantly disconnecting (after roaming on the vodacom network for about an hour.) Although the local speed test shows a 2Mbps download speed, I am not achieving anything close to this, even on local downloads/browsing.

I had to tether my phone to make this post, as I have been unable to do so via Cell C for almost an hour

[UtianG]

ITS FRACKING IMPOSSIBLE TO WORK FROM HOME. I've been trying to connect to our office's remote portal the entire morning.

Request timed out ... 90% of the time. I can only manage about 2 min stable connection before the time outs returns.

Location: Brackenfell, Cape Town
Time of issue: Since January
Device: Huawei 1820
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): Prepaid
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: No point logging this issue with helpdesk since nothing has been fixed since January.
www.speedtest.net results (if possible):


When will these issues be fixed in the Brackenfell area?