Vodacom vs RIM on BlackBerry overbilling problems: who is to blame?

[marine1]

Why then can't the sp's see what apn is being used and pinpoint the app and notify customers?

[HavocXphere]

Why then can't the sp's see what apn is being used and pinpoint the app and notify customers?

Not sure how feasible that is.

Perhaps it might be possible to develop an app that keeps track of the data usage per APN though. I doubt any of the SPs will do it though...not much interest in it from consumers. Or money for that matter.

[marine1]

I don't see how the phone can monitor multiple APN's

[DVTeixera]

I still to this day, wonder why Opera Mini used the BIS apn on vodacom, but uses the normal internet apn on MTN. I don't get it.

[jannievanzyl]

@jannie: More of a general BIS question: (I'd ask the MTN rep if we had one of those )

Is there any reliable way of figuring out from the device what is going over BIS/not?

The icon in the top right seems to indicate BIS 100% of the time. I'm told that Opera mini for example goes over not-BIS, yet if I browse to a show-my-ip website it indicates a BIS ip (83.186.*.*), suggesting that its going over BIS after all.

If I see the edge/EDGE being in capital letters at the top right, is that a reliable indication that *all* traffic is going over BIS? Or does that just show the "main" connection at any given time & there is a mix of connections.

Unfortunatly not. Been looking for a clear indicator myself. The capital EDGE or the BB logo shows you have a active connection to the BIS service but your phone could have an internet apn setting open at the same time and you won't know it. If it's lower case or no BB icon, you do not have a BIS connection open.

So you can only say for certain that you're connected to BIS or not, but no clear way of seeing the internet APN status. Not sure if a BB app is avialable to check your IP. This could give you an indication which APN's are active as they'll have different IP's.

[Kosmik]

While I mentioned that the app can select a apn if a phone has been exposed to it by the SP, the user still has to grant permission on install and I've never had the OOB issue with MTN, so not sure how they handle it or maybe they issue their service books differently.

[HavocXphere]

Unfortunatly not. Been looking for a clear indicator myself.

Well there goes that plan.

Not sure if a BB app is avialable to check your IP. This could give you an indication which APN's are active as they'll have different IP's.

I can see the IP using opera, but thats no use because I need to see IP *from the perspective of the app under consideration* that may or may not be using its own APN.

I took a look at the dev stuff available for BB...its all geared to working out what connections types are possible for your app, not monitoring what other apps are doing. Doesn't seem possible via app code tbh.

I'm thinking the only way is to connect it to wifi & intercept all the traffic to see where its going. Then one can't attribute it to a specific app 1:1 though. Pretty tedious business...

I think I worked out more or less how to control this, but I think we've got quite enough ppl downloading movies already so I'll leave it at that.

[marine1]

If people are still downloading movies on BIS I want to know how.
Not to do it but to figure out how to get speed just for browsing

[Allin]

I expect the author of this article to explicitly point out the contradiction between Vodacom on the one hand, and what RIM and actual BB users are saying on the other. Don't just regurgitate what each party is saying.

The fact that rpm did not comment on the Alexandra Zagury's feeble PR is a shocker. LAME

[Pr⊕phet]

I expect the author of this article to explicitly point out the contradiction between Vodacom on the one hand, and what RIM and actual BB users are saying on the other. Don't just regurgitate what each party is saying.

Good luck with that one.

[Allin]

Surely it should be easy to either block an APN or only allow the BIS APN to access the net. The closest I ever got to a BB was my SO's and I thought it sucked. Even dial-up in the 1990's was faster.

[markings]

What I have learned from this discussion is to not use a Blackberry and not use Vodacom. Thank you.

[BGE]

Surely it should be easy to either block an APN or only allow the BIS APN to access the net.

That's exactly what I suggested Allin, but Jannie just flamed me for my lack of knowledge on mobile data networks. I still maintain, if you can redirect traffic based on a depleted data bundle, you should(with a some effort+time+money of course) be able to redirect the traffic based on whether the user is a BB subscriber or not. Who cares at which level or layer it happens on the network, it's just got to happen before the point where the billable data usage is calculated against your account.

As it currently stands a user has to request the internet inhibitor be activated, to block traffic over the internet apn for their BB account. The problem with this approach is that the damage is already done by the time people notices... and by damage I mean... OOB data @ R2/mb! That's daylight robbery!

And sorry Jannie, I know my stance irritates you, but Vodacom are showing little initiative in solving the problem from where we stand.

[fismail]

What I have done for friends in this regard who use BB's use to set the APN to blackberry.net
When the APN is blank is when all this mysterious billing occurs.
I too am on a Blackberry on both MTN and Vodacom and have had no bill shocks due to explicitly defining the blackberry.net APN setting.

[BGE]

Now I speak under correction. Based on what fismail said above. Is it not possible for Vodacom to send an auto config file, like they do for MMS, SMS, etc. settings, which can update the APN setting back to the correct one? Or is the APN setting untouchable via these means?