Broadband prices compared

[Pitbull]

Quite simply, from a subscriber's point of view, it comes down to countrywide availability of HSDPA 3.6...but if MTN has upgraded all of its HSDPA 1.8 base-stations to HSDPA 3.6 then that is[|would] no longer [be] a differentiating factor.

So the burning question is whether or not all of MTN's HSDPA 1.8 base-stations have in fact been upgraded to HSDPA 3.6? - we all know that Vodacom upgraded all of Vodacom's thousands of HSDPA 1.8 base-stations to HSDPA 3.6 prior to launching HSDPA 3.6.

So I can quote you on saying Vodacom has country wide 3.6 ? aka All towers Vodacom has will be 3.6 Mbps ?

Now you are saying their 1.8 towers have been upgraded to 3.6.... Still my questions is.... is this country wide on all towers ?

If the answer is no, that means the article is leaning to be partial bias

 

[aborg]

I am with Icbxx, its a pity it's so difficult to include stability and constant throughput...I've heard so many comments form friends and family that they connect at 3.6 or 7.2 Mbps but barely squeeze out 25 kB/s consistently where on my noisy ADSL you can squeeze 100 kB/s for hours or until your bandwidth runs out Vodacom and MTN are for people that require mobility, mostly business people, DSL for 'the not so worried about mobility but want constant speed freaks', mostly home and office.

 

[Captain Beer]

I get four bars on Vodacom HSDPA and have never seen it run faster than around 1Mbps.
Cell C Edge is faster than what I get on 3G VC

 

[ic]

I get four bars on Vodacom HSDPA and have never seen it run faster than around 1Mbps.
Cell C Edge is faster than what I get on 3G VC

And are you, or are you not subscribed to the HSDPA 3.6 VAS?

So I can quote you on saying Vodacom has country wide 3.6 ? aka All towers Vodacom has will be 3.6 Mbps ?

That is an ambiguously worded question since both Vodacom and MTN have base-stations [aka towers] that are 2.xG only, i.e. there are base-stations that have no HSPA whatsoever - and that applies to both Vodacom and MTN.

PS: As you know, I do not work for Vodacom, and I do not represent Vodacom, so I'm not sure what you would be doing with quotes from my posts, but go ahead and quote me.

Now you are saying their 1.8 towers have been upgraded to 3.6.... Still my questions is.... is this country wide on all towers ?

If the answer is no, that means the article is leaning to be partial bias

It is very well known that prior to Vodacom having officially & publicly launched HSDPA 3.6, the HSDPA radio equipment on all of Vodacom's HSDPA 1.8 base-stations was upgraded to HSDPA 3.6, and Vodacom waited until the upgrading of backhaul capacity required for HSDPA 3.6 had reached a certain critical mass percentage - not sure what the exact percentage was but v3g did post it somewhere around the time of Vodacom's HSDPA 3.6 launch, add to that constant & ongoing backhaul upgrades that both Vodacom and MTN have had to wait for Telkodemonopolies to complete...

 

[Pitbull]

Right

Again, this does not answer the question. Do they or do they not have every base station on 3.6 Mbps ?

Simple yes or no.

If the answer is no, the article is bias.


No matter what number of towers VC has on 3.6 vs MTN's towers.
Thus means the part of the article which is Mbps/rate/GB should not be in the article to begin with.

You are creating the impression that I can get 3.6 Mbps on Vodacom on the farm which is not true. And this is not the only place

In an article like this one should mention speed range from to .....
and the rates going with it. The Rate per mbps/GB is wrong and inaccurate as it doesn't cover every person reading this article

 

[ic]

Right

Again, this does not answer the question. Do they or do they not have every base station on 3.6 Mbps ?

Simple yes or no.

If the answer is no, the article is bias.


No matter what number of towers VC has on 3.6 vs MTN's towers.
Thus means the part of the article which is Mbps/rate/GB should not be in the article to begin with.

Now you're just being argumentative, I have answered your question from your previous post - quite comprehensively IMO, I suggest you re-read what I wrote.

And, the answer is yes Vodacom upgraded all of its thousands of HSDPA 1.8 base-stations to HSDPA 3.6 prior to launching HSDPA 3.6, the only issue which affected and continues to affect both Vodacom and MTN, is Telkodemonopolies' snail's pace for backhaul bandwidth upgrades - which both Vodacom and MTN depend on Telkodemonopolies for - as you already know.

You are creating the impression that I can get 3.6 Mbps on Vodacom on the farm which is not true. And this is not the only place

Where did I create that impression? - I clearly stated that both Vodacom and MTN have base-stations that are 2.xG only, and that applies to 'op die plaas' somewhere, so obviously one cannot get HSDPA 3.6 'op die plaas' somewhere, again Telkodemonopolies plays a role here - backhaul capacity required for HSDPA 1.8 let alone HSDPA 3.6 is usually not available from Telkodemonopolies in rural areas, furthermore what Telkodemonopolies charges for such backhaul links combined with very few potential rural users of the HSDPA service would make it financially infeasible to provide such a service even if the backhaul were available since the ROI would never materialise.

 

[Tweak]

Why was my post deleted? I wanted to mention MTN also had 3.6 mbit speeds from late last year. My friend from durban bragged to me about it..

When was the E220 released? Do you think mtn didn't have 3.6 mbits even though they sold this model, wow what a daft idea

 

[qinglung]

You are creating the impression that I can get 3.6 Mbps on Vodacom on the farm which is not true. And this is not the only place

In an article like this one should mention speed range from to .....
and the rates going with it. The Rate per mbps/GB is wrong and inaccurate as it doesn't cover every person reading this article

Using that same logic, Telkom DSL 4 Mbps should not be included since everyone is not guaranteed to get 4 Mbps speeds, due to copper length, DSLAM not able to handle it, etc.

A lot of people in rural areas can also not get ADSL, so maybe Telkom DSL 4 Mbps must also be taken off the list

 

[milomak]

ic - would it not have been easier to say that all Vodacom HSDPA towers are at 3.6?

 

[Gatecrasher]

A very poor, shoddy, misleading piece of work.

We've all got the message by now that the sun shines out of their backsides.

Lets just remove the pretense of impartiality, rename this site to MyVodacom.co.za, and be done with it.

 

[Tweak]

How many of vodacom's customers have access to HSDPA3.6 ? I am sure you would be able to compile a very professional chart showing the average speeds from the majority of their customer base. Would you?

 

[Pitbull]

IC

I'm not going into this whole MTN vs Vodacom discussion with you. The article is wrong. More home work should have been done instead of trying to sell one network above another. It is very clear from that article.

Yes, Vodacom does not have nation wide 3.6 coverage. Put that in the article

 

[Pitbull]

ic - would it not have been easier to say that all Vodacom HSDPA towers are at 3.6?

A very poor, shoddy, misleading piece of work.

We've all got the message by now that the sun shines out of their backsides.

Lets just remove the pretense of impartiality, rename this site to MyVodacom.co.za, and be done with it.

How many of vodacom's customers have access to HSDPA3.6 ? I am sure you would be able to compile a very professional chart showing the average speeds from the majority of their customer base. Would you?

I rest my case

 

[Debbie]

Why was my post deleted? I wanted to mention MTN also had 3.6 mbit speeds from late last year. My friend from durban bragged to me about it..

When was the E220 released? Do you think mtn didn't have 3.6 mbits even though they sold this model, wow what a daft idea

Both MTN and Vodacom were selling 3.6 devices before their networks could support 3.6.

 

[ic]

ic - would it not have been easier to say that all Vodacom HSDPA towers are at 3.6?

Yes, but I get the impression that Pitbull is trying to trick me into posting something that is not accurate and not true, so I'm trying to be as accurate and comprehensive in my replies as I can be.

And while I have been answering Pitbull's grilling questions, I haven't had an answer about the state of MTN's HSDPA base-stations - specifically:

So the burning question is whether or not all of MTN's HSDPA 1.8 base-stations have in fact been upgraded to HSDPA 3.6? - we all know that Vodacom upgraded all of Vodacom's thousands of HSDPA 1.8 base-stations to HSDPA 3.6 prior to launching HSDPA 3.6.

If MTN has upgraded all of its HSDPA 1.8 base-stations to HSDPA 3.6, then MTN should say so, and if not, then say they haven't all been upgraded yet - simple no?

 

[Pitbull]

Yes, but I get the impression that Pitbull is trying to trick me into posting something that is not accurate and not true, so I'm trying to be as accurate and comprehensive in my replies as I can be.

And while I have been answering Pitbull's grilling questions, I haven't had an answer about the state of MTN's HSDPA base-stations - specifically:If MTN has upgraded all of its HSDPA 1.8 base-stations to HSDPA 3.6, then MTN should say so, and if not, then say they haven't all been upgraded yet - simple no?

I didn't go and write and article stating that "The whole country had 3.6 Mbps". If I did I would have to prove that this is the case. No where has MTN ever said they have nation wide 3.6 Mbps coverage or not. This article claims that Vodacom has. An article should be open to views. This article leaves much to desire and makes the website www.MyADSL.co.za look bias towards Vodacom. Just read the article from a neutral point and tell me I'm wrong.

 

[kronoSX]

Iburst is doing very well in 3rd place and first.Makes me think.mmm

 

[Pitbull]

Pls note english is not my first language

Quoted from the article:

The following table provide a summary of the basic offerings from the major broadband providers.

 

[ic]

I didn't go and write and article stating that "The whole country had 3.6 Mbps". If I did I would have to prove that this is the case. No where has MTN ever said they have nation wide 3.6 Mbps coverage or not. This article claims that Vodacom has. An article should be open to views. This article leaves much to desire and makes the website www.MyADSL.co.za look bias towards Vodacom. Just read the article from a neutral point and tell me I'm wrong.

If you read my posts, again - slowly, you will see that I have not said that you are correct nor incorrect - since [as a consumer] I feel I can only make my decision based on whether or not MTN has a comparable number of HSDPA 3.6 base-stations that are available for MTN customers to actually use - maybe add functioning & operational in case there is a warehouse full of dormant HSDPA 3.6 base-station equipment that might otherwise get counted unless I'm very specific.

For simplicity, how many thousands [doesn't have to be down to the last base-station - just a ballpark figure will do] of functioning and operational HSDPA 3.6 base-stations does MTN currently have available for MTN customers to use - wherever they might be throughout South Africa?

Maybe v3g can provide the same info for Vodacom's HSDPA 3.6 base-stations.

BTW, if a base-station has already been upgraded to HSDPA 7.2, then it can be included in the number of HSDPA 3.6 base-stations.

Those are my rules, and after receiving the answers, I will tell you if you are correct or incorrect.

 

[Gatecrasher]

And while I have been answering Pitbull's grilling questions, I haven't had an answer about the state of MTN's HSDPA base-stations - specifically:If MTN has upgraded all of its HSDPA 1.8 base-stations to HSDPA 3.6, then MTN should say so, and if not, then say they haven't all been upgraded yet - simple no?

Not so simple, because the requirement is an entirely arbitrary condition devised by the writer of the article.

As neither operator has upgraded all their 2.xG towers, the writer could just as easily ascribe EDGE or GPRS speeds to both Vodacom and MTN. The article, as written, gives the impression that MTN does not have 3.6, which is clearly misleading.

I am also disaappointed that once again, comparisons have been made without reference to higher data usage, or alternative bandwidth options. 3gb is a pathetically small upper bound for price comparisons.

Neotel should be included - even if you simply ignore the non-web portions of their packages.

The method of comparison Cost/GB/MB/Sec does not reflect the usability or experience of most broadband users. You really need to come up with something more appropriate.

The article really does look like something reverse-engineered to arrive at a desired outcome. And as such it once again places a huge question mark over the editorial intergrity of the site.

We, the users and supporters of this site, deserve better.