Calling all BlackBerry data hogs

the average usage of BlackBerry users on 8ta network is approaching 1GB per month

That is quite low. Expected it to be much higher. Not sure why BB users dont just switch to a better OS and get a Cell C 2Gb for R89 promo. Gtalk > Whatsapp > BBM

The average usage is so low because BIS is so slow!
 
That is quite low. Expected it to be much higher. Not sure why BB users dont just switch to a better OS and get a Cell C 2Gb for R89 promo. Gtalk > Whatsapp > BBM

The average usage is so low because BIS is so slow!
I consider myself a heavy user who doesn't abuse the system in the manner in which they classify abuse. I use around 100 mb on BIS a month.
Consider the number of users that just use the phone for normal things. say 1 in 10 are Heavy users. This means say for instance the 9 users use 100mb. This means the Heavy user must be pulling 9.1gb to make an average of 1gb.

Suddenly the 1gb looks big
 
Out of curiosity.. has their network performance gotten as bad as the former two? or has it kept up?
 
Its unfortunate that there are the few who will ruin it for everyone else. Cell C and 8ta need to put something in place.
 
1gb is only 30mb odd a day. That's one visit to 9gag, or a few short video clips.

If you're using 3mb a day, don't kid yourself - you're a very light user.
 
I've used 431.6mb this month so far. I don't download anything - I stream radio loads though, which falls within their TOS.
 
1gb is only 30mb odd a day. That's one visit to 9gag, or a few short video clips.

If you're using 3mb a day, don't kid yourself - you're a very light user.

Remember this is average usage. 30mb a day is low yes, but its not generated by everyone. An abuser will average 1 gig a day and that will degrade service even if other only use 1mb a day.
 
Its unfortunate that there are the few who will ruin it for everyone else. Cell C and 8ta need to put something in place.

Yip, unfortunately this is the case with many things. And those doing the abuse feel they are doing nothing wrong.
 
Remember this is average usage. 30mb a day is low yes, but its not generated by everyone. An abuser will average 1 gig a day and that will degrade service even if other only use 1mb a day.

I was merely pointing out to a previous poster that at a 100mb a month they're not even close to the heavy user they think they are. (At least not in data terms )
 
I'm on 8ta. I use around 100-200MB a month.
The one thing I do that uses a fair amount of data is stream radio via Simfy - however this does not come off my BIS but comes off my 500MB free streaming data cap instead. There I can use up to 350MB a month.

Remember that BIS is compressed data with a roughly 1:5 ratio (according to Vodacom).
This means that your 100MB of BIS usage is equal to 500MB of normal data usage. If you switched to a data bundle you would have to buy something much larger than your average monthly BB usage because of the compression factor.

I do hope that 8ta and Cell C implement measures to stop people from abusing the BIS service in this way.
 
1GB? How is that a lot of data? Just becaus our operators screw us on data bundle pricing does not mean that 1GB is in fact a lot of data. We're well into the 21st century here. WTF?

btw... I'm not a blackberry user. I own an android, but I do pay just under R200 for a 300MB data bundle monthly so the exploitation is very real for me. They are basically saying 1GB of data costs them somewhere close to R600 to provide if they have low profit margins; But I'm sure they don't. At least R500 of that cost must be pure profit.

PS: I know there may be cheaper bundles available, but I don't make it a full time job to monitor the industry for every 5c/GB decrease in data cost that they throw us. I update once every year or two.
 
The data costs are so high, you are forced to limit your use of the internet. If you could pay R50 and get 5Gb with a soft cap, the way you use the internet would likely change. 1gb per month is really not that high if you are using the internet the way you really want to. Who doesn't like video calls!
 
Remember that BIS is compressed data with a roughly 1:5 ratio (according to Vodacom).
This means that your 100MB of BIS usage is equal to 500MB of normal data usage. If you switched to a data bundle you would have to buy something much larger than your average monthly BB usage because of the compression factor.

Opera Mini and Mobile are also supposed to compress the data. Not sure by how much. No wonder it is so popular.

300 - 500 MB should be about the average for heavy browsing and intermittent use as a modem for a smart phone.

Anyway, by the rumours the whole BIS thing might be going away with BB10, not so?
 
It takes Vodacom years to implement identifying heavy users on BIS and they still after all these years don't have a system that will allow postpaid customers to limit their data usage like is done with prepaid (although they claim they are in the process of developing this). For all they bucks they have they surely are backward compared to other operators in the world.
 
Beautiful, absolutely beautiful!

It is like a fire that is burning itself out. The whole blackberry problem will consume itself and die.
 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X