ok, here are the results of my various phone calls.
1) I spoke to Zack this morning, a 3G customer service rep... who confirmed that the ACMS had been activated. he said it had been activated "by default".. whatever that means. I told him I had never requested this service, and that someone must have activated it in the last month or so. He could not tell me who or why it had been activated, but he told me to de-activate it... I should take a copy of my ID in to a vodacom customer service center. I explained that I was on a conference several hours away from Joburg and that the earliest I would be able to do that would be Thursday afternoon. I asked him why I had to do that when I had never requested the activation in the first place. He said that is the only way to undo it. He then logged a fault, stating that I had never requested such activation and that I was "refusing" to provide a copy of my ID (I was not refusing, I am just not able to do so until Thursday afternoon). He said someone would contact me. I received an SMS shortly after that telling me the same thing... I must fax a copy of my ID to a certain number to get the service de-activated.
2) I called customer service again and explained my problem to them, this time I spoke to Sydney. He also said he could do nothing. I asked why the service was activated without my permission. He could not say. He said they have no access to the ACMS from their side. He put me back through to customer service.
3) I spoke to another lady (I forget her name, but she was extremely rude and unhelpful).. she told me the same as the others... we don't know why it was activated... but to de-activate it you have to take a copy of your ID to a service shop. I tried to explain to her again that I never requested the service to please show me where I requested it. That I was on a conference two hours away from the nearest service center with no access to a scanner or a fax machine. That they already have a copy of my ID... and all my other info as well. I think she must have thought I am some porno freak trying to get onto adult sites... but the truth is I cannot even get to the vodacom website... the vodacom4me website... to kalahari.net... these are all legit sites that are being blocked... meanwhile I cannot communicate with my international contacts via instant messaging because that is all blocked.
so there you have it... vodacom hit a few keys sometime in the last month and activated the Adult Content Managements Service on my 3G sim, now they are telling me they cannot undo that until I have to do something which inconveniences me.
I guess I would be well withing my rights to cancel my contract right now, since vodacom is denying me the very access which I took up the contract for.
why should I have to go through the inconvenience of taking a copy of my ID to a vodacom service shop, especially when I am away from Joburg... when they were the ones who messed up in the first place?
I am sorry... but that is just BAD service!!!
) activate Adult Content Management (ACM) on your SIM/phone?
hehehe... no need to draw attention to my viewing habits