Cell C 3G hands-on

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tom110584

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please can people from port elizabeth post their experiences with Cell C 3G here - speedtest results, stability of connection etc. and then as more cities are 'switched on', more of us can give our impressions of their new network.

R166 per month for 5GB of wireless data is an excellent proposition! goodbye vodacom 3G data bundles. even my sister-in-law pays telkom a lot more than this for her 5GB ADSL monthly allowance (do broadband 2), especially when you factor in the line rental.

just make sure you check on your cellphone's or usb modem's box that it supports UMTS 900 if you want to take advantage of Cell C's new 3G network. it says on their webpage that you will experience a compromised connection if your phone or usb modem doesn't support this frequency.
 
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it aint live yet, and if it is its K@K slow...

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tom110584 said:
did you go for the data sim deal or the modem bundle deal?
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neither, im not that much of an idiot :)

as i said, i wont purchase until they drop their topup pricing.

I have a E180 dongle with my MTN bundle, ( i checked their site, it is compatible ) i just popped my prepaid Cell C sim into it to test. its a 128K sim so i should atleast get 7.2MBPS since its a 7.2mbps dongle. ill try again a bit later. for now it still shows only edge available. and i am based in PE and they are meant to be live today ... just dont see anything yet.
 
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thriel said:
neither, im not that much of an idiot :)

as i said, i wont purchase until they drop their topup pricing.

I have a E180 dongle with my MTN bundle, ( i checked their site, it is compatible ) i just popped my prepaid Cell C sim into it to test. its a 128K sim so i should atleast get 7.2MBPS since its a 7.2mbps dongle. ill try again a bit later. for now it still shows only edge available. and i am based in PE and they are meant to be live today ... just dont see anything yet.
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it's still the best wireless broadband price by a long way. it's amazing that they are rivalling ADSL prices with their per gig pricing. if you're worried about top-up pricing - you could just get 2 data sims and pay around R330 a month for 10gb. that's not bad at all.

either they haven't switched it on yet, or your area isn't covered, or it's only available to people who buy into their new deals (for the moment at least). perhaps someone in PE who has bought a modem bundle or data sim can put us in the know...?
 
tom110584 said:
it's still the best wireless broadband price by a long way. it's amazing that they are rivalling ADSL prices with their per gig pricing. if you're worried about top-up pricing - you could just get 2 data sims and pay around R330 a month for 10gb. that's not bad at all.

either they haven't switched it on yet, or your area isn't covered, or it's only available to people who buy into their new deals (for the moment at least). perhaps someone in PE who has bought a modem bundle or data sim can put us in the know...?
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o please go preach somewhere else.

there is no F@CKING way in hell i am buying two bundles and forking out R4K upfront.

firstly i dont have that kinda cash to waste, and secondly if i did what do i do when ive paid upfront for 2 years and their service becomes crap next month ? and when ive used 10GB and want to topup more ? i pay another R2K for another bundle ?

i dont think you gave your statement much thought.....


and unlike you, im not an idiot, the nearest tower is less than 800m from my house.

if the new 4G is only available to people who buy data bundles then i wouldnt get my hopes up of anyone posting anything in here anytime soon.
 
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thriel said:
o please go preach somewhere else.

there is no F@CKING way in hell i am buying two bundles and forking out R4K upfront.

firstly i dont have that kinda cash to waste, and secondly if i did what do i do when ive paid upfront for 2 years and their service becomes crap next month ? and when ive used 10GB and want to topup more ? i pay another R2K for another bundle ?

i dont think you gave your statement much thought.....


and unlike you, im not an idiot, the nearest tower is less than 800m from my house.

if the new 4G is only available to people who buy data bundles then i wouldnt get my hopes up of anyone posting anything in here anytime soon.
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Wow, that was an amazingly aggressive response
 
thriel said:
o please go preach somewhere else.

there is no F@CKING way in hell i am buying two bundles and forking out R4K upfront.

firstly i dont have that kinda cash to waste, and secondly if i did what do i do when ive paid upfront for 2 years and their service becomes crap next month ? and when ive used 10GB and want to topup more ? i pay another R2K for another bundle ?

i dont think you gave your statement much thought.....


and unlike you, im not an idiot, the nearest tower is less than 800m from my house.

if the new 4G is only available to people who buy data bundles then i wouldnt get my hopes up of anyone posting anything in here anytime soon.
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Well then stay with MTN and Pay R289 per gig.... it's your choice!
cell c is R0.39 a meg you don't need to buy a 1gig bundle for R390....... so start limiting yourself after you have reached your data limit...
 
Hummercellc said:
Well then stay with MTN and Pay R289 per gig.... it's your choice!
cell c is R0.39 a meg you don't need to buy a 1gig bundle for R390....... so start limiting yourself after you have reached your data limit...
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R230 per GB, not R289 ...

and its now 1.34PM , still only edge... i think they may have delayed again ?

i have not seen any confirmed posts or press releases to say it is live yet.
 
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Someone mentioned on the forum you need to contact cell c to activate 3G on your sim card, not sure how true it is.. I have noticed in my area I do have 2G,3G but connecting on 2G
 
eltherza said:
Wow, that was an amazingly aggressive response
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Some slight anger management issues there, lol.

It's only 'day one', it's a bit too quick to judge the network or anything at all really ... I'm going to be watching this for at least the new few weeks before making a purchasing decision (I anyway have to eke out a 3GB Vodacom-breadcrumbs data bundle still ... hopefully my last one, if this Cell C thing works reasonably).

0.1Mbits/sec looks like EDGE speeds. Awful, but for my situation 5GB/mo at that speed would still work out a better deal than Vodacom, sad to say. I highly doubt it will stay 0.1Mbits/sec though ... looks to me like something was wrong there.
 
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I saw the coverage for Cell's C HSPA network(rather kwel coverage map), and P.E isit that all covered. Id understand why this dude wudnt go run blindly. Cell C is under fire to get this network going from the looks of things the network isit ready.
 
thriel said:
neither, im not that much of an idiot :)

as i said, i wont purchase until they drop their topup pricing.

I have a E180 dongle with my MTN bundle, ( i checked their site, it is compatible ) i just popped my prepaid Cell C sim into it to test. its a 128K sim so i should atleast get 7.2MBPS since its a 7.2mbps dongle. ill try again a bit later. for now it still shows only edge available. and i am based in PE and they are meant to be live today ... just dont see anything yet.
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thriel, looked at your speedtest - surely you can adjust your settings (change from Automatic to Cell C, perhaps, if you've not done so) to pick up signals in PE. Your speed test shows JHB. I don't know much about this, but if you were able to pick up signals in PE (more directly), then you might get the relevant speeds. Just a suggestion.
I also won't invest in Cell C ; not at this stage, anyway - sticking with ADSL.
 
Only sims sold as part of the launch offer have access to the HSPA+ network, all others still only have EDGE access, thats why you can't attach.
 
q12485 said:
Only sims sold as part of the launch offer have access to the HSPA+ network, all others still only have EDGE access, thats why you can't attach.
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True. That is what they announced as well. You can also activate 3G on the previoulsly bought sim cards. You can not just use them with out activation and except 3G speeds.
Is there any user who bought the new bundle or activated 3G on thier sim who can give us the feed back?
 
It's a pretty expensive experiment... is there a buy-back clause if I have no signal at home?
 
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