Cell C 3G/HSPA – Please rate your broadband connection

[Jaaks]

The speeds are terrible and extemely unstable.
The connection randomly and regularly resets and switches off.
Latency is horrible and playing online games is basically impossible. More than 800ms most of the time.
Cell C does NOT work anywhere outside major cities. So useless as a mobile internet when I travel for work.
Luckily my 12 months is up! Yay
The support centre is useless and takes too long to answer or sort out a problem.

Highveld, Centurion area.

 

[Dougleigh]

I recently started using a Cell C speedstick.
The service is better than I anticipated and I use it in Durbanville.

To improve their service, I would like to have have more freedom to buy prepaid top-up bandwidth which is more flexible. Ie, if I want to buy 2gb, but not be restricted to a monthly cut-off as they do at the moment.
Also, I cannot understand why they do not have the ability to buy bandwidth online. I have to go into a store?? Just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[ChewBakka]

I am in Boksburg and the speed is excellent, been using it for the past 8 months.

To improve their service, I would like to have have more freedom to buy prepaid top-up bandwidth which is more flexible. Ie, if I want to buy 2gb, but not be restricted to a monthly cut-off as they do at the moment.
Also, I cannot understand why they do not have the ability to buy bandwidth online. I have to go into a store?? Just doesn't make sense to me.

You can buy airtime from your bank online or via cell phone banking then use the Services menu on the Cell C Apllication to buy a data bundle without going to the shop

 

[Fishzn]

I'm in KZN, La mercy and I'm still pretty happy with my Cell C bundle. This is my 2nd 5gb bundle and I got to thank Cell C for saving me from Telkom 384k hell and showing me what a broadband connection is at the very least supposed to look and feel like. My speed and stability in my area has been pretty good - I guess its probably because of limited uptake in my area and the fact that I'm using a Cell that though reliability has been a bit iffy especially after bad weather. But overall I reckon I've had at least 95% uptime from the time I've had this package.

I do wish that Cell C would re-release these packages at competitive rates and maybe with 5+5gb type bundle to compete with 8ta - I would love to be loyal but once this bundle ends I unfortunately will have to go with the cheapest setup I can find as this 2nd connection is more of a luxury with my 384k my staple - I have ported my cell setup to Cell C since this bundle though - it has changed my opinion of Cell C almost completely, who I believed were "also rans" before but they've matured their infrastructure and capacity ever since this bundle release! So yeah hope you read this Cell C guys and reconsider these promos

 

[Bern]

Don't use it much, but when I do it is great (unless EDGE roaming on the VC network)

 

[krycor]

Area: Bishopscourt Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Somerset west

Overall it was great.. Cape town i had issues at home as close to mountain and area restrictions for towers so yah.. always slightly dodge in the cellar where my pc use to live.. when i use to come up stairs to rooms though got full rated speed almost always. Stellenbosch and Somerset west was always a bit of a problem.. signal quality sucked there in 2010/early 2011. In some of the areas in Cape Town I noticed that signal quality sucked to disappeared entirely.. not that i was using it there but just random thing noticed when visiting family. So area's like Rondebosch and parts of lower Claremont / kenilworth sucked.

Over all I think they need to improve coverage in outlying areas and populated suburbs.. Area's where students stay need coverage as they usually get data sticks.. so yah, the lack of decent coverage in stellenbosch was werid

 

[hr7140]

Living in Stellenbosch, I tried 3G from CellC, Vodacom and MTN - all three rather poor. Signal is fair, but in the evenings data transfer comes virtually to a halt. I am now back to ADSL.

 

[francoisjvr]

I'm on CellC's five gigabyte prepaid deal and I use it primarily in Auckland Park Johannesburg. Speeds and connection strength can be a bit of a problem, but I am extremely happy with the package overall, largely because of its good price and the fact that it is prepaid.

 

[Centronix]

Surprisingly fast. Definitely faster than voda when I both live and work

 

[Shellyb1]

• In which area/s you use your connection?
• What can CELL C do to make you a happier customer?

1. Sandton, Gallo Manor
2. Connection was stable and fast. Way better than expected. The only complaint i have is that they advertised their 900Mhz network as able to penetrate objects better but when it rained or was overcast, the connection sometimes had trouble getting up to the normal speeds.

 

[DeonJ76]

3/5 if I'm being generous. I bought a 2gig stick in May last year. The stick failed after exactly a month and it took numerous phonecalls, messages and two house visits by their engineers over a 4 week period to establish the stick was faulty. THEN, it took another 3 weeks for one of their stores to replace the faulty stick.

Speed is ok, but markedly slower than my girlfriends Vodacom stick. Connection is unstable. I have to reconnect at least once every hour.

Overall, definitely worse than I expected. They need to improve performance, make it more stable and sort out the customer service department. The people I dealt with were no help at all(except for forum member Cell_C). At this stage, I'm planning on switching back to Vodacom when my 12months is up.

Location: Cape Town City Bowl

 

[robertwj]

Speed - Average. (Very much below what they promised)
Stability - Fair. Sometimes it drops out (Probably once a week)
Reliability - Very reliable. I have encountered a few problems but nothing too serious

In which area/s you use your connection? - Kabega Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
What can CELL C do to make you a happier customer? Release new data plans like the 5GB per month one

 

[Ecco]

I got the 60gb bundle with black cell c stick as part of attending the Cell C launch courtesy of this forum. So i didnt pay for this.

I rated the service 3 – Fair (exactly as expected). As I didnt have too much expectation from Cell C. Yes they were punting the fastest internet, but i also knew from other cell c customer that generally service and coverage was poor.

When in a zone that had HSPA coverage the data speeds were amazing - but many times i would have intermittent connectivity i.e. it would go from full signal to nothing in a matter of minutes. This was really frustrating. Often it would be connected, but i wouldnt be able to pull any data. (I think i reported this on a thread on this forum and PM'ed the Cell C rep - he tried to help, but i didn't see much come of it)

At home, I still think I don't have HSPA coverage.

 

[gadnex]

In which area/s you use your connection?
Mooikloof Ridge, Pretoria

What can Cell C do to make you a happier customer?
Cell C is no longer competitive on price since the promotional data deals came to and end. Cell C was first to introduce 2Gb per month for R149 and now all their competitors have such a deal and Cell C does not.
Also, the fact that Cell C data bundles are only valid for 30 days and not up to 60 days is a big problem.

 

[aminfri]

i am monash university student, last year i decided to go cell c for my internet needs, living in roodepoort, ruimsig and i gotta say though it was fairly good the connection as not stable at all, it was very good at certain times and very slow to the point of not working at all at other times, this year however it seem to be working much better, have not had any major speed or stability issues so far. very happy with the whole thing. it kinda surprised me this year.
speed: 7/10
reliability: 8/10
stability: 7/10

right now i wish they had some sort of promotion for night caps and extended caps. since my 1 year contract comes to an end by end of 2012/08/25.

 

[UgO]

Speed: ~3Mbit/s down / 1Mbit/s up. (8/10)
Stability: Quite stable, only during heavy thunder storms does my connection disconnect often. I only have problems with my connection about ~2 every month. (8/10)
Reliability: About once a month we have downtime of about 3-4 hours, but I assume this is just for maintenance. (9/10)
Location: Faerie Glen, Pretoria

For the past 12 months I have been very happy with my CellC, the latency to local servers are great (about 40-60ms) and the connection stable.

One thing that CellC can do is bring back a reasonably prices Data contract (they doubled their prices this year compared to last year) If they sticked to their previous prices I would have stayed a loyal customer, but currently I am waiting for telkom to install my ADSL line so that i can jump ship to them.

 

[surfs-up]

In which area/s you use your connection?

Meerensee suburb of Richards Bay

What can CELL C do to make you a happier customer?

Bring back a CEO like Lars. If you had asked me how happy I was with Cell C a year ago, I would have told you I was insanely happy - fantastic data deals and good speeds. And now ? Cell C has gone from the cheapest data provider to one of the most expensive, and their speeds in my area have dropped

 

[Finglet]

Please rate your broadband connection
3/10.

Speed - Poor to excellent depending on the area.
Stability - Nearly always unstable.
Reliability - Although in George, I kind of have decent signal. Had technical out and discovered that Cell C sold their towers to a Chinese company. These guys do everything cheap and refuse to up the signal in George. No wonder Cell C in George is fading. I work between Cape Town & PE. and only get signal in towns, if I am lucky.

Do you get what you expected, or is your experience better or worse than what you expected?
See above regarding Chinese 'cheap' towers. Price has sky-rocketed, but service has gone backwards. Cell C customer care is pathetic.


In which area/s you use your connection?
Home - George
Work - George. Cape Town - PE

What can CELL C do to make you a happier customer?
Sort the towers out. Be realistic with pricing. Even Vodacom & MTN offer 3G at old Cell C pricing.

 

[PollieKrismis]

60GB @ R2999 for year
Service was a bit inconsistent, but felt the whoosh most of the time.
Walk-in centers too busy, slow to help/assist.
Stopped when no replacement for 60GB was made available.

In which area/s you use your connection?
Where ever they had connection (2011)
What can Cell C do to make you a happier customer?
60GB @ R1800, fix disconnect when idle, improve consistency, get toll free number 0800/0860

 

[disiza]

I,m not the biggest fan of Cell C DATA however lately their networks seems to be panning out (about a 1 year ago) it was non existent in my area but the coverage map said otherwise.

A year later my prepaid dongles are about to expire (one already has) and Cell C are not giving me any good reasons to stay with them as a service provider. What I would like to see is data promotions that benefit long time supporting Cell C customers like a rewards program, it stands to reason the long time customers from the LARS era allowed Cell C to become a contender in the communications industry and in order to keep that client base I feel something dynamic has to be put in place, otherwise like myself I'm going shopping for a new ISP.

http://www.speedtest.net/results.php?sh=e0b322c3e84c44be805600bea36b2741&ria=0