Cell C Network Issues: Disconnects, Coverage, Throughput Problems - Report Here

[Base122]

Frequent disconnects

Location: Plumstead, Cape Town

Since 16h00 on 16th March, 233 disconnections - about one every 20 mins. Situation getting worse. Same in Edgemead, so must be an area-wide problem. Yet call centre is unaware of any problem and say I am the first to complain, it must be my faulty modem

If that is so, why do 2 other people that I know of have disconnections at the same time and duration as I do?

Does CellC take us for fools? Why advertise and sell a product knowing full well it cannot in any way meet its advertised specification? This is downright fraud.

Count me in here too.
Cape Town Northern suburbs N1 City area loads of disconnects over the last few days.
....and here I was thinking my modem is faulty or it's my fault for messing with my MikroTik router settings!

Cell_C surely your network management stats must show this?
Please investigate.

Problem: Frequent disconnects.
Location: Cape Town Northern Suburbs N1 City area
Date & Time of Issue: last few days
Device Manufacturer & Model: ZTE MF190
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): Prepaid
APN: "Unrestricted", although I doubt that makes a difference as I tried "Internet" as well.
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk:
RAT (2G/3G/HSPA+): 3G
www.speedtest.net results (if possible): +-4-5Mbps. Speeds are ok but disconnects are the problem.
Cell ID (if possible):
RSSI (if possible, see How to check signal strength (RSSI)): -68dBm
Any other information relevant to the problem:

 

[Stochos]

Braamfontein (Again) No connection

From about 11:50 am today, there is no connection in Braamfontein.
This is becoming a weekly outage. Please deal with this issue.

E1820
60GB package

 

[Base122]

Count me in here too.
Cape Town Northern suburbs N1 City area loads of disconnects over the last few days.
....and here I was thinking my modem is faulty or it's my fault for messing with my MikroTik router settings!

This very frequent "disconnects" problem seems to have gone for now.
Only the occasional disconnect now and again.

How about you chrisc4290? and in Edgemead?

 

[1geoff99]

This very frequent "disconnects" problem seems to have gone for now.
Only the occasional disconnect now and again.

How about you chrisc4290? and in Edgemead?

My disconnections are as bad as ever (currently every 15-30 minutes).

 

[Base122]

My disconnections are as bad as ever (currently every 15-30 minutes).

Does your router reconnect within a few seconds or take some time?

My router reconnects were always restoring within seconds, but there were a lot of them at one stage.

Do you see the same problem if the modem is plugged in to a PC for example?

If you haven't already done so, you can fill out this template and PM it to Cell_C.

I'll do the same if these disconnects increase again.
I've only seen about three so far today.

***Edit Ah, I see you have reported this issue already.....

I'm sure Cell_C will get this attended to as soon as possible.
Right Cell_C??
"unhappy customers become someone else's customers......eventually"

 

[1geoff99]

Does your router reconnect within a few seconds or take some time?

My router reconnects were always restoring within seconds, but there were a lot of them at one stage.

Do you see the same problem if the modem is plugged in to a PC for example?

I'm sure Cell_C will get this attended to as soon as possible.
Right Cell_C??
"unhappy customers become someone else's customers......eventually"

To answer your questions, my router takes about 30 seconds to re-connect. And it happens with different modems, also when plugged into my PC.

Now where did I put my 8ta data SIM...?

 

[Base122]

Now where did I put my 8ta data SIM...?

I keep my 8ta SIM stuck to my Cell C white modem with a bit of tape....you just never know when...

 

[Base122]

extract from andyp1's log:

Feb 22 15:53:35 PPP ERROR User request
Feb 22 15:53:35 PPP ERROR LCP down
Feb 22 15:53:35 PPP WARNING LCP down
Feb 22 15:53:35 PPP INFO sent [LCP TermReq]
Feb 22 15:53:35 PPP INFO rcvd [LCP TermAck]

Does this sequence imply that the MR3420 actually initiated an LCP termination?
Would this be any different if the 3G provider had initiated a session termination?
Anybody know?

**Edit:
What I'm thinking here, is, if this was a power related problem, why would we be seeing what looks like a structured disconnect (TermReq/TermAck) and not rather simply a sudden "3G down", or "modem not detected" and then a reconnect sequence when the modem power resets from possible lack of power supply current or an overheat condition induced reset

Something I posted in another thread a while back.
I'm still not sure if this means that the MR3420 initiated the disconnect or the 3G service provider?

1geoff99, is this what you see in your MR3420 log as well?

 

[1geoff99]

Something I posted in another thread a while back.
I'm still not sure if this means that the MR3420 initiated the disconnect or the 3G service provider?

1geoff99, is this what you see in your MR3420 log as well?

No, my log is different:

Mar 21 06:30:05 PPP INFO rcvd [LCP TermReq]
Mar 21 06:30:05 PPP ERROR LCP down
Mar 21 06:30:05 PPP WARNING LCP down
Mar 21 06:30:05 PPP INFO sent [LCP TermAck]
Mar 21 06:30:20 3G WARNING Detect 3G link failed, 3G link is dowm

 

[markcpt]

Frequent disconnects this month - Table View.

Also speeds have been slower

 

[Azure Wrath]

The last two-three weeks, my CellC dongle has not been picking up HSDPA. The area is Welgemoed, Bellville and I haven't moved it at all, it's just stopped picking up HSDPA and is now only operating on EDGE, rendering it useless to me.

Modem is a ZTE MF 190

 

[The Voice]

14443 is still up to ****.

 

[Base122]

No, my log is different:

Mar 21 06:30:05 PPP INFO rcvd [LCP TermReq]
Mar 21 06:30:05 PPP ERROR LCP down
Mar 21 06:30:05 PPP WARNING LCP down
Mar 21 06:30:05 PPP INFO sent [LCP TermAck]
Mar 21 06:30:20 3G WARNING Detect 3G link failed, 3G link is dowm

Thanks.
Very interesting.
Looks a like a proper structured disconnect with handshaking from the Cell C side, not just some random "drop" of the connection.

I'm taking a guess here.....
I wonder if they perhaps do not have enough IP addresses in their "pool" for the total subscriber base, so are disconnecting existing sessions after an inactivity period maybe to free up IP's?

Doesn't really make sense if all your router does is attempt an immediate reconnect and request of a new IP.

Maybe they hope that peoples routers/devices are set to "connect on demand" (when internet required) only?

...total speculation here

 

[1geoff99]

Thanks.
Very interesting.
Looks a like a proper structured disconnect with handshaking from the Cell C side, not just some random "drop" of the connection.

Actually, you are right, I never noticed it before. ALL my disconnections are like this - initiated from the Cell C side. So how can they claim to be unaware of the situation?

 

[Stochos]

Braamfontein: Signal stregth is very weak today RSSI: -99dBm

Barely have a connection. Frequent disconnects.
When there is a connection then RSSI: -99dBm (Normally: -67dBm)

 

[Bundu]

my data sim number is 0748668018 and I can connect to the tower 2084 (Monument Park, Pretoria) but there is no internet access for the past 3 days.

I have reported it on facebook and to [email protected] without ANY luck.... <sigh>

 

[Solitude]

Whew, anyone else having problems in Honeydew?

Test conducted on 24 March 2012 02:11:11 PM
Download Speed: 655 kbps (81.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 24 kbps (3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 228 ms

It's especially struggling with uploading. Had to run the MyBroadband speed test a couple of times before it was able to complete without an error. Will pm you the details tomorrow if it isn't better by then Armando.

 

[chrisc]

The problem outlined by Geoff apply equally to me (I live about 200m from Geoff) and my friend in Edgemead, which are the only two people I know who have a CellC data service. My friend in Dick Burton Street gave up with CellC and went to 8ta, which is more reliable at the moment.

Looking at Geoff's log and that of my friend in Edgemead (which is 35km away) the disconnections occur at the same time.

 

[Charlie.]

I have two Cell C connections - one used from Plumstead (Dick Burton Street) and one from Kenilworth. Both suffer from frequent disconnects.

Last night, my Kenilworth connection dropped four times in half an hour!

There is no chance in hell that I'll ever touch another Cell C product once my year is up.

 

[Bundu]

My problem was sorted within minutes once Armando climbed in - Thanks Armando! and shame on you, the rest of Cell C, for taking 4 days to resolve NOTHING!