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

Kirstenhof Cape Town, prepaid, Mf 688, nov 2012 until present and getting worse.

I would like to know if anyone else is experiencing similar problems, to see if it is my set up, the area, the region or the whole network.
For 18 months before November 2012, I was getting 2.5-3.5 Mbps during the day and evening. I was get 3.5-4.5 during off peak periods. Since then it has gradually got worse and now I am getting 0.4-0.6 Mbps during the day but up to 8.3 Mbps during the off peak times.
On top of this during the day and evening the connection is dropped every 3-4 minutes but will stay on for 6 -7 hours after midnight. I am also seeing latencies in the 300-500ms during the day.
This all adds up to a completely useless service during the day, as before any size page/file has loaded, the connection is lost and you have to start over. All is fine until 6.30am then things drop off rapidly and become unusable around 8.00am-11pm.
When I complained at the Cell C shop I was told they were doing upgrades late last year but that this would be completed by end December.
To me the network has improved during off-peak period but is useless during peak. So I would think my set up is not the problem but pure over selling of the capacity they have or they have changed the backhaul routing and screwed up this areas daytime capacity.
I have a ZTE MF688 modem with a LPDA11A 11dBi GSM Antenna and I am about 2.5 kilometre from the tower. (without the antenna the throughput is about half the above figures)
 
I'm on Cell C. In the JHB CBD (Braamfontein) area, my phone shows that it has 3G signal (with 3 bars), but I can't do anything. When I try to access Google, it just times out. Also, 80% of my calls never reach me and go straight to voice mail. The other 20% drop a few seconds after I pick them up.
 
Location: Kenridge, Cape Town
Date & Time of Issue: 12&13/3/13
Device Manufacturer & Model: ZTE MF668
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): prepaid (R1799 promo for Giga 200)
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: n/a
RAT (2G/3G/HSPA+): 3G
www.speedtest.net results (if possible): n/a (haven't tested)
Any other information relevant to the problem: sluggish

Was incredibly slow yesterday evening and that hasn't changed today so far.
 
Cell C is currently very slow in the Radiokop, Harveston area. The last two days it has been very slow during the day and unusable in the evenings.
 
Location: Kenridge, Cape Town
Date & Time of Issue: 18/3/13
Device Manufacturer & Model: ZTE MF668
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): prepaid (R1799 promo for Giga 200)
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: n/a
RAT (2G/3G/HSPA+): 3G
www.speedtest.net results (if possible): n/a (haven't tested)
Any other information relevant to the problem: sluggish; disconnects

Have been getting disconnects today, and it's quite slow too, often forcing me to disconnect manually and reconnect until I can actually get anywhere.
 
Full H+ Signal - no Throughput at all - can't even complete a signal test

Mount Edgecombe - Durban

This is my prepaid test Sim before porting from Voda

Doesn't look too good - pity as Cellc has the best deals
 
I can honestly say that over the past week if not more, Cell C has become absolutely unstable, from weak signal to strong signal in a matter of 1m of walking, i have full H+ signal, yet cant even complete a test page in google search. My Watsapp msgs take over a minute to deliver. doesnt matter what location im in. Kempton park to Randburg. so effects.

I considering moving over, ride was good while it lasted.
 
Location: Malvern, Durban
contract: prepaid (giga 200)
time: 3:30am
dongle: ZTE MF190 (white)
OS: Windows 7
Ref nr: N/A
Speed Test: N/A
RSSI: N/A

- Currently I get five bars but zero throughput. There is some throughput after connecting but it starts with something like 18kbps and then goes down to 0kbps within a minute. This has become unbearable during the past week.

- In relation to the above problem, timeouts and "servers not found" have become frustratingly common.

- When there IS throughput it's only during the late nights and early mornings when it reaches acceptable speeds. During the day the speeds are so slow the service is virtually unusable. This matter of slow speeds during the day has been ongoing since I acquired the service in December 2012, though I deemed it not to be that big an issue since I was rarely home during the day. I do feel however that I paid for an efficient service that is stable or at least usable without fuss 24/7. I am not getting that.

- Only THREE times during the past four months have I seen speeds of +2Mbps, all of them in the early hours of the morning. Usually my optimum speeds hover to about 1.5mbps (early mornings also) but mostly they stay at about 700-800kbps when things are going "well".
 
Location: Glenhills, Durban North
Contract: PostPaid 2GB 24 Months :cry:
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk: #1762912, #3032503740

I have been using Cell C Speedsticks for the past 2 years and never had any hassles with speeds or availability. I signed up for a data contract in December 2012, and have been grumpy since. Sounds like a few members of the forums done the same.

What really irks me is that if I want to cancel the contract, I'll have to pay an early cancellation fee. Surely I am paying for a service that is clearly not working, so that should void the contract anyway?! I did phone the customer support centre and the agent advised that somebody from accounts would be in contact with me to discuss the contract termination. Day 2, still waiting.


Update (2013/04/08)
I received a call from a Cell C agent and after asking a few questions, the agent explained as follows:
The new towers have much deeper penetration radius, so are picking up more subscribers than the tower can handle. The towers need to be upgraded in order to accommodate the increase in subscribers. Apparently they don't upgrade individual towers, but entire regions, so in my case they won't just upgrade the local tower, but rather the entire Durban North area. He may have mentioned "capacitor" somewhere in his explanation.

The same chap committed to call me after 10AM on Friday, once he had met with the technical team and they had given him dates for the proposed upgrade. No word yet...
 
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Location: Secunda Ext 23 (noordrand)
Date & Time of Issue: 08/04/2013 19:00
Device Manufacturer & Model (e.g. Huawei E1820, ZTE MF190, Not: Black Modem, White Modem): Huawei E683
Contract Type (pre- or post-paid): pre-paid Giga 100
Existing reference numbers from Helpdesk:
RAT (2G/3G/HSPA+): HSPA+
www.speedtest.net results (if possible): Not possible (disconnects)
Cell ID (if possible):
RSSI (if possible, see How to check signal strength (RSSI)) Disconnects but when connected -75db
Any other information relevant to the problem: works for 10 seconds then disconnects, no signal, then full signal. Connection very unreliable.
 
Secunda problem also persists. Tower dies every couple of minutes. No response from Cell C.

Does the Forum carry any weight. Maybe hellopeter is a better bet because we all know call centre doesnt get anything done.
 
Cell c customer care is the worst 2years calling trying to fix the poor coverage we have in klerksdorp still today they did nothing,empty promises poor communication,we have cell c store they don't even have good signal themselves . internet u can't even load a small page n stay in for 45sec its so embarrassing they are cheap for nothing am porting my 4 Sims to vodacom.
 
Cell C is completely dead in Harveston Roodepoort Gauteng since yesterday afternoon. On two separate sims, one a normal contract phone and the other a giga 200, both get great signal but no throughput. Calls can't be made or received.
 
pretoria wonderboom south
no bis ,no internet worst ever,got 4600 +free sms's and 3gig free data aswell as 4500 free cto cell c minutes and gatvol,cell c dropping ball again
 
Intermittent data connectivity in Randburg, specifically around the old Nestle building, otherwise calls and SMS's are fine just NO DATA!!! :cry:
 
Same story today, absolutely no data!
Location is -26.084856,28.006983
 
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