Cellular network problems: The Facts

Question: what impact - if any - does 'always connected' devices have on the network? I'm thinking here of push e-mail as with BlackBerry and applications like RoadSync. This is relatively new to SA and must - in my mind - place addional strain on the network. Or not?
 
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I don't think that these quality benchmarks will show the kind of problem that I experience - typically I make or receive a call, it is breaking up or chopping so badly that it's unuseable and I ring off and try again. All that the networks' measurements are going to show is that a short call was successfully made, which increases their percentage of apparently good calls. A different method of measurement is needed.

Fritz
 
Just a thought:

They could of course be doing this intentionally behind the scenes to boost their profits. Every dropped call has to be re-initiated again which means you get charged for two calls. Same goes for SMS messages that are not delivered. Most people just send it again.
 
BeVonk! said:
Question: what impact - if any - does 'always connected' devices have on the network? I'm thinking here of push e-mail as with BlackBerry and applications like RoadSync. This is relatively new to SA and must - in my mind - place addional strain on the network. Or not?
Click to expand...

Actually most GRPS or 3G phones configured for data will attach and stay attached to the network, even if you're not doing any 'data' work.
 
nope, these call should be taken note of. If the call is terminated unexpectedly the system should generate a statistic for it with the reason why the event occured...

This is what i know in my limited knowledge as a trainee at Ericsson. Am sure v3g could provide some more insight.
 
What an obvious case of scapegoating.

We didn't all just make up the recent network problems. It was so bad it was noticeable. Not the usual "damn, i've got no bars on my phone." like 5 years ago. No, serious quality, delivery and reliability issues.

Who ever is to blame - SORT IT OUT. If it's Telkom, your SLA's need to address downtime. If the network is overloaded with too many subscribers, then stop signing up new ones until the problems are solved. It's not like you need another R1 billion profit.
 
load of rubbish

this is the biggest load of rubbish i have ever heard, essentially they are saying that everyone who has has problems is talking rubbish... its ridiculous! i mean this morning i received a sms that i had four voice messages, and they were all from saturday! last night i couldnt even access the internet on my laptop... yet vodacom claims they have no problems
 
it is so frustrating when you are talking to people on your cell and suddenly the call just drops. Its beyond annoying for me.

But nothing solid is said to what everyone is going to do to resolve this now... only after each company have there own systems in place should we expect something to happen. It still leaves us with the current problem at hand
 
Well - I would really like to know how these statistics are collected. I have definitely see an increase in the number of "funny" phone calls the past year. Sometimes you can't hear a person and actually have to terminate the call yourself and other events which I am pretty sure can't be determined automatically. 3G is also not that responsive latency wise as two years ago (you tend to notice these things when you are working on a international VPN).

And no - it is not a handset issue - I have been using more than one handset.

That being said, I suspect that we are still above international standards. I pretty much can believe that most problems are related to Telkom and their slow provisioning.
 
Statement by MTN

MTN Statement on ICASA meeting

At the invitation of the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (ICASA), MTN today provided ICASA with information on issues including network performance.

MTN also gave feedback on the Idols issue and informed ICASA that MTN’s network did not contribute to any delays in the receipt of Idols voting SMS messages. MTN delivered 1 443 964 Idols messages from the 20th February to the 3rd May. Of these, 326 331 messages were delivered on Sunday the 3rd May. The average submission time from the subscriber to the MTN network is under 5 seconds.

Dropped calls

MTN informed ICASA that most dropped calls are as a result of factors external to the MTN network and that some elements of network quality remain beyond MTN’s control despite efforts to mitigate the risks. Self-provisioning is expected to mitigate some of these issues. In addition to this, 3G networks are dependent on 100% availability of each cell in the cluster.

MTN has provided ICASA with statistics with respect to dropped calls, the international benchmark of dropped call rate is 2% whilst MTNs is at 1%.
MTN made a proposal to ICASA on various issues which will be made public in due course.
Click to expand...
 
"MTN made a proposal to ICASA on various issues which will be made public in due course."

Can't wait to see what this proposal on various issues is.
 
With the way calls drop on my side and MTN claim only 1% of calls drop, then I'm the one who makes up that 1%. What are the rest of you guys complaining about???
 
Interesting that Vodacom, MTN and Cell C are all experiencing more Telkom related problems now that Telkom is also getting into the 3G/HSUPA business.
 
So MTN and Vodacom all point fingers at Telkom, which is all good and fine, ICASA now need to kick telkoms ass.

But i am sure MTN and Vodacom are rolling out there own fiber networks, and if they are, why are the not using it, why are we not seeing any benefits.

Welcome to South Africa, were communications companies milk us dry
 
NeoZA, they are rolling out their own fibre, but it's not an easy quick thing to do. Remember, they have to catch up with a network that Telkom built over many years of protected rights. The City Councils are now swamped with way-leave applications while Telkom sits back and smile.
 
I don't mind problems as long as it translates to discounts to make up for it. Like if Vodacom has problems with their 2G data and they lower the price per MB. Or if you have a dropped call you get the next 2 calls for free.
 
The voice codecs have facilities for error correction, interpolation, etc. There are more useful statistics than whether a call simply dropped or not.

The ITU defines standards such as P.862 which allows for automatic monitoring of perceived voice quality. Whether this is implemented or acted upon intelligently in S.A. is up for debate. On the other hand, these are exactly the sort of statistics the networks would never make public... unless vodacom3G wants to share?

IMHO digital compression has made for lousier audio quality than the old analogue system ever experienced. It's only logical that the networks will push the boundaries of compression in the face of high interconnect fees, etc.
 
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