DataSIM: one voice contract and Data SIM Cards that share a Contract Data Bundle

Just tried activating the Data Sim for Louis telephonically. It gave a error. I also tried it with one of my sim cards here to rule out something being wrong with the sim he bought in Cape Town....gave the same error. Unable to activate Data Sim 1 for him on the Iphone tariff. DellFan....how did you do it for your clients?
 
Just tried activating the Data Sim for Louis telephonically. It gave a error. I also tried it with one of my sim cards here to rule out something being wrong with the sim he bought in Cape Town....gave the same error. Unable to activate Data Sim 1 for him on the Iphone tariff. DellFan....how did you do it for your clients?

and this is TNM1?
 
Just got an SMS to say that my DataSIM has been activated. I guess I need to wait for the activation to propagate to the network. Anyway, not sure who got it through, OC or VodacomData, but THANKS A LOT!!! I was really hitting a wall at my local dealers and you guys resolved it for me. Great customer service!
 
Just got an SMS to say that my DataSIM has been activated. I guess I need to wait for the activation to propagate to the network. Anyway, not sure who got it through, OC or VodacomData, but THANKS A LOT!!! I was really hitting a wall at my local dealers and you guys resolved it for me. Great customer service!

Well done guys! :)
 
Just got an SMS to say that my DataSIM has been activated. I guess I need to wait for the activation to propagate to the network. Anyway, not sure who got it through, OC or VodacomData, but THANKS A LOT!!! I was really hitting a wall at my local dealers and you guys resolved it for me. Great customer service!

Hi , There was a problem yesterday on your number when OC did it on the system hence the error he received. I then escalated it and did the activation around 3pm yesterday.i am happy to hear that it was successfull.

Thank you OC for always assisting.
 
Hi , There was a problem yesterday on your number when OC did it on the system hence the error he received. I then escalated it and did the activation around 3pm yesterday.i am happy to hear that it was successfull.

Thank you OC for always assisting.

You are welcome VD. Did not do anything really....damn my system to hell!!!!! :-)

I want log in rights to YOUR system dammit! lol

Thank YOU for sorting it out for Louis. Sure he is a happy chappie now. :-)
 
Yes thanks guys! Well, I am 99% happy. I still cannot connect. That will be the last 1%..! How long do the provisioning commands to the switches and other network elements take? The dealers normally quote about 24hrs, but I know the provisioning SLAs are quite tight, so normally it is pretty quick.

I tried the internet and the iphone.vodacom.za APNs. The latter one is used on my iPhone. My iPad shows 'No Service'. If I switch it to flight mode and back to force it to search for the network, I get an error that says that the selected network is 'Restricted' - whatever that means.

Should I just wait some more?
 
Yes thanks guys! Well, I am 99% happy. I still cannot connect. That will be the last 1%..! How long do the provisioning commands to the switches and other network elements take? The dealers normally quote about 24hrs, but I know the provisioning SLAs are quite tight, so normally it is pretty quick.

I tried the internet and the iphone.vodacom.za APNs. The latter one is used on my iPhone. My iPad shows 'No Service'. If I switch it to flight mode and back to force it to search for the network, I get an error that says that the selected network is 'Restricted' - whatever that means.

Should I just wait some more?

From what i can see the data sim is active and all APN's have been provisioned.i will check with the Engineering guys and let you know
 
Yes thanks guys! Well, I am 99% happy. I still cannot connect. That will be the last 1%..! How long do the provisioning commands to the switches and other network elements take? The dealers normally quote about 24hrs, but I know the provisioning SLAs are quite tight, so normally it is pretty quick.

I tried the internet and the iphone.vodacom.za APNs. The latter one is used on my iPhone. My iPad shows 'No Service'. If I switch it to flight mode and back to force it to search for the network, I get an error that says that the selected network is 'Restricted' - whatever that means.

Should I just wait some more?

I just checked and saw that your SGSN Id is set to NO , and this is why it is not working , try removing the sim and putting it in again to force the update.
 
Last edited:
Thanks VodacomData! That did the trick. Now I am online and 110% happy.

Maybe it would be worthwhile to communicate to the dealer network / Customer Care, etc that the DataSIM can in fact be put onto the iPhone offer. I am sure there will be several others wanting to do the same now that the iPad has been officially launched here in SA.
 
Thanks VodacomData! That did the trick. Now I am online and 110% happy.

Maybe it would be worthwhile to communicate to the dealer network / Customer Care, etc that the DataSIM can in fact be put onto the iPhone offer. I am sure there will be several others wanting to do the same now that the iPad has been officially launched here in SA.

I will arrange that our Intranet gets updated with the information
 
Apologies for tossing my toys in the beginning, but I was really peeved with the run-around I was getting from the dealer and Customer Care. But you guys turned it around.
 
Nice to see they have sorted out LouisVanAlphen, now can they please arrange for data sims to work on Top-up contracts:whistle:

BBSA, I can assure you that doing this for Topup is way more complex than for contract. Even though Topup looks like a contract offer, the billing and session control is done in a realtime fashion on the prepaid platform. So in reality Topup is really more like prepaid from a network perspective.

The prepaid billing is done on a basis of quota reservations that happen in the background while you are on a call. The quota reservation is done in advance for the period it represents. Let's say your call is set up (initiated). There is a quota reservation of let's say 10 seconds (not sure what the real quota is). This means that 10 seconds' worth of money is deducted from your prepaid account. The network will now allow you 10secs worth of talking. Just before the 10 seconds have elapsed, another quota is reserved. This happens continuously while you are on the call until you terminate the call or you run out of money.

The same happens for data. However, if you have multiple sessions (consumers of the data bundle) it gets way more complicated. Each session continually reserves quotas to allow you to use a block of data. Now, when you run out of money, the session for which the quota reservation failed, will terminate. But the fact is that the other session still has some quota and may even not be using it. The effect is that you still have some quota available in the 2nd session, but the 1st one terminated due to insufficient data bundle. This is the kind of customer experience you want to avoid.

The above is a very simplified view of how (I think) it works, just to illustrate the complexity in the prepaid environment.

Contract (post-paid) billing is easy. The (data) usage events come from the network into the billing system. Regardless of which of your SIMs originated the event, the cost is accrued to the associated account and the usage deducted from any data bundle you may have. Because a contract subscriber pays for it after use, there is no need for complex in-session control, quota reservations, etc, etc.
 
BBSA, I can assure you that doing this for Topup is way more complex than for contract. Even though Topup looks like a contract offer, the billing and session control is done in a realtime fashion on the prepaid platform. So in reality Topup is really more like prepaid from a network perspective.

The prepaid billing is done on a basis of quota reservations that happen in the background while you are on a call. The quota reservation is done in advance for the period it represents. Let's say your call is set up (initiated). There is a quota reservation of let's say 10 seconds (not sure what the real quota is). This means that 10 seconds' worth of money is deducted from your prepaid account. The network will now allow you 10secs worth of talking. Just before the 10 seconds have elapsed, another quota is reserved. This happens continuously while you are on the call until you terminate the call or you run out of money.

The same happens for data. However, if you have multiple sessions (consumers of the data bundle) it gets way more complicated. Each session continually reserves quotas to allow you to use a block of data. Now, when you run out of money, the session for which the quota reservation failed, will terminate. But the fact is that the other session still has some quota and may even not be using it. The effect is that you still have some quota available in the 2nd session, but the 1st one terminated due to insufficient data bundle. This is the kind of customer experience you want to avoid.

The above is a very simplified view of how (I think) it works, just to illustrate the complexity in the prepaid environment.

Contract (post-paid) billing is easy. The (data) usage events come from the network into the billing system. Regardless of which of your SIMs originated the event, the cost is accrued to the associated account and the usage deducted from any data bundle you may have. Because a contract subscriber pays for it after use, there is no need for complex in-session control, quota reservations, etc, etc.

/goes cross eyed
/vals vlou from info overload

hits blue screen

OC is dead
 
<Laugh> Hmm well yes maybe my explanation is too complex... but then it is quite a complex problem. Just wanted to illustrate to BBSA that a DataSIM on Topup is not the same as on contract and is actually fairly difficult depending on what platforms you use. The latest policy and billing management platforms can do this.
 
So even though I'm using a Blackberry on a top up contract with BIS enable, I still can't get a data-sim. In theory only one device would be using the "normal" data bundle (and yes I know that some applications and sites do not use BIS eg. Youtube).
 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X