Did CellC oversell broadband capacity?

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Kenny Strydom

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Opera Snapshot_2018-03-14_194119_www.speedtest.net.png

Looking at recent events involving Axxess and Webafrica now offering, and selling quite a few units of the CellC LTE offering without a contract, did they outsell the CellC network capacity?

https://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/938809-CELLC-fixed-LTE-thread/page23

Users started complaining of slow and intermittent service around the 1st of March 2018, Axxess and Webafrica only acknowledged the issue 7 days later after pressure from clients, from there passing the buck straight to CellC and Internet Solutions.

On the 8th Webafrica changed the 7th March "Service Interruption: RAIN/CELL C LTE-A" bulletin to "Scheduled Maintenance: Cell C LTE Service"

Axxess is still sticking to blaming CellC (8-9 March 2018). Their only previous 'Medium impact' notice on this issue involved giving customers directions on setting up the APN setting on their modems, something that should have been covered in the packaging or welcome SMS service.

Up to the 8th, even the CellC representative here on My Broadband was not aware that there was an issue?

It is obvious that these service providers knew that these issues were present. As customers we should know what the real issue behind this failure to deliver advertised services are.

Paying around R 850.00 for 200Gb of data, 1000 customers are giving these providers R 850 000.00 per month. For this the provider can provide sub standard services and not have it corrected for 9 days?

As I am writing this, customers are canceling their services, only to be threatened by Axxess with costs noted in the fine print.

There is no media coverage.

The thread quoted above grew to https://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/938809-CELLC-fixed-LTE-thread/page27

For now, the problems seem repaired, on the 12th Webafrica sent a notice to users to inform them that service is restored, Axxess on the other hand simply remained quiet, closed all tickets and removed the website notice on the 10th, before it was actually repaired.

Report back on 12-03-2018 @ 20:23: 25ms ping but only 5mbps with full 4G stable connection. My conclusion is that CellC does not have capacity and clients are throttled.

Report back on 14-03-208 @ 20:42: Same results as on the 12th after a 12 hour downtime from the upstream providers, nothing changed.

Report back on 15-03-208 @ 19:50: Same results, less stable than on 14th with some adverts loading while others do. No change at all after Axxess mailed today to say the issue is sorted.
2018-03-15.PNG
 
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I personally don't think they oversold.

Cellc towers was used but bandwidth comes from IS.

I think there was APN and routing issues.
 
Is it possible that Internet Solutions has some kind of throttling, or bandwidth restrictions that is in the fine print?
 
I still think they did, various people with the same issue.
https://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/938809-CELLC-fixed-LTE-thread/page26
Capture.PNG

Today Webafrica informed users that the problems with Cell C / IS is fixed. From speedtests it seems legit, only thing is, we were still kept in the dark as to what they were really up to.
The temporary solution that caused a lot of slow connections was used while a 'network repair that we really do not want the users to know about' was done.
 
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Gtx Gaming said:
I personally don't think they oversold.

Cellc towers was used but bandwidth comes from IS.

I think there was APN and routing issues.
Click to expand...

I give up, although the APN and routing are supposedly fixed, some guys still have it and others (like me tonight) are throttled.
 
Kenny Strydom said:
I give up, although the APN and routing are supposedly fixed, some guys still have it and others (like me tonight) are throttled.
Click to expand...

I switched to Cell C LTE-A in mid Jan 2018 and had superb service. Then, a few weeks ago, I saw that Mweb and Axxess were reselling the same Cell C data for R250 less (200 Gig was R1100 at Cell C).
I joined up and it was fine till about the 1st March. After that I had terrible connectivity, bad latency.
Raising a fault with Mweb is beyond useless. The support staff are clueless.
I am considering going back to Cell C but am worried that you are correct in saying that Cell C is oversold.

Your thoughts??
 
For as long as CellC and their downstream resellers stay quiet and do not issue an official response to the community, overselling seems to be the only explanation.

Sometimes a graphic illustration reveal a lot more:

Opera Snapshot_2018-03-14_194119_www.speedtest.net.png
 
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Any feedback on how the Axxess Cell-C service performed through April, May, June and July ?
 
See my experience I wrote in the CellC Slow Speeds thread above.
 
Now Afrihost has been added to the list. I don't want to assign blame (too many parties involved). But there is a common denominator here...
 
It must be that CellC has oversold beyond their capacity.
Its more than just misleading to advertise a service that they know cannot be met
 
mcdui said:
It must be that CellC has oversold beyond their capacity.
Its more than just misleading to advertise a service that they know cannot be met
Click to expand...

:mad::mad::mad: And they won't respond because that means admitting it.
 
It might be tower congestion more then the network itself
 
I have cancelled CellC and moved to Telkom.

The speeds are fantastic.
 
mcdui said:
I have cancelled CellC and moved to Telkom.

The speeds are fantastic.
Click to expand...
----

I am cancelling my Cell C via AXXESS. Did Cell C oversell ? I don't know, but I do know that the Cell C AXXESS deal is absolute rubbish. Have tested my TELKOM speed with a sim and also looks good. By the way I run another Cell C SIM purchased directly from Cell C at the same property and it works fine. It's all the deals with Cell C and other providers , AfriHost, Axxess, Webafrica that are Rubbish. At least they are month to month. If you are reading this and are considering such a deal and do not believe the experiences of the members of the forum at least you'll be able to realize your mistake and correct it within 30 days. For the record I have had the service for 6 months and have had it down 3 times per month , down time of 2-3 days on each occasion, but I have persevered with customer support because I still had faith in AXXESS. Good luck.
 
So CellC is now - unavailable in various areas - since 1 December 2018 the service is not sold anymore and AXXESS will refund you as from 18 December 2018 if your area is not covered anymore.

All I can say is: I TOLD YOU SO!
 
Kenny Strydom said:
So CellC is now - unavailable in various areas - since 1 December 2018 the service is not sold anymore and AXXESS will refund you as from 18 December 2018 if your area is not covered anymore.

All I can say is: I TOLD YOU SO!
Click to expand...

Will Afrihost refund us as well... I am one of teh affected but unfortunately it has not been a joy dealing with them. I am still sitting without internet for a whole month, latest update being they are waiting for cellc to get back to them. and this was since last week. so frustrating - business being lost in the process if one relies heavily on the web
 
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