Disappearing data: are Vodacom, MTN cheating you?

Fool me once and all that. All these people moaning about stolen data and yet continue to renew their contracts.
 
All I read is uninformed users struggling to cope with the pace of technology, then blaming it on the service provider when in fact they do not know what is going on with their mobile device. All these people buying the latest Samsung Galaxy devices on ridiculous contracts, but not knowing how to manage their apps. It is called a smartphone for a reason.
 
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supersunbird said:
How does recieving a SMS deplete ones airtime?
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I think he means that ,when the network detected that his data was depleted they sent a sms to sell him another bundle and that was the first notification he got that his dad was depleted.
 
I think there is something to be investigated with this missing data and airtime. But that said, why are people not making use of data monitoring apps? I have a really simple one installed on my phone, 3G Watchdog. Any mobile data traffic on the phone is tracked and you can compare this value against what your service provider says you are using.

Its a free app. You can set limits on it etc.
 
RH360 said:
All I read is uninformed users struggling to cope with the pace of technology, then blaming it on the service provider when in fact they do not know what is going on with their mobile device. All these people buying the latest Samsung Galaxy devices on ridiculous contracts, but not knowing how to manage their apps. It is called a smartphone for a reason.
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Pretty much this.
 
Ecco said:
I think there is something to be investigated with this missing data and airtime. But that said, why are people not making use of data monitoring apps? I have a really simple one installed on my phone, 3G Watchdog. Any mobile data traffic on the phone is tracked and you can compare this value against what your service provider says you are using.

Its a free app. You can set limits on it etc.
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Android has a built in, in the settings to monitor data usage and limit it. Don't need an app.
 
ambroseg1 said:
Android has a built in, in the settings to monitor data usage and limit it. Don't need an app.
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I prefer 3g watchdog - the data counters built into Android are a relatively recent innovation.
 
ambroseg1 said:
Android has a built in, in the settings to monitor data usage and limit it. Don't need an app.
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This is also true. And the built in app gives you a view of which specific apps are using most of the data.

People can use either. I use 3G watchdog, has a widget and shows a warning in the task bar. Its simple, but just for comparing against what the service provider said you used its great.
 
Guys who make use of 3G data cards for their computers are going to have an issue. I have not seen an data monitoring app for a PC. Can anybody share if they know of something for PC or Mac?
 
RH360 said:
All I read is uninformed users struggling to cope with the pace of technology, then blaming it on the service provider when in fact they do not know what is going on with their mobile device. All these people buying the latest Samsung Galaxy devices on ridiculous contracts, but not knowing how to manage their apps. It is called a smartphone for a reason.
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I sympathise with uninformed users.

Most apps default to automatic update and if nobody's around to show them how to disable it, they're stuffed. Bloatware like ChatOn, EverNote and Flipboard update regularly if you allow it and give terrifying warnings if you uninstall or even force stop them.

Why don't staff at the MTN/Voda/Cell C shops help customers set them up if they sign contracts?
 
I have yet to see a single "data leakage" report where a customer used a bandwidth monitoring tool and proofed that bandwidth has "gone missing". In most cases it is people underestimating how much data smart-phones consume (taking pictures, syncing with cloud services in the background etc).

Perhaps I missed this in reports, but neither John Robbie or any of his listeners have a decent enough understanding of how quickly data disappears when you start streaming videos on your mobile phone (or syncing your complete holiday pictures into the cloud). Have the users have no idea that most of those services are enabled by default.

The service providers should really implement soft- and hard-caps and I am puzzled why this is still allowed - especially considering national credit act and CPA (credit worthiness).
 
Loaded a 30 day Vodacom data voucher on the 23rd and the now say it expires on the 21st of next month. That would be 29 days and not 30 days.Or am I Wrong?
 
marine1 said:
I'm surprised people are surprised by this
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+1

I'm surprised that some users think they have a vague concept of bandwidth in the first place to be honest :D

I'm the "give me an PCAP showing me the analysis you did or it didn't happen" guy :D

but all I see is...
Hey I bought a bundle and watched a video, where's my data?
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:D
 
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