I had a 90 min connection earlier, but had to disconnect, so not sure if things have stabilised. I spoke to v3g and it appears it may have something to do with switching between network cells... keeping the connection alive holds the link on a single cell. So.... they've possibly established where to start looking in order to fix this.
I must say, I think Vodacom should prioritise stability over rapid expansion on their network, as apparently these issues arise due to Vodacom having to regularly cater for increased demand and as such modify their network. That being said, I don't believe in compromising existing services in order to cater for expansion. My business' customers never notice infrastructure changes/upgrades on my systems and seldom, if ever am I affected by my up-stream providers.
Here endeth my monologue.
All valid points

, but we get an equal number of appeals for 'Can we please get coverage in this area', so it's always a balancing act.
No one would knowingly introduce instability over expansion, but problems can (and do) occur due to the expansion of the network and the user base. For example; the disconnects we saw in Cape Town (and Durbs) a while ago was a direct result of capacity, hitting limits that weren't supposed to have been there.
I's actually quite a dynamic situation. There are people expanding the network and those that must ensure the stability. They both have to agree before any work is done and the team who is tasked with keeping the stability has authority. I often see work order requests being denied for this very reason.
But everyone is screaming for more coverage, better throughput and more services (this forum is especially vocal!!) and this must be accommodated while keeping the service stable.
Definitely not a boring environment to work in!
(PS: You think that was a monologue? Just wait till Prom responds!)