"Free" Vodacom Internet!

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Prometheus said:
Exactly. That's unethical. There are many people out there who will believe whatever salespeople tell them. :rolleyes: It does actually hold water as you had to use the vlive apn which is very restricted and runs through a proxy which reduces traffic outside the network. The internet apn was used mainly to connect on a computer and didn't have any of these restrictions.
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Without defending the shops (I normally don't), I don't think it was a question of ethics, rather one of incompetence....
What I am b1tching about is the fact that Vodacom stopped it without warning. Thereby resulting in people being charged without even knowing it. Vodacom knew about the free browsing and allowed people to use it and therefor it was unethical to not give a warning.
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As you know, the systems that were put in place was for PPDB's and this vlive-issue was a side-effect, and not the main concern. To be quite honest we had no idea of the extent of the helping to the 'free' service. We thought (could have checked, I guess) that it was a few people browsing on their handsets. So it was quite a surprise. Amazing how enterprising people can get!
Btw. Vodacom still haven't implemented ppdbs despite the system being in place. All they used it for is charging for vlive access. It seems Vodacom would only do something to further their own interests, but we knew that already. :rolleyes:
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Not quite true, nothing would be better for Vodacom than to get PPDB's out, we know we're loosing users because of this. But it's still in testing.
 
Hey all

Well as you might know the old way of accessing vlive through a proxy tunnel is no longer working. but there is still away to get it to work. as i have tried and it does work. And i am not abusing it like alot of ppl but, did it just for interest sake. Anyway VM EDGE (cell c) is sooooooo much faster then Vodacoms GPRS, and there is more Cell C EDGE then Vodacom 3G, so it's a big help being on VM.
 
vodacom3g said:
Without defending the shops (I normally don't), I don't think it was a question of ethics, rather one of incompetence....
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If they did it to sell their phones in the hope of the free net remaining it was unethical (and I think some of them did exactly that), then again some of these sales people know almost nothing so I'll believe anything.
As you know, the systems that were put in place was for PPDB's and this vlive-issue was a side-effect, and not the main concern. To be quite honest we had no idea of the extent of the helping to the 'free' service. We thought (could have checked, I guess) that it was a few people browsing on their handsets. So it was quite a surprise. Amazing how enterprising people can get!

Not quite true, nothing would be better for Vodacom than to get PPDB's out, we know we're loosing users because of this. But it's still in testing.
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Still very syspicious that the systems include billing for vlive traffic and that it was the first thing that was implemented and ppdbs are taking so long to implement as the system appears to be working correctly.
"Amazing how enterprising people can get!" - Yup, just ask captain wifi. :D
 
Prometheus said:
If they did it to sell their phones in the hope of the free net remaining it was unethical (and I think some of them did exactly that), then again some of these sales people know almost nothing so I'll believe anything.
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Send me some examples abd I'll get onto it.
Still very syspicious that the systems include billing for vlive traffic and that it was the first thing that was implemented and ppdbs are taking so long to implement as the system appears to be working correctly.
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Well, I've told you the actual circumstances, guess you don't need to believe me....
 
@V3G

Most of us believe you, what you just said a while back...
we (i presume vodacom) know we're loosing users because of this
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implies that you guys at vc knows you are loosing customers, but you just dont really care...

Now how low will voda go with their data rates on bundles in order to get all those lost customers back?

Or will they just accept those customers as collatteral(?) damage?
 
Sony_3G said:
....implies that you guys at vc knows you are loosing customers, but you just dont really care...
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A bit of a silly statement, don't you think?

If Vodacom's business plan states it desires to go out of business (it doesn't), then it would not care about its customers.

Any service-based company that loose contact with its customers deserve to go out of business.

The only way to build customer loyalty is to give the best performance/price (bits per second per cent), a decent range of products and back it up with good support.

With many millions of customers there will always be some problems, but as long as there is constant focus to fix them (there is), we'll go forward.
 
ok so today i heard this please correct me if im wrong vodacom pay about R60 a gig and if we pay 2/mb and 1 gig is 1024 mb that would mean if i used a gig i would pay R2048 so R2048 - R60 is R1988 PROFIT and i dont think they pay that R60 because if telkom owns 50% of vodacom they wont really charge themselves for it and sometimes vodacom doesnt have the greatest connection especially this week i been trying to get online around 8 pm but its impossible i have to wait till around 9 or 9:30pm to get online. so basically i think we all being ripped off. i would go over to virgin but they dont have gprs settings for my fone i've tried everything to get it to work but no luck so im stuck wit vodacom until i buy a virgin mobile fone.

oh and i want data bundles on pre paid from vodacom, that might make me stay wit vodacom.
 
Rev8 said:
ok so today i heard this please correct me if im wrong vodacom pay about R60 a gig and if we pay 2/mb and 1 gig is 1024 mb that would mean if i used a gig i would pay R2048 so R2048 - R60 is R1988 PROFIT
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I agree the price can still come down, seeing that Virgin wouldn't offer 50c/MB and make a constant loss, but what about network infrastructure and all the other running costs? VC probably pay even less than that per GB, but there are costs involved in providing the service.
 
V3g
A bit of a silly statement, don't you think?
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Is it really? I mean like how long has mtn had ppdbs?
Even how long has virgin been online @ 50c/MB?
The only way to build customer loyalty is to give the best performance/price (bits per second per cent), a decent range of products and back it up with good support.
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Well at this moment, i think, alot of customers would rather take standard service at low rates than superb (??IS VC CAPABLE OF SUPERB??) service @ inflated rates?
I like vodacom, i have contracts with them, but sometimes i wonder if they realy do care about what the subscribers want.

Yes V3G, you are a vc representitive, and it is your duty to defend them, but put yoursef in our shoes for a little while, and think about this issue in the terms that the pre paid student/youth think, then answer this question...
Would you be fed up with the service? And with the rate things are moving?
This is not a personal attack at you, it is mere asking you to put yourself in our shoes.


@rev8
ok so today i heard this please correct me if im wrong vodacom pay about R60 a gig
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If they pay R60/MB you have to remember that you have to ad tax to that, also license fees, replace broken equipment, pay salaries, setup new access points (towers), and pay the running bills like electricity etc. And on top of that, they still have to make a proffit...

But yes, we are being ripped off!
 
well THE GOAT IS DEAD.

it is officially dead.... i get charged either which way now... who ever gave them the tip about the InternetVPN i hope you are pleased with yourself...

i lost R120 airtime yesterday cause vodacom didnt have the decency to let me know they were gonna charge my ass again. and what is going on with the Vlive portal?

i checked and it took airtime the last time i was on... i even looked up on Vodacom4me and it had a Vlive charge of R0.04. whats up with that?
 
vodacom3g said:
Send me some examples abd I'll get onto it.
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Only suspicions at this stage, but there have been posts on this. Anyone who says however that none of them did that has to be very naive.
vodacom3g said:
Sony_3G said:
....implies that you guys at vc knows you are loosing customers, but you just dont really care...
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A bit of a silly statement, don't you think?

If Vodacom's business plan states it desires to go out of business (it doesn't), then it would not care about its customers.

Any service-based company that loose contact with its customers deserve to go out of business.

The only way to build customer loyalty is to give the best performance/price (bits per second per cent), a decent range of products and back it up with good support.

With many millions of customers there will always be some problems, but as long as there is constant focus to fix them (there is), we'll go forward.
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Not really. It took Vodacom over 1 1/2 years to implement this and it's still not available. I have never seen any company take so long to implement something that is costing them money. And if you read through the posts on this forum you'll know that there are many people who are happily paying R2/MB in order to utilise 3G speeds. What Vodacom is losing due to the bungle issue they are making up from the cash cows. Any company who is losing money will do everything they can to make it up even if they have to outsource the work. That is why your argument simply does not hold any water for me. Hasn't Vodacom ever heard of modularity? When one part of your system stops working for some reason or becomes outdated you have to be able to replace it quickly and efficiently without affecting any other parts of your system.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but Vodacom doesn't have that many data subscribers and they have even less prepaid data subscribers. It's a drop in the bucket for them and it was probably more cost effective for them to leave the issue until now than it would have been to get somebody to fix it. Any company that does not want to spend some money to keep its customers happy deserves to go under imo and will not get my loyalty. And on the subject of good support, there have been numerous complaints about the crappy GPRS is most parts of the country and Vodacom hasn't done anything to fix it.
Sony_3G said:
Yes V3G, you are a vc representitive, and it is your duty to defend them, but put yoursef in our shoes for a little while, and think about this issue in the terms that the pre paid student/youth think, then answer this question...
Would you be fed up with the service? And with the rate things are moving?
This is not a personal attack at you, it is mere asking you to put yourself in our shoes.
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Agreed 100% here. I am fed up with the service from Vodacom. And at the rate things are going this will go to the point where like with Telkom, I would rather pay more to a company that deserves my loyalty than to pay Vodacom anything at all. :rolleyes:
Rev8 said:
ok so today i heard this please correct me if im wrong vodacom pay about R60 a gig and if we pay 2/mb and 1 gig is 1024 mb that would mean if i used a gig i would pay R2048 so R2048 - R60 is R1988 PROFIT and i dont think they pay that R60 because if telkom owns 50% of vodacom they wont really charge themselves for it and sometimes vodacom doesnt have the greatest connection especially this week i been trying to get online around 8 pm but its impossible i have to wait till around 9 or 9:30pm to get online. so basically i think we all being ripped off. i would go over to virgin but they dont have gprs settings for my fone i've tried everything to get it to work but no luck so im stuck wit vodacom until i buy a virgin mobile fone.
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Since you mention this I would like to return to this issue. I took it at R45/GB. Add to that the following charges per GB:
GPRS:R599
EDGE:R266
3G:R133
HSDPA:R67
This was in April and the cost of technology and maintaining it has come down since. So Vodacom makes at least R1404/GB for GPRS, R1737/GB for EDGE, R1870/GB for 3G, R1936/GB for HSDPA. Vodacom would have you believe that they don't make the higher profits on 3G and HSDPA because of the higher interlink speeds needed for these, but the GPRS and EDGE data goes over the same links which still makes 3G and HSDPA cheaper and besides this the higher profit margin more than makes up for the cost of the faster links.

I can't see why your phone works on Vodacom and not Virgin though. Try entering your access point manually or replace the internet apn in your Vodacom profile with vdata and remove the proxy and port number.
 
@ Prometheus, I've noticed that although I give you the actual facts and situation on any given matter, you seem to want to believe your own views.

I always state the reality here but I guess it's just to enticing to dream up these conspiracy theories.

Maybe you should come and visit Vodacom. You won't find any secret rooms where secret people have secret meetings to decide how to scr*w subscribers for more profit.

What you will find is a bunch of people trying their best to build and provide as best a service as possible, even if it does take them more than a year.

But then I guess it's easy to sit on the outside, with a simplistic view of a complex business, and make judgment calls.

Maybe I should just not enter into these debates and only give short official answers to any questions here? What's the use of trying to provide accurate information if it falls on deaf ears?
 
Free internet again

Went on the net on my nokia 6680 and have not been charge so seems there is still free internet
 
V3g, I have given actual facts and figures on this forum and all I hear is that it's not as simple as that.

I get comments from forumites about support personal having to get paid by people who don't know that the very help desk number they are mentioning is a paying number which pays the salaries of the support personal and still I get told that those costs are added to the data price. I get asked how would I know what the agreement between Icasa and Vodacom was by people living in what seems like an internet bubble who doesn't know about the issues in the news when that information was published in You and Huisgenoot and probably some other media as well and is actually in the public domain.

We ask why Vodacom doesn't put up their own links and get comments about land ownership and right-of-way being a problem, but in the mean time Vodacom is waiting for Telkom to install a new link where they could have done it themselves and saved a lot in the long run. But we get told that Vodacom is obviously taking self provision very seriously.

We want to know why ppdbs are taking so long to arrive when they are already available on contract and all that is needed is to deduct the amount of the bundle from the users prepaid balance instead of adding it to their account which they are already doing with prepaid sms bundles and to then deduct the data usage from the bundle balance which they are already doing for the contract customers. Of course it's not as simple as this, but the question is why. If Vodacom remembered the first rule of building a system then it should have been so simple as that is probably how it was with MTN's ppdbs.

The actual costs of data delivery is kept secret, probably confidential business information again. When we try and calculate it for ourselves it has to suddenly be 'sucked from our thumbs'. We come to the conclusion that R2 is a rip-off just as R10, R40, and R55 was certainly a rip-off as the cheapest cost now is 50c and when we demand cheaper rates we are told that it is unreasonable for us to do so and that there are other costs involved. Well now, I guess that has to be true as you haven't given any figures at all and Virgin is probably running at a loss and will soon go under which explains why Vodacom doesn't worry about their cheaper rates very much.

While companies run things behind closed doors like Telkom does without wanting anyone to know the real costs these theories will float around. I guess Telkom's rates aren't 1000% as expensive as the rest of the world and international bandwidth costs a fortune just because they said so right and we should just be happy that they don't charge us as much as they really should.

At least I am doing something here to explain all these very strange phenomena even if it sounds like conspiracies instead of sitting here confortably paying high data rates to get a slightly higher speed. If you have given us any facts instead of the memos coming from the top of the food chain then we would not be having this conversation now would we? But I guess you are not in the position of being allowed to do so, so I will continue my quest.

ps. This is not a flame war. It is a simple statement of the facts as everyone on this forum can see them.
 
111 Is a free call.
155 Is a free call.
114 is a free call.
IF phoned from a Vodacom SimCard.AFAIK
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edit:
BUT,i must say that I agree on you on most of the things you said.
 
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I'm probably going to get flamed for my personal opinion on this one, but it just amuses me intensely reading peoples bitching about how Vodacom have now started charging them for usage, when they never advertised free usage, please tell me in what small little bubble do people live when a company decides to close a loophole that they must inform the customers who have been abusing this loophole... its just lunacy and all sorts of other things as well.

and Prometheus, you go on and on about how the data price is excessive, and while yes I would agree that it is overly high, there is very little chance you could ever figure out how much it costs vodacom to provide that bandwidth to us, and I would never expect them to publish the costs, that would in many ways be commercial suicide, and well the shareholders would rightly never allow that information to be published. You also go on about the networks being allowed to self provide, and yes this is an absolutely great thing on paper, but would you be prepared to have the data costs skyrocket while vodacom recoup the multi billion rand investment it would take to build their own national network to support their towers? I mean we all know that Neotel is going to spend R11billion over the next 10 years to extend an already extensive network that they have access, I'd HATE to even begin to contemplate how much it would cost Vodacom to self provide...
 
Rev8 said:
...vodacom doesnt have the greatest connection especially this week i been trying to get online around 8 pm but its impossible i have to wait till around 9 or 9:30pm to get online. so basically i think we all being ripped off...
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i've been experiencing ongoing 3g problems over the past few months. Last month a data consultant told me that the coverage would be better in Port Shepstone at the end og August because of a new tower going onto 3g. Yesterday and today it took me about 30 minutes to connect. The problem time seems to be between 8 and 9 pm as mentioned above. When you make an appointment to meet someone online at a specific time, you end up looking like an idiot. This evening I eventually had to give up and switch over to an MTN sim card working on GPRS. It connected on the first go.
 
lol, I sense that this thread will soon be locked/deleted...
Lets not go too far now.

VC's goat had died, kinda.
MTN had a goat. Don't know if it's still alive.

Yes, I agree that you cannot moan about a Free service that was supposed to be a 'Charge-for' service that stopped. But I also agree that if I read V3g's posts correctly that I get the feeling of Vodacom did not worry about it and that they 'OK'd it. Then again, they did not Publicly say "OK, use the vlive loophole. It’s a service for everyone. Enjoy! ” *dreaming of that day*

So I’m not sure about what I’m thinking anymore, lol...gimme a moment.
 
Disclaimer:

"Please note that any loophole found in any Vodacom system that might give anyone free access to any paid service, can be closed at any time without any warning whatsoever.

This could result in a subscriber being charged for a service that was chargeable in the first place but for some reason were not charged for.

Any usage of Vodacom services in a way that is not covered by and according to a published Vodacom product and / or business rules are at your own risk"

Everyone now happy? :rolleyes:
 
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