Fundamental problems with CDBs [Contract Data Bundles] & what you want changed

ic said:
I forgot to mention that I also need to know when Vodacom will decide to provide hard-capped CDBs - I know it cannot logically be before realtime data usage monitoring is available for CDBs, but I would really like to use Vodacom's [contract-only] [searchforum]DataSIM[/searchforum] [share a single CDB with up to 3 SIM Cards] - not keen on the DataSIM subs fee though, but I will not touch CDBs [again] before Vodacom provides CDBs with realtime data usage monitoring and hard-capping - until then I am using PPDBs which do have realtime data usage monitoring and are hard-capped by the amount of airtime credit [min ZAR1.00] that one has.LOL, nope, ic fully supports this off topic discussion and is instigating it as well :D.
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GO IC, GO!!! (new thread??)
<sob> guess it all revolves around bean-counters and bottlenecks:cool:
 
ic said:
I forgot to mention that I also need to know when Vodacom will decide to provide hard-capped CDBs - I know it cannot logically be before realtime data usage monitoring is available for CDBs, but I would really like to use Vodacom's [contract-only] [searchforum]DataSIM[/searchforum] [share a single CDB with up to 3 SIM Cards] - not keen on the DataSIM subs fee though, but I will not touch CDBs [again] before Vodacom provides CDBs with realtime data usage monitoring and hard-capping - until then I am using PPDBs which do have realtime data usage monitoring and are hard-capped by the amount of airtime credit [min ZAR1.00] that one has.LOL, nope, ic fully supports this off topic discussion and is instigating it as well :D.
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I noticed...;)

Formal feedback from the forum that CDB's today do not have the same protection and monitoring/management capability as PPDB would be good, constructive feedback. Especially if it's mentioned that many forumites are migrating from CDB to PPDB because of this.

I'm very good at forwarding open letters, for example.....
 
I am contemplating doing that migration to PPDB's shortly, when my 24 month contract ends. I dislike the fact that if I'm not on the ball I can go over my limit and end up having to pay in a huge amount.
 
ic said:
I suspect there is an existing thread in MyBroadband's Vodacom forum to which I could add a poll asking forumites if they migrated [recently or not] from CDBs to PPDBs specifically due to undesirable aspects of CDBs that they can elaborate on in the actual thread itself. Would a link to such a poll & thread be suitable for forwarding to the CDB-PTBs?

PS: I should probably move some of our posts at this end of this thread into that thread which I suspect does exist - I just have to find it...
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While there is momentum from ground level into the heavens of Vodacom...
For my R349/month which I get 1GB of ho-hum (it is not very consistent on performance and latency - say no more) performance, no control and an oversize (24 month) viro lock on my nuts.. I can enjoy more responsive adsl with appr 3gb of transfer - unused data does not vanish at the end of the month. When I have used the paid-for-data, I can still log on to usage stats (real-time stuff) and top-up page. No viro lock either.
What I am getting at is that companies should not only claim to be competitive (the elaborate advertising et al), but actually have something competitive in their arsenal - else loose subscribers.
Please don't take this as a Vodacom bashing stint. Any company claiming to offer a useful form of connectivity has to be aware of what is available in the market.
 
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As far as I am aware, and this has been pointed out countless times to me, mtn can be 24 hours behind - and thats my problem.
 
IC, I think the real-time monitoring and roll-over of at least add-hoc bundles go very close to hand-in-hand.
My pet hate is that my data tends to run out in the last week of the month - and normally notified very much after the event. I have checked vodacom4me up to 6 (SIX) hours after disconnect - without it updated.
The next step (damage control) would be an ad-hoc bundle, of which the unused end goes down the loo at the end of the month.

I have used both MTN and Virgin in the past. MTN seemed to have a handle on the usage (pre-paid bundle), and both just prevent traffic when there is no air-time credit. Not sure on the intricacies - black magic or fuzzy logic - it seemed to work. With MTN I used to load air-time and convert some to a data bundle, leaving some change in air-time. A small amount that I could fall back on. I used a traffic monitor on my pc which tallied very well with their measurement by the way - DUTraffic, also magitime.
 
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Yup.... with MTN it takes up to 24hours to update CDB usage....

I currently have a friend who is STRESSING cos yesterday he was on 1gb, now he's on 4.2gb according to the software on his laptop.... but he can't check online cos it won't have updated yet.
 
As people mentioned, MTN's contract bundle "control and monitor" ability is even worse than Vodacom. I've blown my MTN contract bundle a couple of times, no warning no nothing. Vodacom at least sends SMSs when you hit certain points [even if it's late] , MTN doesn't even do that. And forget about that 3+ hour delay thing, on MTN it's day.

But yea, the contract situation on both operators are terrible, no protection are offered for consumers and as i've said, it's like selling drugs to children....(imagine someone's non-technical family member with this...i'm still amazed this is even allowed) .

At least Telkom throws up a website stating how to buy additional bundles if you hit your cap (preventing further browsing), imagine if they just let it slide and charged you a month later for going over at some insane tariff [of course never telling you that you went over] .....
 
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ic said:
...I would really like to use Vodacom's [contract-only] [searchforum]DataSIM[/searchforum] [share a single CDB with up to 3 SIM Cards]
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Bad news - to the best of my knowledge datasim does not allow you to share a data bundle between 3 sims - AFAIK it allows 1 voice SIM (with data capabilities e.g. on handset browsing) 1 data sim (with no voice capabilities) and 1 Blackberry SIM (with no voice or data, other than Blackberry usage, capabilities). So your vision of sharing 5GB (or whatever you were hoping) between 3 data cards is sadly scuppered.

Best bet, if your users are within 20m of each other, is buy a router and plug your card into that. That's what I have done at home, I have up to 5 machines linked at any one time on the same sim, same bundle.
 
ic said:
As far as Vodacom's Ad-Hoc CDBs are concerned, there is [post=1350531]a recent change to the expiry date rule for Ad-Hoc CDBs[/post] [that you might not be aware of]...:)
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oops, missed some news... then it still looks like a shafting in disguise.:eek:

What amazes me most of the whole issue...
The so South African (corporate talk) to selectively say other countries/other companies do the same - only when it suites them.
On this issue no foreign mention is made, which suggests it is unique to South Africa. Failing which, the technology and software (or tools) would be available from other sources - tried and tested.

I can probably write a book on these issues.. :mad:
 
ic said:
I'm busy contemplating the wording of [post=1529630]the poll[/post] question and voting options that need to be added to this thread, suggestions welcome :).
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What about a few items which need to be rated from 0 to 5 for example - which are all the bits people look at as a best broadband package..
eg: Speed, Quality/Latency, Reliability, Cost, Control, Value and so on.
Rating from 1-5 being least important to most important and 0 being a no issue or the person does not know what it means. Maybe the 0 will cause more confusion.
Last thought - how long been using service, will stay, contract or not.

@IC: some of these went to the other thread, pls delete duplicates.:eek:
 
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