General observations on Vodacom LTE

General observations on Vodacom 4G/LTE

Just heard from a colleague that Vodacom LTE can attain 92Mbps in the vicinity of Vodaworld. I've asked for a speed test as proof as this is significant news - Vodacom LTE has been "slow" for me throughout Gauteng and Durban North. I say "slow" only because of the super fast speed tests from MTN LTE - up to 50Mbps.

With VC LTE I haven't seen higher than 15Mbps (of course the 10Mbps upload and low ping makes for a very slick experience, far greater than any HSPA).

Of the above is an indication of speeds to come from VC, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. So far I'm seeing very good LTE coverage all over. MTN can compete against this but Telkom Mobile cannot.

All that is holding back VC now is their data bundles. They need to release low cost 10-50GB bundles very soon. The return of the MyGig 20 @ R499 would be a step in the right direction.

On another note, my one device contract with MyGig 2 is now up and I have mixed feelings about cancelling. :confused: I've just had a very pleasant experience since the start of this thread. Having near perfect LTE at the beach in Durban North has really made me take notice.
 
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Azimuth said:
Just heard from a colleague that Vodacom 4G can attain 92Mbps in the vicinity of Vodaworld. I've asked for a speed test as proof as this is significant news - Vodacom 4G has been "slow" for me throughout Gauteng and Durban North. I say "slow" only because of the super fast speed tests from MTN LTE - up to 50Mbps. VC 4G I haven't seed higher than 15Mbps (of course the 10Mbps upload and low ping makes for a very slick experience, far greater than any HSPA).

Of the above is an indication of speeds to come from VC, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. So far I'm seeing very good 4G coverage all over. MTN can compete against this but Telkom Mobile cannot.

All that is holding back VC now is their data bundles. They need to release low cost 10-50MBps bundles very soon. The return of the MyGig 20 @ R499 would be a step in the right direction.

On another note, my one device contract with MyGig 2 is now up and I have mixed feelings about cancelling. :confused: I've just had a very pleasant experience since the start of this thread. Having near perfect 4G at the beach in Durban North has really made me take notice.
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Yeah slightly slower than MTN LTE but for me the coverage is basically the same here. Both vodacom and MTN has good LTE coverage. It SOOOOOO hard to choose between them in terms of prepaid offerings as both have silly red tape....

Vodacom LTE works on both 64k and 128k simcard and on contract and prepaid BUT prepaid is EXPENSIVE with 30day data expiry....

MTN LTE is limited to contract customers ONLY. The only prepaid data is the Afrihost way but that does not work in a iphone unless you have a contract with the apn option and then plagued with the no connection problem. MTN has a great data expiry policy which allows you to keep data forever as long as you load a bundle every 60 days. This works on contract and prepaid but prepaid = No LTE. They are also still running the 50% free data on every bundle purchased and their LTE is slightly faster. Only works with 128k simcards.

Silly red tape that makes me angry. If I can have MTN LTE on prepaid wow they will have their sim in my iphone 24/7 but they don't so I now just use Cellc which is slow but cheap.
 
I was hoping TM would make a big splash in the mobile LTE market but right now it's not looking too good.

Anyone using VC LTE on a mobile phone 24/7? Do you get 'no service' issues like with Afrihost?
 
Azimuth said:
I was hoping TM would make a big splash in the mobile LTE market but right now it's not looking too good.

Anyone using VC LTE on a mobile phone 24/7? Do you get 'no service' issues like with Afrihost?
Click to expand...

Nope you do not. In fact I find that vodacom switches to "4G" way faster than MTN and actually prefers it. Works wonders on a iphone 5 and switches flawlessly between 3G and 4G towers going in and out of coverage. Internet just always works. Maybe thats why its so expensive cause it actually works well?

I use vodacom as a secondary sim and prepaid and LTE is nice but yeah expensive. I find myself buying the R3 50mb power bundle a lot.....
 
General observations on Vodacom 4G/LTE

Azimuth said:
Just heard from a colleague that Vodacom 4G can attain 92Mbps in the vicinity of Vodaworld. I've asked for a speed test as proof as this is significant news - Vodacom 4G has been "slow" for me throughout Gauteng and Durban North. I say "slow" only because of the super fast speed tests from MTN LTE - up to 50Mbps. VC 4G I haven't seed higher than 15Mbps (of course the 10Mbps upload and low ping makes for a very slick experience, far greater than any HSPA).

Of the above is an indication of speeds to come from VC, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. So far I'm seeing very good 4G coverage all over. MTN can compete against this but Telkom Mobile cannot.

All that is holding back VC now is their data bundles. They need to release low cost 10-50MBps bundles very soon. The return of the MyGig 20 @ R499 would be a step in the right direction.

On another note, my one device contract with MyGig 2 is now up and I have mixed feelings about cancelling. :confused: I've just had a very pleasant experience since the start of this thread. Having near perfect 4G at the beach in Durban North has really made me take notice.
Click to expand...

Don't know if it's just me but these seem pretty good:

http://www.vodacom.co.za/personal/phonesandpackages/data24-monthcontract

Bonus if you're finished with your contract and on month-to-month (but haven't cancelled).
 
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General observations on Vodacom 4G/LTE

Azimuth said:
On another note, my one device contract with MyGig 2 is now up and I have mixed feelings about cancelling. :confused: I've just had a very pleasant experience since the start of this thread. Having near perfect 4G at the beach in Durban North has really made me take notice.
Click to expand...

So with my Telkom 2 * 5GB multi-SIMs and my remaining MyGig 3, I decided to go ahead and cancel. This was very easy to do and VC still converted my number to prepaid and transferred my remaining 1GB data. I'm keen to have VC LTE as a prepaid service for when I might need it. Sweet.

I'm really impressed with VC. Sent an email and they phoned me in a jiffy. Just now I sent a mail and got a call within 5 minutes. Wow.
 
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General observations on Vodacom 4G/LTE

Azimuth said:
So with my Telkom 2 * 5GB multi-SIMs and my remaining MyGig3, I decided to go ahead and cancel. This was very easy to do and VC still converted my number to prepaid and transferred my remaining 1GB data. I'm keen to have VC LTE as a prepaid service for when I might need it. Sweet.
Click to expand...

It's been a week since I've been on prepaid and no LTE. Vodacom also cannot fix it (S3-0C92Q-QWV0K). They've given me 500MB data in lieu of a SIM swap. This is not the first time I've had to do a SIM swap to fix LTE. :(
 
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General observances on Vodacom 4G/LTE

I don't know if VC LTE has been optimised or what. The speeds are now on par with MTN and Telkom Mobile. TM are sorely lacking in upload speed compared to VC and MTN!

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Looks like they are upgrading towers in your area cause I still get 12 - 13Mbps MAX and 9 - 10 Mbps upload
 
General observances on Vodacom 4G/LTE

Back to 'normal' speeds today. Awwwwww :(

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General observances on Vodacom 4G/LTE

Seeing very high speeds again this morning. I also found US servers after scrolling for 20 minutes. ;) The international results are not very good and it seems like some shaping is coming into play. The ping results also don't seem believable. Only the last US Speedtest had a more believable ping.

Reference SA Speedtest:

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NYC - Speedtest 1:

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NYC Speedtest 2:

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Miami Speedtest 1:

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Miami Speedtest 2:

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Miami Speedtest 3:

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Washington D.C. Speedtest 1:

834936352.png
 
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General observances on Vodacom 4G/LTE

Continued...

Washington D.C. Speedtest 2:

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And back to local:

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image.jpg
Also noticed 4G speed has increased. This is down in ballito with only 4 bars.
 
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