GPRS and Vodacon service underwelming

[MyDraadloos]

Ooops my bad ....... did read the FAQ only did some RTFM in the Dutch Manual ......... LOL

I'm back on using my phone to check the difference between the 2.

Had to download a file to unblock attachments in Outlook anyway so I did the same thing twice. My phone was only 50% slower. Took some screen shots to add to the 150 I already have of bad connections.

So I reckon the "cell breathing" thing is for real, only over here it seems to be coughing and sputtering.

Kyk links en hoes vir Dokter ....

PS. Got feedback from Vodacom Billing, they said no way Jose can you get a refund for data. Data used, is data used irrespective if it was disconnections, reconnections, packet loss, resends, connection lost or network overhead. If it was sent or received you have to pay for it.

Somehow the chap could not grasp that I am using 10MB of traffic and my last few hair follicles to download a 500KB e-mail.

 

[74466]

He probably aint using the service himself...

 

[ic]

He probably aint using the service himself...

Who is 'he'?

 

[MyDraadloos]

Who is 'he'?

I think the "he" might refer to the helpdesk agent I spoke to in the billing department.

Things seems better this morning, got the V 4U pay-as-you-go sim working in the 3G data card.

Some DNS errors for MyADSL and Standard bank this morning, but they seem to have resolved themselves.

3G speed is not WOW fast but the connection seems to be stable and throughput on a http download from international site was averaging 7-8 kB.

At 1am this morning I did some AV updates on another machine to which I have installed the Nokia GPRS modem, this managed 5-6kB and was stable for 3MB download.

Will test later to see if the reception is better outside the building.

After some fighting it seems that Vodacom has come to the party to help in fixing what is wrong. with so much new technology it is easy to forget that there are still users that might be dependant on GPRS.

There is also a miriad of other systems that are dependant on GPRS - ATM's, Credit card machines, Vehicle tracking etc.

Speed is good, but stability is better.

 

[vodacom3g]

I think the "he" might refer to the helpdesk agent I spoke to in the billing department.

Things seems better this morning, got the V 4U pay-as-you-go sim working in the 3G data card.

Some DNS errors for MyADSL and Standard bank this morning, but they seem to have resolved themselves.

3G speed is not WOW fast but the connection seems to be stable and throughput on a http download from international site was averaging 7-8 kB.

At 1am this morning I did some AV updates on another machine to which I have installed the Nokia GPRS modem, this managed 5-6kB and was stable for 3MB download.

Will test later to see if the reception is better outside the building.

After some fighting it seems that Vodacom has come to the party to help in fixing what is wrong. with so much new technology it is easy to forget that there are still users that might be dependant on GPRS.

There is also a miriad of other systems that are dependant on GPRS - ATM's, Credit card machines, Vehicle tracking etc.

Speed is good, but stability is better.

GPRS is for sure not the forgotton one, it contributes around 45% of all data traffic and I (for one) is actively advocating more and better use of GPRS, with 98% population coverage it only makes sense. Dial-up, Telemetry, etc.

 

[MyDraadloos]

GPRS is for sure not the forgotton one, it contributes around 45% of all data traffic and I (for one) is actively advocating more and better use of GPRS, with 98% population coverage it only makes sense. Dial-up, Telemetry, etc.

Well my old GPRS handset will be passed down to the Southern most tip of Africa so my folks can do Internet banking without having to bother with things like Telkom and ISP's.

Will check coverage map to see what is down there. I think GPRS is far from dead and as you said the coverage is great.

 

[kaspaas]

GPRS is for sure not the forgotton one, it contributes around 45% of all data traffic and I (for one) is actively advocating more and better use of GPRS, with 98% population coverage it only makes sense. Dial-up, Telemetry, etc.

How many apps actually needs anything faster than GPRS?

Maybe web browsing etc, but not even personal email really needs super speeds.

 

[ic]

GPRS is for sure not the forgotton one, it contributes around 45% of all data traffic and I (for one) is actively advocating more and better use of GPRS, with 98% population coverage it only makes sense. Dial-up, Telemetry, etc.

Is that plan Vodacom has to phase out the 2G network within 5 years still on track? - read about it in a news article - not sure but I think AKC was being quoted...

 

[MyDraadloos]

Gprs ???

Was using the GPRS last night the update the AV on a machine sitting in my office.

Did not have any tools on that desktop to monitor what the connection was doing, but I was either either flying or choking on packet resends.

The coonection speed was all over the place. 6kB then 46kB .... a sudden burst of 300kB and then sustained at 80+kB for few minutes.

Likes I said no real tools on that machine, but it looked like about 20MB between 11:15 and 12:00.

Strange

 

[Vodacom Rules]

Was using the GPRS last night the update the AV on a machine sitting in my office.

Did not have any tools on that desktop to monitor what the connection was doing, but I was either either flying or choking on packet resends.

The coonection speed was all over the place. 6kB then 46kB .... a sudden burst of 300kB and then sustained at 80+kB for few minutes.

Likes I said no real tools on that machine, but it looked like about 20MB between 11:15 and 12:00.

Strange

I had the same prob last night...

I was using HSDPA and my speet was up to S***T 6Kb then 12Kb

I phoned 155 and the guy said "I think its your signal sir"

Crap!!, this morning when I connected I was pulling 130kbps.

Go figure

 

[RichardP]

I just spent a week being forced to use GPRS while being in Margate... and quite honestly, I would not recomend it to my worst enemy ... I only used it for IRC and the lag times were 170seconds, pinging google took 14Seconds ...

Change the speed order to
dualup
carrier pigeon
GPRS

I tried to phone Vodacom helpdesk at 8pm and was put in the "We are putting you through to an operator" for 11 minutes .. the next day , at 16h30 I phoned the helpdesk again... and was put on hold for 10 minutes before I gave up.

After 10 years of loyal service, the only time I needed assistance, and NO-ONE was home.

Vodacom... ur a joke! stuff you. <Very Angry and soon to be EX-customer>

 

[lilDeath]

Hi RichardP, have you read the "How to use Call-Back on 155" thread?
It is pretty useful and will lower your blood pressure which can lead to an aneurism, ya dig?

BTW, I hear you and I know exactly how you feel re GPRS.

 

[MyDraadloos]

Well my GPRS has improved and the Vodacom network engineer has kindly borrowed me his old 3G card to test till next week. (R2 p/MB of Pre-paid .... Eish!)

There is however two more things I would like them to attend to.

1) Some sort of refund / credit for the "bad" data I used. Due to the bad state of the connection.

2) I want them to get rid of the Pet Shop Boys song they use on their IVR. I think it is insulting to customers calling for customer service. The actual full title of the song is "I do not know what you want, but I can't give it anymore". I should know, I gave my ex-wife a copy, she did not see the humour in it either.

Peace

 

[MyDraadloos]

Well we are back to square one, can barely stay connected long enough to type a reply.

Connection with mail server times out, disconnects time and again, low or no throughput. Can't even download a Excel attachment from Gmail, after 5 attempts I only got 180kb of 214kb ....... eish !

Paying premium rates for patchy best effort service.

To top it all I find myself listening to Pet Shop Boys again, I guess for them it truely is a case of "I don't know what you want, but I can't give it anymore".

 

[MyDraadloos]

Improving GPRS performance

Been struggling to get an updated DB downlaoded for Ewido. Have had to resort to trickery to get the connection to stay alive ......... there is no resume feature.

Constantly having to watch the connection in NetLimiter, when the speed falls below 3KB I throttle it down to 1KB ...... when you release the throttle it happily cruises at 8-10KB.

Or in other cases it simply dies. Bugger knows what this update is gonna cost me. I have already generated 30MB of traffic and have never managed to get more than 50% of the file (5MB).

So my simpleton conclusion is that the Vodacom GPRS network sucks big old donkey balls.

Funny thing is at the end off the month they will send me an invoice for their **** up.

I will remain stubborn and stick to my original point ....... I am not going to upgrade untill they fix the GPRS network.

At this point I am very likely to take out a newspaper add to print some screenshots of how crappy the network is.

The last time I was this pissed off I dragged the Dept of Home Affairs to the Constitutional Court ........ and won.

 

[lilDeath]

What would be an interesting comparison is how MTN GPRS performs.
Then you have the 2 big balls players matching up against each other.

Quite frankly I dont think a giant with millions of subs will give a rats ass about you and your measly couple of hundred rand. Their revenue is still way too high for that. IMHO
This is the trend all the beasts tend to follow. IMHO

 

[MyDraadloos]

What would be an interesting comparison is how MTN GPRS performs.
Then you have the 2 big balls players matching up against each other.

Quite frankly I dont think a giant with millions of subs will give a rats ass about you and your measly couple of hundred rand. Their revenue is still way too high for that. IMHO
This is the trend all the beasts tend to follow. IMHO

Problems is that all the solutions are tested and marketed under "ideal" situations. when things do go pearshaped for a few of the customers then there is not enought motivation to fix it.

I might be on the losing end at the moment because I am spending money on an inferior service, but the tables will turn. I just need the correct audience to present my problem to.

On the other hand I am at the point where I could not care less and would rather move to another provider.

So I will wait another month or so untill my contractual obligations with Vodacom comes to an end and re-evaluate.

I don't realy want to use GPRS, but they have never been able to tell me what is wrong with the service or why it fails. It therfor does not make sense to me to upgrade to a newer technology that likely has it own set of problems.

End rant :

 

[lilDeath]

Problems is that all the solutions are tested and marketed under "ideal" situations. when things do go pearshaped for a few of the customers then there is not enought motivation to fix it.

I might be on the losing end at the moment because I am spending money on an inferior service, but the tables will turn. I just need the correct audience to present my problem to.

On the other hand I am at the point where I could not care less and would rather move to another provider.

So I will wait another month or so untill my contractual obligations with Vodacom comes to an end and re-evaluate.

I don't realy want to use GPRS, but they have never been able to tell me what is wrong with the service or why it fails. It therfor does not make sense to me to upgrade to a newer technology that likely has it own set of problems.

End rant :

I hear you. A fairly level-headed approach, which I can relate to.

It is quite disturbing the amount of people that are having problems with the newer technology. And even the older technology too has degraded to a point where the mobile / wireless selling point is becoming nothing more than a cliche.
You can just go through threads in this forum to get an idea of what is going on.
And these are only the people that take the time to complain. Quite frankly, I don't see the point anymore.
We have no way of knowing how big the impact actually is. I can only guestimate it is much worse.

I am not naive to think there are no failures on the other provider networks, but maybe client service would actually be more forthcoming, little gestures like being kept in the loop or being made aware (whether is word or action) that you're money you are paying is actually worth anything to them.

/detachment

 

[MyDraadloos]

Realy don't know what to do anymore ...... feeling uncomfortably numb.

There is no consumer group that deals with telecommunications.

I'm gonna go scream at Telkom rep, I applied in March. There must be some spagetti I can connect to somewhere.

 

[74466]

3 days i tell you. . . for 3 days now i have not been able to het a decent connection on voda. . . so much so that i am using operA MINI to post now, as i am not even gonna attempt the pc connection