elriconess
Senior Member
I'm about 270m from the tower.
Ping: 19ms
Download: 1.85Mbps
Upload: 1.91Mbps
Ping: 19ms
Download: 1.85Mbps
Upload: 1.91Mbps
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Question of the Day: How much money are you willing to pay for a smartphone?
Home Connecta Flexi
- Thread starter Randux
- Start date
Hopefully you can afford an alternative.
Gtx Gaming
Gtx Gaming
Good ping lol
elriconess
Senior Member
Can't get DSL due to Telkom decommissioning it in my area. MTN is expensive. Rain is the same as Cell C. Vodacom is intermittent and expensive.
Gtx Gaming
Gtx Gaming
Mtn is R999 uncapped, not that bad .
My speeds on Cell C have also nosedived. Currently 2Mbps down and 1Mbps up! I am hoping that things can still improve as I have already cancelled my Afrihost/MTN service.
I would switch back to Afrihost if they offered similar pricing to the SIM only MTN Home WiFi products which are now significantly cheaper than the Pure LTE packages.
I would switch back to Afrihost if they offered similar pricing to the SIM only MTN Home WiFi products which are now significantly cheaper than the Pure LTE packages.
Was thinking about this scenario earlier, and a previous comment (of mine) to commit to 200GB once-off.
I think from the 1st July I'll rather get a 100GB Cell C @ R199 + at a later stage if needed, 80GB Telkom @ R359, as I'll already have 20GB Telkom through Axxess.
Under some consideration is the fact that I have a fibre line installed into the house (Frogfoot - inactive, at present - just the ONT & router needed + signing-up, obviously), but have been perfectly fine with Telkom's speed to cost ratio - in fact, LTE on Telkom is much faster at almost 1/2 the price per month .... so holding off on even the cheapest fibre (30 down / 3 up) for now, but it's always tempting due not having to be concerned with how much data you need to buy / use.
You only save around R9 if you purchase the 200GB package instead of 2X100GB packages. If the first 100GB bundle does not perform adequately then you don't need to purchase a second one and can move across to something else. I'm not sure how the HCF service will perform as thousands of new customers sign up to benefit from the cheaper data rates. It is still usable for me but I am noticing a gradual deterioration.
My reasoning was exactly as you explained -
ie. one halves the risk by buying only 100GB at a time, and the price diff. is minimal.
That effing sucks, I feel your frustration.
elriconess
Senior Member
Today:
Ping: 20ms
Download: 4.46Mbps
Upload: 2.13Mbps
Router stats:
Ping: 20ms
Download: 4.46Mbps
Upload: 2.13Mbps
Router stats:
| RSRQ: | -4dB |
| RSRP: | -72dBm |
| RSSI: | -73dBm |
Hummercellc
Expert Member
Got a sim and took it for a test drive.
In full fixed LTE coverage.
High Site 200 metres away.
Signal below -50dBm.
Using a Huawei B618.
Most times sub 1mbps, lucky to peak at 4 or 5mbps.
Netflix does not load, speedtest battles along.
Placing my MTN fixed LTE sim in the router, and hitting 50 to 80mbps.
Both are definitely using the same MTN high site, sector/cell ID matches on both.
Either congestion on the Cell C backbone or these sims are throttled to death by MTN.
In full fixed LTE coverage.
High Site 200 metres away.
Signal below -50dBm.
Using a Huawei B618.
Most times sub 1mbps, lucky to peak at 4 or 5mbps.
Netflix does not load, speedtest battles along.
Placing my MTN fixed LTE sim in the router, and hitting 50 to 80mbps.
Both are definitely using the same MTN high site, sector/cell ID matches on both.
Either congestion on the Cell C backbone or these sims are throttled to death by MTN.
Yeah MTN is throttling all Cell C users like crazy.
It's quite inconsistent, because for my last few speedtests (over the last 2 weeks, approx.), I'd been getting only around 1.5Mbps upload.
This is what I got earlier on today (currently not using Cell C to test again) - still very usable :
Speed Test – Fast, reliable, and ad-free internet speed test
Test your Internet connection speed with our fast, reliable, and ad-free tool. Measure your Internet speed now.speedtest.co.za
Ping 56ms
Download 8.68Mbps
Upload 8.98Mbps
Cell C – 2021-06-30 04:27:00
Server: ZA - Durban
Strangely, the server auto selected Durban with a higher ping no. (usually I get JHB's, where the pings are in mid-40's)
I'm loading a 50 + 50 GB by tomorrow so hope things don't go to the wall for me with Cell C, after that.
EDIT : using a B525 router.
Famous last words - after getting confirmation the 100 GB was loaded (around 8am), put the SIM back in the router, and it failed completely (red light). Tried in a 2nd router (B525 also), as well as spare smartphone. No SIM registered.
Couldn't believe it - it was still working overnight, even shortly before loading airtime to convert it to data.
This SIM was RICA'd at P 'n P, so wasn't a "Cell C SIM" per se, which were the ones previously reported in the this thread, as failing.
Spoke to the call centre on 135 from a dedicated "voice" calling Cell C phone.
They suggested a SIM swap, but here's the thing - you cannot buy another SIM from one of the retailers as they require it to be RICA'd before they let you take it.
Cell C said it mustn't be provisioned in any way, just to buy the SIM, and then the call centre can do the swap over the phone, transferring the data across.
Therefore, the only way is to go the a Cell C shop (to do the SIM swap).
First one I went to were too busy, 2nd shop offline - great morning ... fortunately after about 20 minutes they came back online & were able to do the swap.
Have to now wait 'til 5pm (4hrs recommended) & try the SIM ; if it fails again, the agent said to take the SIM & router back tomorrow, as they'd need to do something re the roaming with MTN, so the router can accept the SIM, or the SIM, the router ??
I thought this Home Flexi only ran on Cell C's network ??
Just hope it works after 5pm without having to go back, but at least I shouldn't have lost all that data for nothing.
Btw, cost is R11 a time to do a SIM swap, even though it's their failure in this case.
Will happily pay that - not too often, though ! - to salvage that amount of data, especially so soon after loading it.
Last edited:
I'm on my 3rd sim card. You'll win eventually.
This is my concern - how many times their SIMs can & will fail, as the agent said quite a lot of them had "gone to the wall" recently (my quote, not hers, but just to get the message across).
The shop apparently had scores of fuming people waiting outside one particular day, because a batch of SIMs had lost connectivity / provisioning.
Wondering if it's specific types or batches. I have the normal "get triple your recharge every time with ultrabonus" one and it's still working. *touch wood*
The agent meant it more in terms of batches of SIMs linked to roaming on MTN / Vodacom, from what I remember ... not what type of service your SIMs running on.
I don't think they knew why it happened, but presumably an isolated incident, apart from the few now-and-again, affected, like I was earlier on today.
On a brighter note, for me, the SIM swap thankfully has worked.
I got a decent enough speed-test earlier on, soon after the SIM started up again.
In-line with (ping) & somewhat better (d/load) than I'd been getting for the last month or so :
Nothing like the 120 Mbps (down) I got last night on Telkom LTE, but good enough for the price.
I got a decent enough speed-test earlier on, soon after the SIM started up again.
In-line with (ping) & somewhat better (d/load) than I'd been getting for the last month or so :
Ping 46ms
Speed Test – Fast, reliable, and ad-free internet speed test
Test your Internet connection speed with our fast, reliable, and ad-free tool. Measure your Internet speed now.
Download 14.62Mbps
Upload 8.84Mbps
Cell C – 2021-07-01 17:07:28
Server: ZA - Johannesburg
Nothing like the 120 Mbps (down) I got last night on Telkom LTE, but good enough for the price.