How is data usage calculated

[Csnoopy]

Data value calculation How is this done.

1) 1Gig is how many bytes.
2) 1Gig is how many bits.
3) 1Meg is how many bytes.
4) 1Meg is how many bits.
5) What value do we get allocated for 1Gig.
6) When we get charged is it by the byte or by the bit.
7) At what value do we get charged out of bundle value.

Example if the total bits used is 6,395,616,865 - 1Gig x 1.20/Meg = R ...... ex vat.per meg.

 

[ou812ltd]

there are appproxamately 8 bits in a byte

 

[Csnoopy]

there are appproxamately 8 bits in a byte

en djou pint is ?? Kom kom wa va di res.

 

[ic]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte

 

[Csnoopy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte

Hi IC.
Thanks for the link. It is good for those that do not know.
How about an answer to the example. The reason I kept it criptic is to find out how the ISP/Vodacom really calculate the costs. Do they work by the decimal (1000) thousand or by the binary (1024) thousand. It could make a diff either way, when calculating in Rands and when calculating data. Computers work in bits and will calculate 1024 & not 1000.

So how about giving an aswer to the question.

 

[vodacom3g]

Hi IC.
Thanks for the link. It is good for those that do not know.
How about an answer to the example. The reason I kept it criptic is to find out how the ISP/Vodacom really calculate the costs. Do they work by the decimal (1000) thousand or by the binary (1024) thousand. It could make a diff either way, when calculating in Rands and when calculating data. Computers work in bits and will calculate 1024 & not 1000.

So how about giving an aswer to the question.

We did this a long time ago here on the forum.

We use 1024 in true binary style, so you actually get more bytes for your rand.

 

[ic]

Hi IC.
Thanks for the link. It is good for those that do not know.
How about an answer to the example. The reason I kept it criptic is to find out how the ISP/Vodacom really calculate the costs. Do they work by the decimal (1000) thousand or by the binary (1024) thousand. It could make a diff either way, when calculating in Rands and when calculating data. Computers work in bits and will calculate 1024 & not 1000.

So how about giving an aswer to the question.

BTW I did reply to your email, in which I stated that AFAIK Vodacom's 1GB Data Bundle is 1024MB in size, although I think there might have been some Vodacom marketing material that incorrectly stated 1000MB instead of the actual 1024MB, but my brain is a bit taxed with other issues ATM so I think you should allow v3g some time to give you an official answer - obviously I cannot give official answers on behalf of Vodacom.

 

[Csnoopy]

BTW I did reply to your email, in which I stated that AFAIK Vodacom's 1GB Data Bundle is 1024MB in size, although I think there might have been some Vodacom marketing material that incorrectly stated 1000MB instead of the actual 1024MB, but my brain is a bit taxed with other issues ATM so I think you should allow v3g some time to give you an official answer - obviously I cannot give official answers on behalf of Vodacom.

Thanks a lot I did get it and I agree.

The reason I am also asking this is. I have received detaled info from our ISP and they started billing after 1,000,885,287 it should be
1Gig is (1,073,741,824 Bytes) 1024x1024x1024 or
1Gig (1,048,576KB) 1024x1024.
Looks like you are correct to say that the invoice by the Kilo Bytes, as can be seen on the v4me balances (Contracts). Therfore if I am correct they are chewing us by +- 25,165,824 Bytes.

I stand corrected.

 

[Csnoopy]

We did this a long time ago here on the forum.

We use 1024 in true binary style, so you actually get more bytes for your rand.

It would be expected. Thanks. That would be the way the programmers work etc.

What number of bytes get allocated per bundle size example 1Gig.


1) 1Gig is (1,073,741,824 Bytes) 1024x1024x1024 or

2) 1Gig (1,048,576KB) 1024x1024. I think this is what Vodacom uses.

Loss of +- 25 Megs. ???

 

[vodacom3g]

It would be expected. Thanks. That would be the way the programmers work etc.

What number of bytes get allocated per bundle size example 1Gig.


1) 1Gig is (1,073,741,824 Bytes) 1024x1024x1024 or

2) 1Gig (1,048,576KB) 1024x1024. I think this is what Vodacom uses.

Loss of +- 25 Megs. ???

I would suggest 1024x1024x1024 is the same as 1024x1024K. Not sure why you think it's different?

 

[Csnoopy]

I would suggest 1024x1024x1024 is the same as 1024x1024K. Not sure why you think it's different?

If you look at vodacom4me data balances for contract user you will see that they allocate a value of (1,048,576KB) if you would take the KB as 1024 then you would get the bigger value. So my question all along, between the lines is, how is the billing of data and Rands calculated.

(1) (1,073,741,824 Bytes) (2) (1,048,576KB)
Do we get data value (1) or data value (2).
I looked at detailed billing & they started calculating at 1,000,885,287 (What kind of Gig is this).
Do they calculate by kilo (1000) or by kilobit (1024). If they are calculating by capturing the raw data I would say kb(1024). We could be loosing allocated data. (It is the bits that make the bytes etc.)

 

[vodacom3g]

If you look at vodacom4me data balances for contract user you will see that they allocate a value of (1,048,576KB) if you would take the KB as 1024 then you would get the bigger value. So my question all along, between the lines is, how is the billing of data and Rands calculated.

(1) (1,073,741,824 Bytes) (2) (1,048,576KB)
Do we get data value (1) or data value (2).
I looked at detailed billing & they started calculating at 1,000,885,287 (What kind of Gig is this).
Do they calculate by kilo (1000) or by kilobit (1024). If they are calculating by capturing the raw data I would say kb(1024). We could be loosing allocated data. (It is the bits that make the bytes etc.)

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=1071948&postcount=6

 

[MyDraadloos]

The question is not just "how", but also at "which point" ?

....... I had a whole paragraph here, but decided not to stick my head in yet another hornets nest..............

 

[vodacom3g]

The question is not just "how", but also at "which point" ?

....... I had a whole paragraph here, but decided not to stick my head in yet another hornets nest..............

You mean from when to when a bundle runs?

 

[MyDraadloos]

You mean from when to when a bundle runs?

No, what I actually meant was "where they bill for data" .... as in where (on the network) they bill for data.

Don't get me wrong my number of gripes with Vodacom have actually diminished and I they they are doing a great job.

One thorny issue for me is still that they will bill for data even if there is transmission problems. i.e. paying for data that you never receive.

The final gospel is the billing engine and the T&C's ....... the latter gives them the right to bill with impunity.

I'm just wondering if it would stand up to some form of an independant audit.

When you buy something and get invoiced one is usually able to tick items off the list by being able to verify it visually. This is not possible with telecommunications as the billing party will only accept their own data as gospel.

With everything else there are standard weights and measures to determine if you are getting what you paid for. 1kg is 1kg ; no more no less.

What is the Vodacom definition of a succesfull voice or data call ?

 

[vodacom3g]

No, what I actually meant was "where they bill for data" .... as in where (on the network) they bill for data.

Don't get me wrong my number of gripes with Vodacom have actually diminished and I they they are doing a great job.

One thorny issue for me is still that they will bill for data even if there is transmission problems. i.e. paying for data that you never receive.

The final gospel is the billing engine and the T&C's ....... the latter gives them the right to bill with impunity.

I'm just wondering if it would stand up to some form of an independant audit.

When you buy something and get invoiced one is usually able to tick items off the list by being able to verify it visually. This is not possible with telecommunications as the billing party will only accept their own data as gospel.

With everything else there are standard weights and measures to determine if you are getting what you paid for. 1kg is 1kg ; no more no less.

What is the Vodacom definition of a succesfull voice or data call ?

Need to get the definition for voice but for data it will be every byte received from your data card and every byte delivered to your data card.

Why do you think you're paying for data you never received or transmitted?

If you understand end-to-end comms, you'll agree that at most you'll loose one sliding window of data at TCP level but probably less at a lower layer as lower level handshaking will detect a break in comms and terminate a session.

So, there will be some packet loss, but we're talking about a few packets out of the millions you send or receive.

 

[Csnoopy]

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=1071948&postcount=6

Ag nee man v3g. Read the whole post. I need expert advice not just a pointer to another thread. And I did use that information to create the post in question. Ok. (1024) So then which of the two values should we then get for a Gigabyte data bundle before we get charged oob .? Please send me a PM if there is something I am doing or saying wrong.

 

[Csnoopy]

Need to get the definition for voice but for data it will be every byte received from your data card and every byte delivered to your data card.

Why do you think you're paying for data you never received or transmitted?

If you understand end-to-end comms, you'll agree that at most you'll loose one sliding window of data at TCP level but probably less at a lower layer as lower level handshaking will detect a break in comms and terminate a session.

So, there will be some packet loss, but we're talking about a few packets out of the millions you send or receive.

Here is my bit (ha ha) the handshake protocol would sort this one out. "Did you get all the bytes no, ok I will re-send it etc."
It depends on the hardware/software design & quality.

This is now off the subject but voice is calculated by time connected not by quality of voice, not so .?

 

[MyDraadloos]

Need to get the definition for voice but for data it will be every byte received from your data card and every byte delivered to your data card.

Why do you think you're paying for data you never received or transmitted?

If you understand end-to-end comms, you'll agree that at most you'll loose one sliding window of data at TCP level but probably less at a lower layer as lower level handshaking will detect a break in comms and terminate a session.

So, there will be some packet loss, but we're talking about a few packets out of the millions you send or receive.

Are you sure the billing is based on "every byte sent from and delivered to the data card" ? In my previous dealings with the billing "authorities" I got the distinct impression that billing happens on the core network and that they do not take any responsibility for transmission problems between the core network and distribution.

Here is an observation I have made. If you try to download an application of 5MB and the connection dies at 3MB you have to restart as the server might not always support "resume". If you try this 5 times then in theory the total bandwidth should be 15MB, however the billing will reflect 25MB.

Packet loss is acceptable when you have bad signal, but might at times also be due to congestion. Network overhead is also very minor.

So if I understand correctly you say that Vodacom only bills for packets receive and packets delivered to the user device.

Will give this some more thought.......

 

[MyDraadloos]

Here is my bit (ha ha) the handshake protocol would sort this one out. "Did you get all the bytes no, ok I will re-send it etc."
It depends on the hardware/software design & quality.

This is now off the subject but voice is calculated by time connected not by quality of voice, not so .?

What about those call when you can see it is connected, the little timer thingy says you've been connected for 30 seconds yet boggerol is happening. I get this a lot.