How is data usage calculated

MyDraadloos said:
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.
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Ek dink hulle gebruik nog ou Suid Afrika reels , hoes en betaal is die wet van transvaal. Please somebody translate into English. :cool:
 
MyDraadloos said:
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.......
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Use the 7-layer OSI model to visualise what is happening here.

When you do something on your PC, like downloading a file, browsing, watching a movie or sending an e-mail, you work at layer-7, the Application layer.

Now the whole idea of the OSI model is that one layer provides services to the one above it, and has no idea what that layer is up to, it just creates a transport for it.

The 3G network sits at layer-2, the Datalink layer and uses layer-3, the Network layer to provide IP. So billing will happen here. The Datalink and Network layers have no clue what you are doing across them. They just create virtual pipes and see packets going across them.

Thus there is no way the billing engines know what you are doing with the packets you are sending and receiving, it's just not in the architecture (would imply layer-7 billing). So you get billed for every packet seen for your card at layer 2/3.

This does imply if you do a file transfer and it is aborted (either the connection broke or you stopped it), you'll get billed for data already used.

Above will also explain that it's impossible for the billing engines to bill you for 25Mb of data (5 times the 5M download) if you only downloaded 15M.

Maybe explain a bit more on where/how you saw this?
 
Charles Meyer said:
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.
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You keep on answering your own question! ;)

1Gig is 1024x1024x1024 bytes. The billing records count in Kbytes (which still is 1024 bytes), thus they'll reflect 1Gb as 1024 x 1024 Kb.

This all made me realise that our 1Gb bundle is actually more than double our 500M bundle.....
 
vodacom3g said:
You keep on answering your own question! ;)

1Gig is 1024x1024x1024 bytes. The billing records count in Kbytes (which still is 1024 bytes), thus they'll reflect 1Gb as 1024 x 1024 Kb.

This all made me realise that our 1Gb bundle is actually more than double our 500M bundle.....
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Maybe so.
Because nobody wants to answer the questions asked. IC, did give a reference to a site. Thanks for that, good link to have.
I am trying to find out how the Vodacom billing system works. We pay by data useage. We get an amount of data.

Thanks for that.
In summary then,
1Gig byte therefore is (1,073,741,824 Bytes) 1024x1024x1024
1Gig in kilobytes therefore is (1,048,576KB) 1024x1024.

You are correct to say that they invoice by the Kilo Bytes, as can be seen on the v4me balances (Contracts). Am I correct in saying they may be they are chewing us by +- 25,165,824 Bytes. (25MB) ???
 
sky.akash said:
So why isn't the 500 MB bundle 512 MB?:D
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True.

If you check your data at the beginning of the month via sms MM to 31050 or looking at v4me you should see 512 I think.??

My question would be what is the actual value you would see ? 12MB more or what ever is a couple programs you can download.
 
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Csnoopy said:
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.

:confused:
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Csnoopy said:
Data value calculation How is this done.

1) 1Gig is how many bytes. (1024x1024x1024)=1,073,741,824 Bytes.
1a) 1Gig in kilo bytes. (1024x1024)=1,048,576 KB
2) 1Gig is how many bits. (31 Bits)
3) 1Meg is how many bytes. 1,048,576 Bytes
3a) 1Meg in kilo bytes. 1,024KB
4) 1Meg is how many bits. 21 Bits
5) What value do we get allocated for 1Gig. 1,073,741,824 or 1,048,576 KB.(Vodacom4me shows the later in KB
6) When we get charged is it by the byte or by the bit. By the KiloByte. Total Bytes used (UL+DL) devided by (1024*1024)
7) At what value do we get charged out of bundle value. (It depends on the package you buy)

Example if the total bits used is 6,395,616,865(6099.34 Mbyte) - 1Gig Bundle(1,048,576KB)=(5050.76+-) x 1.20/Meg = R6,060.91ex vat.
:confused:
Click to expand...

See updates above.
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