elvis_presley
Expert Member
Koosi: I think you're mixing up your people, you're confusing me with something some berk said about UDP 
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Question of the Day: How often do you receive spam calls?
How Vodacom will combat WhatsApp
- Thread starter jes
- Start date
The_Unbeliever
Honorary Master
If they throttle Whatsapp data packets, and people find out (oh yes, people will find out, they're not that stupid) they'll migrate away from Vodacon.
Quite an interesting situation...
Quite an interesting situation...
I'm not sure what others' experience is with VoIP calls using Viber or Skype but the only service that really cuts the mustard IMHO is Apple's FaceTime Audio. Sure, this is a service limited between Apple users but the service quality is very high, data usage is negligible and there's no app to break - it's a core part of iOS.
elvis_presley
Expert Member
Skype's great on MTN, that much I can vouch for. Routinely do long interrupted calls on it. I rarely get super good H+ signals on my phone, but Skype's great at low bandwidth nowdays.
eltherza
Expert Member
Yip, I agree. Im going to grab mtns cheap smartphone and throw skype on it and see how a skype only phone goes for a month.
Sonic2k
Executive Member
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Wishful thinking...
I know of several people who wouldn't even know if Whatsapp is throttled or not, and would assume the service is down/crap and use something else.
Vodacom will blame whatsapp, much like BBM back in the day.
SteveO
Expert Member
Jeez so much of chatter on this.
The networks prioritise traffic in the same way ISPs shape traffic.Thats it.
Voice (Circuit switched) will always have priority, even on LTE (VoLTE) This is an essential service (emergency calls etc etc)
Following this the list is something like this:
1.Guaranteed services (generally does not include public services, but it could depending on the operator)
2.Best Effort Services inc HTTP, VoIP etc. Each will be ranked within this category.
What Vodacom etc will do will look at which of these best effort services is causing the most headache on the network, asses if its worth spending money in order to improve the situation, if not then via DPI and QoS they will ensure that that service is given a lower priority.
The networks prioritise traffic in the same way ISPs shape traffic.Thats it.
Voice (Circuit switched) will always have priority, even on LTE (VoLTE) This is an essential service (emergency calls etc etc)
Following this the list is something like this:
1.Guaranteed services (generally does not include public services, but it could depending on the operator)
2.Best Effort Services inc HTTP, VoIP etc. Each will be ranked within this category.
What Vodacom etc will do will look at which of these best effort services is causing the most headache on the network, asses if its worth spending money in order to improve the situation, if not then via DPI and QoS they will ensure that that service is given a lower priority.
elvis_presley
Expert Member
All this talk is assuming Whatsapp voice will have gigantic uptake. What was BBM's voice uptake like? It only came in a few months before everyone I knew dropped their BB, but I don't know anyone who ever used it.
Its still not a viable solution.
Unless you standing still with good signal then you can make a proper call, if you move even 5m there will be a disruption.
Rather than find innovative ways to embrace the changing landscape, sadly Vodacom would rather resist and fight it with bundles that are too complex with tons of provisos. Why? Why not be innovative and find ways to make it work in you favour?
I agree that operators can do deep packet inspection but strongly dispute they used it 'back in the day' when Mxit was popular - they didn't have their acts together to do this.
Also, people are getting it wrong about throttling - a mobile operator doesn't throttle a voip service. That gets a backlash going and attracts unwanted discussion about net neutrality. You rather introduce, or allow jitter. That way the service still 'works' but it has random quality issues and doesn't gain traction in the customer base that can afford to pay for a conversation.
elvis_presley
Expert Member
They were, and it was actually pretty sophisticated, it did deep inspection and QoS and balanced data/voice channels per antenna per time period (the example we were told is how they dedicated towers near schools almost entirely to data during school hours). When the alternative is running new cables to that antenna, or building more antennas, buying some sophisticated routers for a few million bucks suddenly becomes cheap.
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jannievanzyl
Telecoms expert
Quite an entertaining thread, this.
Scary to think a lot of people sell themselves here as network experts but get the basics of the TCP/IP stack so confused.
Vodacom never prioritized Skype traffic, nor de-prioritized any other protocol (outside of the bulk downloaders on BIS).
Scary to think a lot of people sell themselves here as network experts but get the basics of the TCP/IP stack so confused.
Vodacom never prioritized Skype traffic, nor de-prioritized any other protocol (outside of the bulk downloaders on BIS).
Quite an entertaining thread, this.
Scary to think a lot of people sell themselves here as network experts but get the basics of the TCP/IP stack so confused.
Vodacom never prioritized Skype traffic, nor de-prioritized any other protocol (outside of the bulk downloaders on BIS).
Jannie, I guess the old maxim still prevails. If the person in the article (your boss) start by talking crap, it allows anyone after himto do so as well.
Maybe not all of them, but like Vusi he manages to get both his feet into his mouth better than a contortionist can hope to do!
I tried to use viber on an edge network.. it's like downloading a large data file on edge.