HSDPA 3.6 Activation and Performance

[ginggs]

I have a HSDPA 3.6 capable device on loan for a short while and I have it on good authority that my closest 3G tower had it's Telkom link upgraded about 3 weeks ago.

Unfortunately, Vodacom no longer have a free trial period for the HSDPA 3.6 service, so I had to shell out R49 to try it out.

Firstly, activating the HSDPA 3.6 via the *111# USSD menu offered no indication of the cost and no opportunity to cancel, unlike purchasing a once-off bundle where one has to go through two confirmation steps.

Once activated, the following message is displayed:

Your HSDPA 3.6 service has been activated successfully. Please refer to the Terms and Conditions.

Where are these terms and conditions?

Activation is near instant though, I connected immediately after and my assigned profile values were 1408kbps for the uplink and 3584kbps for the downlink. Unfortunately, although the device I have is capable 7.2MBps HSPDA it can't do HSUPA, so I'll be stuck with 384kbps uploads.

A visit to http://speed.vodacom.co.za/speedtest/ produced rather disappointing results: 2471kbps download and 354kbps upload. This is a fair indication of the speeds I'm getting from other sites too, after downloading about 200MB today, the highest speeds have been in the region of 2300-2400kbps. I think my signal strength is pretty good, around -77dBm without an external antenna.

How do I go about cancelling this service? If I choose the option on the *111# USSD menu to deactivate, will it deactivate immediately, or at the end of 30 days, or is it one calendar month?

 

[Steinie]

@ ginggs

I have the same problem. Great signal (the tower is about 300m from my house) yet my download speeds on 3.6 never exceeded 2400kbps.

I cancelled my subscription to 3.6 after one month.

 

[ginggs]

I cancelled my subscription to 3.6 after one month.

I think I'll be doing the same, if not sooner.

Pro-rata billing will apply.

Thanks for posting the terms and conditions. Pro-rata billing will apply? So if I were to cancel after 2 days I get 28/30 of R49 refunded? Or how exactly do Vodacom define pro-rata billing?

They say the networks will have to publish expected average speeds rather than optimal ones under ideal conditions.

I'm happy with the published "up to 3.6Mbps" speeds. HSDPA 3.6 is a standard, and the hardware manufacturers list the capabilities of their devices according to the same standards. I just don't think Vodacom should be charging extra for something they don't deliver, no matter what's in their terms and conditions.

 

[vodacom3g]

http://www.vodacom.co.za/services/mobile_data/hsdpa_36.jsp
They say speeds are not guaranteed, so 'you pays your money and you takes your choice'. Other countries are on to this. They say the networks will have to publish expected average speeds rather than optimal ones under ideal conditions.

Can you please point me to where Vodacom is making any speed claim for this service?

Ginggs, once you've paid, it runs for the month, so if you cancel it'll come into effect the next month.

Thanks for the feedback on the SMS you got. I'll have it sorted.

 

[vodacom3g]

I think I'll be doing the same, if not sooner.

Thanks for posting the terms and conditions. Pro-rata billing will apply? So if I were to cancel after 2 days I get 28/30 of R49 refunded? Or how exactly do Vodacom define pro-rata billing?

I'm happy with the published "up to 3.6Mbps" speeds. HSDPA 3.6 is a standard, and the hardware manufacturers list the capabilities of their devices according to the same standards. I just don't think Vodacom should be charging extra for something they don't deliver, no matter what's in their terms and conditions.

I believe the 'pro rate' is from when you bought the service, till that month end. Cancellation will only be at month end.

Vodacom went to great lengths to ensure people understand what the service means for them, especially by providing it free of charge for 3 months, so everyone could make up their own mind.

Even if you're getting 2.4Mb/s, it still means you're getting 33% better download and up to 260% better upload (with UPA) than the best possible speed you could get on normal HSDPA.

This service probably does not make sense for people with smaller bundles, but makes a lot of sense if you've got larger bundles.

 

[ginggs]

I believe the 'pro rate' is from when you bought the service, till that month end. Cancellation will only be at month end.

I don't think so, I subscribed on the 30th and was definitely billed R49.

Vodacom went to great lengths to ensure people understand what the service means for them, especially by providing it free of charge for 3 months, so everyone could make up their own mind.

Only those that had HDSPA 3.6 and HSUPA capable devices at the time.

This service probably does not make sense for people with smaller bundles, but makes a lot of sense if you've got larger bundles.

I normally buy one 2GB bundle per month, would you call that a smaller or larger bundle?

 

[vodacom3g]

That's what the 3.6 number is for, isn't it.

No.

 

[vodacom3g]

I don't think so, I subscribed on the 30th and was definitely billed R49.

Only those that had HDSPA 3.6 and HSUPA capable devices at the time.

I normally buy one 2GB bundle per month, would you call that a smaller or larger bundle?

Should be pro-rate, but I'll check what happens when you one day away from the end of the month.

Statistically 2GB, in SA terms, is a large bundle, although we have a fair number of people with much larger bundles.

You need to make a call if the extra throughput is worth it for you.

 

[vodacom3g]

Ok, what does the 3.6 stand for?

It's just a product name, like a BMW 325, etc. and is to differentiate it from the other products in the ever expanding family.

But the 3.6 in this case is a reference that you need a HSDPA-3.6 device to be able to receive the service.

Absolutely nothing to do with any speed claims. As you know under your previous sig, ASA stopped the networks from making maximum speed claims.

 

[ginggs]

Should be pro-rate, but I'll check what happens when you one day away from the end of the month.

Maybe it's pro-rata for contract users; it would be make sense for the R49 to be aligned to the contract's billing date. I'm on pre-paid, so I guess for me it's just 30 days from when I subscribed.

You need to make a call if the extra throughput is worth it for you.

Yeah, if I were to routinely send or receive large files it might well be worth it, I'm thinking of recommending it to some friends who are photographers. If one is just browsing and doing the occasional download, it doesn't seem much quicker.

But the 3.6 in this case is a reference that you need a HSDPA-3.6 device to be able to receive the service.

HSDPA-3.6 is much easier to understand than the alternatives; imagine trying to find out if your device is 'HSDPA category 5/6' capable?

 

[vodacom3g]

Was this the one where Vodacom couldn't substantiate their speed claim "up to 1.8 Megabits per second" and the ASA stopped them saying it was faster than ADSL because in truth it was not. Then a so-called independent "expert" from Omnisolutions said the speeds were "achievable" but the ASA didn't believe him and rejected the report because these claims only applied to "an insignificant portion of customers".

So we could say that any network CAN claim speeds if they are achievable by a significant number of customers, which explains why Ginggs is not getting them.

Skeptik, in your typical tradition you'll try and apply one ASA ruling to another case, like you've tried so often before. As per usual you try to warp the ASA's ruling to fit your agenda.

When the various networks launched it was practice to use the max speed of the technology to denote the service. This, BTW, is international standard. How else do you differentiate the technologies?

ASA ruled that although it can be shown that one can reach 1.8Mb/s on HSDPA, the claim cannot be made if it can't be done consistently. This ruling was initially against Telkom (and, if I recall correctly, MTN as well) before the Vodacom ruling.

Many people have shown they get 1.8Mb/s on normal HSDPA, just look at the speed thread.

But the ruling said no more 'up-to' type speed claims, so you won't see it from Vodacom anymore.

As you used to love to say under your previous nick; why don't you grow a pair and post under your real name?

 

[killer1973]

I think the complainants should convert to MTN or IBurst for better throughput!

I am very happy with vodacom and with their throughput and service. I get 2400 download and 1101 upload and my ping ranges between 131 and 190 consistantly.

Vodacom provides us with the best service when it comes to 3G and HSDPA in my opinion if you don't want the 3.6 functionality then don't request it and live with it.

 

[EasyUp Web Hosting]

Activated mine as well, but still getting 1.8mbps speeds... Gona give it a day and see if it has been activated...

 

[ginggs]

Activated mine as well, but still getting 1.8mbps speeds... Gona give it a day and see if it has been activated...

I think the activation process is automated, it was practically instant for me.
If you have a Huawei devce, try the software described here*, you should be able to see your assigned profile uplink and downlink speeds and be able to verify whether your SIM has been activated for HSDPA-3.6.

[*] Yes, I'm punting my own software.

 

[EasyUp Web Hosting]

Na, I am using my phone, cause I am running Vista 64bit... Every now and then I go do a speed test to see if it has been done.

Is it automated on prepaid as well? Cause what if you don't have cash on the sim?

 

[ginggs]

Is it automated on prepaid as well? Cause what if you don't have cash on the sim?

I'm on pre-paid. I guess if you don't have the available credit the activation won't go through.

 

[Bedford]

I think the complainants should convert to MTN or IBurst for better throughput!

I am very happy with vodacom and with their throughput and service. I get 2400 download and 1101 upload and my ping ranges between 131 and 190 consistantly.

Vodacom provides us with the best service when it comes to 3G and HSDPA in my opinion if you don't want the 3.6 functionality then don't request it and live with it.

Well u are part of a select few i guess...

The reliabilty of this data card is horrid and everytime i phone there is always a new excuse and sorry but u sir stay in the centre of the 3g Bermuda triangle. If it isnt the tower then its the DNS, if not the DNS then request ****EN timeouts. And today of all days it happens and subsequently cost me alot of money. What i love is i phone to find out what i need to do to reduce my contract to the minimum so that i can cut my losses and suck it up and get telkom, they tell me its gonna cost me to reduce my package (but OBVIOUSLY not when i increase it). How on earth does it cost them money to check a different box for what package im on???

K rant over.

Hopefully Andrew or Gerhard from networks can help in finding a solution /starts praying

 

[EasyUp Web Hosting]

It says that HSPDA 3.6 is activated, but I am still getting 1.8 speeds. I am using the vc software now, it is a bit beter, but still 1.8. Gonna try the E220 now...

 

[ginggs]

The reliabilty of this data card is horrid and everytime i phone there is always a new excuse and sorry but u sir stay in the centre of the 3g Bermuda triangle. If it isnt the tower then its the DNS, if not the DNS then request ****EN timeouts.

If you are having problems with Vodacom's data service in general you may be better off posting to the following thread.

How on earth does it cost them money to check a different box for what package im on???

If you signed up for a contract, your device was partially subsidised by the monthly fees for contract. The way I understand it, changing your monthly commitment to Vodacom entitles them to change their monthly commitment to you.

 

[EasyUp Web Hosting]

This is a waste of R49 each month!

Download Speed: 2250 kbps (281.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 345 kbps (43.1 KB/sec transfer rate)