HSDPA on Virgin Mobile

J

jb007za

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Okay, so I may be stating the blindingly obvious by now... but I'm really quite excited about this development.

Sitting in Rondebosch with my laptop and E620 data card with Virgin Mobile SIM. Switched networks to Vodacom (2G), connected, downloaded a trickle feed, then disconnected. Forced data card into 3G/HSDPA mode, did manual search and selected Vodacom (3G). Connected to network (using Virgin Mobile settings) and, yes, downloading at between 300-600 kbps from HSDPA enabled base station! Sometimes falls back to 3G, but I'm not complaining. Of course, I'm assuming I will be charged at Virgin Mobile's data rate (i.e. 50c per megabyte).

So, if you're in the right coverage area, it is possible to benefit from Vodacom's HSDPA technology through a Virgin Mobile SIM card.

Wonder how long this will last? I was previously informed it wasn't possible to achieve the above.
 
See THIS thread.
Yes, it is possible. If you are in range of a HSDPA/3G base-station, you can have 3G/HSDPA speeds via Virgin Mobile. Just manually select it on your Cell device.
 
To my mind, this setup doesn't make business sense for Vodacom. They are charging their own customers premium rates to use HSDPA. Never mind the prepaid data bundle fiasco... Yet, Virgin Mobile customers, piggy backing on the Vodacom network, can utilize this high speed technology for a fraction of the cost. It actually disadvantages Vodacom's customers through saturation of bandwidth resources and the fact that Vodacom's customers are in effect subsiding Virgin Mobile's customers.

Surely, this can't continue much longer? Saying that, it seems to have been possible to exploit this loophole for a few months now. Again, if I was a Vodacom 3G/HSDPA customer, I'd be rather p****d off. Fortunately, I'm a Virgin Mobile customer though.
 
jb007za said:
To my mind, this setup doesn't make business sense for Vodacom. They are charging their own customers premium rates to use HSDPA. Never mind the prepaid data bundle fiasco... Yet, Virgin Mobile customers, piggy backing on the Vodacom network, can utilize this high speed technology for a fraction of the cost. It actually disadvantages Vodacom's customers through saturation of bandwidth resources and the fact that Vodacom's customers are in effect subsiding Virgin Mobile's customers.

Surely, this can't continue much longer? Saying that, it seems to have been possible to exploit this loophole for a few months now. Again, if I was a Vodacom 3G/HSDPA customer, I'd be rather p****d off. Fortunately, I'm a Virgin Mobile customer though.
Click to expand...
My heart bleeds for Vodacom! How much profit did they make last financial year?
More power to your elbow VM. I am sure it is your data pricing that has prompted the recent moves by MTN and Sentech to offer better pricing.
 
...for the first time today i saw the 3g icon on my phone when i was in wellington. I got excited for a brief moment.
 
Its some sort of bug/loophole, I'm sure it'll be closed soon, don't rely on it.
 
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