HSPA+ Speeds in Gauteng Region - Known Issue (From Cell C)

[Alacrity]

Change your user name dude

How? I tried, seems I would have to create a new account to get it changed.

Maybe a few years from now MTN might again be the best With the current Cell C issues is might be sooner than later...

 

[surfs-up]

Well, it seems I am the only Cell C user that is happy. Although I think it is human nature, that most people that are happy with a product keep quiet about it, and those that have problems seek out a forum where they can vent out frustrations. I feel for you guys that are having problems - but in the 3 months that I have had my black speedstick, I have only had two (2) days where my internet was either down or edge only.

I think the problems are worse in the larger cities, where there are more subscribers all fighting to get bandwidth space. It is like Joburg rush hour traffic trying to all fit on the street grid of Bloemfontein.

I am in Richards Bay, where there is a very small subscriber base, and I have enjoyed excellent speeds, with no drops. Although my speed has dropped - I used to get 8.0 - 9.0 mbps in early December, and now I average around 3.0 - 4.0 mbps - but no drops, or EDGE. I have only had two days where the internet was down for around 6 hours on both days. Other than that, I am still whooossshing.

Here is the speed I am getting this morning...

 

[dex_10]

I am still having signal problems here in Krugersdorp even though the coverage map shows full HSPA coverage I either only get Edge or once I am connected via HSPA it drops the connection after a few minutes. It seems like the 3Gb I bought at R400 is going to be wasted because I had to go back to my MTN sim.

CELL C SUCKS!!!!!!!!!

 

[oronte]

Since yesterday I have regularly been having the connected but no throughput issue. I live in Auckland Park Johannesburg.

 

[lived666]

struggling in midrand again.
trying to report issue will call centre, so far 49 minutes on hold.
took about 20 odd minutes to try post this

ok got through to technician (53 minutes of holding) and he reset something his side and I'm back online. He couldn't tell me what was reset, but at least working....for now.

 

[Meteor]

i'm in bromhof, randburg, connected to 3g but no throughput been like that for than past 3 days.

cellc call centre a complete waste of time

 

[Pietert]

I must report that I am WHOOSHING again for a few days now. Load shedding in Arcadia, Pretoria stopped now. Hope everybody's problems gets solved as well. WHHHOOOSHING's heaven.
Cell c's tech guys phoned me some time after the service were good again. Actually not bad, only their help centre needs some new blood and planning.

 

[Zak87]

Since yesterday I have regularly been having the connected but no throughput issue. I live in Auckland Park Johannesburg.

Hey Oronte,I am also in Auckland Park, close to the SABC. I find that I have a working connection during the day but in the evening it is hit an miss. The green light on the stick will be on but I cant load any pages.

 

[smaller]

I had some periods yesterday when 3g worked but last night and this morning is back to edge only. Still hatfield pta.

 

[SoTrue]

Hey Oronte,I am also in Auckland Park, close to the SABC. I find that I have a working connection during the day but in the evening it is hit an miss. The green light on the stick will be on but I cant load any pages.

There must be a cyan coloured light, otherwise there is no wooooooosh (HSPA+). Speeds indicated by any other coloured light, including blue and green, are just too slow to be of practical use. This includes EDGE speeds.

Don't let anyone else try and convince you otherwise.

 

[Getafix]

I was not at the office for a week.
I am stuck on edge since yesterday.
It is so frustrating.
Woosh used to work perfectly.
Cell c please tell us when your problems in Garsfontein, Pretoria will be resolved.

 

[NoRyt]

Hi,

I live in Rooihuiskraal Noord Centurion.

Got the 5 gig package for gaming since Land Lines from Hell wont lay down ADSL lines in my area. For 2 months its been working pretty awesomely surfing was great WoW latencty was at about 500-600ms. Life was but a dream. Recently though the modem has been switching between HSDPA+ and WCMDA which was a little annoying, but thought it was a teething problems. Colleague suggested taking the modem to CellC for a firmwware upgrade or something. (Still need to confirm this)

Last weekend (18 feb) the Woooosh ended. I cant even open up the CellC website and latency is at about 17000ms - disconnect.

Its not a hardware issue since if I take the modem to work which is called the black hole because most wireless signals die in the building it works fine. Pages open great and WoW is at 700ms. RSSI is sitting at -93 to -90dBm, but thats expected being at work.

I need to know what caused this degrade in quality and if it will persist. Should I be looking at other options. Dont know if it will help, but iBurst is having the same issues. Working perfectly at work, but dying at home.

A response would be great,
Thanks

 

[Carnajo]

I'm in Sandhurst Sandton and have the same symptoms as described in the initial post. Stick shows Cyan (bright blue) light and HSPA+ connection with signal strength greater than 95% but my speed drops to 0Kbs to 10 or so Kbs. Sometimes (rarely) I get burst of 400Kbs but only lasts a few seconds and drops to 0Kbs. I've tried online contact as well as "Telling Trevor" but no one gets back to me (I'm furious).

Websites time out, I can't download e-mail etc.

Any feedback would be great.

 

[frobbertze]

Same problem here since Monday. Get perfect speeds at work(Menlyn), but at home(Gezina, Pretoria) the connection keeps dropping. My signal strenth was never very good, but this is getting ridiculous. Seriously considiering taking this peice of junk back to Cell C.

 

[ajax]

My signal strenth was never very good, but this is getting ridiculous. Seriously considiering taking this peice of junk back to Cell C.

I have noticed that anything in -90's of dBm is asking to get disconnected. Have you tried the ping workaround?

 

[Cost Conscious]

Reading these reports and comparing my own experience; Cell C are having some issues with the new network (and, I believe, with their suppliers) but for reasons I suppose one can understand, isn't talking too much about it. Seems there is some frustration within CC and indeed some within the company would prefer the existing network issues are worked through before expanding the network futher!

When it works, it works well - but when there is a cell issue, of course it doesn't, leading to immense frustration. (been there, done that)

I think the fact that Ron (& even Lars) have appeared on here is testament to their concern that they want to get the product right and do care about service delivery reports. It also (IMHO) shows that they do not treat user reports lightly.

OTOH, I think priority needs to be given to creating an online tool for users to report service outages or degradation like the dropped call tool.

At the very least, enhance the existing GUI with tools (like MDMA) to report specific cells (tower numbers) that have, for example, a strong RSSI but none/or very slow bandwidth and collect logs that can be sent for analysis by network services.

Even though I'm using an external antenna now, I still get perverse results, which vary day to day and minute to minute. See below

 

[Steve_Ras]

This seems to be getting worse!

I am in the FOURWAYS area.
I have had good service for most of Feb, avg about 3.5Mbps download.

I know there were VOICE problems early in the week, but on WED 23rd my data service effectively went to ZERO.

The modem connects fine, showings HSPDA+ service.
However it is so slow that SpeedTest.net will not even run!

I went to the local CellC "shop" and found several other customers with the same problem.
The girls said they had been told there was a service problem which is being addressed.

I tried the 140 helpline to log a query, but could not find a menu item to speak to a "real" person. Was told option 9 might work.
I asked the service lady to contact the help desk for an update.
Using their dedicate line/no there was NO answer.
I asked to log a complaint - no capability to do so.

I appreciate these updates being logged to this forum, but CellC service personnel do not seem to have the same info. Customers are not being supported.

This service interruption may not allow me to use my prepaid 5Gb allocation which expires end of month.
I will need a credit or carry over.

Looking forward to a restored service!:erm:

 

[NoRyt]

I think the main frustration come from the fact that it worked. Im mean it really really worked. Now it doesnt. When you rely on something and it fails the betrayal is that much worse. If you have forwarning or are expecting the worst you can prepare, but the 3 months of working kinda put me in a lull and made me trust the service.

My problem is The RSSI strength doesnt change betweeen work or home and yet cant even open up google. For me thats not something I can live with. I might have had high hopes for gaming, but trying to play on overseas servers on a wireless connection was a pipe dream. I can accept that.

@Cost Conscious
Where did you get your external antenna? And do you have any advise to maybe try and diagnose the problem or higher people up to contact.

 

[Steve_Ras]

Hi Ron
A month later any updates, especially since data in Gauteng now seems to be down to ZERO

 

[Dolby]

Also been having an issue here in Randpark Ridge



Without reading this entire thread, I assume the issue is known about and just needs to be solved? I'm trying to use my last 1.5GB before Tuesday - but at this speed I'll be getting a few MB per day