LinkTivates, Vodacom Data Usage Software - Free Windows Client

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servero

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Vodacom Data Usage Software - Free Windows Client by LinkTivate

A data usage reader for Vodacom data bundles users. It's a simple windows app that saves you the hassle of logging onto the website to check your data usage. We couldn't find anything as basic so we took a few hours and wrote one up. Then decided to share. Hope it saves some of you some time cause data usage checks were a headache on our side.

  • Get total usage and expiry data automatically
  • Has a timer to periodically update usage from the Vodacom4me site onto yr local pc
  • You can configure a warning level when the bandwidth is running out so you don’t spend extra at normal rates...etc

Download Detail

Requirements
Remember you need a profile on the www.vodacom4me.co.za site before you can use this app.

Notes
We haven't done much dev on this app, only what was needed for us. So drop us an email if theres stuff you'd like to c.


UPDATES
> Added the ability to query multiple numbers at once



Later
L
-----------------------------------
www.linktivate.net
 
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Caution: A third party application like this could very easily be used to harvest your login credentials. So keep that in mind before you decide to use this.
 
“A third party application like this could very easily be used to harvest..” then what anyways? Perhaps you could explain.

Anyone, cautioning other users that may not be developers and heed advice from users like yourselves should be professionals. I'm assuming you've run traces before the warn. Seriously morkhans, caution is only well deserved originated from a professional.

At times South African's genuinely attempt to help others with problems they may have experienced with networks. It’s people like you that stunt progress in South Africa. Just maybe Vodacom, MTN , Neotel etc and other networks may start giving us better tools than this one simply via stumbling over it.

You out of league my friend. Give advice when it is deserved and well researched.
 
servero said:
“A third party application like this could very easily be used to harvest..” then what anyways? Perhaps you could explain.

Anyone, cautioning other users that may not be developers and heed advice from users like yourselves should be professionals. I'm assuming you've run traces before the warn. Seriously morkhans, caution is only well deserved originated from a professional.

At times South African's genuinely attempt to help others with problems they may have experienced with networks. It’s people like you that stunt progress in South Africa. Just maybe Vodacom, MTN , Neotel etc and other networks may start giving us better tools than this one simply via stumbling over it.

You out of league my friend. Give advice when it is deserved and well researched.
Click to expand...

There are many reported cases of third party applications providing additional functions on top of an existing website or service harvesting peoples details. Where there is money involved these things will happen.

No I have not downloaded your application and no have have not checked it for and nefarious activities.

While I am not doubting your intentions you need to concede that:
1) You have no "street cred" on MyBroadBand (yet)
2) People will be entrusting your application with their credentials, credentials which allow a number of actions to be initiated on a persons' account that have financial implications.
3) If ever there is a dispute about actions taken via the website Vodacom could very well say the client compromised their credentials by using a 3rd party app.
4) The average person will simply download and install your application without considering these things.

Which is why I have made the statement I have made.
 
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Following your points..
  1. 3737 posts... Epic. Is this how “street cred” is born. Maybe others who post for the first time should remember this one. Cause I thought “cred” has experience stuck in there somewhere. mmm.
  2. The reputation of “moderator” should have accompanied some level of experience with data, which forms a huge part of this sites core focus based on the forums. Before a post was made, a simple traffic analysis with one of the free tools out there should have been done. (Wincapt if you like the most popular)
  3. If you did that analysis you would have seen the only url the application accesses is the Vodacom site.
  4. The ‘average person’ would appreciate correct advice. Advice well researched.

Statements that cause doubt in something that is obviously useful to our team and hopefully will be to others should not be made with a dagger rather a sword of experience. That’s what “street cred” is about.

Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand your point but only would have concurred should you have done it correctly. Almost always the average guy like me appreciates the wiser.
 
Let's just back up a bit here. A lot of people on this forums have expressed a wish for a "gadget" to monitor data usage in realtime, so any efforts in this direction should be welcomed.

However, anybody who has been exposed to the web for more than 5 minutes knows that there are some very clever people with very clever ways of getting you to share your secret information. So when someone pops up and offers a tool that embeds itself in your system with the ability to communicate freely to the outside world, it has to be regarded with caution, and that's what Morkhans is suggesting.

Morkhans does not have "street cred" because he has generated more than 3000 posts. He has it because what he says is generally well-considered and useful to others. On the other hand, you have 3 posts to your credit of which 2 are rebuttals to Morkhans - can you see the problem here for your "street cred"?

Maybe you could tell us a bit more about who you are, where you come from... you get the idea. The software utilities on this forum that have been used with confidence come from people we've gotten to know and ultimately trust.
 
I think lotus123 has pretty much summed it up. "Cred" is not about post count it's about trust.

I could have deleted your thread and been done with it, instead I left it as is and put forward a general statement regarding the usage of 3rd party apps. Not having tested your application does not preclude me from making a general statement. People are free to take that into account when they decide if they want to use it or not (just as you have done by discarding it as unresearched).

I am not trying to belittle your efforts, I am simply pointing out that people should give some thought to who and what they share their credentials with.
 
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Lightweight. Accurate. Quick and Easy.

But kind of pointless also. As the new VMC Dashboard has the functionality to check your Data Balance. And it doesn't require the personal details such as your Cell Number and Vodacom4me Password.
 
Iam3G said:
Lightweight. Accurate. Quick and Easy.

But kind of pointless also. As the new VMC Dashboard has the functionality to check your Data Balance. And it doesn't require the personal details such as your Cell Number and Vodacom4me Password.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that feedback - you're a braver person that I am!

But perhaps this could still be useful to me, as I am connecting via a router and not using the Dashboard to connect (or can I use the dashboard anyway?).
 
lotus123 said:
Thanks for that feedback - you're a braver person that I am!
Click to expand...

Changed my password before i used it. Changed it back afterwards.

My ESET Firewall detected that the application communicates with a remote server. Dunno which server it would be. I allowed it for just this once.

lotus123 said:
But perhaps this could still be useful to me, as I am connecting via a router and not using the Dashboard to connect (or can I use the dashboard anyway?).
Click to expand...

Well the only difference that i can see between this app and ginggs app is that ginggs app uses the device itself to check the data whereas this app uses your Vodacom4me login and gets the info directly from Vodacom4me.

@ servero

What happens to the personal information captured by the application?
 
Hi Iam3G,
Correct, your firewall would register the post and retrieve info from and to the Vodacom4site :) And nowhere else, bet a mil on that. I’m sure some techies who downloaded it, found this out as well.

There's really no low level device access etc with this app. Just straight forward web requests on port 80. Your credentials are normally stored in a local xml file. Simply saves you entering it in every time. You will find one in the same dir as the app.

There's no real rocket science in this app either. I’m surprised someone didn’t do this sooner. It simply fullfilled a requirement for us tech boys. Unfortunately most of us use our cell phones directly so VMC doesn’t apply. Wish it did though.

Simply put, every so often there’s tiny little utils that come in handy. As mentioned, hope this helps someone else out there as well. Maybe we'll develop a few more handy ones for you guys going forward as well.

Hi lotus123 ,

Sorry for late reply. A bit us. Well.:) I work for a company called LinkTivate. Our core focus is business accounting applications . Our main product being “Vplanes” . Our product is used by the likes of Hugo Boss SA – all chains, Grays, Aigner, Tetra Manufacturing, a few wholesale, retail and distrubution companies etc.

Also we've done work for the likes of SAICA, Pastel, Syncrony to name a few. We own around 100 local and international domains with the likes of www.software.co.za , www.diygalaxy.net. To find out a bit more on applications we own or currently developing. www.vplanes.net or www.linktivate.net

...i’ll just stop now. This sounds like marketting :)
 
I have no problem with Servero offering his app to the community as a service -- I think some of the 'slings and arrows' he has taken for being a good samaritan are a little unfair to say the least, and discourage developers from sharing their work with the rest of us, assuming we are willing to take any related chances with it.

However where I do have a personal problem is that his app didn't work for me, at any rate! It certainly logs in to the Vodacom4Me site correctly, then says it has completed retrieving the data -- which does not appear on the app's home screen, which continues to read zero. Anyone else having this problem?
 
Terencek said:
I have no problem with Servero offering his app to the community as a service -- I think some of the 'slings and arrows' he has taken for being a good samaritan are a little unfair to say the least, and discourage developers from sharing their work with the rest of us, assuming we are willing to take any related chances with it.

However where I do have a personal problem is that his app didn't work for me, at any rate! It certainly logs in to the Vodacom4Me site correctly, then says it has completed retrieving the data -- which does not appear on the app's home screen, which continues to read zero. Anyone else having this problem?
Click to expand...

Contract or Prepaid?

When i used it, it displayed the amount correctly. I was using my Prepaid SIM. Not sure if the same applies to contract, since the bundles page on Vodacom4me is not at the same place for contract subs where it is for prepaid.
 
Howzit,

Depends really on the type of protocol access that's currently available . Theres always ways :) I guess. Http is a breeze since session management, data isolation etc is straight forward. Never used Cell-C B4 though. That said, I’ll grab a sim card and play a bit and C what I can come up with. I’ll update the existing app with an additional tab if possible.

Later...L
 
Terencek said:
I have no problem with Servero offering his app to the community as a service -- I think some of the 'slings and arrows' he has taken for being a good samaritan are a little unfair to say the least, and discourage developers from sharing their work with the rest of us, assuming we are willing to take any related chances with it.

However where I do have a personal problem is that his app didn't work for me, at any rate! It certainly logs in to the Vodacom4Me site correctly, then says it has completed retrieving the data -- which does not appear on the app's home screen, which continues to read zero. Anyone else having this problem?
Click to expand...


Howzit ,

Dunno only tried this on prepaid so far. If the page is different, then i'm pretty sure it won't do much. A friend of mines has contract..i think. I'll have to add an option for the contract guys as well.
 
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