Migrating from Iburst to Vodacom....???

[nevstarwader]

Have been Ibursting since beta days Dec 2004. Seems they were 'beter' days - company now seems to be collapsing technologically. 3 top people resigned in November. Have been using Vodacom 3G via cellmodem as backup without any real problems over past 3 years. If I do drop Iburst, I will use dedicated 3G USB modem instead of my phone.
Does Vodacom make fulltime users happy or angry?
Does Vodacom provide accessible and meaningful support?
Does Vodacom get it's billing right?
Will Vodacom soon adjust data rates similar to Iburst's new data packages?
Can I get a 3G modem without locking myself into a contract?
Look forward to lots of - probably contradicting - advice.

 

[morkhans]

Have been Ibursting since beta days Dec 2004. Seems they were 'beter' days - company now seems to be collapsing technologically. 3 top people resigned in November. Have been using Vodacom 3G via cellmodem as backup without any real problems over past 3 years. If I do drop Iburst, I will use dedicated 3G USB modem instead of my phone.
Does Vodacom make fulltime users happy or angry?
Does Vodacom provide accessible and meaningful support?
Does Vodacom get it's billing right?
Will Vodacom soon adjust data rates similar to Iburst's new data packages?
Can I get a 3G modem without locking myself into a contract?
Look forward to lots of - probably contradicting - advice.

3G like any wireless service will very much differ from location to location. Some places the tower is fine, but it does not have enough backhaul. Other places the tower is overloaded and a new site cannot be located to ease the load. So really the first step is to determine if your location is fine, and by the sounds of things it is.

1) Generally I am happy with my Vodacom service over in the just over 2 years I've been on it. I have had issues and outages, but they have been fixed within a decent time frame.
2) As far as support goes 155 can be a real pain, especially if you know the issue is network related they will insist on bashing through the flowchart and mess with every single setting on your PC, but once I've got my ref# I can escalate it to the forum rep (VodacomData) and he can follow it up internally. ocleroux can also help out with general account and contract related queries. I find the representation in the forum a great asset and is one of the reasons I stick to Vodacom.
3) I would say Vodacom's billing is good. The lack of a real-time billing system on contract bundles is a large oversight, so if you don't watch things closely it's easy to go OOB. I was on pre-paid for a year and the real-time system worked very well and there were no OOB surprises. The middle ground between contract and pre-paid is top-up.
4) Currently (to everyone's disappointment) there are no price decreases / cap increases on the cards from Vodacom. I seriously hope this changes shortly.
5) Best way to get a 3G card is buy it cash, new or second hand. Check the forum classifieds or gumtree. Telkom also have a special on the E960 router which is very similar to the B970 router. I would go with the Huawei modems, the Option and Novatel cards are good, but Huawei is more common and has more options when it comes to generic connection software.

Edit: Still wanted to mention. With Jannie at the helm at iBurst it really looks to me like things are turning for the better there, might be too early to jump ship?

 

[Colin62]

3 top people resigned in November.

That might even lead to improvement rather than collapse.

Does Vodacom make fulltime users happy or angry?

Mostly happy enough - good speed, portable for when you're travelling, but it can be frustrating too, as it can sometimes just hangs with no throughput. I've usually been able to get connected though, sometimes quite slowly. It very much depends on the signal you get and the backhaul available to your tower.

Does Vodacom provide accessible and meaningful support?

Yes and no. There is meaningful support at the technician level, they are very helpful, and will come out to your house and check signals and assist in getting the best position for the modem or antenna. But they're not accessible, and the staff on the helpdesk are not the sharpest tools in the shed. The technicians will never call you back while the problem still persists, it's always 24 hours later when things have resolved themselves.

Does Vodacom get it's billing right?

I've seen complaints, but personally, I've never had an issue with it.

Will Vodacom soon adjust data rates similar to Iburst's new data packages?

Who knows? But I'm not holding my breath. 3G's never been a cheap option.

Can I get a 3G modem without locking myself into a contract?

You can buy one for cash from Vodacom, or cheaper on the internet, or even Incredible Connection (not that I'd ever recommend shopping there). And the great thing is that the data costs are exactly the same on pre-paid and contract, with pre-paid having much more control and the system is realtime, so you don't have to worry about being caught out by the amount of data on the system being old.

From what I've heard of the early years of iBurst, you'll be more than patient enough to cope with Vodacom I too wonder if you're not leaving iBurst too early though.

 

[nevstarwader]

Thanks morkhans and Colin for your comprehensive replies.
I sincerely hope Iburst improves. They have embarrassed me - 3 friends who took my Iburst recommendation have had endless billing trouble, 2 of them trying to leave Iburst and continuing to be billed. The Helpdesk can be o-so-dumb - I wonder if they work for the same Iburst that I connect to...
I have diverted all my email away from Iburst servers because I have lost known and unknown mail 3 times this year. My patience is stretched to breaking point.

 

[morkhans]

Thanks morkhans and Colin for your comprehensive replies.
I sincerely hope Iburst improves. They have embarrassed me - 3 friends who took my Iburst recommendation have had endless billing trouble, 2 of them trying to leave Iburst and continuing to be billed. The Helpdesk can be o-so-dumb - I wonder if they work for the same Iburst that I connect to...
I have diverted all my email away from Iburst servers because I have lost known and unknown mail 3 times this year. My patience is stretched to breaking point.

Might be worthwhile contacting the iBurst rep in the forum and seeing if he can help you out.

 

[nevstarwader]

My Iburst contacts all resigned end November. Shaun Green on the forum was one of them, although confusion reigns - the forum indicates that he is on leave while I have been told by 3 sources in Iburst on the phone that he has left the company. I will have to hang in, look the other way, calm down and hope for better next year.