Mobile Broadband (another independent comparison)

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spf1007

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Okay so this lady at work has a partner who is Exploring technology, science and the arts with circuits and software.

Now currently we actually she is having some trouble with her 3G each month she goes over her limit which eventually comes to a total of R1500 - 2000+ a month. We use Vodacom.

Now she says she doesn't go on the internet that much with her 3G what other explanations could there be in regards to why we pay so much if she says she doesn't go on the internet a lot? She does have an anti virus and she does scan her laptop weekly.

Now in regards to her partner he compiled a list of 3G cards and their prices and which option is the best.

Firstly I need to know why her 3G goes over the limit if she barely uses it?
Secondly which option would you say is the best would you agree with her partner?

I’ve gone ahead and performed my own independent evaluation of the current wireless internet options out there at the moment (July 2011) specifically looking at offerings from the biggest mobile phone operators in South Africa: MTN, Vodacom, Cell-C & 8ta (sadly excluding the likes of I-burst and Virgin Mobile etc.). Using a system of begging borrowing and stealing I got my hands on modems and SIM cards to test the quality of each connection in terms of ping times, download and upload speeds.

Performance

In terms of speed I performed multiple tests on speedtest.net and charted the averages below. 8ta gave the best download speeds at an average of 1.41 Mbps and Cell-C had the best upload times with at 1.0 Mbps. In terms of ping times MTN had the lowest. Please keep in mind that I did not perform these tests against any formal control and performed between one to three tests per SIM using the appropriate modem for that SIM. Cell-C for example uses a UMTS 900Mhz network (different to the other GSM network based offerings) and I excluded a test I did on Cell-C when I don’t got Edge speeds roaming on Vodacom’s network because that really wouldn’t be fair.

http://www.dejong.za.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Speed.png

http://www.dejong.za.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Pings.png

Coverage

If you thought my download speeds where very low compared to what ISPs are claiming you’re right. I live and performed these tests in a part of Pretoria east which does not have the best signal coverage and from the coverage Maps I noticed that 8ta and Cell-C had the most limited coverage in my area while Vodacom and MTN had the best. I’m assuming that whilst testing the 8ta SIM that I was no doubt roaming on the MTN network.

Costs

In terms of cost I had to work out the cheapest means of buying 10Gb per months in order to make the comparisons as fair and unbiased as possible. The 8ta internet 5 promotion is already 10Gb per month but in order to compare it to Cell-C’s packages I had to double the Cell-C 5Gb per month package (which not that sure one’s allowed to do?), Vodacom has a MyGig 10Gb package and MTN’s Uncapped Pro is actually capped at 10G as part of the it’s fair usage policy. So the break down looks as follows:

ISP Package Price (pm in ZAR) Cost per Mb Bundle Size (Gb)
8ta Internet Promo 5 R199.00 R0.02 10
Cell C 60Gb Data & Sim Card (x2) R499.83 R0.05 10
MTN Uncapped Pro R899.00 R0.09 10
Vodacom MyGig 10 R1 845.00 R0.18 10

http://www.dejong.za.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Cost.png

Obviously 8ta’s offering is also the most cost effective right now and I wonder for how much longer the others will be able to maintain their higher prices.
Click to expand...

http://www.dejong.za.net/
 
Check Windows updates and other software that update automatically. Like Adobe products, Firewall and many others.
 
cpu. said:
Check Windows updates and other software that update automatically. Like Adobe products, Firewall and many others.
Click to expand...

We turned all the updates off. What I did this morning was gave her our MD's 3G card and it shows her current session on the MD's 3G card is 3.6MB and it's climbing every second. Now I am not sure if it is supposed to be like this.

She and her partner worked through her whole laptop and they couldn't find any problem. The rest of ours are fine there is nothing wrong with ours.
 
Same thing used to happen with us while we were on Vodacon. Luckily we left them in the dust 15 months ago :)
 
I’m assuming that whilst testing the 8ta SIM that I was no doubt roaming on the MTN network.
Click to expand...
Incorrect assumption as 8ta data (3G) works off their own 8ta network and does NOT roam on any other network.
 
MickeyD said:
Incorrect assumption as 8ta data (3G) works off their own 8ta network and does NOT roam on any other network.
Click to expand...
Why does thread exist then?
I tried an 8ta SIM a few months ago and it would only register on MTN.
 
I need to know what will the best option be for my company in regards to 3G?

We really want to cancel with Vodacom but I am not sure which option we should take from the other service providers.

Please help me :)
 
MickeyD said:
No they are not.
Click to expand...
cell-1.jpg

Cost 0.00
 
MickeyD said:
Yes.

How can CellC @ R149 for 2Gb be cheaper than 8ta @ R199 for 10Gb?

/remember your post was about PRICE.
Click to expand...
Data promotion? I load airtime and get 700mb mahalla
Here is it R250 for 1GB
http://www.8ta.com/plans/prepaid-data/
R500 for 3.2GB
http://www.8ta.com/plans/postpaid-data/

Your package is
How much does it cost?
A: A once-off R200 fee is charged for the SIM and connection
Click to expand...
So its a extra R200 and only on the 8ta network.
Then they sell this
Capable of up to 21.6Mbps Downlink and up to 5.76 Uplink Speed
Tell me how do you get that on hspda?

And how are the coverage? Pretoria is not the whole of South Africa
.
 
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