So..I am not an active Mybroadband contributor, but I felt it the best place to have my say. I chose to do this because there is sadly not nearly enough negative press about MTN, and how they manage to keep their subscriber base is beyond me.
Roughly halfway through the year last year my contract with Vodacom expired. I had been with Vodacom for almost 20 years, but a few things made me reconsider MTN as an alternative provider. The primary reason was what google says, and in relation to vodacom there was very little negative press. Second reason was whenever I was in a remote location (and I do find myself in some remote locations) my vodacom would be struggling to get a signal, but the MTN users would be blazing away. Add this to some of the frustrations i was having with vodacom administration I decided to make the big move and switch providers. So I cancelled, and when I didnt even get a courtesy call from Vodacom thanking me for my 20 years of support I thought "good riddance!". (Retrospectively, maybe they don't because they know they will see us all back again 2 years time)....and so began my time as a MTN subscriber.
From day 1 the first thing I noticed was signal was not that great at the office, but after a bit of investigation it revealed that there was some restructure and I dismissed it briefly...but that just never improved, so I started physically monitoring signal strength using an app called "GSM Field test" which basically plots signal strength on a map and gives you visual representation and actual raw data to analyse. The results were mind blowing. Arguably where I live in the bustling metropolis of incompetence that is Pietermaritzburg is no major centre, but it is still a primary city in South Africa and in fact the capital of the province - so you would expect some quality control. This is not the case. I have never in my life (even back in the early days of cellular in the 90's) been forced to have to physically get up off my chair and step outside in order to be able to receive and make calls...but this is now a reality. This is also not a personal opinion of signal strength but a real fact and this is how my signal in my home environment actually looks:
Office desk: on average -95 to -100 dbm
Office optimal signal: on average -90 to -95 dbm
Home: -90 to -95 dbm
a guide for these is as follows:
-105 to -100 = Bad/drop call
-99 to -90 = Getting bad/signal may break up
-89 to -80 = OK/shouldn't have problems, but maybe
-79 to -65 = Good
Over -65 = Excellent
After looking at this is started recording my outside environment and since I travel regularly to durban I started with the durban office which ranges from -89 to -100 dbm. The N3 between pieterermaritzburg and durban has massive areas of over -105dbm (in lengths of over 10km) where making a call is impossible. This on one of the busiest sections of road in the country. As you as you progress outside of the main centre there are areas like the Karkloof and Balgowen in the midlands where there is NO SIGNAL at all - massive tracts of lands with zero connectivity - as is what I experienced on a trip up to Kosi Bay, where massive sections of the N2 (another busy highway) is just unserviced.
Cartographically - this is what it looks like
and in durban
I though this may be isolated to KZN...but alas I have the same issues in Johannessburg too. I was recently in Jhb for a training session and between the place I was staying in Blairgowrie (-90 or worse) and the training centre in Bryanston (-85 to -105 dependant on where you were) I was ready to tear my hair out.
I have not even started on the issues of data as I can be dead still and watch my indicator change from 4G to HSDPA to Edge in the matter of seconds!
The real kicker though is the frustration I am having with my phone. I have an LG G3 which has a known hardware failure where it just reboots itself (grrrr...and another thread entirely) but after much investigation it is apparently related to the carrier, and it seems related to either lack of connectivity or continuous switching (the internet jury is still out on this debate). So if you have a G3 are on MTN and you experience this problem..you know why
So my answer to all is if you are considering MTN - stay clear away from...they are not worth the effort or time for consideration. Vodacom, with all their administration frustrations and price increases still beat the socks of MTN
I would actually be interested to see other peoples outputs from GSM Field Test from other parts of the country...I bet the answer will be the same. My guess is that over time MTN has simply flattened out their big piece of dough and while they can try claim extensive coverage its either thin or full of holes.
Thanks for hearing me out
Roughly halfway through the year last year my contract with Vodacom expired. I had been with Vodacom for almost 20 years, but a few things made me reconsider MTN as an alternative provider. The primary reason was what google says, and in relation to vodacom there was very little negative press. Second reason was whenever I was in a remote location (and I do find myself in some remote locations) my vodacom would be struggling to get a signal, but the MTN users would be blazing away. Add this to some of the frustrations i was having with vodacom administration I decided to make the big move and switch providers. So I cancelled, and when I didnt even get a courtesy call from Vodacom thanking me for my 20 years of support I thought "good riddance!". (Retrospectively, maybe they don't because they know they will see us all back again 2 years time)....and so began my time as a MTN subscriber.
From day 1 the first thing I noticed was signal was not that great at the office, but after a bit of investigation it revealed that there was some restructure and I dismissed it briefly...but that just never improved, so I started physically monitoring signal strength using an app called "GSM Field test" which basically plots signal strength on a map and gives you visual representation and actual raw data to analyse. The results were mind blowing. Arguably where I live in the bustling metropolis of incompetence that is Pietermaritzburg is no major centre, but it is still a primary city in South Africa and in fact the capital of the province - so you would expect some quality control. This is not the case. I have never in my life (even back in the early days of cellular in the 90's) been forced to have to physically get up off my chair and step outside in order to be able to receive and make calls...but this is now a reality. This is also not a personal opinion of signal strength but a real fact and this is how my signal in my home environment actually looks:
Office desk: on average -95 to -100 dbm
Office optimal signal: on average -90 to -95 dbm
Home: -90 to -95 dbm
a guide for these is as follows:
-105 to -100 = Bad/drop call
-99 to -90 = Getting bad/signal may break up
-89 to -80 = OK/shouldn't have problems, but maybe
-79 to -65 = Good
Over -65 = Excellent
After looking at this is started recording my outside environment and since I travel regularly to durban I started with the durban office which ranges from -89 to -100 dbm. The N3 between pieterermaritzburg and durban has massive areas of over -105dbm (in lengths of over 10km) where making a call is impossible. This on one of the busiest sections of road in the country. As you as you progress outside of the main centre there are areas like the Karkloof and Balgowen in the midlands where there is NO SIGNAL at all - massive tracts of lands with zero connectivity - as is what I experienced on a trip up to Kosi Bay, where massive sections of the N2 (another busy highway) is just unserviced.
Cartographically - this is what it looks like
and in durban
I though this may be isolated to KZN...but alas I have the same issues in Johannessburg too. I was recently in Jhb for a training session and between the place I was staying in Blairgowrie (-90 or worse) and the training centre in Bryanston (-85 to -105 dependant on where you were) I was ready to tear my hair out.
I have not even started on the issues of data as I can be dead still and watch my indicator change from 4G to HSDPA to Edge in the matter of seconds!
The real kicker though is the frustration I am having with my phone. I have an LG G3 which has a known hardware failure where it just reboots itself (grrrr...and another thread entirely) but after much investigation it is apparently related to the carrier, and it seems related to either lack of connectivity or continuous switching (the internet jury is still out on this debate). So if you have a G3 are on MTN and you experience this problem..you know why
So my answer to all is if you are considering MTN - stay clear away from...they are not worth the effort or time for consideration. Vodacom, with all their administration frustrations and price increases still beat the socks of MTN
I would actually be interested to see other peoples outputs from GSM Field Test from other parts of the country...I bet the answer will be the same. My guess is that over time MTN has simply flattened out their big piece of dough and while they can try claim extensive coverage its either thin or full of holes.
Thanks for hearing me out
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