MTN uncapped data – what it really means

Such action includes suspension or deactivation of a customer’s MTN 1 Day bundle, where usage is deemed fraudulent and/or in contravention of the law.
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So this means they monitor how and where you use the data? Is this not illegal?
 
I dont understand this whole "have to activate after buying it" thing for a data bundle. Just activate it automatically once the client bought it. Why this extra step?
 
That was a sneaky way for MTN to generate some extra cash. Make sure that bundles do not activate automatically when you buy them. Don't bundles normally activate automatically?
 
I absolutely know for sure that I have been ripped off on this 24hr package not once, but multiple times and on multiple fronts.

The first time was when I was billed in parallel (ie paid per Mb even with 24h active). I then purchased a prepaid sim and ensured there was minimal balance for them to steal.

One time I was activated and then later de-activated by MTN so I lost the service (call centre told me I had de-activated, which is clearly ridiculous - basically fraudulent).

The one time it failed to activate in the evening (when I needed to work) and I stayed awake until midnight trying to get it going. It then activated at 3am when I was sleeping, which is ridiculous as well.

Almost every time (if not every time) I get an SMS within 5 minutes saying I have used up my 150 MB. This is also ridiculous. I check the data usage log on my phone and it says I have used 3-5Mb during that time, which is too big a discrepancy to be explained away by anything but fraud by MTN.

I have also run the ongoing graph during the so-called 128 throttle and it was absolutely clear that it was actually being throttled at 64kbps. When I called to challenge it the agent was condescending to say the least
 
Solitude said:
That was a sneaky way for MTN to generate some extra cash. Make sure that bundles do not activate automatically when you buy them. Don't bundles normally activate automatically?
Click to expand...

They do send an SMS to confirm the bundle and tell you how to activate. The problem is that system is broken and they score from the failure - it either activates too late (when you no longer need the bundle) or de-activates itself (and you lose it) or activates without confirmation (and you don't realise you can start using it). Every failed scenario is a score for them. Customer never wins.
 
All CSP's should be heavily fined as this practise deliberately fleeces clients of their hard earned money. They should warn customers continuously that their bundle must be activated. If there is any delay in activation, then the CSP cannot charge the customer.
We need to get refunds when CSPs deliver EDRs late or if they are down.
Where is ICASA and Consumner Protector? They should be pro-active.
 
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they need to make their money to pay their fines somehow. and giving it to customers "uppa da bum" is the only way they can do it.
 
The theoretical maximum that one can consume based on their product rules is 1.53GB per day. Converted monthly, this equates to R930 per month for 47.5GB of rate limited data at 128kbps + 150MB daily. Total cost per GB is R19,60 if you manage 100% utilisation all day, every day. Equates to far more per GB if it is not used permanently.

At MTN's current rate per GB of R100/GB or thereabouts, if you consume 1/5th of the allowable data throughput on this uncapped offer, your effective cost/GB works out to be identical to a normal per GB capped data add-on on prepaid, except you're subjected to rate limiting of 128kbps whereas the same does not apply had you simply purchased normal data.

The only benefit here is that your outlay is just R30 whereas normal data only reaps marginal rewards in the bigger spending tiers.

Having been subjected to MTN's mobile data network of late and having spent quite a considerable amount of money on data, I have discovered that it is all but useless as one cannot consume the big data at 20KB/s or by having every second page return a connection error. I've also discovered that one might as well switch the device off from around 5pm until 11pm when it becomes impossible to get any form of data throughput on the device other than Whatsapp and Skype which indicates that they've adopted layer 7 traffic management (which I believe was refuted last I can recall). Now this would sit in the DC further indicating a problem not with spectrum allocation or the towers being full, but rather that the actual backbone network is congesting and there is insufficient capacity to handle the traffic.

This would make sense considering their recent upgrade from ATM to fibre which resulted in mass downtime when it took place, however the symptoms persists and a tracert shows the issues (in Gallo Manor of all places) are as evident as ever before, with just about every single hop timing out or experiencing major latency issues after leaving the router.

This is what they are charging R100/GB for:

0RUqHjE.png


Asymmetric as ever:

Last Result:
Download Speed: 16487 kbps (2060.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 5988 kbps (748.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 29 ms
Jitter: 4 ms
2/24/2016, 10:40:27 AM

But actual tcp throughput that doesn't exceed 10Mbps down or 1Mbps up on a supposed "4G" connection.

It's difficult to find anything decent to say about MTN's data offerings having attempted to use it for work purposes while moving offices and waiting on our DFA link to go live. If a DSL ISP like ourselves allowed our network to turn into this congested nightmare we'd be hauled over the coals. And they have the audacity to have a dig at OTT players like Whatsapp because they claim their licensing subjects them to network quality metrics? One has to have some pretty low standards to feel brazen enough to publicize such an argument while offering this sort of network "quality"...
 
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Chris.Geerdts said:
I absolutely know for sure that I have been ripped off on this 24hr package not once, but multiple times and on multiple fronts.

The first time was when I was billed in parallel (ie paid per Mb even with 24h active). I then purchased a prepaid sim and ensured there was minimal balance for them to steal.

One time I was activated and then later de-activated by MTN so I lost the service (call centre told me I had de-activated, which is clearly ridiculous - basically fraudulent).

The one time it failed to activate in the evening (when I needed to work) and I stayed awake until midnight trying to get it going. It then activated at 3am when I was sleeping, which is ridiculous as well.

Almost every time (if not every time) I get an SMS within 5 minutes saying I have used up my 150 MB. This is also ridiculous. I check the data usage log on my phone and it says I have used 3-5Mb during that time, which is too big a discrepancy to be explained away by anything but fraud by MTN.

I have also run the ongoing graph during the so-called 128 throttle and it was absolutely clear that it was actually being throttled at 64kbps. When I called to challenge it the agent was condescending to say the least
Click to expand...
There is a saying for this. If you don't want to listen (or learn), you must feel. ;)
 
My problem is you can't do **** with 128kbps almost 99% of pages will time out.. emails will fail to download .
 
Nice sneaky way to throw the customer under the bus and assist them in paying their fines after their f*** ups...
 
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