New 3G / HSDPA Tariffs

[eagle-slayor]

what do u guys recommend?shud i stick with HSDPA?

 

[Kneebough]

I personally am quite impressed with the speed and have gotten used to paying the higher (current) rates so I will be sticking with HSDPA. If no price reduction came about, so many issues wouldn't have been brought to light and everyone who swapped out their 3G cards would continue using HSDPA.

 

[Prometheus]

PS. Brownie points to whomever can explain where that saying originated.....

Consensus has it here. I take it you mean Bob's your uncle. Also explains that nepotism arrives from the Italian word for nephew. I'll take my brownie points in the form of free data thank you.

 

[WRX1KNP]

I'm going to say "imminent' just to get ic going....

The systems that will give us billable pre-paid (the original problem) is due in July.

Looking forward to future rumours and announcements

I will gladly spend R600 on a prepaid data bundle but DON'T want to be tied to a contract. And we should be paying waaaay less than R2/Meg!

- R

 

[wizard]

See this is what I mean,

In Eco park, Centurion, 2 Bars - HSDPA

Download time: 20.149 seconds
Size of file: 500 KiloBytes
Estimated line speed: 202.5 (kilobits/second)
Estimated line speed: 24.8 (kiloBytes/second)

This really DO not justify the increased tariff over 3G ??

 

[Prometheus]

I will gladly spend R600 on a prepaid data bundle but DON'T want to be tied to a contract. And we should be paying waaaay less than R2/Meg!

The old tariffs are R599/GB, the new tariffs are R479 for 3G. But MTN will probably beat it again just like the last time.

 

[Prometheus]

See this is what I mean,

In Eco park, Centurion, 2 Bars - HSDPA

Download time: 20.149 seconds
Size of file: 500 KiloBytes
Estimated line speed: 202.5 (kilobits/second)
Estimated line speed: 24.8 (kiloBytes/second)

This really DO not justify the increased tariff over 3G ??

Vodacom should publish that with the tariffs. My 3G is nearly two times faster @ 48KB/s. LOL
Wizard: Can you do a 3G test from the same location for comparison?

 

[wizard]

This are from Telkom site ?, just a rerun

Download time: 38.615 seconds
Size of file: 500 KiloBytes
Estimated line speed: 105.7 (kilobits/second)
Estimated line speed: 12.9 (kiloBytes/second)

This just getting better and better

 

[jarr]

so, edge will cost you more than 3g? very clever, as i would assume there to be lots more edge/gprs cell phones out there atm than 3g ones, which will keep them from benefitting from these new rates.

also, do the new hsdpa cards not support gprs and 3g as well? if not, fine, but if they do (like eagle-slayor's situation), then why on earth would you need to get another card in order to get the lower tariffs? can't you just choose the package you want, which will limit you irrespective of your hardware's capabilities?

 

[vodacom3g]

Consensus has it here. I take it you mean Bob's your uncle. Also explains that nepotism arrives from the Italian word for nephew. I'll take my brownie points in the form of free data thank you.

Sorry, only work in free beers (and less 50% for googling for an answer!)

Where are you based? Need to buy you that beer.

 

[Prometheus]

so, edge will cost you more than 3g? very clever, as i would assume there to be lots more edge/gprs cell phones out there atm than 3g ones, which will keep them from benefitting from these new rates.

Very clever indeed as most phones don't have an option to choose between GPRS and EDGE. Only options for GSM (GPRS and EDGE) and dual (GSM and UMTS). But if you choose the GPRS and 3G rates you get throttled on the maximum 3G speed (384kbps) I presume. So if you switch to EDGE which is two hundred and something you can probably still use it for the same rate. Seems I discovered ANOTHER quirk in Vodacoms network. Then I guess it's really a mute issue as most EDGE capable phones/cards are 3G capable nowadays. So if they don't allow you EDGE then you can still get 3G. Vodacom might as well not have implemented EDGE if they want to charge more for it than for 3G.

Sorry, only work in free beers (and less 50% for googling for an answer!)

Where are you based? Need to buy you that beer.

Don't use Google. Was actually the first link in Yahoo and it seems with Google as well. Don't drink either , but the quirks in the network is enough really.

 

[HiltM]

Used 3g data cards

V3g
I see you are putting the used 3g datacards back in circulation for the guys who want to swap back to 3g only for costs. Are you going to make those cards available for staight purchase?

 

[ettubrute]

All of Vodacom's 3G towers|base-stations were upgraded to HSDPA, so if you get vanilla-3G from any particular Vodacom tower, then that tower also supports HSDPA.

I think the question you want to be asking, is what happens if you have an HSDPA data card, and you only get GPRS at a higher price...

No... what Prometheus is asking is, if you have the HSDPA card, but the reception at the point where you use it it so bad that it actually the equivalent of vanilla-3G, what are you going to pay then? Surely Vodacom must know the difference?

 

[Harley79]

I for one agree, when , on this site, it was announced about the upgrade to HSDPA, it didnt say that if you dont upgrade, and stay on 3G, you going to get a cheaper subscription. If both options were put on the table at the same time, I think 1.) you would not have had a HUGE flood of people upgrading, and 2.) it would have been more transparent. Both announcements should have been made simulatenously, cause now it looks like Vodacom screwed you over.

Yes yes, I know you can take your HSDPA card back and get a old 3G card, but that means how much time??? and hassle trying to explain to the dealers that this is allowed, cause we all know that everyone studies the dealer letters sent out.

Also, considering I am now paying an inflated tariff for HSDPA (yes yes, I know it is the old 3G pricing and 3G is now less, but I am paying a premium for HSDPA).... that would mean that Vodacom has to give me a guarantee that I will be getting HSDPA speeds. As another forumity said, I could well be getting the same speeds as a 3G user sitting next to me on the same desk, except he is paying less.

Then, I think most people on the forum can understand all this rubbish, but what about the pleb out in the smallest town somewhere, who has bought a HSDPA contract and only connecting on 3G or worse, GPRS cause thats all his area offers, but he is none the wiser. Vodacom is suckering people like him, who already have a HSDPA contract, which, lets be honest, is proberly most of the subscriber base.

A big selling point in moving over to a HSDPA card when it was announced, is that it would cost you nothing and you would not be paying any more than you paying for your 3G contract, it did not say, but your 3G contract willl go down if you dont migrate.

I dont think Vodacom thought this one through very well. Or maybe they did, and knew the result would mean even more profit on the 8.9 billion made last year

 

[Harley79]

This is taken with 3 lights flashing (HSDPA) in the Cape Town CBD, surely it should be better

Speed Test
Your download speed is: 38.77 KBps, or 310.17 Kbps
The test took 53.958 seconds to complete

 

[wizard]

In centurion

Download time: 14.02 seconds
Size of file: 500 KiloBytes
Estimated line speed: 291 (kilobits/second)
Estimated line speed: 35.7 (kiloBytes/second)

HSDPA, 3 Light flushing, excellent reception and that are not even vanilla-3G ?

This will be a problem for Vodacom, as subscribers pay for a premium rate service and get below average return.

 

[ettubrute]

Same result here:

* Download time: 14.047 seconds
* Size of file: 500 KiloBytes
* Estimated line speed: 290.5 (kilobits/second)
* Estimated line speed: 35.6 (kiloBytes/second)

 

[Harley79]

I know that no ISP would do this, but I would be VERY interested to see the loads on Vodacoms links, externally to the rest of the world, as well as internally across its network. I doubt very much it has the capacity it needs at the moment

<addition> and I think that is to some degree why HSDPA speeds FAR off the advertised speeds. I realise it has to do with being further away from base station and perfect conditions etc etc etc etc but the links DEFINATELLY are playing a part of this.

 

[ettubrute]

Inside/outside doesn't matter. Seems the card swaps between 3 towers that are close by, and this obviously stuffs up the continuous signal! This morning at 4 o'clock I had decent speeds for about five minutes, but apart from that, the disconnects are damn frequent and the speeds hardly get over what I tested just now...

 

[vodacom3g]

V3g
I see you are putting the used 3g datacards back in circulation for the guys who want to swap back to 3g only for costs. Are you going to make those cards available for staight purchase?

Yes, have not seen the pricing but should be quite sharp.