Night Surfer Data

[shaunoza]

I first posted this in the new Telkom community, but think it will be more visible here:

I've just given in and got an LTE month to month contract for my new place, because Telkom are unable to provide DSL or Fibre (even though the distrubution box is at the bottom of the frikkin road, but that's a whole different angry rant story!).

I went with a 30Gb package, as the marketing mentions extra "Night Surfer" data between midnight and 7am. But when I was picking up the hardware at the store this afternoon, the sales rep mentioned in passing that I need to reboot the modem at midnight to activate this every day!? Can someone please explain this to me? How in the world is this really an actual thing? Like how is this technically even possible? And if it is a legitimate thing that can be logically explained, can someone point me to where this is documented by Telkom T&Cs? A quick google didn't reveal much, only this post where most people seem to think it's BS.

Any help is much appreciated!

 

[Dark Agent]

I first posted this in the new Telkom community, but think it will be more visible here:

I've just given in and got an LTE month to month contract for my new place, because Telkom are unable to provide DSL or Fibre (even though the distrubution box is at the bottom of the frikkin road, but that's a whole different angry rant story!).

I went with a 30Gb package, as the marketing mentions extra "Night Surfer" data between midnight and 7am. But when I was picking up the hardware at the store this afternoon, the sales rep mentioned in passing that I need to reboot the modem at midnight to activate this every day!? Can someone please explain this to me? How in the world is this really an actual thing? Like how is this technically even possible? And if it is a legitimate thing that can be logically explained, can someone point me to where this is documented by Telkom T&Cs? A quick google didn't reveal much, only this post where most people seem to think it's BS.

Any help is much appreciated!

Sometimes it works without rebooting but mostly NO.

ADSL night surf also works the same way. I know its BS but its telkom.

Lot people also complain:A thread to read.
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/674468-Telkom-Night-Surfer-Soft-Cap

I am currently also using LTE and disconnect 11:50pm and reconnect 12:05am. I sleep away before 10 so this is what I do:

Task runs 11:50pm:
Rasdial "Telkom_Mobile" /disconnect

Task runs 12:05am:
Rasdial "Telkom_Mobile"

Task runs 6:50am:
Rasdial "Telkom_Mobile" /disconnect

 

[cr@zydude]

I'm not sure about LTE, but my 3g modem switches to night surfer on its own.

 

[shaunoza]

Thanks for the input guys. So is there no official documentation explaining why this is (or isn't?) a thing, and the T&Cs for it?

I tried for the first time last night to let something download between 00:10 and 06:50, and it seems to have come off my "night surfer" data. But I'm still worried that at some point it just decides to use my normal data, and I get shafted.

 

[Telkom]

Thanks for the input guys. So is there no official documentation explaining why this is (or isn't?) a thing, and the T&Cs for it?

I tried for the first time last night to let something download between 00:10 and 06:50, and it seems to have come off my "night surfer" data. But I'm still worried that at some point it just decides to use my normal data, and I get shafted.

Hi shaunoza

Thank you for your post.

What we can advise you is that to have the connection charge from night surfer after 00:00 please do disconnect & reconnect again.
The reason is that when your internet connection was started before 00:00 it charges from day surfer data such that should that internet session continue to after 00:00 the connection will overlap the day surfer data to continue using it after midnight.

Therefore to avoid this please do disconnect & reconnect to use from the night surfer at 00:00.

Kind regards
William
Telkom Social Media Team

 

[shaunoza]

Hi William

Thanks for taking the time to reply. But I am not sure I understand technically *why* this needs to happen. How do your systems track the usage? Surely the usage is just tracked over a time period, so why would a reboot be required?
If that isn't the case, how does rebooting actually change anything your side? What exactly are you actually tracking and how, and how does a reboot affect this?

Further, how come some people claim they do not need to reboot, and their data is allocated correctly? I have had that exact experience yesterday evening, where I did NOT reboot anything, but the data seems to have been allocated correctly to the night surfer bundle?

Thanks again

 

[Bundu]

my data has always been allocated correctly, whether I've got a 3G or LTE connection, so I'm happy
..... also, I just want to say thanks for the Telkom reps on MyBB, seeing they respond quickly and mostly very efficiently to posts or PMs


..... not like those MTN pathetics, that simply ignore you totally, but their arrogance will bite them.... as we speak

 

[RazedInBlack]

I'm on LTE and I certainly DO NOT reboot my router at midnight. Never needed to. The bandwidth allocation works flawlessly nonetheless. When I had my 3G 10GB+10GB it worked the same way as well without any issues.

 

[MickeyD]

Hi shaunoza

Thank you for your post.

What we can advise you is that to have the connection charge from night surfer after 00:00 please do disconnect & reconnect again.
The reason is that when your internet connection was started before 00:00 it charges from day surfer data such that should that internet session continue to after 00:00 the connection will overlap the day surfer data to continue using it after midnight.

Therefore to avoid this please do disconnect & reconnect to use from the night surfer at 00:00.

Kind regards
William
Telkom Social Media Team

Hello William

What WE advise is that you discuss this with your superiors and get the correct information, as your reply sucks.

Kind regards
McD

 

[Slootvreter]

I'm not sure about LTE, but my 3g modem switches to night surfer on its own.

Same here. Never need to reboot the modem.

 

[sajunky]

When using 2+1GB prepaid bundle I also never needed to switch device off. It was switching automatically. However when using contract billing system, I would follow Telkom advise and restart router at midnight.

 

[shaunoza]

So anecdotally, I do(n't) need to reboot :wtf:

Is there anyone who has any technical insight into how this is supposed to work from Telkom's perspective. How does restarting the modem actual achieve anything? What is it actually doing their side?
Is there any place in the T&Cs that mentions anything?

 

[SeRpEnT]

To reboot or not to reboot. 40GB ADSL Capped.
I have been a customer for 3 years now. Never had to reboot. Night surfer just worked. Now recently it ceased to work and all d/l after 00h00 eats at my cap. Wtf now.
Will have this same problem with other the Night surfer equivalent from other ISPs? I am strongly considering dropping Telkom ADSL for another provider but keeping them for my line.

 

[Yuu]

Something odd there, using our 100GB and i sometimes stream after 00:00 and no reboots with correct data going off in the customer portal.. It also matches more or less my usage monitor on the Unifi device / PC with Networx.

Not sure correct approach to go and get your issue escalated but gather as much data as you can and send it through to the Facebook agents. Keep records of all communications. .

Some data that can help.

Usage monitor - if only on the desktop/laptop - check that and the usage tracker.
Usage tracker - Note your data usage as per the new portal [graphs etc].
Sessions - does getting a new ip yield the same effect? Sessions and IP is all logged on the portal .

If all else fails, ask for new login details to test.

Hopefully someone else can suggest something too. It sucks you gotta do all this but sometimes unexpected things can happen :wtf:

 

[Mokautu]

Why is my monthly 30Gb night surfer being used instead of the 500GB data that I bought last month?