I have long been of the opinion that Service Providers deliberately do not improve their network quality, because they will make less money if they do.
It really doesn't matter which service provider you use, the network quality is generally poor all round. I have become a network prostitute by acquiring a VKom modem, which is not network locked, and using the cheapest available pre-paid provider. This way money wasted on page reloads is reduced. I have switched my internet connection a year ago from Vodacom to 8ta after 4 1/2 of a sickening battle with Vodacom's pathetic network quality in the Randburg area. I use about 3Gb of data per month, which costs me R149.00 with 8ta, where it used to cost me just short of R400 with Vodacom. The 8ta network quality in general is slightly better than Vodacom, but you really don't have to be good at all to be better than Vodacom. As anyone can see, the price difference is substantial, thus every wasted reloaded page cost me a lot less. Vodacom has come down with their prices, but they will have to halve 8ta's prices before I will even consider using them again.
My Vodacom cellphone connection is a case in point. I have just recently switch over to their 4More package, or whatever they call it. (I really can't be bothered with this company!). The point is, they offer a pre-paid rate to another Vodacom number at R3.60 per hour.... unbeatable, right? Well, I have not yet been able to make use of that benefit, simply because of their poor network quality. So far, my longest call since I have switched over, (about 16 minutes) has cost me R10.80, because of dropped calls. I had to redial TWICE after the initial call to finish the conversation. Now, here is the maths: Let us assume that this happens just ONCE a day to just 5% of their reported 30,000,000 customers... this means that 1,500,000 people will experience a dropped call, and have to call again to either carry on with the conversation, or finish it off. The MINIMUM that Vodacom earns for that day JUST BECAUSE OF POOR NETWORK QUALITY, is R1,800,000, and that is assuming that every one of that 1.5 million people all spoke no longer than a minute on the re-dial.
Does my opinion make sense now? I would like to know what other users feel about this.
It really doesn't matter which service provider you use, the network quality is generally poor all round. I have become a network prostitute by acquiring a VKom modem, which is not network locked, and using the cheapest available pre-paid provider. This way money wasted on page reloads is reduced. I have switched my internet connection a year ago from Vodacom to 8ta after 4 1/2 of a sickening battle with Vodacom's pathetic network quality in the Randburg area. I use about 3Gb of data per month, which costs me R149.00 with 8ta, where it used to cost me just short of R400 with Vodacom. The 8ta network quality in general is slightly better than Vodacom, but you really don't have to be good at all to be better than Vodacom. As anyone can see, the price difference is substantial, thus every wasted reloaded page cost me a lot less. Vodacom has come down with their prices, but they will have to halve 8ta's prices before I will even consider using them again.
My Vodacom cellphone connection is a case in point. I have just recently switch over to their 4More package, or whatever they call it. (I really can't be bothered with this company!). The point is, they offer a pre-paid rate to another Vodacom number at R3.60 per hour.... unbeatable, right? Well, I have not yet been able to make use of that benefit, simply because of their poor network quality. So far, my longest call since I have switched over, (about 16 minutes) has cost me R10.80, because of dropped calls. I had to redial TWICE after the initial call to finish the conversation. Now, here is the maths: Let us assume that this happens just ONCE a day to just 5% of their reported 30,000,000 customers... this means that 1,500,000 people will experience a dropped call, and have to call again to either carry on with the conversation, or finish it off. The MINIMUM that Vodacom earns for that day JUST BECAUSE OF POOR NETWORK QUALITY, is R1,800,000, and that is assuming that every one of that 1.5 million people all spoke no longer than a minute on the re-dial.
Does my opinion make sense now? I would like to know what other users feel about this.
