Prepaid data performance deterioriating?

C

caro_b

Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
I've had an MTN prepaid data bundle (E220 modem) for a couple of months and imo the network performance is getting worse and worse :mad:. Anyone else having the same experience? I posted to this thread http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=71702
but no response. It was clear from some of the posts there that I'm not alone.

Problems include:

Connecting during peak time is getting more difficult, with connection failures more frequent
If you do get in during peak time, speeds are poor
Peak time 'window' is getting bigger all the time - it's after 10 at night, I'm watching download speeds averaging a spectacular 25 kbps or thereabouts, and this is increasingly the norm, whereas the occasional burst of over 1Mbps I saw when I first started using this has vanished - the best I get these days is around 350kbps.
Most irritating is a frequent 1-way connection - click connect and in you go, except for the slight problem that you can send packets but not receive any. This would account for the symptoms of not being able to view websites that a couple of people described in the thread quoted.

So a poor experience in general, especially if, like me, you're trying to use this for work. Add to that the delight of having an entire month's data budget chowed because of going out-of-bundle with no sms warning or other indicator, and I'm singularly unimpressed with MTN so far. Are any of the others any better? Any idea whether an infrastructure upgrade is imminent?

C
 
caro_b said:
I've had an MTN prepaid data bundle (E220 modem) for a couple of months and imo the network performance is getting worse and worse :mad:. Anyone else having the same experience? I posted to this thread http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=71702
but no response. It was clear from some of the posts there that I'm not alone.

Problems include:

Connecting during peak time is getting more difficult, with connection failures more frequent
If you do get in during peak time, speeds are poor
Peak time 'window' is getting bigger all the time - it's after 10 at night, I'm watching download speeds averaging a spectacular 25 kbps or thereabouts, and this is increasingly the norm, whereas the occasional burst of over 1Mbps I saw when I first started using this has vanished - the best I get these days is around 350kbps.
Most irritating is a frequent 1-way connection - click connect and in you go, except for the slight problem that you can send packets but not receive any. This would account for the symptoms of not being able to view websites that a couple of people described in the thread quoted.

So a poor experience in general, especially if, like me, you're trying to use this for work. Add to that the delight of having an entire month's data budget chowed because of going out-of-bundle with no sms warning or other indicator, and I'm singularly unimpressed with MTN so far. Are any of the others any better? Any idea whether an infrastructure upgrade is imminent?

C
Click to expand...

What's your signal strength like?
 
I'm close to Cape Town. There is no relationship to signal strength - it can misbehave with 4 or 5 bars HSDPA or work perfectly with 1 or 2 bars 3G. Don't know about area, but from the posts on the thread I quoted I'm not the only person experiencing this. There are a few people saying they "can't surf" - connect ok but then the sites they browse to won't load. I suspect this is one way network packets, which I see quite frequently.

Thanks for the replies,

C
 
I allways wondered if mtn contract customers are on a different server. Cause the speed I get on my pay as you go sim is much slower than when I slide in my contract sim.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X