R13 000 bill for Windows update

goodwill lol...
Maybe to curb the bad publicity this will have... it needs to be on national news - people need to know, not just the Mybroadband geeks.
 
This is why I prefer using Vodacom prepaid for my mobile broadband. I had few nasty surprises like this the past on my MTN contract.
 
I hate to laugh at others' misfortune, but I do find this darkly comical somehow. :)

In all fairness, whoever installed Windows on that computer should have known better - they shouldn't have enabled automatic updates. They're just a pain.
 
rpm said:
Well done Vodacom for at least easing the pain somewhat (the user can be happy he is not with some other providers :D). If MS is indeed to blame they should really do the noble thing and cover the cost…
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I would think Vodacom are partly to for the large amount of data being downloaded. If the internet connection was stable it would not have had to have being downloaded so many times :D hehe
 
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Uh general Koffi - that was likely the tech at the PC shop who couldn't care less for the client's woes. That PC was forgotten about none too soon for the dealer - they can't give you a popup toaster with support for the price of an ordinary PC these days... I think it's a shame.
 
general_koffi said:
I hate to laugh at others' misfortune, but I do find this darkly comical somehow. :)

In all fairness, whoever installed Windows on that computer should have known better - they shouldn't have enabled automatic updates. They're just a pain.
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That would be me. *I* installed Windows and *I* enabled automatic updates when I went from dialup to 3G. And I am a geek too. I figured: 2gig of data, couple of meg for update - risk = very low. Knowing how many backdoors are in Windows, I wanted to get updates ASAP, because most of them are about vulnerabilities in the OS or in IE (which I no longer use), and the risks are much higher when you are permanently connected to the internet (broadband=always on)

Of course, hindsight is 20/20 vision.......

The connection has always been very stable - I firmly believe that the file was corrupt or only half there.......
 
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they shouldn't have enabled automatic updates. They're just a pain.
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I don't agree with this - machines need to be patched full stop. When a worm comes out that flattens the network making using of a unpatched exploit we all moan at MS!
 
Jonny Two Shoes said:
Here is my problem with this. IMO extraordinarily high usage would be say R2000 max. This story begs the question, how can Vodacom warrant charges that are so high one can be charged R13000 for service in a month? Imagine what a standard user (and I'm talking about proper users..not the 10meg e-mail and browser types only) would be charged on a regular basis for a service that could so easily rack up R13000.
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I agree here. This is the real mind boggle. Surely if you pay for a service, say R350 p/month , how on earth can Vodacom [or anyone else] figure you'd -WANT- or -SHOULD- run up a bill 40 TIMES the actual service amount ?

Nevermind that, I'm sure all kinds of CREDIT LAWS are being bypassed/broken/abused here. A cellphone contract is STILL a -credit agreement- , falling under same rules as a credit card. Running up 13K debt in one month on a R350 p/m "credit card" , i'd figure some sort of credit approval process is suppose to apply here....so much for the freaking NCR.

I don't even think i can do a R13k transaction on my CC [which have a higher limit than that] without red flags shooting up all over the show. Firstly, my daily limit on my account [this is REGARDLESS of my hard limit] can block the transaction.... secondly i'll receive an -immediate- SMS [even if i'm faaar away from my limit] , and thirdly they'll probably phone about suspicious activity on my account.....

...lets see cellphones companies do that.
 
First thing I do is disable Auto Update on a new installation of Windows.
At R70 a Gb for ADSL Prepaid one has to watch your data usage.

Before MS stopped XP Autopatcher it was a great method of updating a Windows Installation.
 
gregmcc said:
I don't agree with this - machines need to be patched full stop. When a worm comes out that flattens the network making using of a unpatched exploit we all moan at MS!
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I never update Windows unless I monitor it and then I only select the updates are a relevant and not the MS version of "urgent update" where they roll out a DRM patch or then brilliant phone home "Geniune Advantage" patch. I use a firewall (Sunbelt Kerio) and AVG Antivirus and have never had a virus on my system.

In fact, the biggest problem I saw that was caused by a virus was when the domain controllers got infected with a virus at my last employer and it took everyone over an hour to log on. They had a corporate antivirus, had windows updates enabled for all users and banned personal firewalls.

A good firewall goes a long way to stopping most virus threats out there.
 
Wow this is scary. On the sunny day that we have uncapped connections as standard, we all have to be vigilant on what our connections are downloading.

Sobering thought :)
 
w1z4rd said:
I would think Vodacom are partly to for the large amount of data being downloaded. If the internet connection was stable it would not have had to have being downloaded so many times :D
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Wiz, while disconnects can drive you up the wall if you don't use a download manager, I don't think it was the case here. In this case it seems to have been a download that did not complete and then restarted at the next download check.

I actually sat and watched in on my Vista system. It would download SP1 up to about 87%, got stuck and then would try again. (I tried to copy and paste my update log but Windows won't allow it, go figure :rolleyes:), but I had 6 failures on SP1 before I downloaded it and installed it manually. This was on a LAN, by the way.
 
diabolus said:
I don't even think i can do a R13k transaction on my CC [which have a higher limit than that] without red flags shooting up all over the show. Firstly, my daily limit on my account [this is REGARDLESS of my hard limit] can block the transaction.... secondly i'll receive an -immediate- SMS [even if i'm faaar away from my limit] , and thirdly they'll probably phone about suspicious activity on my account.....

...lets see cellphones companies do that.
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Let's see credit card companies send you an sms BEFORE you've reached your limit. ;)

You forget that you get 3 SMS's to warn you of your usage, so even if you download at a rate of knots, the first two should warn you and the 3rd means you'd better stop.
 
Bradbowlllama said:
I agree with points 2 and 3, but one is not common sense - most folk don't know that... it's mostly the geeks who differ. Also, turning off updates is not safe unless you manually update which alot of people don't.
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There is the option "Notify me ... but do not download". Anybody who allows automatic updates needs his head examined. One just doesn't allow just anybody to poke around in one's computer at any time without you knowing that something is done. This includes M$.
 
Hmmm... MTN doesn't send any warning... at least I've never received any...
 
vodacom3g said:
Let's see credit card companies send you an sms BEFORE you've reached your limit. ;)

You forget that you get 3 SMS's to warn you of your usage, so even if you download at a rate of knots, the first two should warn you and the 3rd means you'd better stop.
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Never received any sms - checked the sim when i stuck it in my phone - plenty from six months ago - none at the time of this incident....:(

Not that I would have seen them anyway - the card is in a linux gateway server in my basement - I am not using the vodafone dashboard anyway ....
 
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Vodacom3G said:
Let's see credit card companies send you an sms BEFORE you've reached your limit.
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But they do. And here's the kicker, i can even set this up myself. Instead of a "limit check" it's a "transaction check" . In data usage terms, this would translate to being able to set up "everytime i download 100MB, send me a warning" ...or to be more technical "the moment i close a session, if that session is more than 100MB send me an SMS" . Obviously this is still "after" the fact, but then i'll know something just happened instantly [i.e. 500MB downloading when i didn't even do anything] .

Ideally the "system" should be able to determine all above without having to close the session, i.e. if my current session reach 100MB , send me an SMS. Simple. [the 100MB being a valuethe user set up] . The bank make me pay for all these stuff, i wouldn't expect this to be free from cellphone companies either , but it should be there.

EDIT: Of course all this is really moot. What should happen is, if i buy a 2GB bundle, be it contract or not, if it depletes..DISCONNECT ME. Force me to take action [buy more bundles]. This whole out of bundle thing is the real problem. This is why you don't hear horror stories of this from Telkom/any other ADSL bandwidth tech..why? because they cut you off until you make further provision.
 
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