sms/email when reaching Bundle threshold

[Csnoopy]

I do get the SMS's when approaching the end of my bundle on contract. I also check Vodacom4me from time to time.

But because it's up to 3 hours old and not wanting to overspend, I've stopped short and forfeited a good couple of MB.

Vote for Rollover

 

[Csnoopy]

With Data contract, even if you manage it yourself you will never be able to stop at Zero/0. You will never be able match what Vodacom says or calculates your useage to be, no matter what tools you use. Under or over you will pay. If you snooze you loose. Customer or none VSP customer lets have those early warning sms's from Vodacom. Be the service provider you claim you are and provide a better service.

 

[rabbiddog]

With Data contract, even if you manage it yourself you will never be able to stop at Zero/0. You will never be able match what Vodacom says or calculates your useage to be, no matter what tools you use. Under or over you will pay. If you snooze you loose. Customer or none VSP customer lets have those early warning sms's from Vodacom. Be the service provider you claim you are and provide a better service.

Vodacom does send out SMS's? I get 2 every time I use up a data bundle (at 95% and 100%). If you are not getting them find out why.

 

[Csnoopy]

Vodacom does send out SMS's? I get 2 every time I use up a data bundle (at 95% and 100%). If you are not getting them find out why.

So I have been told. v3g is busy investigating for me.
Please read the whole post. There are other real points I am making.

 

[Somsteu]

Why can't vodacom send us an email on a daily basis setting out actual usage?? - like iburst does

 

[vodacom3g]

If only the early warning system had worked for us.

I see you did get the two notification SMS's in April when you went over:

12.04.2007 11:25:49 Vodacom Customer Care: You have so far used 95% of your monthly data bundle. PLEASE NOTE: This information can be up to 3 hours old, from last disconnect
13.04.2007 17:19:43 Vodacom: You have used your monthly data bundle,and can continue at the out of bundle rate. NOTE:This information can be up to 3 hours old, from last disconnect

You went over your bundle by R31.28 when the 100% SMS was delivered.

 

[Csnoopy]

I see you did get the two notification SMS's in April when you went over:

12.04.2007 11:25:49 Vodacom Customer Care: You have so far used 95% of your monthly data bundle. PLEASE NOTE: This information can be up to 3 hours old, from last disconnect
13.04.2007 17:19:43 Vodacom: You have used your monthly data bundle,and can continue at the out of bundle rate. NOTE:This information can be up to 3 hours old, from last disconnect

You went over your bundle by R31.28 when the 100% SMS was delivered.

At that stage I was pretty new with this lot and I was using VMC-Lite with no sms option. So I would guess that sms landed in file 13.
I am now using Huawei dashboard. Is there not a tool to retrieve old sms's from the sim ?.

I also do not have oob sms for May.

Thanks.

 

[vodacom3g]

At that stage I was pretty new with this lot and I was using VMC-Lite with no sms option. So I would guess that sms landed in file 13.
I am now using Huawei dashboard. Is there not a tool to retrieve old sms's from the sim ?.

I also do not have oob sms for May.

Thanks.

Did you go OOB in May? CAn't remember the details. Maybe mail me your 4me details again, and I'll check.

The dash should be able to read the SMS's from the SIM.

 

[Csnoopy]

Did you go OOB in May? CAn't remember the details. Maybe mail me your 4me details again, and I'll check.

The dash should be able to read the SMS's from the SIM.

Yes I did. That is why I have been such a nag etc.

Will do so.

 

[vodacom3g]

Yes I did. That is why I have been such a nag etc.

Will do so.

The 100% usage SMS for May was delivered on:

09.05.2007 12:07:15 Vodacom: You have used your monthly data bundle,and can continue at the out of bundle rate. NOTE:This information can be up to 3 hours old, from last disconnect

 

[ld13]

This is just a general Request/Idea that I would like to bounce off Vodacom. The other night I was emptying out my VM airtime by just browsing sites at random. Then suddenly this page got thrown at me, I got redirected to this page after I typed in youtube’s url and hit enter. I checked my balance and this page was correct. I realized I have officially reached a balance of R0.00. With this I was also allowed full access to cellc’s website and my account, at blasting speeds may I add. Then it hit me, this is better than some SMS that could arrive 3 hours late.

Seeing as Vodacom is currently busy with the system, implementing Data Bundle Rollover & Lower rates , What is the chance Vodacom could implement something like this, without the need of a rewrite/design of the whole system? Redirection page/ notice after hitting bundle end (going into OOB)/ Balance reaching R0/ etc. and free access to the vodacom4me website after reaching a balance of R0.00 with maybe a place where you can Load airtime ON the site without the need to remove your simcard. Or don’t let the Vodacom site be subject to your bundle/airtime “cap”.

This idea has a few pros:
Customers have 24/7 To Vodacom site that could display real-time status reports whether the Network is on/off-line, real-time balances, allow them to load airtime in multiple ways (maybe linked to your online banking), access to the Vodacom help site, all without the removal of your simcard out of your datacard/modem.
etc

And cons:
The idea of going into OOB is to allow that 300MB file to finish and not to bomb out at 99%. If this warning system would be implemented it would have to be a smart one. After reaching your bundle end, the very next website request should be redirected to the “warning page/popup” and not the current site/download connection. But there are smarter people out there that can figure out a way to let this thing work better without adversely affecting the customer’s Vodacom experience.

EDIT:
But I realize that having your airtime voucher loading system online is not one of the best Ideas ever due to the security risk. Maybe limit the loading to 2 tries, then you get blocked for 24hours to stop people writing bots to abuse the system.

Just my 2c

 

[ic]

The problem is that [searchforum]CDB[/searchforum] Data Usage only updates through Vodacom's systems after a disconnect from the customer's end, and the pre-paid Data Usage system uses fuzzy-logic to reserve credit against one's pre-paid balance or active [searchforum]PPDB[/searchforum], IOW what you're suggesting would only work if Vodacom had true realtime data usage monitoring.

 

[Csnoopy]

sms location on sim card

1) Do the sms's that are received by the sim card get delete from the sim once they are read by the dashboard software ?.
2) Is the location for sms's always in the same location on the card ?.

The reason for these questions are, I have 3 versions of dashboards & they all display a seperate batch of sms's.

 

[ld13]

The problem is that [searchforum]CDB[/searchforum] Data Usage only updates through Vodacom's systems after a disconnect from the customer's end, and the pre-paid Data Usage system uses fuzzy-logic to reserve credit against one's pre-paid balance or active [searchforum]PPDB[/searchforum], IOW what you're suggesting would only work if Vodacom had true realtime data usage monitoring.

That’s why I would redesign the whole system if I was Vodacom, and make the "System" more modular and Make it more easy to change.

Link in previous post Fixed:

Then suddenly this page got thrown at me,

 

[ld13]

1) Do the sms's that are received by the sim card get delete from the sim once they are read by the dashboard software ?.
2) Is the location for sms's always in the same location on the card ?.

The reason for these questions are, I have 3 versions of dashboards & they all display a seperate batch of sms's.

1) I'm using Huawei's Mobile connect, and it removes the SMS's from the after it has Received/Read them from the simcard.
2) Don't know.

 

[Csnoopy]

1) I'm using Huawei's Mobile connect, and it removes the SMS's from the after it has Received/Read them from the simcard.
2) Don't know.

I have done some more checks and tests and it is yes to both the original questions.

 

[Csnoopy]

Can Vodacom please implement a system whereby contract bundle users are informed at about 90% of bundle useage. Non VSP users get there oob invoice a MONTH LATER surprise surprise but PAY-UP. I dont believe there is a system in place. We have now over stepped 2 months in a row.

I have personally discovered and seen it that if you have signed up directly with Vodacom or VSP as they say then you get everything that I requested.
% warnings, 3 levels, selective cell number. You can notify or notify & lock. This can be setup via vodacom4me.

Then why can the other SP's not also make these features available via Vodacom. Who want's to go oob at any oob rate. As somebody else where said, I budgetted for Rxxx and that is what I want to pay. I dont think all Vodacom users are aware of this. So here the users can set there own limits. Well done Vodacom. Please make the full option available to all Vodacom/SP users.

 

[Csnoopy]

For Contract customers on Vodacom4me... wheres the submit button? I know its there for Prepaid, but i havent seen it for Contract customers. Have i miss looked it?

Understood about any method used that triggers the SMS.

About where the SMS goes to, why not add a option for the SMS to be sent to secondary number? For the sake of the people who "Apparently" dont get any SMS via their Dashboard.

There are still loads of VMC's without sms's option in the field. Is it not possible to send out a broadcast to all E220 user to indicate that there is a newer VMC-l downloadable from VC with sms options. I agree there should be a second cell number to send the sms too.

 

[ic]

@v3g, noted, just thought the need to highlight the latency issue - especially since the contract data usage monitoring also suffers from some serious latency issues.

Also, something that you posted the other day, that I found interesting, is that you guesstimated that there are currently more pre-paid data customers than there are contract data customers, I wonder why that might be...

There are still loads of VMC's without sms's option in the field. Is it not possible to send out a broadcast to all E220 user to indicate that there is a newer VMC-l downloadable from VC with sms options. I agree there should be a second cell number to send the sms too.

@Csnoopy, as you know, the initial version of VMC-Lite that was released with Vodafone branded Huawei E220 USB HSDPA modems, does not have any SMS functionality, so if Vodacom sends an SMS to people using that version of VMC-Lite, those people would never see the SMS, and while an alternative SMS notification MSIDN would be preferable, Vodacom still cannot notify those E220 customers via SMS of the availability of an alternate SMS notification MSISDN being available [in future] via www.vodacom4me.co.za.

It seems more logical for Vodacom to put a notification onto the invoices of contract customers that received an E220 with their contract, as well as announcement type messages on www.vodacom4me.co.za that a newer version of VMC-Lite is available that includes SMS support, as well as anything else that data customers [contract & pre-paid] need to know about.

As for non-VSP customers, well those 3rd-party service providers would need to do something similar to inform their data customers...

 

[Csnoopy]

Victim of not receiving sms's & NO feedback from ISP

@v3g, noted, just thought the need to highlight the latency issue - especially since the contract data usage monitoring also suffers from some serious latency issues.

Also, something that you posted the other day, that I found interesting, is that you guesstimated that there are currently more pre-paid data customers than there are contract data customers, I wonder why that might be...@Csnoopy, as you know, the initial version of VMC-Lite that was released with Vodafone branded Huawei E220 USB HSDPA modems, does not have any SMS functionality, so if Vodacom sends an SMS to people using that version of VMC-Lite, those people would never see the SMS, and while an alternative SMS notification MSIDN would be preferable, Vodacom still cannot notify those E220 customers via SMS of the availability of an alternate SMS notification MSISDN being available [in future] via www.vodacom4me.co.za.

It seems more logical for Vodacom to put a notification onto the invoices of contract customers that received an E220 with their contract, as well as announcement type messages on www.vodacom4me.co.za that a newer version of VMC-Lite is available that includes SMS support, as well as anything else that data customers [contract & pre-paid] need to know about.

As for non-VSP customers, well those 3rd-party service providers would need to do something similar to inform their data customers...

We are one of the fortunate victim's of not receiving the so called sms's. 5 Months later & still not resolved, via 3rd Party ISP. We are now being threatened with lawyers, & VC what are they doing in assisting those that are in this kind of situation, IMO nothing. Yet we stay with with them, just convert to Prepaid user. Why? are they the best of the bad bunch??

3rd party ISP's, they see the contract's/OOB as a form of making money. They just give it a deaf ear when they get questioned about not receiving the warning sms's. All they say is, not our problem and put the blame at the door of VODACOM. So where do we go now.

Which ever way the sms warning system needs to be resolved NOW!! But why should they put a priority to it? It is a loss of revenue to them VC/NVSP provider's. Example:- If they have 10,000 prepaid users that go OOB & they only take R1 from each users credit that is available! That is R10,000 profit with no extra effort. What a pleasure.

How many user know about vodacom4me???.


How many millions has VC & there partners made from this of sms's. ????

Sorry @ic and all. This a very sore point!!!