Some teaching would be great/ and a question on speed

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savage0501

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So I have now been to 4 different vodashops/the like to get some info on the hsdpa. And all that I have been able to come up with is that the mymeg 500 package costs R249 a month!!!

I think I am going to go mad if I have to get another person saying eish I don't know. Can we please actually train people to answer customers questions? All they seem to know is that the 500mg package costs R249. I don't give a flip about the 500mg package. I want a 2gig, and yes I know how much it costs!

Its a simple question of how do I know that I will get my download speeds in my flat? R249. I know that but with iBurst it says I should get 1mb/sec and I'm lucky if I can connect at 100 kb/s. It would be easier to pay for a 56k modem.

Can someone answer my simple question with out R249 please.

I stay about 4 blocks away from Cresta shopping center and in essence I am covered but iBurst says that as well.

Please just a simple way of how can I know that I will get decent/quick download speeds where I stay, because it might be easier to get ripped off by telkom and get a fixed line.
 
savage0501 said:
So I have now been to 4 different vodashops/the like to get some info on the hsdpa. And all that I have been able to come up with is that the mymeg 500 package costs R249 a month!!!

I think I am going to go mad if I have to get another person saying eish I don't know. Can we please actually train people to answer customers questions? All they seem to know is that the 500mg package costs R249. I don't give a flip about the 500mg package. I want a 2gig, and yes I know how much it costs!

Its a simple question of how do I know that I will get my download speeds in my flat? R249. I know that but with iBurst it says I should get 1mb/sec and I'm lucky if I can connect at 100 kb/s. It would be easier to pay for a 56k modem.

Can someone answer my simple question with out R249 please.

I stay about 4 blocks away from Cresta shopping center and in essence I am covered but iBurst says that as well.

Please just a simple way of how can I know that I will get decent/quick download speeds where I stay, because it might be easier to get ripped off by telkom and get a fixed line.
Click to expand...
Read the following: Wireless broadband price comparison...

Note that if you opt for a 24 month contract that will include an HSDPA phone or modem, the the monthly cost will increase according to the cost of the device over 24 months, personally I think it is worthwhile going for a month2month 4U contract and maybe buying the HSDPA device outright on 6 months credit card budget...
 
HSPDA? Isn't that an MTN product? You heard about that on the myadsl site? That site is just for Telkom employees!
 
ic said:
Read the following: Wireless broadband price comparison...

Note that if you opt for a 24 month contract that will include an HSDPA phone or modem, the the monthly cost will increase according to the cost of the device over 24 months, personally I think it is worthwhile going for a month2month 4U contract and maybe buying the HSDPA device outright on 6 months credit card budget...
Click to expand...

From what I can gather it is the same thing... It would be a 24 month contract anyway. It effecivly works out a little cheaper if I get the modem on a package.
In store outright its R2700 while on contract it will work out to about R1440.

And I am tied in for 24 months on both.

Now anyone know if I have any guarantee on getting the speeds promised me by vodacom?
 
Savage, (welcome to the forum)
there are no guarantees on speed. Telkom also offers no guarantees AFAIK.

However, if you browse around in this section of the forum you will see that reporting speed problems get dealt with. Vodacom has a dedicated representative on this forum, who apparently doesn't sleep judging from his replies at 1am in the morning.

You will not get 1.8 mbits/sec most of the time. Most forumites with HSDPA report an average speed of between 600 to 900 kbits/sec, but you will get more on a multithreaded download.

The above is however, dependent on signal strength. If you have 1 bar of 3G reception, you will get 384 kbits/sec which is 3G speed, and still not bad. Find out what your signal strength is by asking someone to come over to your place who can measure the signal strength in dBm. Some laptop's cards report the signal in dB's. Also a Symbian based Nokia phone can use a free app called celltrack to show the signal strength in dBm. You will need closer to full bar to be able to get the higher speed on HSDPA.
 
Last edited:
ajax thanks for that!!

Helps a whole lot! So does anyone know if vodacom is open to allowing a modem out of their sight for a couple of hours? Or do I have to go on a scavenger hunt to try and find one? If so anyne in the Randburg area open to me borrowing one for a couple of minutes? :D
 
savage0501 said:
ajax thanks for that!!

Helps a whole lot! So does anyone know if vodacom is open to allowing a modem out of their sight for a couple of hours? Or do I have to go on a scavenger hunt to try and find one? If so anyne in the Randburg area open to me borrowing one for a couple of minutes? :D
Click to expand...

Autopage will come out & do a free test for you, i was told Cellcity would do the same
 
Thanks guys! In the last couple of hours you have been of more help than days of going to the "pro's". Amazing what can happen when you arent answering everything with R249!!

Thanks guys. Any other hints would be greatly appreciated. I'll have a look at autopage!
 
savage0501 said:
Thanks guys! In the last couple of hours you have been of more help than days of going to the "pro's". Amazing what can happen when you arent answering everything with R249!!

Thanks guys. Any other hints would be greatly appreciated. I'll have a look at autopage!
Click to expand...

Well that consultancy will cost you R249!

Have a look on the Vodacom map and see what your coverage is.

PM me your exact physical address and contact numbers and I'll ask the guys to check it out.

But nothing beats an on-site test. Do you know anyone with a 3G phone so you can check your signal level.

By the way, did you know the 500M bundle is now only R249?
 
vodacom3g said:
Well that consultancy will cost you R249!

Have a look on the Vodacom map and see what your coverage is.

PM me your exact physical address and contact numbers and I'll ask the guys to check it out.

But nothing beats an on-site test. Do you know anyone with a 3G phone so you can check your signal level.

By the way, did you know the 500M bundle is now only R249?
Click to expand...

Hahahaha I so knew that was going to happen!!

Ok great stuff, PM sent, thanks so much for your help, aand the heads up on the Autopage consultation.
 
vodacom3g said:
...
By the way, did you know the 500M bundle is now only R249?
Click to expand...
:eek: I was under the impression that I would be paying R189.00 for a 500MB data bundle on my 4U contract :p :D.

I guess you're referring to the 24 month contract with a 500MB data bundle, for R249.00 per month - phone or modem included in the contract, as per this link...
 
ajax said:
The above is however, dependent on signal strength. If you have 1 bar of 3G reception, you will get 384 kbits/sec which is 3G speed, and still not bad. Find out what your signal strength is by asking someone to come over to your place who can measure the signal strength in dBm. Some laptop's cards report the signal in dB's. Also a Symbian based Nokia phone can use a free app called celltrack to show the signal strength in dBm. You will need closer to full bar to be able to get the higher speed on HSDPA.
Click to expand...

Just jumping into the thread to ask a dumb question - I'm not so clued up with this stuff so how do I interpret this values:- which reading is better Signal 100% -65dBm or 100% -79dBm ? Is lower or higher better and are any of these readings good or not ?

Thanks guys.
 
The lower the absolute value of the dBm reading, the better.
Both -65 dBm and -79 dBm are very good! You may have noticed that full bar is around -90 dBm, so even -79 dBm is already 10 times better than full bar.
Lucky bastard!
 
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