The two faces of Cell C

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teebag

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On the one side Cell C appears to be a company getting it right for the man in the street - setting an example for other companies to follow, the little guy taking the fight to the big bad corporates.

I recently had the “pleasure” of trying to find and compare iPhone 5 offerings for my partner, who has tried and hated Android, laments the downfall of Nokia, and is not a fan of too many options or settings. Well Cell C’s website and build-it yourself contracts are an example of how it should be done, quick, simple, easy to navigate and understand – take a good look Vodacom and MTN, that is how it should be done.

For bringing innovative products and pricing to a very confusing market, 99c per minute, Supercharge, the lowest out of bundle data rates – well done.

Free Calls
Best prepaid Voice prices
Best Data prices

A breath of fresh air, a beacon in the darkness, or maybe not…

On 22 February Cell C publicly acknowledged they have network issues “cell c network problems feedback” since then not a peep on the matter.

Alas, as the great dane once said “Something is rotten…” It would seem that Cell C are a victim of their own success, and I am guessing here - that their market uptake has outgrown the capability of their network, and they are desperately playing catch-up – well at least I hope they are!

The trouble is they seem to be in denial, ostrich mentality, for if you spend some time reading the comments in response to any of the positive news about what great things they are doing, and then if you dig a little deeper in to the forums, blogs, twitter, facebook, the consumer complaint sites you begin to uncover the other side with hordes of frustrated customers preparing for battle, screaming they have had enough, muttering of turning to the CPA for help over the above mentioned network issue.

In the news: (be sure to read the user comments at the bottom of each article)
“best and worst mobile network in sa unexpectedresults”
“cell c network promise did they lie”
“cell c network problems backlash”
“Cell C suffers network problems”
“Cell C customers experiencing network problems”

From the forums:
“Cell C Network Issues Disconnects Coverage Throughput Problems Report Here”
“No Data connection but full signal”
“List of areas with CellC data issue”
“Cell C 3G Data Network Problems Tokai Kirstenhof (Cape-Town)”
“Unite against Cell C”
“Cell C enough of all the excuses What is the real truth behind the network issues”
“Hello Peter “Cell C, Network” last 90 days”

So there you have it quo vadis Cell C?
 
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It will be slow recovery from mistake. Don't expect miracles. just read carefully these words: "underlying problem on our IT platform" http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/507180
Such terms are used if problem is embedded very deeply and remedy requires significant rework.
So, if you are experiencing problem and is not workable, sell your package.

This problem is not new, if you read posts from the initial HSPA+ roll-out - it was present in some areas, but it was never taken seriously. In my area it was demontrated that some Cell_Id's with strong signal didn't generate throughput at all and I had to position external antenna to pickup the weaker Cell_Id's. It was in my neighbour's location. I had no external antenna, I traded my 24GB/24months package for cash and moved to 8ta one year ago.

I think, your subject line is misleading, it is simply battling with problems and having limited resources.
 
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Cell C gave me my first proper (affordable) broadband experience, and I'm still thankful for that.
With their new 99c rates, Im phoning locally for the first time in ages, I would have just sent whatsapp messages in the past.
With their international rates, I'm phoning family way more often than in the past.
Now they gave me 20gigs a month for a very good price, and I took it (vs almost double that for an ADSL line + phone rental alone )
For almost 3 years I had super speeds and absolutely not a single day of problems - so don't know how deep the problem is currently but mine started last month only

Cell C - I understand the issues - yes it would have been great to get updates sure - but I know other local companies also keep quiet and sort it out behind the scenes.
but I know you guys will fix it up.

Cell C FTW!!
 
Good post teebag,

If CellC just came out and said, "yes we are outselling ourselves and are battling with capacity at the moment but we're rolling out infrastructure and equipment every day to remedy this" it would at least give people some indication that the issues may be resolved in the near future. Good old manning-up and honesty would work a lot better than this smoke and mirrors nonsense.

sajunky I didn't want to respond to your absolute diamond of a post but I just couldn't resist.

sajunky said:
It will be slow recovery from mistake. Don't expect miracles.
Click to expand...

Mistake? What mistake might that be exactly? Did someone spill coffee over the core router(s)? Do you know something we don't?

sajunky said:
Don't expect miracles.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone is expecting miracles but according to you it's wrong of people to complain when they're not getting what they're actually paying for. Bearing that in mind, I have a mate who's selling an M3...well actually it's an M3 body with a 318i engine but I don't think you'll mind too much.

sajunky said:
just read carefully these words: "underlying problem on our IT platform"
Such terms are used if problem is embedded very deeply and remedy requires significant rework.
Click to expand...

Interesting that you can surmise so much from so little information. Mmmm....according to me the words "underlying problem on our IT platform" is a pretty generic excuse which just about any provider would use so actually it doesn't tell us s**t...but who knows maybe they're back engineering Alien tech.

sajunky said:
So, if you are experiencing problem and is not workable, sell your package.
Click to expand...

This seems to be your go-to line. Do you "sell your package" often?

sajunky said:
This problem is not new, if you read posts from the initial HSPA+ roll-out - it was present in some areas, but it was never taken seriously.
Click to expand...

Well then you've hit the nail on the head. Why doesn't CellC take this problem seriously. CellC should know when and where there is an issue on their network and then take the necessary measures to remedy it before it snowballs.

sajunky said:
I think, your subject line is misleading
Click to expand...

...and I think your post is headache inducing.

sajunky said:
it is simply battling with problems and having limited resources.
Click to expand...

Any ISP/Provider has problems from time to time but it's the way in which CellC are choosing to deal with the problem is what's causing a lot of the frustration.
 
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I have NO problems on Cell C and they are the cheapest. MTN sucked balls, more dropped calls and unclear voice calls. They were also expensive as hell!
 
HiToKiRi said:
If CellC just came out and said, "yes we are outselling ourselves and are battling with capacity at the moment but we're rolling out infrastructure and equipment every day to remedy this" it would at least give people some indication that the issues may be resolved in the near future. Good old manning-up and honesty would work a lot better than this smoke and mirrors nonsense.
Click to expand...
Who says it is a capacity problem?

Maybe you missed it, but Cell-C did man up and admit there is a problem and they are working on it:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/507180-*IMPORTANT*-Cell-C-data-connection-problem-update
 
I really think that CellC is missing the boat here, I was literally on the point of giving up my MTN contract to port to CellC but in the last month or so they have been a huge disappointment. Not only the technical problems, but also the lack of feedback and the utterly shocking service in their shops. (Centurion Mall)
I have two Cellc prepaid packages, the 2Gb per month and the once off 24Gb. Service on both of them have now degraded to the point where I'm using an old 8ta Prepaid sim that I carry around for back-up more than half of the time. My job requires me to be available online 24/7 and Telkom cannot provide a fixed line at my house, so I'm dependant on 3G for connectivity.
If there was any way of getting my money back I would have, but since it's pre-paid I'm stuck with them.
Needless to say I will not be paying another cent to CellC for anything... ever.
 
Rocket-Boy said:
That was over a month ago and nothing since then. Its something but its still not good enough.
Click to expand...

Agree, a month ago they said they were working around the clock to resolve the issues. Things should have improved by now, however i am actually seeing performance degrade.
 
HiToKiRi said:
Mistake? What mistake might that be exactly? Did someone spill coffee over the core router(s)? Do you know something we don't?
Click to expand...
I wrote it already, you can find in two or three places on this forum. Introducing hudge data packages like Giga200 was a mistake. With proper approach network would take a load progressively and technicians would have sufficient time to find out bugs in the system and apply corrective action. Nobody talks about lack of capacity (as ginggs pointed out). Capacity limits can be very easy predicted and I am sure it has been prepared by Cell C engineering team correctly. I see from your comments that you have zero exposure to IT vocabulary, so you don't understand what it means. So please don't make further comments like spitting coffee on the router.

Take my words, that problem requires significant engineering rework, many man-hours and solution has to be applied in all affected areas. If you want to wait, posting complains, you are losing your money. All I am saying, if it become unworkable, sell your damn Giga200 package (as I did when experimenting similiar problem), other people will use it in less affected areas.

But you don't want do it, as you want still enjoy cheap data, it is not so bad as you describe and you think that putting pressure on Cell C will help anything.
(Actually I believe it is very bad, as I experienced the same one year ago. Problem has never been attended just traffic offloaded for a while by 8ta offerings.)
 
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The majority of us have given up on both MTN and Vodacom - offices smack-bang in the middle of Bryanston (next to DiData) and you have to walk into the parking lot to avoid calls from being dropped. Neither MTN nor VC could hold full signal or a reliable 3G connection. Switched to CellC 3 weeks back and it's the first time in 3 years that I can actually have a call on a mobile at my desk.

Same applies at my home, where I could not have a call on MTN/VC without being on the upstairs balcony. I do hope that CellC will be able to sort out issues affecting other users, and I doubt I am in the minority of having a good experience (with the bonus of getting now 3 times the data and paying 1/3 of the MTN price).
 
Since I joined Cell C I had no problems found the service better than vodacom by a mile the recent problems with cell c is something I constantly faced with vodacom often. So thus far all in all still happy with Cell C
 
Have just had a superb data experience with Cell C in Umhlanga, but now that I am back home my Cell C data in Illovo, Johannesburg, is completely disfunctional, and does not work at all.

I am posting this using Vodacom.
 
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