Vodacom Booster for cellular reception

I

iMod

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Cape Town
Hi Folks,

I wonder if someone could perhaps help me. I recently bought a place in Harfield Village and the reception is absolutely terrible - To make a phone call (I only use my mobile phone with Vodacom) I have to walk to the drive way and stand at the entrance of the house and it's still not perfect there.

I did some research and have seen people talking about boosters from Vodacom and I've also seen various products you can buy, but I can't actually figure out what the best and easiest bet is.

I'd really appreciate some assistance.

Thank you :)
 
I had 2, one from MTN and one from voda.
They put a yagi ant. On the roof pointing at a base station.
It is then wired up to a repeater I think that then "boosts" the signal in the house.
They do definitely work.
They are usually free depending on your spend I think.
Ask Jannie
 
If my phone goes from full signal to 1 bar is it possibly that it's switching between towers? If So, is there an app that can stop it picking up the weaker tower.
 
I also got one from voda.... Works , but took months ofcomplaining to get the thing. Wherei could not evenmake a call i now get speeds of 1 to 6 mbps
 
iMod said:
Hi Folks,

I wonder if someone could perhaps help me. I recently bought a place in Harfield Village and the reception is absolutely terrible - To make a phone call (I only use my mobile phone with Vodacom) I have to walk to the drive way and stand at the entrance of the house and it's still not perfect there.

I did some research and have seen people talking about boosters from Vodacom and I've also seen various products you can buy, but I can't actually figure out what the best and easiest bet is.

I'd really appreciate some assistance.

Thank you :)
Click to expand...

Morning iMod

send an email to [email protected] with your mobile number and address and we can log it with the networking guys in Cape Town. They will come out and do an assessment, and do one of two things:

1. Provide you with a booster
2. advise on any scheduled network upgrades (new base stations planned) in the area that will address the problem

Cheers
 
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I was one of the fortunate ones to be given one of these boosters by Vodacom after months and months of (mainly data) connectivity problems and logging calls and e-mails. It works a treat as long as the signal you are trying to boost is reliable -- i.e. it's not much help if the problem is simply that a tower is overloaded. It also apparently only works on Vodacom's frequencies, so is useless if you have to fall back on a different provider's SIM if Voda goes down.

For those like me living in a remote area with solar power, you also need to be aware that it's quite a power guzzler, becoming very hot in operation. And you have to live with the comments of people insisting that by effectively having your very own private cellular transmitter in your own home you are irradiating yourself with cancer!
 
I am visiting my father on the farm, just off the N1. There isn't a 3G tower only EDGE and it's 2km from the house.
Every weekend for past 2 years or so he complains about very bad data speeds, he can't even open mybb or vodacom's site. Sometimes it works perfectly then it just stops.
Within this 2 years the Tower has been going out regularly no cellphone reception etc.
He have logged several complains with Vodacom customer care etc, I can provide couple of reference numbers the problem is never solved properly.
Any Help? Would a booster help?
I have tried connecting right next to tower with modem and laptop when it is slow and no change either.
I am also aware that edge is slow, but surely you should be able to open basic webpages even opera mini with data compression struggles.
 
AFAIK the Vodacom boosters only work on 3G/HSDPA frequencies, not EDGE -- this is what I was told by the technician who installed mine. You may find simply installing a dedicated data antenna (e.g. from Poynting) would be a better bet. Vodacom technicians generally do this anyway when installing a booster, but it can have a significant effect on its own without the booster.
 
iMod said:
Hi Folks,

I wonder if someone could perhaps help me. I recently bought a place in Harfield Village and the reception is absolutely terrible - To make a phone call (I only use my mobile phone with Vodacom) I have to walk to the drive way and stand at the entrance of the house and it's still not perfect there.

I did some research and have seen people talking about boosters from Vodacom and I've also seen various products you can buy, but I can't actually figure out what the best and easiest bet is.

I'd really appreciate some assistance.

Thank you :)
Click to expand...

Send a PM(Personal Message) to"VodacomData" the Vodacom rep on this forum with your all your details. This works well,follow this route to avoid speculating about the resulution of this problem.
 
Last edited:
Hi Folks,

I spoke with someone from Vodacom who was very nice on the phone. He said that he'd talk to the radio center and see if they could get in touch with me to do a site survey, so let's see what happens next. Thank you to those who assisted!

He also told me that turning 3G off would push the phone to 2G, which may assist with the quality of calls.. going to try that!
 
Hi I live in Murdock Valley Simon's Town and have been trying for the past two years to get Vodacom to install a booster. Ironically they can never get hold of me on my cell but left a message to say that boosters won't work in my area. I spoke to Poynting who say that their LPDA-0092 High gain wideband directional Antenna will help. The problem is only cellular providors can repeat the signal so the cellphone becomes a fixed phone at home. Poynting offer a ADPT-024 Adapter 3G HSDPA Modem that the cellphone rests on. Poynting state that they have several installations working in Murdock Valley and Vodacom claim there is nothing they can do. I have decided to purchase the Poynting solution and see if it works. Does anyone have a similar experience with Vodacom?
 
seagetaway said:
Hi I live in Murdock Valley Simon's Town and have been trying for the past two years to get Vodacom to install a booster. Ironically they can never get hold of me on my cell but left a message to say that boosters won't work in my area. I spoke to Poynting who say that their LPDA-0092 High gain wideband directional Antenna will help. The problem is only cellular providors can repeat the signal so the cellphone becomes a fixed phone at home. Poynting offer a ADPT-024 Adapter 3G HSDPA Modem that the cellphone rests on. Poynting state that they have several installations working in Murdock Valley and Vodacom claim there is nothing they can do. I have decided to purchase the Poynting solution and see if it works. Does anyone have a similar experience with Vodacom?
Click to expand...

The way it was explained to me by Vodacom when I enquired about gggeting on installed in our unit is that it is not feasable for units like ours in a complex or other densely populated area as it causes more harm and tends to amplify noise and interference ... thereby degrading the network further. I was dissapointed but oh well.

They were willing to negotiate with the body corporate about putting up a mini station inside the complex to serve everyone ... but the body corporate never bit.
 
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