"Vodacom Broadband Connet LTE"

[Amaprof]

What have the collective experiences been with this service from Vodacom?

They offer an average speed of 9Mbps. Various capped options on a 12 or24 month contract with a once off connection fee. The hardware is included in the deal. The pricing seems "reasonable", ie.: much in line with what other, smaller WiFi operators would charge. In fact, I think you might get a little bit more from Vodacom.

Are there any issues? Can one know how shaped or unshaped this is? Is it stable throughout the day? I get 2-3 bars LTE service on my cell phone at the house where I'm considering getting this service.

Any and all comments welcome.

 

[sajunky]

Contract prices are not bad if you add Night OWL. With large sized router like B593 expect that signal strenght will increase to 4-5 bars. Speed, I don't know, I get the same LTE speed as for 3G (DC-HSPA+), maximum 8Mbps, but I stay 10km away from official LTE coverage, it can be in testing. I don't think they are throttling speed on capped contracts. 3G connection is heavily congested between 19-23 and latency around 350ms (50ms on LTE).

Issues? Poor data counting, updated with large delay, sometimes correction comes 24hours late or more. When combined with OOB R1/MB it can result hudge bill by "your mistake". And remember that there is no Vodacom rep on the forum, so nobody will assist you like in this case: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/698060-Night-OWL-not-anymore and they will never admit or try to compensate your loses if problem is on their side (company credencials). There is a company representative JvZ silly bickering in the news section, but not in Vodacom section where should be.

And lastly, if you think that you have 30-days data roll-over, think twice. It is cleverly obfuscated in their T&C and in practical terms it means that every two months you must use all allocated data if you don't want to lose it. If you try to use every bit, you will be punished with OOB. That is Vodacom. Night OWL do not roll-over, remember.

 

[Amaprof]

Ok, so have NOT yet signed the contract. I have tested download rate with the cellphone and using the cellphone as a hotspot. Both times (mid day Saturday and on a Monday morning) Downloads at > 12Mbps and uploads at +- 2Mbps using servers located in Europe.

Rollover of data ONLY into next month - thanks sajunky. You can buy data package once you have run out: on the website ist says "once off" purchase; I can only top up once per month?? Also it states "out of bundle rates do not apply for Broadband LTE" : am I supposed to praise them or be scared??

Consultant was slightly vague about night OWL: it is available but couldn't furnish details. Yet to find the T&C's for this package on their website.

Has anybody here got personal or close second hand experience with this service?

Thanks