Vodacom CEO explains BlackBerry problems and plans

morkhans said:
So they claim that less than 5% of users are using 95% of the data, but they then go on to say they have no way of preventing it without help from RIM. Yet they seemed willing to impose a 100Mb limit on everyone as an interim fix which in my mind means they can account for the data use for each individual. Which brings us back to: nail the 5% rather than 100% of you customer base.

There is no way Vodacom can dig themselves out of this PR mess.
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and they say that they are running at capasity. This is the reason for the 100mb. not the 5% abuse. Lots of cheap BB and lots of kids using it. Kids now use it to spam their friends with a cr@p load of mails. It is now the new mxit
 
morkhans said:
So they claim that less than 5% of users are using 95% of the data, but they then go on to say they have no way of preventing it without help from RIM. Yet they seemed willing to impose a 100Mb limit on everyone as an interim fix which in my mind means they can account for the data use for each individual. Which brings us back to: nail the 5% rather than 100% of you customer base.

There is no way Vodacom can dig themselves out of this PR mess.
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BTW Their PR went to the Cr@pper a long time ago. But the beast is big and it will take a very long time to bleed out.
 
Why is everyone complaining? They won't be doing any throttling so what is the problem?

Sure they messed up but at least you won't have a 100mb cap any more. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Blackberry's terms state that if you cause others to not enjoy the service because of high traffic usage or whatever they could terminate your service temporarily or permanently. So WTF is the problem why not just do it and get rid of the people causing the problems? This seems to be a big problem at the moment so just terminate their contracts then the rest can enjoy the service again.
 
I think there problem is bigger than meets the eye, as Uys stated they plugged directly into Rim's servers and I assume all bb phones on their network go through the same pipe regardless whether you contract or prepaid, so what if I have a rica'd prepaid sim i got from the corner we all no how that whole Rica process went down, Vodacom have absolutely no idea who the person/s are downloading ****load of data off their network. Just my observation of this whole fiasco.
 
tortured said:
Why is everyone complaining? They won't be doing any throttling so what is the problem?

Sure they messed up but at least you won't have a 100mb cap any more.
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Because VodaCON F'd up big time, and have only backtracked now, AFTER the public fallout on Twitter, Facebook, MyBroadband and in other media. It was our complaining and backlash that made them think twice about this stupid decision. That is why we are complaining.

VodaCON should have thought twice about upsetting us, their customers, again. But they obviously don't care, and that's why we need to make a big noise about it. For those of who are stuck in contracts, and cannot leave VodaCON whenever we please, this is our only option.

So guys, please do continue complaining, and making a noise. Spread the word about VodaCON's crappy attitude. Make them suffer.
 
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This was yesterday from jannievanzyl:

How long has the data usage trend been monitored?
From day 1, but it became clear a few months ago people are suddenly downloading large data sets that we did not see before. This is also when people started complaning about BIS performance. We could clearly see the correlation.

When was the decision made to implement a "cap"?
We've been working on a solution with RIM for a few months but it's still some way off and could not wait anymore.
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And the VC CEO states:

Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys, who was in London at a Vodafone board meeting during this whole fiasco, said that he was as surprised as consumers to read that his company would be implementing a 100MB usage threshold after which BIS speeds will be throttled from 3G and 2G.
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Does this sound a tad bit like Murdock and News of The World?
 
I think the limit is a combo of compression + the usual a mobile phone usage avg for chatting and moderate email comes to that amount + data for R60 risk cost.. lets make it 100MB(it really is the typical thumb suck guess of data usage 3-5yrs ago on a mobile phone)... LOL #fail

Which is brainless.. most of the people i know who have BB's use them to get music too which can't be compressed so there goes 100MB out the window. Combo this with mapping applications like google maps, 4sq etc uploading pics to social networks, emailing stuff like that and bam that limit is too small. :P
 
tortured said:
Why is everyone complaining? They won't be doing any throttling so what is the problem?

Sure they messed up but at least you won't have a 100mb cap any more. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Blackberry's terms state that if you cause others to not enjoy the service because of high traffic usage or whatever they could terminate your service temporarily or permanently. So WTF is the problem why not just do it and get rid of the people causing the problems? This seems to be a big problem at the moment so just terminate their contracts then the rest can enjoy the service again.
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They are not able to amend the T&C's without any prior notification to the consumer.
They were aware of the problem for a few months already yet they continued to willfully offer the Blackberry Products and BIS.
They were aware that a solution will be implemented for a few months already which could include implementing a "cap" or other limitations yet they continued to willfully offer the Blackberry Prodcuts and BIS.
They use percentages as facts without substantiating their claims with objective facts.
They claim that 100mb is relevant usage for 95%/98% of their 1.2 000 000 users whcn it has been confirmed yesterday that is impossible to adhere to a 3,5MB daily usage.
They claim that 5%/2% of the abusers consist of a member that downloaded in excess of 300Gig a month which consists of a continues 20 hour download at incredible and rather miraculous speeds. Yet they claim that they are not able to identify the culprits because of the RIM encryption?
 
Human said:
Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys, who was in London at a Vodafone board meeting during this whole fiasco, said that he was as surprised as consumers to read that his company would be implementing a 100MB usage threshold after which BIS speeds will be throttled from 3G and 2G.
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Does this sound a tad bit like Murdock and News of The World?
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He probably doesnt visit Vodacom's website very often when travelling - what with roaming fees being as high they are . . . :whistle:
 
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The fact remains, this was all about Vodacom's bottom line. These greedy pigs want to squeeze every last cent out of the customers while giving them the absolute minimum of service they can possibly get away with. If it wasn't for all the people threatening to leave Vodascum, thus affecting their bottom line even more, they would still be going ahead with the throttling after 100meg plan. Oh, and they have been lying from the beginning.

P.S. In the article; intension=intention
 
Valis said:
The fact remains, this was all about Vodacom's bottom line. These greedy pigs want to squeeze every last cent out of the customers while giving them the absolute minimum of service they can possibly get away with. If it wasn't for all the people threatening to leave Vodascum, thus affecting their bottom line even more, they would still be going ahead with the throttling after 100meg plan. Oh, and they have been lying from the beginning.

P.S. In the article; intension=intention
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The fact that jannievanzyl stated in public that VC has known about the problem and that a solution will be needed and implemented for a number of months already, opened them up to a world of hurt.
As per the techcentral article re the CPA it is rather clear that they will nto be able to implement anything in the near future that will not be seen as a limitation or capping of the BIS service.

The fact that they have been aware of the problem and still contined to offer Blackberry and the BIS service with full knowledge that their infrastructure can not actually cope with current use, is rather a sore point for me.
They willfully offered me a contract and service without warning that there might be some delays or complete loss in the BIS service.
 
BBSA said:
LOL, Vodacom do not realy care about the “spirit” of the Consumer Protection Act. The act does not comply with their culture.
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They need to be careful.
According to some articles the consumer commisioner has been waiting for an opportunity to have a go at the operators...this might be just the opportunity.
 
Human said:
They need to be careful.
According to some articles the consumer commisioner has been waiting for an opportunity to have a go at the operators...this might be just the opportunity.
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It is about time.... but I still prefer the consumer to take them on and vote with their feet.
 
tortured said:
Why is everyone complaining? They won't be doing any throttling so what is the problem?

Sure they messed up but at least you won't have a 100mb cap any more.
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you need to look at the bigger picture and ask yourself if we can really allow ourselves to be become so complacent with extortion in this country . . .
 
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