Vodacom chases MTN's speedy data

Datura said:
Good stuff. This sort of competition is brilliant for the consumer.
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Agreed. It seems that the mobile providers have decided that data is the place to compete while mobile termination rates are still under investigation by ICASA. Since I don’t make too many cellular calls, but do use a fair amount of data I am not complaining too much :D
 
Lian said:
WTF, This service is only available to prepaid subscribers :mad:
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:confused:

Vodacom 3.6 is available to all Vodacom subscribers, contract and pre-paid.

A point of note: While MTN announced the MTN 3.6 service is only available at "selected locations" (anyone got any idea where these are? Any MTN users posted 3.6 service availability on the forum yet?), the complete Vodacom 3G network is running the 3.6 service.
 
I smsed "HSDPA 3.6 ON" to 123 and got the reply "This service is only available to prepaid subscribers"

Edit: It works if I activate it on vodacom4me.co.za
 
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Lian said:
I smsed "HSDPA 3.6 ON" to 123 and got the reply "This service is only available to prepaid subscribers"

Edit: It works if I activate it on vodacom4me.co.za
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The SMS system is only available to pre-paid users. Contract users must go via their SP's, just like with anything else that could affect your bill.

This is pretty standard stuff; If you have a billing relationship with an SP (VSP, Nashua, etc.), they must activate or deactivate services on your account. If you're on pre-paid, your 'billing relationship' is directly with Vodacom and they'll provide the service your require (like activating a service).

It can get confusing as 4me is the portal for both pre-paid and VSP customers.
 
ah thanks for clearing that up v3g. Sorry guys please ignore the previous few posts.
 
I get the impression that Vodacom is miffed at being beaten to the draw :D
All I can say is that Vodacom's *111# system is quite unreliable at the moment. I struggle even to get my balance, let alone settings. Anything beyond the second level of the system is prone to failure.
 
Must say that since I switched to this I am getting much better connectivity, it used to be rather poor. Latency is better too.

Good going VC, now please do something about the unreasonable data rates.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this mean that they will not charge you an extra R50, as stated in a previous article, to use the faster service.

If not, then hell yeah, I'm going unto 3.6Mbps.

E
 
Thanks IC,

From this article it was somewhat difficult to figure out if they still applied the subcription fee.

Anyway, I might still try it.

E
 
Question: Does your upload speed increase? Out of curiosity........

Also where in vodacom4me do you activate this, or would it be better just to go to your subscriber? In my case Nashua.
 
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ic said:
Uploads speeds will only increase with the first upgrade to HSUPA.

[post=1451812]This might help explain it a bit...[/post]
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Ahh, guess that won't be happening anytime soon. :p

Reason I asked is that I'm hoping that online gaming would be more viable with HSDPA after this upgrade. Since moving I haven't been able to play COD4. And my only reprive has come with HSDPA. I've managed to get round about 140 pings to SGS. Sub 100 would be nice please....... :rolleyes: :D

OK, last question, I've been getting about 1MB of the current 1.8MB on offer, should I expect about 2MB of the 3.6MB? Due to distance from tower etc, etc.

ic said:
You have no choice but to get NM to activate it - Vodacom cannot change anything on a non-VSP contract.
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*sigh*

Do I really have to........ I mean this is NM were talking about. The same guys who took two weeks to activate a simple Ad-Hoc My MEG One Data bundle........ :rolleyes: Sucky service.
 
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MTN's strategy is not much different. They are only rolling it out where it will work but are also rolling out 7.2. Vodacom provides it even where it won't work. MTN never made a formal annoucement they will charge for it. Come on MTN let go of this anti-competitive attitude and provide it at no extra cost. :)
Skeptik said:
I get the impression that Vodacom is miffed at being beaten to the draw :D
All I can say is that Vodacom's *111# system is quite unreliable at the moment. I struggle even to get my balance, let alone settings. Anything beyond the second level of the system is prone to failure.
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It's been months now I can't get to my bonus voucher details.
Toxin said:
Reason I asked is that I'm hoping that online gaming would be more viable with HSDPA after this upgrade. Since moving I haven't been able to play COD4. And my only reprive has come with HSDPA. I've managed to get round about 140 pings to SGS. Sub 100 would be nice please....... :rolleyes: :D

OK, last question, I've been getting about 1MB of the current 1.8MB on offer, should I expect about 2MB of the 3.6MB? Due to distance from tower etc, etc.
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Latency is also a product of the time it takes to deliver data. On 1.8 that would be 10ms per 2250 bytes so on 3.6 you'll save roughly 5ms for every 2250. Since there is no improvement in the upload speed it won't save you anything on latency. But with any 3.6 device you'll be on the 3.6 link speed anyway.

I won't hold my breath for any speed increase if they can't even provide 1.8. Unless 3.6 gets preference and our service runs even slower. Until Vodacom starts upgrading their capacity for users instead of speeds not much will change.
 
Prometheus said:
MTN's strategy is not much different. They are only rolling it out where it will work but are also rolling out 7.2. Vodacom provides it even where it won't work. MTN never made a formal annoucement they will charge for it. Come on MTN let go of this anti-competitive attitude and provide it at no extra cost. :)

It's been months now I can't get to my bonus voucher details.

Latency is also a product of the time it takes to deliver data. On 1.8 that would be 10ms per 2250 bytes so on 3.6 you'll save roughly 5ms for every 2250. Since there is no improvement in the upload speed it won't save you anything on latency. But with any 3.6 device you'll be on the 3.6 link speed anyway.

I won't hold my breath for any speed increase if they can't even provide 1.8. Unless 3.6 gets preference and our service runs even slower. Until Vodacom starts upgrading their capacity for users instead of speeds not much will change.
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You wish:D.
 
As MTN has also announced 7.2 mb. Why does Vodacom not reply to this to this statement.
Of course this will influence the choice of Datacard or USB Modem upgrade.
I believe this is the ethical thing to do.
How many available devices are capable of downloads of 7.2mb/s and ready for highspeed uploads?
My TyTN II has run consistantly over 2mb/s on local downloads after 20h00 on Vodacom's 3.6mb service
 
Is there a reason that everyone is anti-Telkom, yet pro-Vodacom?? :confused:

I just don't get it! If you don't want to give Telkom 50% (or more) of the money you spend on mobile data, move to MTN. I've found that their data network is MUCH faster than Vodacom's anyway, especially in the JHB city area.

I'm glad that MTN beat Vodacom to the punch on both 3.6 and 7.2 Mbps! :D
 
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