vodacom "edge" vs Mtn EDGE

[albert123]

Dear "leading broadband provider of SA" a.k.a. vodacom....

Please explain the following result to me:

I sit in my lounge with 2 hsdpa modems. 1 being a MTN contract. 1 being a Vodacom contract. both similar modems.

When connecting the MTN one I get 1 bar signal, connecting at over 230kbps and downloading at over 200kbps and a very consistent rate. The mtn program indicates its MTN EDGE.

When connecting the Vodacom one, i get a perfectly full signal (the tower is walking distance down the road from my house), the vodafone mobile connect lite program does not show connection speed, however when downloading anything I get at most about 49kbps. one fifth of the same 'technology' as Mtn's connection. The vodacom program shows its a "Vodacom gprs" connection. not edge. So i decide to use my N81 Phone using vodacoms network.

The phone indicates its an Edge connection, however i get the same dismall speeds as using the USB datacard.

Please could you tell me why MTN has so much better edge service? or is there something I need to do to get 'edge' instead of gprs speeds.

I have been using Vodacom for 10 yrs and refuse to believe MTN is better with this than Vodacom, but this is facts in my area and I need to make decisions based on these facts.

I await your reply vodacom

 

[Hugo_ZA]

Back in the day mtn invested huge sums of money in rolling out a edge network. Vodacom skipped this in favor of the faster 3g standard. As a result mtn has a better edge network compared to vodacom.

Thats the long and the short of it.

 

[gifs]

Basically MTN has the edge.

 

[albert123]

Back in the day mtn invested huge sums of money in rolling out a edge network. Vodacom skipped this in favor of the faster 3g standard. As a result mtn has a better edge network compared to vodacom.

Thats the long and the short of it.

well vodacom claims to have 'edge' all over the place according to their coverage. they should change this to 'gprs' and then expand their 3g coverage. gives ppl false hope. i'm now stuck with a 2 yr contract with a patheticly slow connection in the middle of nowhere where my neighbour has edge that makes my 'hsdpa' modem looks like a 33.6k telkom dial up. lol

 

[Keeper]

Basically MTN has the edge on old technology, and vodacom on the newer, faster and better technology.

well said.

 

[Keeper]

albert - WHY oh WHY did you not test it with a cheap R2 SIM, and a few bucks airtime before signing a 2 Year contract?

 

[therock]

which rural area are you from complaining about gprs and egde when most urban areas have high speed downloads and high speed uploads 3.6meg/s and 1.4meg/s respectively.now im gonna complain about prices

 

[albert123]

albert - WHY oh WHY did you not test it with a cheap R2 SIM, and a few bucks airtime before signing a 2 Year contract?

I did test it. I assumed the speed i got with my cellphone is 'edge'. (as slow as it was) , i moved from Jhb to the northern cape, so I expected SLOOOWWW. now i experienced full on Edge on MTN and its like

I know I should've tested Mtn also, but I have always been with vodacom and always experienced awesome signal with them

yes it was my mistake to go with them, and signing a contract. however now i have 20 months in which to annoy the crap out of them till they come upgrade my tower. If this tower isnt hsdpa by then I will move all my contracts over just to proof a point to them. so remember my name vodacom, I will be around for 20 months still.

 

[albert123]

which rural area are you from complaining about gprs and egde when most urban areas have high speed downloads and high speed uploads 3.6meg/s and 1.4meg/s respectively.now im gonna complain about prices

Lol i know. you should here the people at vodacom call center when i complain about getting 50kbps instead of 200kbps. they like you get what??

 

[Sackboy]

albert - WHY oh WHY did you not test it with a cheap R2 SIM, and a few bucks airtime before signing a 2 Year contract?

I guess people believe what the networks tell them. I had a similar problem and was told that it was a technical problem or I was in a bad area or my device was to blame. In the end, it was apparent that Vodacom EDGE was barely faster than GPRS and very unreliable and the only solution was to use another network. Now that I have a better modem & phone, I can use whichever one is cheaper or happens to be working.

 

[TowerGuru]

To be honest with you i can barely notice the difference between Vodacom GPRS and EDGE cant compare it to MTN though...never used them for data before.

 

[stormwalkerza]

Vodacoms backhaul infrastructure is pathetic, espcially in rural areas.

They expanded very fast, not good enough planning, on of there own techies own words.

When i stayed in napier and complained about the speeds, found out a HUGE portion of the towns in the overberg where being routed through swellendam over 2x 2mb lines.

The slow speeds and 50% timouts were due to the vast amount of people using just those two lines, and they had been waiting for telkom to upgrade the lines for past few years.

It will eventually change, but till then, wont touch vodacom in any rural areas.

*excuse spellin

 

[Oomtas]

I did test it. I assumed the speed i got with my cellphone is 'edge'. (as slow as it was) , i moved from Jhb to the northern cape, so I expected SLOOOWWW. now i experienced full on Edge on MTN and its like

I know I should've tested Mtn also, but I have always been with vodacom and always experienced awesome signal with them

yes it was my mistake to go with them, and signing a contract. however now i have 20 months in which to annoy the crap out of them till they come upgrade my tower. If this tower isnt hsdpa by then I will move all my contracts over just to proof a point to them. so remember my name vodacom, I will be around for 20 months still.

when will people effing realize that if you stay in a rural area on the out skirts of society you wont get 3G .Unless Alan is your neighbor:erm:

It cost them a cool 5 million(estimate) to upgrade the tower in an area that would generate the money back(turnover).How are you going to invest in a place that has a turn over of 10,000 a month? i.e cost to company

Ask yourself the question will makro open a store in De Aar no hoekom daar is amper niemand in dai plek nie

Dankie
Oomtas

 

[Keeper]

when will people effing realize that if you stay in a rural area on the out skirts of society you wont get 3G .Unless Alan is your neighbor:erm:

It cost them a cool 5 million(estimate) to upgrade the tower in an area that would generate the money back(turnover).How are you going to invest in a place that has a turn over of 10,000 a month? i.e cost to company

Ask yourself the question will makro open a store in De Aar no hoekom daar is amper niemand in dai plek nie

Dankie
Oomtas

+ een

might as well start moaning that the iBurst Speeds in the kalahari is k@k...

 

[Sackboy]

when will people effing realize that if you stay in a rural area on the out skirts of society you wont get 3G .Unless Alan is your neighbor:erm:

It cost them a cool 5 million(estimate) to upgrade the tower in an area that would generate the money back(turnover).How are you going to invest in a place that has a turn over of 10,000 a month? i.e cost to company

Ask yourself the question will makro open a store in De Aar no hoekom daar is amper niemand in dai plek nie

Dankie
Oomtas

I live in a pretty urban area (and getting denser).

 

[albert123]

when will people effing realize that if you stay in a rural area on the out skirts of society you wont get 3G .Unless Alan is your neighbor:erm:

It cost them a cool 5 million(estimate) to upgrade the tower in an area that would generate the money back(turnover).How are you going to invest in a place that has a turn over of 10,000 a month? i.e cost to company

Ask yourself the question will makro open a store in De Aar no hoekom daar is amper niemand in dai plek nie

Dankie
Oomtas

i would agree with you if mtn also sucked here. howevefr mtn has proper edge here. so to answer YOU and your sad reply... why did Hifi Corp reckon there is money to be made here but makro didnt?

 

[Oomtas]

i would agree with you if mtn also sucked here. howevefr mtn has proper edge here. so to answer YOU and your sad reply... why did Hifi Corp reckon there is money to be made here but makro didnt?

OMW (o my word dont want to use gods name in vain)

Do you stay in Da Aar ?if so i should play the lotto Saturday

EDIT:

Jokes aside PM VCD

 

[VodacomData]

Dear "leading broadband provider of SA" a.k.a. vodacom....

Please explain the following result to me:

I sit in my lounge with 2 hsdpa modems. 1 being a MTN contract. 1 being a Vodacom contract. both similar modems.

When connecting the MTN one I get 1 bar signal, connecting at over 230kbps and downloading at over 200kbps and a very consistent rate. The mtn program indicates its MTN EDGE.

When connecting the Vodacom one, i get a perfectly full signal (the tower is walking distance down the road from my house), the vodafone mobile connect lite program does not show connection speed, however when downloading anything I get at most about 49kbps. one fifth of the same 'technology' as Mtn's connection. The vodacom program shows its a "Vodacom gprs" connection. not edge. So i decide to use my N81 Phone using vodacoms network.

The phone indicates its an Edge connection, however i get the same dismall speeds as using the USB datacard.

Please could you tell me why MTN has so much better edge service? or is there something I need to do to get 'edge' instead of gprs speeds.

I have been using Vodacom for 10 yrs and refuse to believe MTN is better with this than Vodacom, but this is facts in my area and I need to make decisions based on these facts.

I await your reply vodacom

Hi albert123

Pm me your number(3G number) and address details , will check what towers you connect.

Regards
VodacomData

 

[Ockie]

Vodacom do have 3G in smaller towns....for example Vredendal in the Western Cape. Very small town (about the same as De Aar)...yes I grew up in the Karoo very close to that town haha. When I visisted family there last year I used 3G in Vredendal and was very suprized at the great speed I was getting. As far as I know the route Vodacom followed, specially in the beginning of 3G was to deploy 3G in the urban and metro and mid size cities first. The rest of the rural towers and towns would be given EDGE. If you look at the Vodacom coverage map then you will see the rural interiour of SA is covered in EDGE. If you dont get EDGE on your tower then perhaps email [email protected] and ask them to log a call for you to "network". Be sure to give them your cell number and exact physical address.

 

[albert123]

Vodacom do have 3G in smaller towns....for example Vredendal in the Western Cape. Very small town (about the same as De Aar)...yes I grew up in the Karoo very close to that town haha. When I visisted family there last year I used 3G in Vredendal and was very suprized at the great speed I was getting. As far as I know the route Vodacom followed, specially in the beginning of 3G was to deploy 3G in the urban and metro and mid size cities first. The rest of the rural towers and towns would be given EDGE. If you look at the Vodacom coverage map then you will see the rural interiour of SA is covered in EDGE. If you dont get EDGE on your tower then perhaps email [email protected] and ask them to log a call for you to "network". Be sure to give them your cell number and exact physical address.

De Aaar has full hsdpa. we have 'edge' according to the map on vodacoms site, and according to my phone. I will be happy with Edge for now, but the speeds we get on our 'edge' is not edge, its gprs speeds whereas MTN in the same area gets proper Edge speeds. my question was not why is there no 3g, it was, why is our edge so crap