Vodacom: #EpicFail

[JerryMungo]

I know of one guy who purly uses his blackberry to download movies and then transfers them to his PC.
I think they trying to stop this kind of action.

Oh, I see. So to stop Johnny downloding movies, they block his granny from sending mail. Seems logical.

What I think really happened was Karl Muller got to Jannie van Zyl and Jannie has seen the light. He's decided that BB traffic accounts for way too much of the radiation emitting from their towers and he's cleaning up their act! GO VODA

 

[Rouxenator]

LOL @ BB users! I use way more than 4mb a day on my phone, luckily I am smart enough to configure a wifi router and I spend less than they do on data bundles for when I am not close to wifi.

BB folks are noobs. Very poor and stingy technonoobs.

 

[devilfp]

VodaSCUM: WHAT? 5% of BB users are Abusers?


[video]http://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBwQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DMSV TOMkJdqs&ei=LBduTomkMc-o8QOjg-Ur&usg=AFQjCNFdhDXV7-Wuc2q7kETym5WghLbPBw[/video]

 

[Rouxenator]

Its like buying a car with a top speed of 300km/h, only to be forced to drive at 60km/h after you have driven 10km

Uhm, no - the traffic analogy for BlackBerry is buying a minibus taxi so that you can drive in the lane that is exclusive for minibus taxis. Its not a fast car nor is it a good looking car or anything like the other cars on the road. The only reason you bought it is to go in the minibus taxi lane.

 

[_drew_]

Feels like Vodacom is desperately looking for ways they can fail in our market. Was not aware companies enjoyed taking steps backwards instead of progressing forwards.

 

[Rouxenator]

Feels like Vodacom is desperately looking for ways they can fail in our market. Was not aware companies enjoyed taking steps backwards instead of progressing forwards.

I don't think you get it - the amount of income they get off BlackBerry users is not a market worth caring for.

 

[ginggs]

Uhm, no - the traffic analogy for BlackBerry is buying a minibus taxi so that you can drive in the lane that is exclusive for minibus taxis. Its not a fast car nor is it a good looking car or anything like the other cars on the road. The only reason you bought it is to go in the minibus taxi lane.

I nominate the above post for Car Analogy of the Year Award!

 

[eltherza]

Vodacoms network is so crap that no-one will even notice they are being throttled.

Seriously, if I can barely make a phone call without breaking up back or getting dropped consistently - i seriously doubt the 3G network is up to any standard as it is.

 

[Rouxenator]

I nominate the above post for Car Analogy of the Year Award!

Thanks Although I have been singing that line in various guises for ages actually

Uhm, it is still a like driving a minibus taxi just so that you can go in the taxi lane. Does not matter if the dashboard is revised and it has LED driving lights - its a taxi and it drives like one.

A black berry is not about the phone - its about the service. Its like having a bus or minibus taxi so that you can drive in the bus lane.

Don't be harsh on BBM, its the bus lane for people that use the phone equivalent of a Golden Arrows bus or a minibus taxi.

They made great sacrifices in terms of the vehicle they drive with the sole intention of driving it like a maniac in the bus lane. So what if it only does narrow band speeds? It feels a lot faster in their vehicles than the HSPA/Wireless-N speeds the rest of us are used too.

Its like buying a government issued bus so that you can drive in the special government issued BuS lane. The interior of the bus also reminds you of something old and ugly - like windows 3.11 or the UI of a BlackBerry.
Sure, I hear you say, they are working on OS 6 now! Yes that is like buying a government issued minibus taxi with spinners so that you can still go in the special BuS lane.

I will not however except that blackberries are sexy - they are wannabe business phones that look like Iveco taxis with special permission to drive in the taxi lane (BiS).

We should not be too harsh on these kids who think BB is great. Its the bus lane for people that use the phone equivalent of a Golden Arrows bus or a minibus taxi.

They made great sacrifices in terms of the vehicle they drive with the sole intention of driving it like a maniac in the bus lane. So what if it only does narrow band speeds? It feels a lot faster in their vehicles than the HSPA/Wireless-N speeds the rest of us are used too.

 

[lholhos]

T-Mobile to throttle speeds of heavy data users

Recently, T-Mobile released a statement detailing how it would handle customers who utilize more than 5 GB of data per month on their mobile devices. The statement reads:


Beginning on October 16, T-Mobile will begin to reduce data speeds when a customer reaches 5GB of usage in a billing cycle, in accordance with T-Mobile terms and conditions. This change should only affect extreme data users (less than 1 percent) and is being made to ensure that all subscribers receive the best Web performance available by limiting the number of extreme data users on our network.

The majority of T-Mobile customers should not be affected by this change. The new 5 GB threshold limit, which is equivalent to approximately 125,000 yahoo.com page visits, is enough bandwidth to satisfy most customers’ Web and data needs.
If a customer happens to reach the 5GB limit, they will receive a free text message informing them their data speed will be reduced. Customers will continue to have Web browsing capabilities but at slower speeds, which will be determined by their device type. Once their new billing cycle begins, data speeds will no longer be restricted.

 

[lilors]

ok so 5% of people are responsible for 95% of the traffic?

What do you think they use it for? Stream internet radio and youtube all day? Play multiplayer bb games?

 

[RJMadCat]

In south africa using your phone or your pc and internet connection normally like the rest of the world it is called abuse, limitations get implemented. 100 MB...hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha tit heads

Seems like they earn their new name to suit telkom's name.
Hellcom hope you like your new name, really rhymes with your counter part
Hellkom

 

[Kdaisy]

Thanks for that article @ Iholhos. The thing with Vodacom is their greed. To illustrate:

1) I have not had speeds exceeding 6kbs in the last two months, therefore, I wasn't even ABLE to reach the 100Mb throttle per month. And, my speeds aren't better with each new month. Even plain browsing turns into a headache.

2) My data bundles (which I PAY for extra) can't be used because my speeds stays under 6kbs. Downloads ALWAYS fail and browsing remains a headache.

Both illustrates that Vodacoms' poor almost non-existant structure and service delivery, is not related to BIS abusers. How else would one explain my two month 6kbs dry spell (buying bundles by not using BIS)?

I think they're hiding their crumbling business by blaming a couple of people labelled ''5 percent BIS abusers''. There's no way a tiny few are bringing down the entire house. Makes you think how secure the house was to begin with....

 

[Rouxenator]

I buy a 100mb bundle that lasts me two month. This is for the unlikely situation where I find myself without wifi coverage. On my N8 I have been getting excellent speeds, 300kb/s plus, so there is nothing wrong with Vodacom. Even if I am on 2G (EDGE) I still get fullspeed (25kb/s).

 

[Kdaisy]

I buy a 100mb bundle that lasts me two month. This is for the unlikely situation where I find myself without wifi coverage. On my N8 I have been getting excellent speeds, 300kb/s plus, so there is nothing wrong with Vodacom. Even if I am on 2G (EDGE) I still get fullspeed (25kb/s).

.
Wow, that is impressive @ Roux, I don't think I've EVER had that kind of speeds... 300kbs! Man, what I wouldn't give!

Ok, I hear what you're saying. But how am I to see my 6kbs problem on a data bundle then?

 

[Pitbull]

I buy a 100mb bundle that lasts me two month. This is for the unlikely situation where I find myself without wifi coverage. On my N8 I have been getting excellent speeds, 300kb/s plus, so there is nothing wrong with Vodacom. Even if I am on 2G (EDGE) I still get fullspeed (25kb/s).

You connect at 300kb/s and fail to use 100MB's?

Something doesn't add up here

 

[Kdaisy]

Dictionary definition of: ''Unlimited''
1. not limited; unrestricted; unconfined: unlimited trade.
2. boundless; infinite; vast: the unlimited skies.
3. without any qualification or exception; unconditional.

I am still dissapointed and cross at Vodacom. We signed a binding contract that specifies UNLIMITED access.

If I knew I'm being lied to I would've reconsidered signing up.

 

[Rouxenator]

You connect at 300kb/s and fail to use 100MB's?

Something doesn't add up here

You did get the part where I said I mainly use wifi? Unlike BB users I can actually setup my wifi so I have very little need for mobile network data.

However, if I do need it I know it will be way faster than BB speeds :

Dictionary definition of: ''Unlimited''
1. not limited; unrestricted; unconfined: unlimited trade.
2. boundless; infinite; vast: the unlimited skies.
3. without any qualification or exception; unconditional.

I am still dissapointed and cross at Vodacom. We signed a binding contract that specifies UNLIMITED access.

If I knew I'm being lied to I would've reconsidered signing up.

Get Mweb uncapped, I do 500GB a month on it - its unlimited.

 

[spacemuis]

*sigh* just yesterday I signed up my son for a BB contract ... and funny enough, at the shop the assistant told me that Vodacom is planning to implement BB capping. Shoulda checked MyBB first!
She told me that it is possible to utilise BIS to download music/movies (perhaps from HTTP download sites like news aggregators?). That would constitute abuse, I'd agree.
But 100MB is absolutely laughable! They should rather target the top 1% of users who still probably consume 80+% of the bandwidth which will mean a cap of something like 1GB or even 500MB ... but 100MB?! Which pinhead at Vodacom came up with this?

 

[vzta22]

While I agree with those starting that the 100MB cap is too low, I also think that VC is changing the company's business model more than anything else.

Last week, VC reduced the cost of the lower data bunddles which are meant to attract lower-end customers. If you bring this into perspective, their target market is becoming well defined. The network is already congested as it is. Redefining the company's market possition will resolve some of their network issues.

The questions you need to ask yourselves are:

1. How many of the BB devices on the VC network are 3G-enabled?
2. Of those 3G-enabled devices on the network, how many devices fall in the 5% category of abusers?
3. How much revenue is the 5% generating for the company compared with normal users?
4. Are the BB feature phones able to download more than 100MB of data per month?
5. To what speeds will BB feature phone users be throtted - if not their normal EDGE/GPRS speeds?
6. Will BB feature phone users notice any difference in speed?

Like it or not, VC is being strategic from a business perspective. My guess is, more than 80% of the BB devices are not 3G-enabled and most likely not notice they have been throttled. If you own a 3G BB and are a heavy user, there is every reason for you to leave VC but I doubt others will follow.