VODACOM NETWORK - CAPE POINT AREA

[Corr]

I spend much time in the Cape Point area which has always received a very patchy but fairly reliable coverage.

The past year or so the signal quality has deteriorated very substantially, to the point where you can often not even send and SMS even if the phones show a good signal. Even when there are no tourists around, you need to to try 5 times to connect a call or send an SMS.

Vodacom deny that anything has changed or is wrong and blame the phones, lack co-operation from Parksboard to build a tower etc.

Anyone know what is going on?

 

[vodacom3g]

I spend much time in the Cape Point area which has always received a very patchy but fairly reliable coverage.

The past year or so the signal quality has deteriorated very substantially, to the point where you can often not even send and SMS even if the phones show a good signal. Even when there are no tourists around, you need to to try 5 times to connect a call or send an SMS.

Vodacom deny that anything has changed or is wrong and blame the phones, lack co-operation from Parksboard to build a tower etc.

Anyone know what is going on?

My standard response to this is always as follows:

Mobile networks want to make money. They can only make money if you make calls, send SMS's and use data. To enable you you to spend your money, there need to be a network so we can charge you.

So the last thing networks (MTN, Vodacom, etc.) want to do is NOT build towers. So if you do battle with coverage and there is enough demand in the area, you can bet the bottom dollar that something is stopping towers from going up.

And in a National Park with the ocean on three sides, you can be assured that it's near impossible to get towers up. Where would they go? They can't go into the sea and wildlife sanctuaries don't like them.

I suspect the drop in coverage you're seeing is due to the way the network is growing around the park and as the network is optimised, it might affect the coverage in other areas.

 

[Corr]

Thanks for your comment, but the issue is not necessarily the marginal or fringe reception that we have had there for as long as we've had mobile phones. We'Ve long come to terms with the fact that we will have mediocre signal at best, but we could live with that.

There is resistance to new towers in the area and it may well not be financially viable for Vodacom either, we understand that.

What has happened is that it is now 10 times more difficult to make a call then about a year ago whilst nothing has changed according to Vodacom.

There are no more phone users there, in fact the tourist numbers are down.

Why is it that we sit with three guys, three different phones showing good signals, but nobody can make or recieve calls..................If this was a once off, nobody would complain.

Something has happened that now makes it very difficult to connect a call or send an SMS, often while the phones show good signal.

 

[asshat99]

I phoned to report a long standing network issue for Vodacom. It was off a particular tower. As soon as you got a different tower it was all okay again. I had confirmed it with 3 phones and sim cards. I explained it all politely and carefully - making it clear it could not possibly be the phones. The abuse and stupidity that I got back from vodacom was amazing. They did not even ask what exact area it was. I was just told to take all the phones to a vodashop. It helped me to realise that it was just not worth it to help them out. A few weeks later a manager phoned about the issue-naturally stopping just short of an apology...I just said "meh" and left it at that. They can lose thousands from a tower which doesn't work properly. Not my problem.

Also good signal. GPRS and 3G was super slow (like <1kb/s) and sms's took days to deliver. Dropped calls like crazy.

 

[BTTB]

Hello All.

I think there may be something in what Corr is saying. I too noticed that I could not communicate from certain areas at Cape Point even though my Cell Phone shows several bars. Now that you mention it I will take notes the next time I am down there.

For what it is worth I can mention the areas where I did get reception and where I could not.
I go fishing to a place called Rooikrantz which is on the side of the Mountain at Cape Point facing in towards False Bay and here the reception is fine and it seems all the fisherman get reception as their phones ring constantly.
Yet I seems there is no reception at the Car Park above this position even though the Car Park is at a higher altitude?
While driving along the road within the National Park reception is dodgy and even though there is reception (bars showing) any call will be lost.

Hope this helps in your investigation Corr. I will read this thread from time to time to see if there is a valid reason for this reception phenomena.
I do believe Vodacom and the other Cell Phone Companies need to check out the reception within Cape Point National Park as it is not only part of our heritage, but is visited by millions of people annually, most of which are tourists.

Regards,
BTTB.

 

[vodacom3g]

Thanks for your comment, but the issue is not necessarily the marginal or fringe reception that we have had there for as long as we've had mobile phones. We'Ve long come to terms with the fact that we will have mediocre signal at best, but we could live with that.

There is resistance to new towers in the area and it may well not be financially viable for Vodacom either, we understand that.

What has happened is that it is now 10 times more difficult to make a call then about a year ago whilst nothing has changed according to Vodacom.

There are no more phone users there, in fact the tourist numbers are down.

Why is it that we sit with three guys, three different phones showing good signals, but nobody can make or recieve calls..................If this was a once off, nobody would complain.

Something has happened that now makes it very difficult to connect a call or send an SMS, often while the phones show good signal.

You'll notice I did mention that coverage can change in one area when optimisation happens around it. An antenna might be re-aligned and suddenly you loose coverage, etc.

Why don't you send me the details as per the template in my sig?

 

[Corr]

Hello All.

I think there may be something in what Corr is saying. I too noticed that I could not communicate from certain areas at Cape Point even though my Cell Phone shows several bars. Now that you mention it I will take notes the next time I am down there.

For what it is worth I can mention the areas where I did get reception and where I could not.
I go fishing to a place called Rooikrantz which is on the side of the Mountain at Cape Point facing in towards False Bay and here the reception is fine and it seems all the fisherman get reception as their phones ring constantly.
Yet I seems there is no reception at the Car Park above this position even though the Car Park is at a higher altitude?
While driving along the road within the National Park reception is dodgy and even though there is reception (bars showing) any call will be lost.
..........................................
BTTB.

Perhaps I can fill this in more detail;-

Right in the early days of mobile phones you could receive acceptable signals at many places.

Traditionally (past 10 years) you received an acceptable signal (not good) at Rooikrans, Rooikrans car park & Cape Point car park.

Sporadic signals could be had at Smitswinkel bay look out, Buffelsfontein, Venus pools & Buffelsbay and the road from Rooikrans circle towards Buffelsfontein.

My gripe is mainly with the places I call "Traditional" though the "Sporadic" area does hardly really receive signals at all these days.

What I may perhaps mention is that it seems that on a boat round the Point area you seem to get a better signal then on land.....LOL Maybe the boating fraternity has more money to spend on calls and therefore gets more attention from Vodacom.

You'll notice I did mention that coverage can change in one area when optimisation happens around it. An antenna might be re-aligned and suddenly you loose coverage, etc.

Why don't you send me the details as per the template in my sig?

Please provide a detailed link to which info you would like, I can spend much time reading all the FAQ. I have already completed a "form" and gave it to the vodacom help desk, but only managed to get irritating answers by people who do not know much.