Vodacom network issues - H/H+ modem handshaking

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JohnDoeDeer

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Hi

I have searched through the forums, but couldn't find anything relevant.

I'm noticing that while in midrand, sandton and rosebank (this doesn't happen in cape town), my android devices have connection issues.
Basically what happens is my Note4(N910F LTE) with lollipop and my S4 with lollipop can't successfully connect to H+.
The indicator will sit on H with no data up(tx)/down(rx) arrows, or with H with just the UP(tx) arrow. during this time no data connection is available.
It then switches briefly to H+, and successful data transfer happens for a very brief time (5-10 seconds)

So both of my device struggle with modem handshake to decide on connection speed while in northern joburg area.

I don't know if there are not enough timeslots left on the towers that i am near to or what.

This issue is also impossible to explain to 1st-level support.

Not sure where/how to report it.

EDIT: come to think of it, I haven't seen 4G/LTE on the indicator in quite a long time.
 
You might need to reprovision for LTE. Call customer care and ask for them to delete and add the lte vas again and that should fix your lte issue.

As for the rest I can't comment because I don't use Vodacom as my main operator much.

I did however notice that Vodacom likes to kick thr phone down to normal 3G when the connection is idle. As soon as data starts to transfer it changes to H+

Not sure if I'm wrong here but normal H is 14.2Mbps where H+ is 48Mbps or DC-HSDPA but I stand to be corrected.

Maybe it's just congested towers your phone is connecting to?
 
cavedog said:
You might need to reprovision for LTE. Call customer care and ask for them to delete and add the lte vas again and that should fix your lte issue.

As for the rest I can't comment because I don't use Vodacom as my main operator much.

I did however notice that Vodacom likes to kick thr phone down to normal 3G when the connection is idle. As soon as data starts to transfer it changes to H+

Not sure if I'm wrong here but normal H is 14.2Mbps where H+ is 48Mbps or DC-HSDPA but I stand to be corrected.

Maybe it's just congested towers your phone is connecting to?
Click to expand...

Yip. When connection is idle it will show 3G. When the connection is being acitvely used again then it will go up to HSDPA
 
Thanks for the LTE vas info

as to 3G when idle:

Be that as it may, this is not what's happening to me.
I'll go to my phone, open the browser, and this will be the process:

point my browser to mybroadband.co.za
H and tx arrow shows
page load is stalled for 15 seconds, progress bar stuck at 10% (other chat applications will now disconnect)
indicator changes to H+, and tx/rx flashes, website continues loading, progress bar goes to 25%
indicator changes back to H and tx arrow, page load stalls for 15 seconds, and chat applications disconnect
indicator changes to H+ and tx/rx happens, page loads to 75%, and then stops
indicator back to H, same as previous, 15-20 seconds
indicator changes back to H+ and page finally finishes loading and is displayed.

This has been happening this whole past week while i've been in gauteng, it happened in pretoria yesterday, rosebank the day before, midrand the whole week, and sandton the whole week.
I can't be the only one who is experiencing this. both of my devices can't have the same issue.
If I put an MTN or 8ta simcard in the devices, they work perfectly, and the service doesn't flap.

Also this does not happen while I am in cape town.
 
JohnDoeDeer said:
Thanks for the LTE vas info

as to 3G when idle:

Be that as it may, this is not what's happening to me.
I'll go to my phone, open the browser, and this will be the process:

point my browser to mybroadband.co.za
H and tx arrow shows
page load is stalled for 15 seconds, progress bar stuck at 10% (other chat applications will now disconnect)
indicator changes to H+, and tx/rx flashes, website continues loading, progress bar goes to 25%
indicator changes back to H and tx arrow, page load stalls for 15 seconds, and chat applications disconnect
indicator changes to H+ and tx/rx happens, page loads to 75%, and then stops
indicator back to H, same as previous, 15-20 seconds
indicator changes back to H+ and page finally finishes loading and is displayed.

This has been happening this whole past week while i've been in gauteng, it happened in pretoria yesterday, rosebank the day before, midrand the whole week, and sandton the whole week.
I can't be the only one who is experiencing this. both of my devices can't have the same issue.
If I put an MTN or 8ta simcard in the devices, they work perfectly, and the service doesn't flap.

Also this does not happen while I am in cape town.
Click to expand...

Go check if there is a proxy loaded together with your apn. If there is, delete the proxy settings.
 
Uh, no. The issue is on layer 2, not layer 3.

This is a hardware handshaking issue, like when your network cable doesn't properly connect to your port and your connection goes on and off. Proxy (layer 3 IP network) only comes into play after the physical (layer 1) and data link(layer 2) connections have been successful and is stable.

EDIT: spelling
 
More info:

I put the vodacom simcards into a telkom E5330Bs-2 mobile wifi (huawei) which only supports 3G and 2G, and the connection is stable.
This is also with both simcards, one prepaid and one data contract that I got with the note 4.

This leads me to believe that 3.5G (HSDPA) hardware in the tower or their auth methods are not working as they should.

The problem follows the two simcards trying to connect to 3.5G networks. the devices I put the simcards into, operate perfectly fine on different cellphone providers using 3.5G
 
JohnDoeDeer said:
Uh, no. The issue is on layer 2, not layer 3.

This is a hardware handshaking issue, like when your network cable doesn't properly connect to your port and your connection goes on and off. Proxy (layer 3 IP network) only comes into play after the physical (layer 1) and data link(layer 2) connections have been successful and is stable.

EDIT: spelling
Click to expand...

Just check anyway. We have had issues before where the proxy brings the connection to a stand still.
 
Sorry I did forget to mention: No proxies configured on the APNs on either devices. It's the first thing I check and then also remove if I find any.
 
JohnDoeDeer said:
Sorry I did forget to mention: No proxies configured on the APNs on either devices. It's the first thing I check and then also remove if I find any.
Click to expand...

Strange. And the internet is set to "internet"?

PM me the number and I will remove and redo LTE for you if you have not had it done already.
 
Thanks very much, phone rebooted and apn changed, 4G now showing.

It should be fine so long as I remain in LTE coverage area.
 
So far so good, WCDMA/GSM only selected and connection stable on apn lte.voddacom.za. Stable H+ connection.

Other simcard in S4 remains unchanged and still has same issue after I changed the apn to lte.vodacom.za
 
Yep. Contract sim performing and behaving as it should on WCDMA/GSM, kicking down to H while idle, and going up into H+ when active and successfully keeping ssh connections up and fully loading pages. Setting back to 4G now.
 
Using browser on Macbook via note4 as hotspot - blank page
Using browser on macbook via vodacom via external (work) proxy/vpn - works
chrome on android - blank page
ghostery on android - blank page
the app tells me "Network communication issues"
 
JohnDoeDeer said:
Using browser on Macbook via note4 as hotspot - blank page
Using browser on macbook via vodacom via external (work) proxy/vpn - works
chrome on android - blank page
ghostery on android - blank page
the app tells me "Network communication issues"
Click to expand...

OH dear ... .then I dont know. I am not technical enough for this. I suggest you contact 082155 (data support)
 
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