Vodacom network quality nosedive?

RudderVator

RudderVator

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Would be interesting to hear if other fellow MyBroadband users have also been experiencing a slow decline of Vodacom's general network quality in the last 6 months especially? I am in the Pretoria area North and East mostly and dropped calls are increasing especiallly while driving on the N1.

Poor voice quality pretty much on every call even in areas with good coverage there is stutter or noise during calls?

Basically it is impossible to complete a call in the wonderboom area even with good signal indications?

Seems like MTN have surpassed Vodacom in not only coverage but in the quality of the connection?
 
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I recently joined Vodacom and can confirm that it is 100% better than cell-c. (pretoria / centurion areas)

Some cool benefits i am now getting is
- international roaming (cell-c is very limited)
- 4g (cell-c only has 3g)
- calls (cell-c is very bad with some call conversations getting spliced into others, which is super awkward)
 
dews said:
I recently joined Vodacom and can confirm that it is 100% better than cell-c. (pretoria / centurion areas)

Some cool benefits i am now getting is
- international roaming (cell-c is very limited)
- 4g (cell-c only has 3g)
- calls (cell-c is very bad with some call conversations getting spliced into others, which is super awkward)
Click to expand...
Shill....
 
dews said:
I recently joined Vodacom and can confirm that it is 100% better than cell-c. (pretoria / centurion areas)

Some cool benefits i am now getting is
- international roaming (cell-c is very limited)
- 4g (cell-c only has 3g)
- calls (cell-c is very bad with some call conversations getting spliced into others, which is super awkward)
Click to expand...
Thats true, smoke signals are better than Cell C:ROFL: But I have been with Vodacom for primary since 2004 and to me the network used to be the best all along no doubt but lately it has been failing me more and more and it has now started becoming an irritation.
 
Louis72 said:
Thats true, smoke signals are better than Cell C:ROFL: But I have been with Vodacom for primary since 2004 and to me the network used to be the best all along no doubt but lately it has been failing me more and more and it has now started becoming an irritation.
Click to expand...
Yea, Congestion/Telkom roaming clients.

When that started I had my internet connection at home drop constantly, even call quality went for a ball but it seems to be back to normal now.
 
So this seems relevant to add here.

I'm in Cape Town on holiday now, and have run three data speed tests at the same time from my apartment in the CBD.

1) Device: Cellphone
Connection: built-in LTE modem
Network: Vodacom
Download: 81.8Mbps
Upload: 11.6Mbps
Ping: 25ms

2) Device: Cellphone
Connection: Portable Huawei LTE router
Network: Vodacom
Download: 41.9Mbps
Upload: 21Mbps
Ping: 17ms

3) Device: iPad Pro
Connection: Built-in LTE modem
Network: Telkom Mobile
Download: 150 Mbps
Upload: 11.2 Mbps
Ping: 50ms

The first two are odd for me: I don't know why the same Vodacom network would deliver such mixed results: 100% faster downloads over built-in modem compared to LTE router, but 100% slower uploads.

Telkom then comes in with 100% faster downloads than Vodacom's fastest result ... and the upload speed is on par with Vodacom's built-in modem upload (albeit with worse ping).

I know the device modems and random network factors play a role too ... but that just proves that Telkom is bringing the high-speed data game to Vodacom, albeit not at the same quality (ping is life).
 
Yip, Vodacom going backwards, signal is terrible in the Pretoria area
 
Maybe the combined effect of Telkom roaming and increased subscribers due to the reduced data prices.
 
dews said:
I recently joined Vodacom and can confirm that it is 100% better than cell-c. (pretoria / centurion areas)

Some cool benefits i am now getting is
- international roaming (cell-c is very limited)
- 4g (cell-c only has 3g)
- calls (cell-c is very bad with some call conversations getting spliced into others, which is super awkward)
Click to expand...

Cellc only has 3g.... uhm false they have LTE and LTE-A.

Calls spliced in to others seems like unreal. I have never had that happen to me ever so it could be happening but not as frequent as you may suggest.

As for the network. Yes Vodacom is so far a head of Cellc it's like a one man race.

All that said MTN is the best network. Most will confirm. Just get a prepaid simcard and load a free 1GB bundle on it from Afrihost. Insert it into a modern cellphone that can do LTE-A and see the difference. You can travel for 7 hours on highway and never lose 4G once.
 
cavedog said:
Cellc only has 3g.... uhm false they have LTE and LTE-A.

Calls spliced in to others seems like unreal. I have never had that happen to me ever so it could be happening but not as frequent as you may suggest.

As for the network. Yes Vodacom is so far a head of Cellc it's like a one man race.

All that said MTN is the best network. Most will confirm. Just get a prepaid simcard and load a free 1GB bundle on it from Afrihost. Insert it into a modern cellphone that can do LTE-A and see the difference. You can travel for 7 hours on highway and never lose 4G once.
Click to expand...


Sup Cavedog.

I would just like to confirm that Cell-C does have 4g (or LTE) in maybe 5% of areas from Pretoria to Johannesburg.
One time i saw 4g when I went to Edenvale, but it could also have been an illusion due to the heat, I am not sure.
 
dews said:
Sup Cavedog.

I would just like to confirm that Cell-C does have 4g (or LTE) in maybe 5% of areas from Pretoria to Johannesburg.
One time i saw 4g when I went to Edenvale, but it could also have been an illusion due to the heat, I am not sure.
Click to expand...

It's actually really good. 4G all in Centurion all the way to PTA east and midrand to the whole kf JHB. Maybe your phone does not support the correct bands but coverage is good. Speed not so much.
 
Anyone having problems in Cape Town tonight? I can only send WhatsApp messages over Vodacom but can't even browse websites.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
So this seems relevant to add here.

I'm in Cape Town on holiday now, and have run three data speed tests at the same time from my apartment in the CBD.

3) Device: iPad Pro
Connection: Built-in LTE modem
Network: Telkom Mobile
Download: 150 Mbps
Upload: 11.2 Mbps
Ping: 50ms

Telkom then comes in with 100% faster downloads than Vodacom's fastest result ... and the upload speed is on par with Vodacom's built-in modem upload (albeit with worse ping).

I know the device modems and random network factors play a role too ... but that just proves that Telkom is bringing the high-speed data game to Vodacom, albeit not at the same quality (ping is life).
Click to expand...

Regarding Telkom, if on your device you can change or setup a new APN then you might find you get different results.

For me, with an APN set to "TelkomInternet", pings tend to generally come down to the mid-20s ; on just "Telkom" they're in the 40s ; on 3G only, the pings don't vary much - for me - and are around the mid-40s regardless of whether set to "TelkomInternet" or just "Telkom".

A matter of testing / "playing around".
 
My Vodacom LTE is switching on and off for the last hour. Useless ****ing companies in SA. Telkom LTE was also good in the past but has been dogshit lately.
 
My Vodacom LTE wasn't working at all on my phone for 4 days. I tried resetting the APN, rebooting the phone, everything. Nothing helped. Phone only worked when switching to 3g. Tried customer care but the wait on the phone was too long. Went to my local VC store, LTE was removed from my sim and the activated again. So far so good.
 
It's LTE here flat out today on Vodacom. No changing all the time to 3G etc. I'm deep in ANC voter country about 60 mins from East London.
 
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Louis72 said:
Would be interesting to hear if other fellow MyBroadband users have also been experiencing a slow decline of Vodacom's general network quality in the last 6 months especially? I am in the Pretoria area North and East mostly and dropped calls are increasing especiallly while driving on the N1.

Poor voice quality pretty much on every call even in areas with good coverage there is stutter or noise during calls?

Basically it is impossible to complete a call in the wonderboom area even with good signal indications?

Seems like MTN have surpassed Vodacom in not only coverage but in the quality of the connection?
Click to expand...

Yes, voice calling has definitely become degraded the past few months.
 
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