Vodacom Problems: Slow Throughput, trying to Connect, DNS, High Latency

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VodacomData said:
Hi

This is compared to what you were previously getting

Download Speed: 264 kbps (33 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 872 kbps (109 KB/sec transfer rate)

I then disconnected and reconnected and did another test:

Download Speed: 451 kbps (56.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 983 kbps (122.9 KB/sec transfer rate)


what speeds do you want to constantly get ?

Regards
VodacomData
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Hi there

Those are the speeds I was getting when there was a general problem, about 6 weeks ago. Clearly those download speeds are also unacceptable.

Taking my proximity of around 200m to the base station into account, I would expect to get very close to maximum, i.e. 3.6 Mbps, which is what I got before the 3G went totally down, as previously stated.

Or, am I missing something here? :confused:
 
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Steinie said:
Hi there

Those are the speeds I was getting when my 3G was reduced to GPRS.

Taking my proximity of around 200m to the base station into account, I would expect to get very close to maximum, i.e. 3.6 Mbps.

Or, am I missing something here? :confused:
Click to expand...

Definitely debatable , i can see the tower from where i am that does not mean that you going to get 3.6 constantly.

In order for you to get 3.6 you need to be downloading constantly doing one speed test in my opinion is not going to be a true reflection of what its capable of.

For example download a file from the rapidshare server and see what speed you achieve, to get 3.6 constantly you need to be downloading constantly.Besides that you have cell breathing and an intelligent network that will provide that bandwidth when needed.

Regards
VodacomData
 
I hear you, Morné, but, why was I getting in excess of 3 Mpbs on VC speed test and around 2.5 Mbps on speedtest.com, before?

Something has definitely changed since about a month ago.

These speeds will definitely not encourage me to waste money on purchasing the 7.2 bundles!
 
I would like to vouch with Steinie, not tramping on anyones toes intentionally. I have 2 numbers, one preferable a data number, separate from my 'business' number. On both of them, also about a month now, the experience has been, that something somewhere, has gone awry. Sites that used to pop up, now take a few seconds longer to load, downloads in general were pleasurable, now much slower than usual.

Somewhere, something is not right, this is of concern, as noticed by the feedback on these forums, how many users out there, unaware of 'mybroadband' forums and other forums not monitored by Vodacom that experience the same?

I really trust that the bright blokes at Vodacom are noticing this trend the past month, will hopefully find the fault(s) or culprit(s) and make things right again soon.
 
Steinie said:
My speeds were fine until about 3 weeks agon, when my local base station lost 3G. It was repaired after about 36 hours, but since then my download speed has been way below what it used to be.

I used to get at least 2 Mbps, but this is the best I have been able to get:

Download Speed: 1756 kbps (219.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1140 kbps (142.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

All I get from VC is that they are "looking into the problem". I received one feedback call about two weeks ago, but that was it!

:mad:
Click to expand...

Mmm... that sounds familiar. I also noticed a few weeks back that my speedtests would not go beyond 1.8Mbps down and 384kbps up. I phoned VC about it and they kept on blaming it on my equipment. I told them that it seems as if my package has been downgraded. They couldn't really give me an answer and said they will come back to me. By the time they came back to me the speeds had improved. I just did one and it tested at 3069 kbps HSDPA and 1147 kbps HSUPA.

So maybe keep on trying with 155 and remember to get a ref. no.

BTW: Is it just me or does the following statement on VC's speedtest site not make sense:

"Upload Speeds:
Current upload speeds are up to 64Kb/s for 3G, up to 384Kb/s for HSDPA and up to 1.4Mb/s for HSUPA."

How can they mention HSDPA (the "D" stands for "download") under "Upload Speeds"?:confused:
 
Buccluech, Vodacom 3G... not

Hi

I'm also in Buccleuch, been having decreasing quality for months but most severe over he last month.

Have been logging calls but get very little if any meaningful feedback.

Speed cam back up to about 1.5 Mb a few minutes ago and then crashed again, when ts happens which is most of the time one can get connected again by setting the device to GPRS only, but that also seems to degrade over time - maybe as more people do the same.

Callcentre agents have also suggested using the usb cables on usb modems as these allegedly act as antennae, haven't made up my mind about that but pretty certain the problem is not with the signal.

I think the average of the tests I've done when the connection has been capable of even doing a speedtest is

current speed (GPRS only)

download 0.06 Mb/s
upload 0.03Mb/s
ping 701 ms

I seem to remeber 29.9K dialup being faster than this.

I also have a MTN 3G which is still reasonable but has a much smaller cap - Vodacom used to be much better than the MTN
now MTN gives
Download 2.14Mb/s
Upload 0.3Mb/s
Ping 242ms

Am extremely disappointed with Vodacom

As my wife says its like going to a restaurant ordering a pizza, paying for it and then they only give you one slice of it.

More like, go to a hotel, rent a room, then middle of the night they start carrying out all the furniture and suggest you sleep in the bath without as much as an explanation.
 
dex_10 said:
"Upload Speeds:
Current upload speeds are up to 64Kb/s for 3G, up to 384Kb/s for HSDPA and up to 1.4Mb/s for HSUPA."

How can they mention HSDPA (the "D" stands for "download") under "Upload Speeds"?:confused:
Click to expand...

The U refers to the enhanced upload capability of the technology, the downlink for HSDPA and HSUPA is the same. This is probably why more people are starting to call the technology HSPA. However while we are in the transition phase and have a mix of HSDPA and HSUPA enabled devices, you need to differentiate at a hardware level so people can understand what their devices are capable of.
 
I've logged 4 calls since the 6th of August, just called again. What ticks me of now is that it seems all the calls have been marked as closed even though the issue has clearly not been resolved.

6 August S2y2e388tb0y
17 August S2y3p4pp13az
19 August S2y3r3ee00kc
20 August S2y3s3oohgkn
23 August s2y3v1992nx2
 
Hi guys,just to add... I dont really care about speeds but all i need is quality.512kbps is good enough for me but pls pls pls i get so pissed when i get disconnected every 5 minutes.:mad:

Tried manual dial up connections, added different AT strings,changed dial up numbers, changed modems, sim cards and all and stil have the same crap :mad: . this is definately a network problem!!!!!i hope it ends soon, we will just have to wait, its pointless logging faults.
 
This isn't related to the upgrades VC is doing for 2010 by any chance? I remember an article or something that mentioned potential downtimes and slow speeds while they upgrade their networks.

Though I'm pretty sure they said work on the towers will be restricted to daytime hours for safety reasons...
 
ok ok, i just increased modem speeds in my dial up properties and did a speedtest
3992kbps Dl and 1243kbps Ul. connected now for 20 mins.. Hope it stays this way!
 
ngwenyas said:
its pointless logging faults.
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not quite, vodacom is a biggie - it takes time for information to flow through it, the more calls logged with accurate information the better the chances of it getting to someone who can do something about it.

With all of that said it seems better at the moment, but if it doesn't remain stable or we don't get some meaningful feedback I'll be cancelling my contract this week.
 
Thanks for the advice, guys, but as someone else pointed out, there is no point in logging complaints with the (incompetent) 155 operators if nothing is done about it ... and no feedback is given.

Despite VodacomData's comments, the fact remains that I used to get 3.6 speeds and now I no longer do! I had great d/l speeds, whether I opened a web page or downloaded a large file.

Something on VC's side has changed for the worst and they should immediately do something to rectify the matter, instead of making excuses and providing a crappy service to their customers.

It's the right thing to do! :)



--------------------------------------------------------------

Just did a test on VC speedtest:

Last Result:

Download Speed: 246 kbps (30.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 924 kbps (115.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

Totally unacceptable!! :mad::mad::mad:
 
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Ja, I am trying to play COD 4 and am getting bad latency, 300ms. Oh well, gotta live with it I suppose.
 
Guys, I think its a general Vodacom problem. I am in the Germiston area and am using 7.2 with full signal.

Average local latency: 256ms
Ping loss: 9%
Download (IS): 112kbps

:(
 
This may or may not help with diagnostics:

I'm in the Brooklyn area in Pretoria, I use an E220 modem and run the mdma application, which shows signal strength. I used to get about -85 dBm indoors, and could boost it to -79 dBm if I put the modem outside the window, which always gave a solid connection.

This has changed in the last few weeks, I now get a maximum of -95 dBm regardless of where I put the modem, and while I don't get many disconnects, there are hours at a time when I can't get any websites to open. At best, I have to hit refresh once or twice to get a page to open and the connection is very intermittent (but doesn't disconnect completely).

I did some testing in a game when the connection seemed more solid again, but the lag is much higher than usual and the connection disappears for seconds at a time.

It is definitely worse in the evenings. All seems ok this morning, but the signal strength is still quite bad.

I hope this post gives some clues to what the problem is...
 
....Vodacomdata reported that they are busy with stuff in the PTA area.

If your levels dropped by 16 dB's (-79 to -95dBm) I would have my modem checked and if its ok, then report it immediately if the problem persists. That 082155 should do the trick …

You seem to have lost serious 3G coverage in that specific area and there could be others like you.
 
HappyData said:
....Vodacomdata reported that they are busy with stuff in the PTA area.

If your levels dropped by 16 dB's (-79 to -95dBm) I would have my modem checked and if its ok, then report it immediately if the problem persists. That 082155 should do the trick …

You seem to have lost serious 3G coverage in that specific area and there could be others like you.
Click to expand...

My area is not listed for upgrades, nor are any of my adjacent suburbs. How far apart are the cell towers? Is there a map of the towers anywhere?

The listed upgrades should all be completed by the end of August from what I can tell, there's a chance that the towers which aren't being upgraded have to cope with more users during this time. I'll give it to end of August before I make an official complaint, given that the upgrades could be affecting other areas.
 
ParadoximA said:
My area is not listed for upgrades, nor are any of my adjacent suburbs. How far apart are the cell towers? Is there a map of the towers anywhere?

The listed upgrades should all be completed by the end of August from what I can tell, there's a chance that the towers which aren't being upgraded have to cope with more users during this time. I'll give it to end of August before I make an official complaint, given that the upgrades could be affecting other areas.
Click to expand...

Neither is my area. I am about 200m from the base station and I have always had a near perfect signal. Nothing has changed on my side. Running an E272 and my u/l speed is quite satisfactory. I must assume that VC is to blame, right?

And I am not getting any joy from them, either. My complaint has been "open" for about three weeks and I have only had one feedback call, which was about two weeks ago.

:mad:
 
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