Vodacom takes flack for 3G Ad

albert123 said:
no, it is the fastest mobile internet available. what is faster? they dont specify on the billboards EVERY WHERE, just "mobile"
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Well, MTN's GPRS is faster at nearly 10k :D than Vodacom's <1k :mad:
I see no reason that MTN's average 3G and HSDPA speed would then not be faster than Vodacom's. Maybe MyADSL should do some testing to see if Vodacom has a right to make that claim. And don't exclude Cell-C just because they are considered useless. The lack of people using the service might just give them the capacity to provide the fastest service. :D
ic said:
IMO Vodacom started down a very slippery slope in deciding to make a price distinction between HSDPA and 3G|EDGE|GPRS - if Vodacom's data customers do not consistently get the speeds they feel they are paying for, those customers will be very angry. If Vodacom had simply dropped its data rates regardless of bearer network & connection speed, customers would have been more lenient and prepared to accept having to use say GPRS in a particular area when they know they can get HSDPA in another [better covered] area, and consumer uptake ['economies of scale'] would have been much better as well...interesting that MTN haven't [AFAIK] decided to do the same & make a price distinction between HSDPA and 3G|EDGE|GPRS speeds...
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There's some problems there which Vodacom should resolve. What's going to happen when people buy their HSDPA data bundles and they don't get what they are paying for? Since HSDPA data is 25% more expensive they should only deduct 820kB for every MB on 3G.
 
Prometheus said:
Well, MTN's GPRS is faster at nearly 10k than Vodacom's <1k
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dont know what you referring to there but if you mean vodacom has a gprs connection speed of <1k then....

i connect from my laptop via a motorola E398 vodacom cellphone. i get a download speed of avg 60kbit/s which is about the same as a analogue modem. on average the actual connection speed is about 112kbit/s. this is a normal cellphone, not a 3g card using gprs, i can imagine that will be a bit faster still. also i've tried that in MANY places, cities, towns, even in the middle of hartebeespoort dam i can connect and download reasonably quick considering i'm using a normal cellphone.

so please explain how you got to <1k ?

i'm not saying its faster than mtn or cell c. i'm just saying it works moer nice :)

And don't exclude Cell-C just because they are considered useless
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ROFL @ USELESS, ai boet they try their best hey, i think they were very brave to want to enter the market
 
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albert123 said:
dont know what you referring to there but if you mean vodacom has a gprs connection speed of <1k then....

i connect from my laptop via a motorola E398 vodacom cellphone. i get a download speed of avg 60kbit/s which is about the same as a analogue modem. on average the actual connection speed is about 112kbit/s. this is a normal cellphone, not a 3g card using gprs, i can imagine that will be a bit faster still. also i've tried that in MANY places, cities, towns, even in the middle of hartebeespoort dam i can connect and download reasonably quick considering i'm using a normal cellphone.

so please explain how you got to <1k ?
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The Motorola E398 is a Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots) GPRS device with a maximum speed of 80kbps even though most of the reviews rate it at an optimistic 32-48kbps. Your post is a bit contradictory. Although 60kbps is within it's range I can't see it being a true average all the time. I find it a bit contradictory that you also state an again average connection speed of 112kbps which is not within the possible range especially as an average which would imply an even higher maximum speed which is just impossible for any GPRS device. I haven't seen anything stating that your phone is EDGE capable. On the contrary I did find articles stating it is not. I have also seen people on this forum claiming I-Burst speeds of between 2-4Mbps on average possibly mistaking reported download speed for the actual connection speed.

The speed I usually get during the day and evening on GPRS is normally under 1KBps (8kbps). It then gradually increases to an average 1-2KBps (16kbps). It seldom goes above 3KBps (24kbps) and if it goes above 4KBps (32kbps) I will call it a miracle. This is when almost no one uses it and I live within 500m of the tower. I just don't think that Vodacom's GPRS service is capable of anything above a very optimistic 40kbps. Cell-C should be able to beat my GPRS connection even on one of their bad days.
 
I'm using my SE 700i as a GPRS modem for my laptop when I have the need for mobile connectivity.

Typical speeds are around 60kb/s in the cities, but in the rural areas it drops quite a bit.

But then, GPRS is a time multiplexing code scheme, so the distance from the tower has a dramatic effect on throughput. I'm often in the bundus and I guess at the edge of Vodacom coverage.

GPRS is fine for the way I'm using it - and I doubt if I would get faster service going even 3G as there is no 3G where I need mobile connectivity.

But, being slower than 3G, I would reckon that it would be fair to reduce GPRS rates to below 3G rates.
 
HTML: 
Vodacom was recently voted the ‘company that cares most about its customers’

Makes u wonder exactly what they think of their customers.
 
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