Vodacom vs MTN vs Cell C: network quality tests

"The drive test results do not represent the mobile service provider’s overall network performance, and are based on the specified routes during the time of day when the measurements were carried out and using a particular type of handset."

I would be interested to know how these test were conducted and wheather a spectrun aniliser was run in the area of the tests to look for interferance.
Radio signals are susptable to interferance and harmonics of transmissions are a problem on old equipment which will cause interferance and disruptions.
 
Vodacom's dropped call rate has improved IMHO - I used to regularly drop calls, now it still happens but less often.
 
It's pretty evident that Cell C has a bit of quality issues, but I feel it's worse that what this test depicts. And where is Virgin Mobile as well???
 
spidaman said:
It's pretty evident that Cell C has a bit of quality issues, but I feel it's worse that what this test depicts. And where is Virgin Mobile as well???
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I agree Cell C is worse I recently ported to Telkom to give them a try.
 
When I was still on VC I reported a particularly bad area. After a few weeks I received an SMS that the problem was resolved. I called from the same location to report that the coverage was still poor. I had to use an MTN phone in the end!

Moved to Cell C ages ago - no better or worse than the other 2 IMHO
 
i must say vodacom overall call quality has been good/ improving in the last couple months. i don't get any dropped calls out of joburg
 
Dropped call rate of less than 3%. 3% of what. 1 minute calls, 1 hours calls, or only calls made. Rather a useless stat without a time measurement.
 
I've been with CellC for over 8 years now and in my experience their call drop rate has been significantly higher in the last 3 years.. and even more so in the last 6 months.

I do find their call quality and signal are in fact better in the Eastern Cape. In the Western Cape I would say I get a call drop or quality issue on at least 1 in 4 calls.

The regulator really needs to do something to fix this - I don't see why I should pay for a dropped call.
 
They should do the same test in Cape Town. I have both Vodacom and CellC phones on me most of the time. Vodacom is by far the least reliable network down here.
 
Are the test calls on net or to different providers?
I would actually like to see the success of calls across networks (e.g. Vodacom to MTN) as, in my experience, the likelihood of a successful call across networks is far lower than a call on the same network.
 
recre8 said:
They should do the same test in Cape Town. I have both Vodacom and CellC phones on me most of the time. Vodacom is by far the least reliable network down here.
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I don't know about that, but they don't seem to be much better. To me it has been more of the case that they have all gone downhill.

What is strange is the stats vs those maps, the Cell C look pretty darn good on average except one or two dead spots in certain areas compared to say MTN which appear to have a lot of weak areas. I assume those are signal strength though.

Any reason they couldn't publish what handset was used? That would be interesting to note, also whether data services were on at the time.
 
The stats look very reliable indeed when considering my experience with cell c
 
I somehow feel its subjective and using this to decide which network to use is rather fruitless.

Get a pre paid sim and test the networks in your areas that you live in or frequent then compare prices and decide for yourself which one to go for.

Sometimes within a 1km radius the signal differs significantly.So whats good for others in your area even may not be good for you.


I do hope that studies like these push the networks to improve even more though.
 
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