Cell C connectivity or coverage problems? This may be why
Just as with every broadband service in South Africa, Cell C have had their fair share of unhappy customers.
The unhappiness generally seems to stem from users experiencing frequent disconnections or not being able to connect to Cell C’s HSPA+ network at all.
Most of the users reporting these problems also say that the coverage map on Cell C’s website indicates that they should have decent coverage in their area.
When MyBroadband mentioned these complaints to Lars Reichelt, CEO of Cell C, he explained that Cell C were aware of the problem and are working on correcting it.
He said that they made a mistake when they released their “Speedsticks” as Cell C didn’t configure them to only connect using W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access).
A quirk in the software on the USB HSPA/HSPA+ modems Cell C uses could then cause it to connect to an EDGE-only (i.e. low speed) base station with a higher signal strength than the nearest HSPA+ tower.
Reichelt said that this behaviour could also explain the disconnections some users are complaining about. When the cell created by the EDGE-only base station becomes too full, the modem may connect to a nearby HSPA+ tower.
Once there are less subscribers on the EDGE-only base station however, the USB modem might disconnect from the HSPA+ site due to the aforementioned signal strength problem.
This results in the thrashing effect between EDGE and HSPA+ that users have been complaining about, Reichelt explained.
According to Reichelt a number of potential solutions to the problem are in the works and Cell C will hopefully be able to deliver a solution to its users soon.
Have you experienced Cell C connectivity or coverage problems? << Share on the MyBroadband forums.
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