Vodacom BlackBerry Abuse: What you can expect

Summary: Vodacom works with RIM to identify usage patterns which point to abuse of the BlackBerry service. Until a workable solution is found, Vodacom is monitoring usage and say they will act in cases of gross misuse by contacting the customer directly.

Vodacom’s announcement on 12 September 2011 that they will throttle the speed of BlackBerry users from 3G to 2G if they exceed 100MB of data usage per month resulted in a massive backlash from consumers.

Vodacom explained that this intervention was necessary because “95% of BlackBerry data usage was attributable to less than 5% of users”.

Consumers felt that they were punished because of a few users who figured out to bypass the BlackBerry APN restrictions, and suggested that Vodacom find another solution to this problem.

Vodacom quickly backtracked after the outcry on the Internet about their usage threshold plans.

Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys said on Twitter that Vodacom is “not throttling anything now – working with BlackBerry to find solution to manage the massive bulk file downloads.”

Uys explained that BlackBerry’s encryption makes it impossible for Vodacom to solve this problem on their own, and Uys said that they contacted Research in Motion (RIM) as a matter of urgency to find a solution to this problem.

Pieter Uys - Vodacom CEO

Working on new solution

Vodacom has gone quiet since then. Uys told MyBroadband that there is no news since the company’s press release on Wednesday which stated that they will not throttle any users.

Uys did however point out that Vodacom is “working with RIM to identify the top end users that are over a fair use limit. We are not planning to affect the service of any of the other BlackBerry users.”

The mention of a ‘fair use limit’ may cause concern amoung Vodacom’s BlackBerry subscribers, but Uys emphasised that no BlackBerry customer using the service on-device as intended will be impacted by any changes currently underway.

“A small number of users are negatively impacting the quality of service experienced by ordinary BIS users. This is predominantly due to bulk file downloads – typically movies and TV episodes being downloaded from torrent sites, which is outside the terms and conditions of BIS,” said Uys.

Vodacom explained that BlackBerry Internet Service is an “on-device” service created to perform handset-based functions such as sending and receiving e-mails, browsing the web on the handset and using social media services such as Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

“When tethered to a computer, the BlackBerry devices acts like a normal modem and any downloads are charged at normal data rates. Some users have found ways around this and it is this behaviour that is causing the congestion, leading to degraded service for all,” said Uys.

“To put this into perspective, just 500 customers are at present managing to consume more data than 500,000 other customers who are using the service as per the terms and conditions.”

To combat bulk video and file downloads, as well as other off-device activities inconsistent with the BIS usage terms and conditions, Vodacom said that they are not focusing on a specific data limit but rather on usage patterns.

“These patterns, as opposed to specific users, will therefore be addressed and to this end Vodacom is working with RIM to identify and block usage inconsistent with the terms of the service,” said Uys.

“It’s common practice amongst mobile operators worldwide to protect their customers and network by taking similar steps. In the meantime we are monitoring usage and will act in cases of gross misuse by contacting the customer directly,” Uys concluded.