Data worth thousands disappearing from Cell C
An investigation by Analytico has revealed that data disappears from Cell C SIMs connected to a 4G network even when mobile data is disabled.
Analytico performed separate tests for disappearing airtime and data with SIMs from all four major network operators in South Africa.
The SIMs were inserted into identical Nokia 5 devices.
These devices run a near-stock version of Android and provide easy access to settings to disable mobile data use for all apps.
Mobile data use is also disabled for individual apps, and the devices are also connected to a stable Wi-Fi connection to provide alternative Internet access for any necessary services.
We confirmed that none of the SIMs were subscribed to any wireless application service provider’s premium content subscriptions, which can consume airtime and data.
Each SIM was also configured not to use any out-of-bundle data.
We loaded airtime and data, and the balance was monitored over ten days using the USSD balance checks for each network.
These were also confirmed not to use any airtime or data.
The only other data or airtime consumption remaining the signalling traffic networks use for their internal purposes, such as staying connected to the tower.
In the past, testing has found MTN and Telkom to zero-rate this signalling and have customers only pay for the data they use.
This latest test by Analytico shows that Vodacom may have made changes that prevent end users from being billed for internal signalling, as the Vodacom balance also remained constant for the whole period.
Only the Cell C SIM lost data over ten days, while the rest of the SIMs kept their original balance.
The Cell C SIM lost 1.07 MB over the test period, which aligns with previous tests by MyBroadband.
This may seem like a minor problem, but the fact is that these networks are making users pay for data they cannot use.
Cell C has around 423,000 subscribers. Using its out-of-bundle rate of 29c on the “All-In-One” tariff plan, that’s up to R393,770.70 per month in data consumers pay for but don’t get to use.
Although not all of Cell C’s subscribers will have phones supporting 4G connections, it’s safe to say that data worth hundreds of thousands disappears on the network every month.
| Disappearing Data | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Network | Vodacom | MTN | Telkom | Cell C |
| Data Difference |
0.00 MB | 0.00 MB | 0.00 MB | -1.07 MB |
| Airtime Difference |
R0.00 | R0.00 | R0.00 | R0.00 |
Why data disappears on Cell C, and used to disappear on Vodacom
Cell C chief technology officer Schalk Visser has previously explained that, even with mobile data disabled in the device’s settings, Android smartphones connected to an LTE network may still communicate with towers.
“Under the 3GPP LTE standards, data traffic is possible across the 4G mobile network even when the ‘mobile data’ setting is turned off,” Visser said.
Vodacom confirmed this, explaining that disappearing data happens because Android smartphones can use 4G mobile data even when the ‘mobile data’ setting is turned off.
“This is a function of how 4G is designed [and used by] the device, operating system, and relevant application developers,” a Vodacom spokesperson said.
“Testing has shown that small amounts of data are typically used for a connectivity test message in this way.”
Most applications will allow the handset settings to determine the bearer to be used, although app developers can force data over the mobile connection.
MyBroadband contacted Cell C and Vodacom for comment on Analytico’s latest findings, but neither provided feedback to our questions.
Vodacom did not respond to questions about whether it had zero-rated signalling traffic, and Cell C did not say why it was still billing for this traffic when no one else was.
Now read: South Africa’s best mobile network of 2022
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