{"id":295574,"date":"2019-02-12T08:04:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T06:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=295574"},"modified":"2019-02-12T09:12:03","modified_gmt":"2019-02-12T07:12:03","slug":"vodacom-explains-best-network-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/295574-vodacom-explains-best-network-claim.html","title":{"rendered":"Vodacom explains “best network” claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

MyBroadband\u2019s latest Mobile Network Quality Report showed that MTN has the best network in South Africa<\/strong><\/a>, but this did not stop Vodacom from claiming to have the \u201cbest network in SA\u201d.<\/p>\n

Vodacom’s marketing material contains a wide range of network claims, including \u201cSA\u2019s Best Network\u201d and \u201cSA\u2019s fastest 4G network\u201d.<\/p>\n

For many years Vodacom relied on network performance measurements from MyBroadband and Ookla for its \u201cbest network\u201d claims.<\/p>\n

On many occasions Vodacom also defended its \u201cbest network\u201d claims using speed test results from MyBroadband and Ookla.<\/p>\n

This changed, however, after both MyBroadband and Ookla\u2019s results showed that MTN has the best network in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Vodacom was not about to stop saying it has the best network, though, and started to use survey results from the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi)<\/strong><\/a> for its claim.<\/p>\n

Instead of real-world network tests, the SAcsi results are based on \u201cquality perceptions of technology components, products, services, and operations of the mobile networks\u201d.<\/p>\n

New \u201cbest network\u201d definition from Vodacom<\/h3>\n

Vodacom has now changed its \u201cbest network\u201d definition to ensure its lagging network performance does not affect it.<\/p>\n

The company told MyBroadband that its latest best network claims are based on a \u201ccombination of factors including speed scores, coverage, customer satisfaction, and brand recognition\u201d.<\/p>\n

Vodacom said it holds a clear lead over competitors in customer satisfaction, coverage, and brand recognition.<\/p>\n

The company said its claims to have the \u201cBest 4G network\u201d are also based on these factors.<\/p>\n

It is not clear whether Vodacom\u2019s claim to have \u201cSA\u2019s fastest 4G network\u201d is also based on factors like customer satisfaction and brand recognition.<\/p>\n

Best network claim and speed<\/h3>\n

In response to questions about the company changing its \u201cbest network\u201d metrics, Vodacom said the \u201cbest network\u201d claim cannot simply be limited to a single factor such as speed.<\/p>\n

This is strange, considering Vodacom used speed – and speed alone – for many years to claim to have the best network.<\/p>\n

On multiple occasions Vodacom used speed test data from MyBroadband and Ookla in Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) complaints to show that it has the \u201cbest network\u201d.<\/p>\n

Vodacom told MyBroadband that it now focuses on the \u201ctotal customer experience – great performance, widest range, choice and above all, service excellence\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs indicated above, Vodacom relies upon various different industry sources to assess its fulfilment of these criteria,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

Vodacom “Best Network” marketing material<\/h3>\n

The images below show Vodacom’s latest marketing campaigns regarding its network.<\/p>\n

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Now read: MTN has the best mobile network in South Africa<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vodacom claims to have the \u201cbest network\u201d and \u201cbest 4G network\u201d in South Africa, despite the fact that MTN has superior network performance – Vodacom explains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":281323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[41264,35,42,41],"class_list":["post-295574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-best-network","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295574"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295644,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295574\/revisions\/295644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}