{"id":408962,"date":"2021-08-09T17:59:23","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T15:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=408962"},"modified":"2021-08-09T21:18:01","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T19:18:01","slug":"disappearing-airtime-on-cell-c-discovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/408962-disappearing-airtime-on-cell-c-discovered.html","title":{"rendered":"Disappearing airtime on Cell C discovered"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent testing by MyBroadband has revealed disappearing airtime on Cell C\u2019s network, even when you switch off mobile data.<\/p>\n

For the disappearing airtime test, MyBroadband used a Nokia 5 smartphone that runs close to stock Android.<\/p>\n

The smartphone was reset to its factory default and was then updated over Wi-Fi to ensure no minor updates happened during the test.<\/p>\n

All future updates were then disabled, and we restricted data usage for all processes through the Android settings.<\/p>\n

MyBroadband purchased a new Cell C SIM and placed it in the Nokia 5 smartphone. The SIM was then checked to be clear of WASP services.<\/p>\n

R15 airtime was loaded on the SIM card. The phone was then plugged in and connected to a fast Wi-Fi network.<\/p>\n

We switched off mobile data to ensure the device could not consume any airtime during the testing period.<\/p>\n

No action was performed on the phone during the two week testing period, apart from checking the balance using a USSD code.<\/p>\n

To ensure the test was fair and produce comparative results, MyBroadband also tested disappearing airtime on other networks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The test results revealed that small amounts of airtime disappeared from the Cell C SIM over the two week testing period.<\/p>\n

At the end of the two week testing period, the Cell C SIM only had R14.81 left. Most of the airtime was lost in the second week of testing.<\/p>\n

The Telkom and MTN SIMs, in comparison, lost no airtime over the testing period. Both networks confirmed that no airtime should be lost in our testing environment.<\/p>\n

Cell C confirmed that airtime was deducted from the SIM but could not explain why the airtime disappeared.<\/p>\n

Cell C CTO Schalk Visser said their systems had logged valid chargeable usage, albeit at low levels, for the SIM used by Mybroadband for testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot comment on specific device behaviour or your test scenario, but we do understand that with mobile data disabled one would not expect a handset to consume data,\u201d said Visser.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe intend to carry out a similar test and undertake to communicate the results thereof with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Test Results<\/h3>\n

The table below shows the results of MyBroadband\u2019s disappearing airtime test. The Vodacom results will be released in a future article.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Airtime<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Network<\/strong><\/td>\nStarting Airtime<\/strong><\/td>\nAirtime after 1 week<\/strong><\/td>\nAirtime after 2 weeks<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cell C<\/td>\nR15.00<\/td>\nR14.99<\/span><\/td>\nR14.81<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MTN<\/td>\nR15.00<\/td>\nR15.00<\/span><\/td>\nR15.00<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Telkom<\/td>\nR15.00<\/td>\nR15.00<\/span><\/td>\nR15.00<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Now read: Cell C customers getting raw deal on network speeds<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Testing has revealed disappearing airtime on Cell C\u2019s network, even when you switch off mobile data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":408756,"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":[355,35863,35,42,41],"class_list":["post-408962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-cell-c","tag-disappearing-airtime","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408962"}],"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=408962"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409094,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408962\/revisions\/409094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}