Mobile operators fail to respond to MTN HTC Android FOTA update announcement

"Hell, it's about time." Good on MTN, let's hope they actually do it right. As for Vodacom, the more I read about what they're not doing and what they're charging for said lack of service, the more I'm leaning towards the idea of not being their customer anymore when my contract runs out.

As for this:
He explained that it's not just a matter of dumping the ROMs on the server and pushing updates out to devices as each ROM must be approved by the operator.
Click to expand...
Read: "The operators need to fill the ROM with their crapware first, before selling it to consumers as chocolate-coated ice-cream."
 
HawkiesZA said:
"Hell, it's about time." Good on MTN, let's hope they actually do it right. As for Vodacom, the more I read about what they're not doing and what they're charging for said lack of service, the more I'm leaning towards the idea of not being their customer anymore when my contract runs out.

As for this: Read: "The operators need to fill the ROM with their crapware first, before selling it to consumers as chocolate-coated ice-cream."
Click to expand...

I share the very same sentiment with you....
 
Just root and flash a custom recovery. Then you can load your own ROMs and not have to deal with Leaf and their ***.
 
the OTA updates aren't free to dowlonad, which is dumb. I don't see why anyone wouldn't just use their phone connected to a PC at home/work to update, instead of using costly mobile bandwidth to update the phone. Also, I was looking at the HD Desire on MTN contact and it doesn't come with any free data. I dunno what the point of that is, a smart phone on a contract with no data.
 
Huh??

I updated my HTC Desire to Froyo via OTA on Vodacom 2 days ago.
 
Also, I got a Desire on MTN. They advertise that their internet on smart phones is really ayoba. Not the case. I put in a Vodascum simcard, and it felt like a new phone when the data is on! Google Street view is instantly on, where with MTN takes about 30 seconds a view...in Pretoria! So MTN still sucks in my opinion. I get my roms the manual way.
 
i'm on Cell C and also updated to froyo over the air......not sure what the fuss is about....they still charging you at their super expensive rates...at least with Cell C i used their new data bundle to download the 150+ MB update
 
UtianG said:
Huh??

I updated my HTC Desire to Froyo via OTA on Vodacom 2 days ago.
Click to expand...

seems vodacom & cellc just get on with business (providing OTA ROMS) without making a fanfare of it like MTN, who are yet to deliver.
 
don't know why mybb is pushing this free OTA thing when it is patently not free
 
Does this mean it time to dump the BlackBerry I have in favour of the HTC Desire HD? :D Vra ma net! Anyone out there with an Desire HD? What's the battery life like? Do share. As for MTN (you suck), I can't wait for my contract to expire!
 
Y shoud we pay to upgrade OS. Don't the operators know dat with firmware upgrade comes more data hungry apps?
 
So mobile operators do not want to provide updates for one of the most popular brands/OS out there, nice one....good business model there.
 
milomak said:
don't know why mybb is pushing this free OTA thing when it is patently not free
Click to expand...

The "F" in FOTA stands for "firmware," not "free." Don't know which article you were reading but the whole point I was making was that MTN *wasn't* zero-rating the downloads like Leaf said they were pushing for.

As for everyone who has updated their phones on other networks, the issue here is the firmware updates. I've been toying with the idea of doing an article on this, but haven't been able to get anyone "official" to confirm what I've been experiencing.

First up: Can anyone who's got an HTC Desire which they've updated please post (or PM me) what firmware version they were running prior to the update?

FOTA is more than just an Android 2.2 update

This is important, because the first batch of phones sold in South Africa run older firmware with software versions prior to 1.21 (mine is 1.15.405.4 to be specific). To be able to update to FroYo you have to first update your ROM to version 1.21.x.

Customers on various network (MTN, Vodacom, Cell C) have reported being able to upgrade their HTC Desire's despite no official announcement of such an update being made. I suspect this is because they have newer devices that were shipped to SA with software versions 1.21 and newer. Some customers are even reporting receiving HTC Desire's that have already been upgraded to FroYo.

So saying that Vodacom and Cell C are just getting down to business without the fanfare isn't accurate. Vodacom for one have confirmed that they have no plans to provide FOTA (as stated in the article). For the time being, though, this only impacts early adopters of HTC's smartphones.

*EDIT: Dang, this turned into a bit of a tl;dr. Hopefully some folks read this and get the message out, because it's really sad that only one operator in SA has FOTA (even if not zero-rated, it's not zero-rated anywhere else in the world to my knowledge).

It's equally sad that said operator (along with Leaf) took so long to get the systems in place where the rest of the world has had the update for months.
 
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Are you not talking about the Software number? My HTC Wildfire has a firmware version of 2.1-update 1. My software number is 1.16.421.1.
 
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