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Question of the Day: How was your voting experience?
Sorry, you’re breaking up …
- Thread starter rpm
- Start date
In all honesty, its pathetic. I get the following, does not matter what phone, on the MTN network:
1. Call dies when moving from a 3G to non 3G tower, only on Nokia though.
2. I frequently get the call cut, then the phone says call not answered message on the phone. In the middle of a long call.
3. I make a call, then hear nothing, and wait. I look at the screen, and the counter is going. I hang up, call again, and they say they could hear me breathe, but to me, no call was made. Of course I pay for that. This happens at least twice a day.
4. Generally shocking signal in a lot of areas, with bad quality voice.
5. Frequently get call not allowed when trying to make a call, then redial straight away and it connects.
I used to have a E70 Nokia, then a Samsung D600, then a Motorola Razr, now a Nokia N95 8GB, and the call problems are on all, so its not the phone.
I have been with MTN for about 8 years, on a Pro Call 600, with Vodacom before that, although their service was shocking, hence the change. Bill averages R1000-R1300.
1. Call dies when moving from a 3G to non 3G tower, only on Nokia though.
2. I frequently get the call cut, then the phone says call not answered message on the phone. In the middle of a long call.
3. I make a call, then hear nothing, and wait. I look at the screen, and the counter is going. I hang up, call again, and they say they could hear me breathe, but to me, no call was made. Of course I pay for that. This happens at least twice a day.
4. Generally shocking signal in a lot of areas, with bad quality voice.
5. Frequently get call not allowed when trying to make a call, then redial straight away and it connects.
I used to have a E70 Nokia, then a Samsung D600, then a Motorola Razr, now a Nokia N95 8GB, and the call problems are on all, so its not the phone.
I have been with MTN for about 8 years, on a Pro Call 600, with Vodacom before that, although their service was shocking, hence the change. Bill averages R1000-R1300.
Albereth
Honorary Master
I haven't notice any worse quality when it comes to voice.
However,
I get calls dropped. Sometimes these happen at the same place (e.g. top of 1st Ave in Linden) which indicates that the coverage is poor, and sometimes at random places.
Have gone for fairly long periods where there is just no connection
Have had people phone me and it goes straight to voicemail.
Have a messages undelivered or delivered hours (if not days) later.
The set up has become worse and, like Eishcom, the problem is a lack of planning on the part of the network providers.
I am on Vodacom
However,
I get calls dropped. Sometimes these happen at the same place (e.g. top of 1st Ave in Linden) which indicates that the coverage is poor, and sometimes at random places.
Have gone for fairly long periods where there is just no connection
Have had people phone me and it goes straight to voicemail.
Have a messages undelivered or delivered hours (if not days) later.
The set up has become worse and, like Eishcom, the problem is a lack of planning on the part of the network providers.
I am on Vodacom
Shake&Bake
Party Liaison
My MTN signal has been up to rubbish for the last month - also no GPRS signal for the last month - 3G coverage is random, at best.
Always struggling of late to make a call.
Always struggling of late to make a call.
Debbie
Banned
No Belinda, it's not just you...network quality has definitely deteriorated in the past several months.
Cell C seems to be the worst, with Vodacom (shockingly) not too far behind. (I can't speak of MTN.)
Sometimes my phone (Vodacom) has zero coverage at all. It's not like I'm in a rural or peri-rural area.
In a typical 15 min call between Vodacom and Cell C, the connection will usually drop 3 or 4 or more times. It's not really acceptable.
Cell C seems to be the worst, with Vodacom (shockingly) not too far behind. (I can't speak of MTN.)
Sometimes my phone (Vodacom) has zero coverage at all. It's not like I'm in a rural or peri-rural area.
In a typical 15 min call between Vodacom and Cell C, the connection will usually drop 3 or 4 or more times. It's not really acceptable.
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pkid
Expert Member
Priceless...
guest2013-1
guest
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3G/Edge and voice calls have seriously gone down the tubes in the last 5 months. Not sure if its because I'm in Cape Town now but yea... it's irritating to say the least. Last night my friend's phone was "off" couldn't get through at all. had to phone her telkom line?!
ernstn
Expert Member
My Vodacom stinks as well
Fortunately I do not live in a metropolitan area anymore, but in the Western Cape in a place called De Kelders.
The reception is so bad that everybody here finds it virtually impossible to have a proper conversation. My phone spends 90% of its time on "emergency calls only".
From personal experience I know that De Kelders is definitely better populated than a lot of Free State towns with far better reception. It also has a major tourism industry with a number of B&B's catering for whale and shark sight-seers, mainly from overseas.
Although I have been promised personal assistance by someone from Vodacom at last year's ADSL conference, the best Vodacom's engineering team could do was to tell me that a tower was going to be erected in February at Grootbos and that it MAY improve my situation.
Well February has come and gone and the reception is even worse.
Never mind the fact that we would have loved to use Vodacom for internet access as well, we cannot even talk!
Fortunately I do not live in a metropolitan area anymore, but in the Western Cape in a place called De Kelders.
The reception is so bad that everybody here finds it virtually impossible to have a proper conversation. My phone spends 90% of its time on "emergency calls only".
From personal experience I know that De Kelders is definitely better populated than a lot of Free State towns with far better reception. It also has a major tourism industry with a number of B&B's catering for whale and shark sight-seers, mainly from overseas.
Although I have been promised personal assistance by someone from Vodacom at last year's ADSL conference, the best Vodacom's engineering team could do was to tell me that a tower was going to be erected in February at Grootbos and that it MAY improve my situation.
Well February has come and gone and the reception is even worse.
Never mind the fact that we would have loved to use Vodacom for internet access as well, we cannot even talk!
Mtn
For about the last 4 to 5 months we can not use our cell phones down stairs, where previously (for many years) we could walk around any where in the house, downstairs AND upstairs and chat away. Our MNT signal downstairs disappeared!!! And "no" we do not live in a faraday cage down stairs and no new ground works was done or builings went up in years. It is just like a base station disappered or something.......
My experience.
For about the last 4 to 5 months we can not use our cell phones down stairs, where previously (for many years) we could walk around any where in the house, downstairs AND upstairs and chat away. Our MNT signal downstairs disappeared!!! And "no" we do not live in a faraday cage down stairs and no new ground works was done or builings went up in years. It is just like a base station disappered or something.......
My experience.
I have found two issues:
1. When answering a call the line is dead and you cannot hear anything. The other person can hear you and the mobile registers that it is busy with a call.
2. I frequently get terrible quality when making / receiving calls. Lots of "breaking up" of the voice.
3. Certain areas like the northern Drakensberg are always problematic for Vodacom. There is only emergency coverage available most of the time while MTN is working 100%.
I would like the operators to be more open about this. They always say everything is hunky-dory. Be honest, let the public know where you have problems, give them a roadmap and show the progress made. The attitude of nothing is wrong, our network is the best just does not cut it.
1. When answering a call the line is dead and you cannot hear anything. The other person can hear you and the mobile registers that it is busy with a call.
2. I frequently get terrible quality when making / receiving calls. Lots of "breaking up" of the voice.
3. Certain areas like the northern Drakensberg are always problematic for Vodacom. There is only emergency coverage available most of the time while MTN is working 100%.
I would like the operators to be more open about this. They always say everything is hunky-dory. Be honest, let the public know where you have problems, give them a roadmap and show the progress made. The attitude of nothing is wrong, our network is the best just does not cut it.
Hoof-Hearted
Expert Member
Unfortunately for us the network operators simply do not give a toss.
It's not exactly like we can tell them to shove it because we have become seriously "dependant" on mobile comms.
I've tried all three networks and they all have the same k@k quality and pathetic service (although I must say CellC is the worst of a bad bunch)
It's not exactly like we can tell them to shove it because we have become seriously "dependant" on mobile comms.
I've tried all three networks and they all have the same k@k quality and pathetic service (although I must say CellC is the worst of a bad bunch)
Debbie
Banned
Yes, I experience this very often.
Yup yup, that too.
Forget the Drakensberg, certain areas like north Johannesburg seem problematic for Vodacom!
Agree Sabagamma.
SUPERMAN89
Expert Member
In the area of durban (dnt know about the rest of durban) but voice calls are alright on the voda and mtn networks but Cell C! Either you talk loud or you just going hear ghosts! THe tower is not so far either.
Feel sorry for people who cant move network
Feel sorry for people who cant move network
If cellular network operators were named after the seven dwarves, CellC would be the Dopey & Sleepy network operator.
Surely self provisioning backhaul bandwidth from a financial viewpoint is a no-brainer and is not Rocket Science - especially since CellC's competitors are doing it to compete head-on with one another and Telkodemonopolies et al.
I'm not sure where that comes from - it would be nice if he hadn't dumbed it down, but put into technical terms, he could be referring to the effects of [searchforum]2G Timeslots[/searchforum] and [searchforum]3G Cell Breathing[/searchforum]...
Presumably this refers to CellC's implementation of MPLS?
Jonny Two Shoes
Expert Member
LOL if memory serves I think I started a thread on this last year sometime and I was mostly on my own 
replies were minimal and I was told that it was probably my phone in the end
Ah here it is
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=76024
Anyway Vodacom subscriber here. Voice calls still always drop and do not make it through sometimes, I usually have to phone more than once.
Voice, GPRS and 3G signal is still shocking in my area.
and I'm not talking specific on our property, but like a 3km radius up to my Girlfriends house and my Grans retirement village. My Gran is also pretty p!ssed off with Vodacom for this. :/
she gave up on Internet banking and is now relying on telskum to install decent Internet. ATM her 56k dial-up is much much faster than a brand spanking new Sony Ericsson on Vodacom with full signal, no word of lie be it 2G or the occasional appearance of 3G.
replies were minimal and I was told that it was probably my phone in the end Ah here it is
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=76024Anyway Vodacom subscriber here. Voice calls still always drop and do not make it through sometimes, I usually have to phone more than once.
Voice, GPRS and 3G signal is still shocking in my area.
and I'm not talking specific on our property, but like a 3km radius up to my Girlfriends house and my Grans retirement village. My Gran is also pretty p!ssed off with Vodacom for this. :/she gave up on Internet banking and is now relying on telskum to install decent Internet. ATM her 56k dial-up is much much faster than a brand spanking new Sony Ericsson on Vodacom with full signal, no word of lie be it 2G or the occasional appearance of 3G.
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lucifir
Expert Member
I have also been experiencing issues on MTN in the durban and surrounding areas :
1. When I dial a number it just keeps trying to dial and only actually dials about about 10 secs or so .... that is if it doesn't just cut itself off for some reason
2. The voice quality has definitely deteriorated as I now find myself asking people to repeat themselves a lot more ... which is damn annoying!!! ... especially for the kind of money we are paying these buggers .. surely there must be some QoS(quality of service)??
3.My line just gets dropped mid call .... this happens a lot when switching towers.... but also happens when I am not moving, and it is using the same tower ..
Does not look like that Cell operators want to admit that there is a prob .... but I think they are trying to address it by self-provisioning ... lets hope they can sort this out soon!!!
1. When I dial a number it just keeps trying to dial and only actually dials about about 10 secs or so .... that is if it doesn't just cut itself off for some reason
2. The voice quality has definitely deteriorated as I now find myself asking people to repeat themselves a lot more ... which is damn annoying!!! ... especially for the kind of money we are paying these buggers .. surely there must be some QoS(quality of service)??
3.My line just gets dropped mid call .... this happens a lot when switching towers.... but also happens when I am not moving, and it is using the same tower ..
Does not look like that Cell operators want to admit that there is a prob .... but I think they are trying to address it by self-provisioning ... lets hope they can sort this out soon!!!
I have noticed this as well. I get seriously bad local calls and often have to ask people to repeat what they are saying... and if I speak to someone in Asia the quality of call is terrible to the point that you can not hear anything
However calls to the states or UK are clearer (from Asia and from Africa)
However calls to the states or UK are clearer (from Asia and from Africa)