Vodacom 3G: Good deal - pathetic customer service.

My dad has been on dial-up since the 90's. In February I got an EDGE modem with a Virgin Sim for him and he has been very happy with this setup.

Recently Virgins data rates went up. With him being a Vodacom customer since 1996 (and me since 1999) I told him to get a 24month MyMeg500 contract (he uses about 250mb a month). He got it last Wednesday and we waited till Thursday to try it (they said they needed to activate it first). It did not work so he went back on Friday, only then they activated the SIM for him. The modem he got is the E172 HSUPA USB stick.

All the weekend and Monday he struggled with an unstable connection (at Very Good signal strength) and I checked it out yesterday. Turns out the modem connects fine but disconnects from the PC as soon as you start to pull traffic on it like download emails of files. I did a firmware upgrade, tried different USB ports - nothing worked. So the old man went back to the VodaShop today and then the crap really started.

He told the VodaShop he got the modem from (Stellenbosch Square 4U store) that has got it last week and the connection is unstable. They told him that they will send it away to VodaCare in Strand. He said he'll take it there since he needs to go that way today. So he got to the VodaCare and they said they send the modems to VodaRepair in Somerset-West. So he took it there. They told him that the modem is still under the 7days exchange period and he must go back to Stellenbosch Square and get a new one.

By now he was pissed off. So he came back and they said it is past the 7 days already. He said no since the SIM was only activated on Friday and he could only use it since then. They refused to give him a new one and so he said fine, do what you must, but he is not a happy man. Neither am I. They took the modem and will send it away for who knows how long. Remember data usage does not roll over!

I have no problem with Vodacom 3G for internet - but their customer service is ****. We have been Vodacom customers for a long time and still we get this kind of crap.

What I am beginning to think is that the E172 needs a dual port USB cable (as the E272 has) since it kills itself when it goes full speed (not enough power). I doubt the VodaCare people will pick this up and they will simply say, it connects, it opens a web page, therefore it works.

Anyone else with this crap or have suggestions on where to from here ?

If you do pop in on Saturday, I can give you an E220 to use in the meantime till this is resolved.

The modem is gone now, right? So trying to debug the problem at this point in time probably won't help?

Hi, thanks for the offer but my old man is back on his EDGE modem with the Virgin SIM card. So he is sorted for now.

What I did yesterday was firstly to try and run only the modem on the PC with no other USB devices - I also tried various USB port - no luck. I tired connecting without loading up VMC lite, I even upgraded the firmware to B409 (on the vodacom site is B407) and after the firmware upgrade it still did the same.

I tried changing the settings to only use GPRS (2G instead of 3G) but this did not even connect.

Anything else I should have tried ? Should these E172 HSUPA modems (which is hardware identical to the E272) not also come with the dual connector USB cable ?

Rouxenator said:

Hi, thanks for the offer but my old man is back on his EDGE modem with the Virgin SIM card. So he is sorted for now.

What I did yesterday was firstly to try and run only the modem on the PC with no other USB devices - I also tried various USB port - no luck. I tired connecting without loading up VMC lite, I even upgraded the firmware to B409 (on the vodacom site is B407) and after the firmware upgrade it still did the same.

I tried changing the settings to only use GPRS (2G instead of 3G) but this did not even connect.

Anything else I should have tried ? Should these E172 HSUPA modems (which is hardware identical to the E272) not also come with the dual connector USB cable ?

Click to expand...

Did you try it on another PC / laptop?

vodacom3g said:

Did you try it on another PC / laptop?

Click to expand...

Nope - had none available. But it is working nicely now with the EDGE modem again. I'll wait until they get back to him.

Thing is, he is not so much pissed off that the modem is not working, it is more the fact that they had him drive around in a circle and no one knew what to do really.

Any update from Vodacom?

Nope - I guess they will only be sending the modem from Stellenbosch to where ever they want it today. Thats why I still say, they have a very good and stable network, but their customer support is crap.

Still an unhappy customer?

Yep - I guess my old man will have to wait until next year before they get back to him. In the meantime he is paying for 500MB of data that he is not able to use.

He is still very happy with the Virgin Mobile/EDGE solution and I think he may start to regret getting Vodacom 3G. Unfortunately the modem is VERY Chinese and therefor only works on GSM1800/1900 - so no luck using the Vodacom sim and bundle in it.

BTW, long time no speak Morkhans - you seem to be online in Gtalk after hours only ?

Rouxenator said:

Yep - I guess my old man will have to wait until next year before they get back to him. In the meantime he is paying for 500MB of data that he is not able to use.

He is still very happy with the Virgin Mobile/EDGE solution and I think he may start to regret getting Vodacom 3G. Unfortunately the modem is VERY Chinese and therefor only works on GSM1800/1900 - so no luck using the Vodacom sim and bundle in it.

BTW, long time no speak Morkhans - you seem to be online in Gtalk after hours only ?

Click to expand...

If it is not network locked you would still pick up VC GPRS or EDGE.

Rouxenator said:

Yep - I guess my old man will have to wait until next year before they get back to him. In the meantime he is paying for 500MB of data that he is not able to use.

He is still very happy with the Virgin Mobile/EDGE solution and I think he may start to regret getting Vodacom 3G. Unfortunately the modem is VERY Chinese and therefor only works on GSM1800/1900 - so no luck using the Vodacom sim and bundle in it.

BTW, long time no speak Morkhans - you seem to be online in Gtalk after hours only ?

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear.

gtalked blocked at work so you'll have to catch me a/h

AirWolf said:

If it is not network locked you would still pick up VC GPRS or EDGE.

Click to expand...

The EDGE modem I have is directly from China and it only runs on 1800Mhz and 1900Mhz so it only works on CellC towers. It is not network locked.

ic said:

CellC uses 1900MHz.

I think Vodacom uses 900MHz and MTN uses 1800MHz, or the other way around.

Click to expand...

Oh - ok. I was under the impression what MTN and VC are both on 900Mhz and CellC on 1800Mhz. The EDGE modems I have only work on CellC (and Virgin) not MTN or VodaCom.

No, seems I was right initially.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Network_Code#South_Africa

1900Mhz and 850Mhz is usually for GSM in America.
450 (old VHF TV) is used in some parts of Germany for GSM.

In SA the two big ones are on 900Mhz and Cell C on 1800Mhz. My wife once did some work (part of her masters degree) on cellular radiation in SA and they only focussed on 900 and 1800 Mhz since that is the only frequencies we have in use for GSM in SA.

Well, apart from all the technical short comings of my cheap imported EDGE Modem (http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/10286497/USB_Wireless_Modem_2_75G_GPRS_EDGE_plus_SMS_and_Voice.html) the bottom line here is that the people at the Vodacom outlets failed to provide satisfactory service and my pops is now paying for broadband that he cannot use cause the modem Vodacom gave us is either dodgy or under powered. No matter which way you look at it - it is a sucky situation.

So here is what has been happening lately.

From Vodacom's side - nothing - not a phone call or SMS. So my dad went back to the VodaCom shop he booked the modem in and asked them what's up. At first they looked puzzled and said they have no recollection of a E172 modem being booked in. When my dad told them who helped him they were even more puzzled, but eventually they figured out the lady that helped him was from another VodaShop and she was just helping out that week. So they promised to call him back.

Which they naturally did not do. He went back the next day and they said his modem was faulty and gave him a new one. Sealed in a box. When he got home my dad realised that he gave them the old modem WITH SIM inside, needless to say the new sealed modem did not have the SIM inside and point 2 on the form he signed when he booked in the old modem was the normal no liability for loss of batteries, covers, SIM cards and chargers disclaimer clause. Bummer.

He did however test the new modem with his normal SIM and after a 15MB download (at a moerse spoed according to him) the modem was still stable, so it seems we now have a working modem.

Today he went back and they did a SIM swap and told him it should be active on his contract by tonight. So lets see if this almost month old tale of poor customer services will have a good ending.

I still standby my statement that VodaCom has the best mobile data network but their customer service is really crap. I should add that my dad has been with VodaCom since 1996 and he is normally a patient man - but he really got pissed off with the lack of service he got in regard with the whole going 3G internet thing.