# General Business Category > Technology Forum >  Vodacom 3G sucks!

## Dave A

I must be a sucker for punishment.  :Banghead:  Two years ago I went through a whole drama with Vodacom 3G. Eventually, I got the equipment functional if not at particularly impressive speeds.

Now I've renewed my contract and it looks like I'm going to go through all the pain again of getting the new equipment up to reasonable speeds. The default installation certainly blows big time. Disconnects. Hanging programs. Slow throughput.

 :Badpc:

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## murdock

think yourself lucky you are not with virgin mobile...they dont even advanced to 3 g yet...and my contract is almost up and they still havent got my billing right yet.

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## twinscythe12332

Speed hasn't been my main issue, but the disconnects.

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## murdock

i have made a decision today to go back to mtn with immediate effect...i will notify all my customers via sms in a short while...i had a call from another customer today complaining about having to call me 5 times before they can get through...apparently my phone makes 3 beeps then goes dead...it has something to do with the port from mtn to virgin...anyway time to move forward.

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## kernel32

> I must be a sucker for punishment.  Two years ago I went through a whole drama with Vodacom 3G. Eventually, I got the equipment functional if not at particularly impressive speeds.
> 
> Now I've renewed my contract and it looks like I'm going to go through all the pain again of getting the new equipment up to reasonable speeds. The default installation certainly blows big time. Disconnects. Hanging programs. Slow throughput.


Hi,

Even though I absolutely hate Vodacom, and there is nothing in the world that will change my mind about them, I might be able to help you out a bit with your issues.  You see, some monkey at Vodacom/Vodafone decided that having their logo on the connection software was more important than delivering a reliable service.  So they decided to create a software package that "works" with all the datacards available on their contracts.  What I did in the past (before I told them to take a taxi) was to uninstall that crappy software they give with the datacard, and install the software supplied by the manufacturer.  

Chances are you've got some sort of Huawei or Option device, and you will be able to get the connection software from their websites.  It's quite a big download, but it will save you lots and lots of frustration.  If you are unable to find the correct file to download, post your manufacturer and model number of the datacard and I'll try to assist you.

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## Dave A

At this point I'll try nearly anything. I've got the Huawei E220. I did a search for Huawei E220 drivers, but didn't find anything that looked like the business. So a link would prove very useful, thanks.

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## kernel32

Try this...
http://www.huawei.com/mobileweb/en/d...type=-1&id=736

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Dave A (29-Jun-08)

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## Dave A

I have been quite persistent in following this through with Vodacom, and finally after doing pretty much everything they have asked of me which feels like it wasn't much short of reformatting my hard drive, they have acknowledged that the problem looks like it *might* be too many subscribers connected by 3G to the tower I happen to connect to. 

It was an amazing deduction that I find hard to believe is news to them.

It didn't take any rocket science to figure this out from my end. I happen to live in a residential area. When the residents are out at work or sleeping, things fly. When they're doing the evening cruise of the internet, things crawl in the 0-5Kbps range. If it was hardware, firmware, software, signal quality, firewalls, anti-virus programs, malicious scripts, cookies, DNS caches etc. one might have expected the problem to be a little less peak traffic time sensitive.

Apparently, if there are too many people logged in and active at once, the service "contracts." That would be corporate bullshit for having more paying customers trying to suck on more production than you can physically supply. 

Something like the Eskom problem, you could say. Except you don't get charged for the electricity you cannot suck.

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## kernel32

They are actually admitting to something thats been stuffed the past year?  I live in Midrand, and the general area including areas as far north as Gezina (sorry if my spelling is wrong) in PTA have had issues for months.  Quite a few of my colleagues have switched to ADSL even though they still have to finish paying their 3G contracts for the remainder of the 24 months.

Vodacom persistently makes their users look like idiots by wanting to go through all the "settings".  And then after weeks, they say something like the network is currently busy, or the technicians are working on the problem.

It really sucks that these fat cats keep getting away with giving the consumer a raw deal.  Shame on you Vodacom!

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## Dave A

To some extent, this is almost becoming ludicrous.

My fault report was escalated, and now I'm getting a steady stream of phonecalls from different people at Vodacom saying they are looking into the capacity problem. This one has clearly jumped the standard fault handling rails, but it seems to be landing all over the shop now.

The upside of all this attention is it might lead to a better service in the area one day, I guess. But right now I'm also wondering if the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.

New territory I guess  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## Dave A

Unexpected error!



Not really. Just the regular inadequate service from Vodacom 3G in the Durban North area at this time of the evening  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

It's *really* starting to tick me off  :Banghead:

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## Dave A

I think I'm going to keep updating this thread as things happen, or at least sort of happen. Call it my own little diary. Got to vent somehow  :Mad: 

Today I get another call from Vodacom - "Have I been contacted by planning?"

It emerges that one of those phonecalls I got about three weeks ago when the issue was escalated was someone from planning. It is confirmed and logged on the system - not enough capacity on the tower. The only question left is how long will it take for Vodacom to fix it. After all, not enough capacity means too many (paying) subscribers. I'm assuming it must be *financially* viable to increase capacity, whatever that might involve.

The problem is also getting worse. Last night was just ridiculous. And I can't be the only person in the area who is getting really p'd off by this.

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## murdock

dave it sounds like you need to move away from gateway...someone told me they are having the same problem with 3 G up that way...try virgin mobile or telkom broadband :Banghead:  ...found it...

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## Chatmaster

Personally I think Vodacom as a company has a fairly big problem on the customer services side, the problem is simple, they are VERY stingy...

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## stephanfx

I looked at vodacom, my mom got vodacom, I tried vodacom, I am very thankful for telkom! I feel your pain Dave.

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## Morticia

I'm no computer genius, so I cannot comment om the technical side, but yes, the dropping off the network and slow speed after 18h00 is just so annoying  - I would rather watch 7de Laan on SABC2 than connect via 3G...........

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## Dave A

> ...after 18h00 is just so annoying  - I would rather watch 7de Laan on SABC2 than connect via 3G...........


I'd rather watch 7de Laan *in slow motion*...

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## murdock

hey easy on the 7de laan...i watch it because its not like all the other soapies...with everyone shagging the father the brother the uncle the son the sisters husband the daughters husband etc etc...it helps me to go brain dead for a half an hour while i eat my dinner...otherwise i would be sitting in my office eating my dinner.

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## Morticia

Oh Murdock, ever so sorry!!!

Shall I arrange a party for you at Alice's club or perhaps at Cherry on Top?  That way you may also enjoy your dinner in "style"...... :Wink:

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## Dave A

> hey easy on the 7de laan...


Would you enjoy it in slow motion, though?  :Stick Out Tongue: 

I wondered if we'd p someone off with that crack  :Whistling: 
I know my in-laws are keen followers too. It's actually quite popular, I think.

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## murdock

so long as bruinwaves organises the party :Big Grin:

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## Morticia

Goes without saying!!!  And everybody can go for a zhoozsh and mani's and pedi's at Laura Lee before the party....... :Whistling:

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## Dave A

At the risk of jinxing this - I'm not suffering disconnects in the evenings like I used to. Either Vodacom has stepped up capacity on my local tower or my neighbours have given up and freed up enough bandwidth...

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## omni

Buy yourself a modem from an independent company. I bought myself a Slipstream from IP-Dimensions, http://www.ipdimension.net/ and put my SIM in it and no more disconnections.

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## mister

I can only agree that Vodacom 3G sucks here ion Oudtshoorn. And I tried to resolve the problem with the local vodacom store, with no effect. My 3g Device works well in Mossel Bay where I regularly can use it, but as soon as I get to Oudtshoorn, it can only stay connected for a few minutes. I;ve often waited for more than an hour just to get a signal, and then, when I get it for a few minutes, it just drops out....

EVERY DAY

I even had problems trying to make this post... as USUAL.

And theres nothing Vodacom seems to want to do about the problem

By the way, that campain "surfing for free" is a load of crap. First of all, who surfs the net between 12:00 and 05:00? Secondly, you can only get the benefit, if you buy a GIG of internet, which costs R289, oh, and don;t forget, PREPAID USERS do NOT get such a benefit, ONLY contract customers.

But you only find this out when you spend R289 and then see your data drop after 12:00 (that is, if you can get a signal after 12:00!!) and oh, yeah, then you only fin out that you do not get the benefit because you are not a contract customer.

Typical FALSE MISLEADING advertising!

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## boerseun76

please can someone tell me what is going on i phoned 155 vodacom today and they say there is only a 7.2mb network up. so what happend in the last 9 months to there 21.1mbps network as been stated by there CEO is working " Vodacom announced in February that it has switched on its 21.1 Mbps HSPA+ network in Midrand – the first live HSPA+ network in Africa.

Vodacom has now confirmed that it already has an extensive 21.1 Mbps HSPA+ network which is live, and that a large portion of their mobile broadband subscribers’ SIMs has been enabled to enjoy the higher speeds. 

Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys said that they currently have 136 live 21.1 Mbps HSPA+ sites, mainly situated in high density areas like Sandton, Cape Town and Midrand as well as areas which will service the 2010 World Cup tourists like airports and stadiums."

NOW 9 months later and no sign of any of the above i hope cell c network is coming up soon not just for the speeds but mainly for the cost  R999-00  2gig x 12  compare to vodacom/mtn  R389-00 per 2gig data = R4668-00 for the year

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## irneb

Really not sure what you guys are on about. (Apart from the off topic 7de Laan stuff) ... I find my 3G (or rather HSPA) running fine, I do get drops in connection, but SOOOOO MUCH LESS that I get that same drops using either the ADSL (from Telkom) or the wireless (from IS) at our offices. Not to mention, it's faster than the ADSL and on par with the wireless - only it's uptime is more!

I don't think the drops in connection is an ISP particular problem. It seems more like the whole country's got that hassle. BTW, this is Sandton - so there's maybe just some other problems in other areas. I know that if I go to some places (usually small towns / countryside) the connection drops to EDGE / GPRS and becomes slow as hell.

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## Dave A

Just don't move, irneb. You're blessed.

The problem of disconnects is something called "cell breathing" - when a tower gets too many connections, it starts booting of the weaker signals and ones that have been dormant for a while.

My Telkom ADSL drops me maybe once a month - and all I have to do is switch off the modem and switch it back on again. 

When you get dropped on V3g, it's not so easy.
You have to go into the task manager, stop the VCM service, go through the "safe to remove hardware" routine, remove the modem, plug the modem back in, fire up the software, type in the PIN number, then reconnect.

Big difference. And on a bad night, you'll be doing that every half an hour to an hour.

If you don't go through this routine and just click connect, after waiting 30 seconds or so for nothing to happen you get an "unexpected error" message. And then you have to go through the whole routine above anyway.

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## irneb

> please can someone tell me what is going on i phoned 155 vodacom today and they say there is only a 7.2mb network up. so what happend in the last 9 months to there 21.1mbps network as been stated by there CEO is working " Vodacom announced in February that it has switched on its 21.1 Mbps HSPA+ network in Midrand â the first live HSPA+ network in Africa.


I've never seen that type of speed anywhere in SA. Even that "extended" service of 7.2 never really ran faster than the standard 3.6 (it's a waste of money) ... I wouldn't count on anything reaching 20+ ... not in SA.




> NOW 9 months later and no sign of any of the above i hope cell c network is coming up soon not just for the speeds but mainly for the cost  R999-00  2gig x 12  compare to vodacom/mtn  R389-00 per 2gig data = R4668-00 for the year


That's another thing I wouldn't count on. CellC ... their "own" network? You're kidding right? They're still piggy-backing off MTN/Vodacom. You really think they will get faster speeds (or even just the same) than their carriers? It wouldn't make financial sense to either MTN/Vod to allow preference to CellC's connections. That's maybe why it's soooo much cheaper (or supposed to be): you'll probably only get a speed comparable to EDGE (225kb/s) / GPRS (48kb/s) for that price. I've got a few friends who were on CellC a month or so back, and that's the throughput rates they were getting while my Vodacom ran at a calculated 2-3MB/s. If I got the extended package I would see only spikes (of no more than a second or so) going above 4MB, averaging exactly the same as with the standard. That's why I say it's a waste of money, now they want to sell a "plus" package ... ha ha ha ha!

If I test using http://www.speedtest.net to one of the local stuff (Jhb / Midrand), best and worst of 10 tests each:

ADSL (dual 4MB/sec lines): Wireless (12MB/s to Sandon City Tower): HSDPA:

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## irneb

> Just don't move, irneb. You're blessed.


Not sure? I get the same figures here in Sandton CBD as I get at home (Fourways). The Wireless / ADSL I have to change the gateway IP's in the lan's setup. And if I have a drop in my HSDPA (this is why I don't use that STUPID USB "Huwaei modem" of theirs) I simply click the disconnect on my phone (Motorola Milestone), then click the connect again (or rather "touch") - no need to (even unplug the USB or go through that rig-marole with the modem. And that I have only needed to do 3 times in the last month. With the ADSL and Wireless I have to do it every 30minutes!

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## Dave A

> With the ADSL and Wireless I have to do it every 30minutes!


WTF!

OK - you and I have *very* different problems  :Stick Out Tongue: 

Point taken on the USB modem - I've been considering using my phone as a modem using a bluetooth connection instead. But I've heard when you get a telephone call, it hangs up the data connection.

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## irneb

> WTF!
> 
> OK - you and I have *very* different problems


 :Badpc: 




> Point taken on the USB modem - I've been considering using my phone as a modem using a bluetooth connection instead. But I've heard when you get a telephone call, it hangs up the data connection.


Yep, I've had the several already. The old PCMCIA, then the modem with the short USB cable (absolute CR@P), then the USB dongle (like a flash-disk, a bit better, but still not perfect), then opted for my existing phone (last year with a Nokia E64). That phone dropped the connection when a call came through, but I think it's because of the bad Nokia connection on the USB cable (if I touched the phone the USB link was lost). Anyway, the phone only had a 3G capability so I didn't even get the "standard" speed.

Recently I've upgraded to the Moto Milestone Android, which has a HSDPA 12MB/s capability ... and speeds are like lightning now (well, in comparison  :Big Grin: ). And I have had phone-calls, sms's & mms's while connected - no hassles as yet. Can even do my emails on the phone while the PC is downloading through it - why I'd want to I don't know though.

Don't know about other phones. And as you can see, don't truly know if the Nokia Symbian phone had that disconnect on call - seeing as it disconnects even if I just bumped the table.  :Crazy: 

I don't like using the Bluetooth / Wireless as the phone's battery goes quickly when you've got these on as well as the network connection. So you need to plug them into a charger while you're connected for anything more than 2 hours ... so why not simply plug the USB cable - charges off the same thing which connects the data.

One thing though, the Androids don't come standard with internet sharing drivers for windows - you need to install PDA Net on both the phone and the PC, but it's free, small and works off the cuff. I think I've seen the same problem with Blackberry (RIM) and iPhone (iOS). Don't know anything about the Windows Mobiles (not to mention the newer Win7).

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Dave A (11-Nov-10)

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## irneb

I just did another test on the ADSL:

Now you can clearly see the problem I have. It runs like the clappers for a bit, then just dies! And this test happened exactly at that time when it died, 1.7MB/s while the test was doing the download ... but then FF simply states waiting for ..... when the upload test started ... and then a minute afterwards the test completes, another 30sec and the image displays showing upload @ 40kb/s (I had better speeds in the 90's with a dial-up).

So I swap to the wireless's IP:

Then I turn the ADSL's IP on:

Then turn the Wireless's IP on again and this is the result:


Up-down-up-down-up-down I'm getting fed up. I've posted previously into another thread about this causing some update downloads to stop completely - causing me to restart them from the beginning. And these updates are in excess of 2GB each - so it's not a cheap exercise.

I finally simply loaded my V3G with the MyGig 2.3 (R389) and did the download that way. Not only did it download quicker - it at least completed!

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## mister

> I've never seen that type of speed anywhere in SA. Even that "extended" service of 7.2 never really ran faster than the standard 3.6 (it's a waste of money) ... I wouldn't count on anything reaching 20+ ... not in SA.



ALRIGHT, here's my current speedtest



I rest my case. Vodacom sucks

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## irneb

> I rest my case. Vodacom sucks


I think since you're using the Newlands server ... are you perhaps in CT or thereabouts? I know that CT has much better connection over MTN than Vodacom, the other way round here in JHB.

See some of the comments here:
http://www.fin24.com/Companies/No-fi...works-20100825

Basically, it's a situation of the "least worst" in your area. And that's all you can ever hope for in this country, since the government is actually in bed with these companies (if not reciprocally owned by and owning them). For the time being my V3G is the best connection I can find.

I know some who are quite happy with their NeoTel connections, I just find it slow in comparison to my V3G. But one of my collogues has a situation where his house is exactly in the triangle between 3 towers - i.e. no connection. Vodacom, MTN, CellC, Neotel ... they all have zero connection at his house. He has to walk 50m down the road to make a phone-call on his cellphone. And he's not living in some arb place, all around him the connections as per my figures. He's forced into using ADSL, but no! His area only has extremely low bandwidth, it's the only connection he can get - but it's never much better than analogue (i.e. 50kb/s).

Another friend of mine's been on V3G for 3 years now. He was extremely happy with their service, but a few months ago MTN put up a new tower less than 100m from his house. Now his Vodacom connection's less than useless. And he's still got no help from them, the problem he's got is he's only 1 year into the 2 year contract - can't easily swap over (since MTN "should" be great for him now).

That's one more reason I don't subscribe to any form of contract. As soon as V3G doesn't work so well for me, I'll drop them like a hot potato, on a day's notice. I have absolutely no brand-loyalty, just as none of these companies have any customer loyalty - not even any form of morals when it comes to wringing the last bit of blood from their customers.

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## irneb

> ALRIGHT, here's my current speedtest


Actually that looks like a normal 3G connection - i.e. not HSDPA / HSUPA. The upload is a bit low though, more like what you'd expect from a mid to low bandwidth ADSL.

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## Cathy Duncan

> I must be a sucker for punishment.  Two years ago I went through a whole drama with Vodacom 3G. Eventually, I got the equipment functional if not at particularly impressive speeds.
> 
> Now I've renewed my contract and it looks like I'm going to go through all the pain again of getting the new equipment up to reasonable speeds. The default installation certainly blows big time. Disconnects. Hanging programs. Slow throughput.



Exactlty what I hate too....but here with Bell it is not patchy web coverage but but lack of provider responsibilities ...best thing to wait it out then cancel if in a contract

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## Dave A

Good advice, Cathy. There might be snag in SA though.

How many options have you got for ISP services in Canada? I'm not talking about brands, resellers etc. but companies that provide backbone infrastructure?

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## Cathy Duncan

> Good advice, Cathy. There might be snag in SA though.
> 
> How many options have you got for ISP services in Canada? I'm not talking about brands, resellers etc. but companies that provide backbone infrastructure?


Well Bell is quite average but Rogers has got real ground-breaking technology infrastructure and coverage yet equals it with massive prices...there are several low profile. whereas Telus, Northern tel and Virgin are ok but the best internet is from Bell mobility and Rogers...Bell cheaper ofcourse. Afterall Bell is the first ever telecomunications company of canada. What about SA can't you change or are these regional issues?

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## Dave A

When it comes to 3g, we've got 2 providers of infrastructure - with a third just starting to get some of its own infrastructure in.

As much as I get frustrated with Vodacom at times, it's still the best option I've got at the moment when it comes to mobile internet.

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## irneb

> Well Bell is quite average but Rogers has got real ground-breaking technology infrastructure and coverage yet equals it with massive prices...there are several low profile. whereas Telus, Northern tel and Virgin are ok but the best internet is from Bell mobility and Rogers...Bell cheaper ofcourse. Afterall Bell is the first ever telecomunications company of canada. What about SA can't you change or are these regional issues?


As Dave's stated, we've got 2 choices, Telcom / IS for the main connection.

For the wireless / cell: Vodacom / MTN. The others (Cell-C, Virgin, etc.) are all just piggy-backing on top of those two's infrastructure. And actually those two are "owned" (partially between 35 & 60% shareholding) by our national telecoms company (TelCom), who has just introduced their own brand now called 8ta ... how great that's gonna be is really up for grabs (we know from experience how bad TelCom's land line support is). But all these actually use Telcom's connection for international, or through the "only" other competitor IS ... not sure if the main company is IS (Internet Solutions), but it looks that way. Under them is a whole bunch of "ISP's".

There's two other which seems a bit more independent (locally at least) called NeoTel and iBurst, for their international link they still use either of the 2 giants. They only have wireless connections - no land-lines. But I'm unsure if they perhaps use one of Vodacom / MTN's cell networks. I think iBurst may be under IS, as their coverage is rather poor when not in the major city centres.

The rest are all simply using the infrastructure of the 2 major players. E.g. the X-DSL which we have for our ADSL work through Telcom. For these guy's wireless, they use one of the cell companies or in some areas a WiFi connection - as per our Verison under IS.

In SA there are 100's of "ISPs". But actually they're just middle-ware taking a cut between the customer and the supplier. Very few of them have their own infrastructure, and those who do - only in very small specific locations.

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## Dave A

> There's two other which seems a bit more independent (locally at least) called NeoTel and iBurst


iBurst is actually owned by Vodacom, although it doesn't operate over the cellphone infrastructure. Let's face it - we're pwned.

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## AndyD

> Let's face it - we're pwned.


j00 m34n 7h3y'r3 pu11ing 0ur p4n7z d0wn?

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## irneb

4nd 7h3n 63nd1n9 u5 0v3r 4nd 74k1n9 u5 fr0m 63h1nd!  :EEK!:

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## Dave A

Oh trust me - I don't need MS to diagnose this problem  :Taz: 

Vodacom is a firken nightmare for me tonight.

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## irneb

That's the usual problem with that dongle modem from Voda-sucks. Mine was working at best for about 20min, then no connection, unplug - restart - reconnect ... doesn't want to read the modem ... restart again with the modem connected - blue screen ... disconnect, reset, plug in before the Win Logo comes up, finally ... connect ... ahh another 20min (max).

That's the major reason I went with my phone directly. I've now got a Motorola Milestone ... frikken awesome speeds (max of 12MB/s - average of 4MB/s) and yes I've tested phoning from & to it while downloading (no prob whatsoever).

I'm a bit green  :Slap: , because the Milestone 2 just came out: Has built-in 3G hotspot for up to 5 devices. No cables needed  :Slayer: . Although I suspect battery life's going to be poor when you've got both its 3G and WiFi turned on.

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Dave A (05-Jan-11)

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## Dave A

That looks sweet!

My first phone was a Motorola, but I've been a Nokia diehard ever since. Maybe time to take a closer look at Motorola again.

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## garthu

My latest problem is i really battle to buy bundle airtime though the *111# service. Took me around 3 hours before i got bandwidth tonight. Seems to be getting worse as well with the messages "All connections busy" and "failed"

Anyone tried the new Cell dongle and packages??

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## irneb

Actually I prefer the SMS Mymeg ### or MyGig #.# to 100 instead of the *111# service. Although the data bundle's not immediately available: this week it took a few hours for it to come through. So it seems V's servers are overloaded (at best) or they're just screwing with us again (most probably).

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## irneb

> That looks sweet!
> 
> My first phone was a Motorola, but I've been a Nokia diehard ever since. Maybe time to take a closer look at Motorola again.


I've had 2 Nokias in the past: an old die-hard 5110 (which died on me), and more recently an E64 - the E64 was the one with the dodgy data connection (see one of my earlier posts). I've had a Phillips Savy in the 90's, as well as one of those old Ericsson bricks.

But the best phone overall which I've ever had (prior to my newest toy) was (and still is) a Siemens ME45. That thing had quite a few features (after the flash upgrade) above even top-of-the-range Nokias of the time (not colour though) ... but what I loved about it is its ruggedness: Once dropped it 3 storeys onto a concrete floor, then it bounced and fell into a pool. Went down and dove into the pool to gather the bits ... had a surprise, it was still on and working, only a scratch on the side to show that anything happened. So for me the "resistance to dust, shock and water" meant: Water proof and built like a rubber ball. And it's still used as my back-up phone, which I've had to use numerous times when a MotoRazr (absolute CR@P) and the E64 (lesser CR@P) bombed out on me.

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## Martinco

Have you noticed that on Monday 3 Jan 2011 there was NO internet access via Vodacom 3G.
I had to drive to a friend in Toti to use his ADSL to do my company and private IB payments.
Well done Vodacom !  :Mad:

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## tec0

Vodacrap hit a new all time low yesterday. After trying to phone there help-desk from a smart phone I realize that the menu system didn't respond. Tested it on a second smart phone same thing... So I phoned them using another phone. Thing is an elderly person I know is partially deaf and her English is none existent. I explained this to the Vodacom person that was just as arrogant as always. It didn’t matter how I explained the situation she insisted to speak partially deaf person??? WTF is wrong with Vodacrap? Are they so thick that they cannot understand that the person is partially DEAF!!!! [Lacking or deprived of the sense*of*hearing wholly or in part] Basically the phone get used for MMS SMS and not much else. 

Steps I took to rectify the problem: 
Got angry with the help-desk and hanged up.  :Mad: 
First took out the SIM card and Memory Card aka (Micro SD card) 
Reset the phone to factory default. 

Made a backup of the SIM and Memory Card before installing both cards. 
Using the *111# Menu I found the phone install option "in this case it was the last option on the second menu" 
Installed both MMS and Internet settings using this menu and it solved the problem. 

No thanks to Vodacrap's unhelpful arrogant useless pathetic help-desk.

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