MTN DATA BUNDLE COMPLAINT

[desA]

My friend has wireless internet and he is not complaining. He can download up to 27GB of data and total cost is R400 per month “including hardware” Really not a bad deal but the your downloading speed is limited to about 20kb “pure download speed” as average so again not too bad. However I would recommend you shop around.

If you have any links to Wifi service providers, I'd be very interested. It's very common over here - some services are even free, within the urban areas.

[tec0]

I only have a telephone number since these people mostly operate in a small aria’s with permission I will add it on the next post.

[tec0]

Right to give you an update on wireless networks. Most of them run independent and is basically restricted to your local aria. So I would recommend that where-ever you set up shop have a look for local advertisements and be extremely careful when subscribing.

Secondly I am running “Pay as you Go” 3G internet and because it is “Pay as you Go” there are no nasty surprises in the end of every month. So it is the safer bet. There is not much difference between contract and “Pay as you Go” they work out more or less the same. It is when you are over your limits where your “Pay as you Go” option really keeps you safe from R2300 surprises.

Still there is a big market for healthy competition if the lawmakers want to allow it but I will not get my hopes up. Intranet systems is becoming a norm and as the technology gets stronger start exploring your options and soon our service providers may drop the ball and we will be ready for it.

[desA]

Secondly I am running “Pay as you Go” 3G internet and because it is “Pay as you Go” there are no nasty surprises in the end of every month. So it is the safer bet. There is not much difference between contract and “Pay as you Go” they work out more or less the same. It is when you are over your limits where your “Pay as you Go” option really keeps you safe from R2300 surprises.

Can you perhaps provide details on these "Pay as you go" internet schemes? I'd far prefer this to having accounts. I'm allergic to accounts.

[tec0]

http://www.mtn.co.za/FindaPlan/Pages/DataBun.aspx

http://www.vodacom.co.za/services/vodacom_broadband/cost.jsp

This a good place to start

[desA]

^ Thanks very much. Much obliged.

[tec0]

And today it is Vodacom “again” so no nasty surprises there however I was told by some mobile shop that “device locking has been outlawed” now I am sure he doesn’t know what he is talking about but try and get more info on the subject is basically blasphemous and the help desk are as naive as ever.

Now for the problem at hand “Vodacom connections are as doggy as ever and I get dropped more times per day then I did when I was with Virgin Mobile. I get IP errors and “impossible to connect errors” and even with more than enough DATA available I still end up hopping networks from Vodacom to MTN.

The problem is my MTN phone is GPRS and I need a bit more speed and tried to get my MTN going in a Vodacom 3G devices... well the device is locked on Vodacom only!!! So if it is illegal to network lock devices please tell me.

As for Vodacom they are just full of sh!t lately and I think they are reading my SMS's and stalking my internet because it is so slow I can only imagine a little socially incompetent person with coffee checking my every move.

Or it can be that Vodacom is dropping the ball and they can no longer provide fast service because the billions they make is not enough to feed their greed... Anyway is there anyone else that is experiencing problems and have actually got an answer from Vodacom.

[wynn]

I would go with pay as u go in this instance, as Teco says, no nasty surprises.
When your bundle is used up you just load another, if the service provider gives you s#!t, change providers.

Roll on Google's satelite connection.
That will give the locals pause for thought as they watch their client base disapear.

[Dave A]

Vodacom has capacity problems on their towers from time to time which results in slow speeds and frequent disconnects.

It's damn irritating. But I guess the airways can only take so much traffic

[Dave A]

I got this message today via the contact us link:

URGENT REQUEST FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to you at the suggestion of a good friend who pitied me in my dire straits.

I am a 73-year old disabled Social Welfare pensioner of the Republic of South Africa and can ill afford to have portion of a valuable data bundle stolen from me which I allege MTN has done. I am in a rather serious predicament because MTN alledgedly "stole" in excess of 551 MB of my 2 Gigabyte data bundle that I had purchased from them on 5th July 2010. After loading the data onto my cellphone a message came up from MTN on the cellphone to say that the expiry date for the 2 GB would be 5th September, 2010.

The situation is that on Monday afternoon (23rd August) of this week I still had in excess of 551 MB data left on my cellphone. After waking up the following morning (Tuesday 24th August) I checked my balance by phoning the usual MTN number, for this procedure, only to be told that my balance was now 10 MB data! I immediately phoned them on their inquiry number (173) which I might add is a terrible uphill battle and mission as I spent both the whole of Tuesday and Wednesday trying to contact them, and when I did, they made false promises that the data would be replaced onto my phone by 1 p.m. on Wednesday, This was never done I now sit with the same 10 MB (minus data used) that I was left with on Tuesday morning.

Now MTN maintain that because I had previously purchased some data on 24th June that the data loaded onto my cellphone 5th July, 2010 must now adopt the expiry date of 24th August (taken from the date of loading the data on 24th June!) instead of 5th September coming up next month (of the date of 5th July when I loaded the 2 GB). I consider this as theft.

As I do not have sufficient data left on my cellphone (which I normally use to access the Internet) I now have to make use of the Public Library facility to send you this email.

I trust that you will be in a situation to assist me in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

I've suggested he needs to contact MTN really, but the message includes the cellphone number and name - if anyone thinks they can assist this poor fellow, PM me and I'll give the details.

[AndyD]

I think to assist this poor guy you would need a sympathetic MTN insider. I wish you luck.

I had a contract with MTN in the early days of cellphones and their customer service was absolutely non-existent and I terminated it at the earliest opportunity. I would rather go back to a pager than ever use MTN's services again.

[greghsa]

Looks like the best thing you can do is speak to noseweek:

"Sweet and sour cell service
Issue # 131 September, 2010
Here’s A good news, bad news story. The good news: corporate SA does indeed listen to the customer. The bad news: it only does so when the customer goes to the press.

Cape Town-based branding type, Jenna Schnell, has an MTN 3G card, and her monthly bill is usually in the order of R200. But in December 2009 her bill shot up to R1400, in January 2010 it was over R4000, and in February 2010 it was some R2000. Jenna immediately queried this and MTN’s enquiries showed that the card had been used for that most evil of purposes, visits to porn sites. Something Jenna claims she never does, and certainly didn’t do at some of the times suggested by the records, when she was in fact lying on the beach in Plett. So Jenna argued long and hard with MTN. Very long in fact – she claims that she spent close on two hours dealing with what she describes as a very uncooperative and highly inefficient call centre.
Naturally she got nowhere, so she came to noseweek.
We asked MTN for an explanation – could there have been a mistake in the billing, could Jenna’s account have been hacked into? Was there perhaps some other explanation? The result was dramatic – the very next day Jenna emailed us with a “big THANK YOU.” She went on to say that “after chatting to you I received a mail and then a follow-up call from Paul Rozycki at MTN. For the first time in months I actually received good customer service. After I explained everything, MTN made the decision to give me a full credit for the money that has been debited for the 3G card. My lines have been re-connected and I’m relieved that I can finally lay this matter to rest. I have a suspicion that without your assistance I would have ended up having to suck up the R7,000 costs to get my line back even though they were not generated by me.”
A few days later, MTN wrote to noseweek: “Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention [Always a pleasure – Ed]. After further investigations, MTN found that the customer’s computer was infected with malicious software that resulted in higher data usage.”
Sweet. And a little sour."