Fix The 3G Usage Meter

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JoeNormal

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#56920 28-Jan-2010 14:01

Vodafone still haven't fixed the 3G Usage Meter which is faulty and leading people to use more bytes than they are aware of. Its an outrage and I've launched a campaign on FaceBook to bring it to people attention(See below) I've been in excruciating discussions today with them following my getting a bill for $300.00 for 4gigs, when I believed that I had only used 1.5gigs. Looking at Geekzone posts, this issue has been going on for a while.

Today I got an undertaking from them that they are going to send a notification out to customers telling themof the Usage Meter problem. I told them they had been unethical by not notifying customers, and that I would take them to the Commerce Commission and other investigating bodies. They have told me they have a 'project team' working on this. I have setup a FaceBook page called 'Vodafone - Front up - Fix The Usage Meter'. Please sign up to this site and I can keep you informed about further discussions I have with Vodafone. They are acting completely unethically by not notifying customers of this probem, and more seriously, people are probably paying them money they are not entitled to. anyone interested in this campaign can contact me directly on XXXXX ot 'Joe Normal'on Facebook. Thanks Geeks....

[Mod (N8): Moved to correct forum, please don't double post]

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#293930 28-Jan-2010 14:23

There is no need to spam geekzone but what usage meter are you speaking of?

John

JoeNormal

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#293945 28-Jan-2010 14:33

I'm not spamming. I just want to draw this to the attention of 3G Vodafone customers. There is a Usage Meter attached to the connect box. It is innaccurate, and Vodafone are aware of the problem, but haven't fixed it. They have been aware of it for a number of years, but have failed to alert their customers to it. There will be many people being overbilled for usage they are completely unaware of.

freitasm

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#293954 28-Jan-2010 14:56

johnr: There is no need to spam geekzone but what usage meter are you speaking of?

John

I don't think he's spamming Geekzone at all. If he's raising a valid concern then it needs to be out there

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freitasm

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#293957 28-Jan-2010 14:58

Yes, just noticed that. One post is enough. Don't need to go around repeating yourself. Now that this is out of the way, back on topic.

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nitrotech

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#293963 28-Jan-2010 15:17

johnr said there was a fix for this coming in Feb, maybe john could let us know if it's still on track.

On your bill for excess usage, why not take VF to small calims? I believe you have a good case to argue.

johnr

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#293985 28-Jan-2010 15:53

nitrotech: johnr said there was a fix for this coming in Feb, maybe john could let us know if it's still on track.

On your bill for excess usage, why not take VF to small calims? I believe you have a good case to argue.

The fix for checking the insurance data bundle is done and waiting to be deployed in the live network but its not as simple as a .exe file on a server and away we go but we are part way thru another project which is fantastic and I am across having input and related to checking data usage but sorry I can not speak about at this stage maybe in a few weeks.

John

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JoeNormal

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#294001 28-Jan-2010 16:31

I placed two posts up in separate chat forum areas to ensure that all Geeks had an opportunity to see the topic. This seemed logical to me...my interpretation of 'Geek zone' was that it was an exclusive area that maybe a lot of people don't visit..maybe only administrators and people involved with this website..and that "Off Topic" was an area that a different more general group would visit. My intention was not to 'spam'. Have these posts been removed? I just went to the forums and couldn't find anything under 'Vodafone - Fix The Usage Meter'?

JoeNormal

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#294005 28-Jan-2010 16:38

Re Small Claims. Thanks for that tip. The bill has been wiped after I threatened to go to Fair Go, and the Commerce Commision. However, I am challenging them on ethical grounds, that they should have notifed their customers there is a problem with the Usage Meter, that it is inaccurate...and in the their word to me ' shouldn't be used'.

Re : The Fix : How come they can't send a patch through. Vodafone told me that they didn't write the programme, that they have been trying to get the authors to correct it. Still, nothing to draw this to the attention of customers. I'm betting that customers have been overcharged tens of thousands of dollars for usage they are unaware of while Vodafone have been aware of the problem. Vodafone told me they want to fix the problem by April. John R... are you part of the project team they talked about? My intention is to get it oput into the public arena.

cranz

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#294013 28-Jan-2010 16:58

Sorry, just to clarify are we talking about the Mobile Connect software that runs on your computer, or on the data usage reported by the www.vodafone.co.nz... website?

I'm a tad confused, I think John is talking about the website and you're talking about the software as you say "Vodafone told me that they didn't write the programme" ??

JoeNormal

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#294016 28-Jan-2010 17:04

OK Cranz...I'm talking about the Mobile Connect software that runs on your computer. Since talking with Vodafone over the last couple of days, they have told me this should be ignored, and that usage should be checked at the website. Its theMobile Connect software that is the problem and unreliable leading to the overcharging.

wtf

38 posts

Geek

#295657 3-Feb-2010 11:08

OK, this will not fix the usage meter, but one tip that will help you reduce your usage is to find out what your PC is doing. If you run wireshark on a PC with an active connection, you will often find that it is attempting to make connections to all sorts of odd servers on all sorts of odd addresses. Some of these are to addresses that do not exist in the Internet, but you will of course still get charged for the uplink traffic. it is possible that there may be more of this sort of stuff on a PC configured for a corporate network, where it would normally be able to access these things, but even out of the box home PCs seem to send a lot of chatter on the network, some of which is useless. It is of course up to you to determine what is useless and what is not, I find that the less I know about what is happening inside Windows, the happier I am. So the details of how to turn off any service you find you don't need are left up to you.

Another semi related thing is that if you have the opportunity to connect through a fixed line of some sort from time to time, you should make sure that you set things up so that windows updates will only take place when on the cheap connection. I am not suggesting that you turn them off altogether, that is likely to have other undesired consequences, like finding your machine is being used as a spam bot, which would also cost you money.

If you are doing much mobile web surfing, then setting up an adblocker can significantly reduce the volume of download for the pages you surf.

So no excuses for Vodafone, but I do get the feeling that implementing some of these ideas might help keep a few people out of the deathzone.

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MikeyPI

450 posts

Ultimate Geek

#295663 3-Feb-2010 11:29

JoeNormal: (edit) I've been in excruciating discussions today with them following my getting a bill for $300.00 for 4gigs, when I believed that I had only used 1.5gigs. Looking at Geekzone posts, this issue has been going on for a while.

VFNZ have definitely had trouble tracking data usage, as had TNZ. However your point of "I believed that I had only used 1.5gigs" is hardly concrete, and perhaps you should confirm your usage with evidence, as any investigation by any entitiy would require some level of proof, not just a vague " I dont think I used that much"

johnr

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#295665 3-Feb-2010 11:42

JoeNormal: OK Cranz...I'm talking about the Mobile Connect software that runs on your computer. Since talking with Vodafone over the last couple of days, they have told me this should be ignored, and that usage should be checked at the website. Its theMobile Connect software that is the problem and unreliable leading to the overcharging.

You can SMS BAL to 777 from the data card software

The insurance bundle is returning 0 but fix for this should be deployed 15th Feb

The usage meter in the terms of the software has a warning in it that you agreed to when accepting the terms

John

nitrotech

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#295679 3-Feb-2010 12:20

Sorry but if you are relying on the software to capture all your usage you are simply asking for trouble, checking your usage via the online usage meter is your only true way of knowing your exact usage.

I log into mine each day, just to check that 300mb of updates hasn't come through blowing the data cap, would suggest that you do the same.

JoeNormal

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#295782 3-Feb-2010 17:36

Thanks for replies....nitrotech..is updates that often cause this problem is it?

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