Vodacom explains disappearing airtime
Vodacom subscribers lose airtime even when they do not use their phones. To conduct the disappearing airtime test, MyBroadband used a Nokia 5 smartphone that runs close to the default version of Android. The Nokia 5 was reset to its factory settings and was then updated over Wi-Fi to ensure no minor updates happened during the test.
A new Vodacom SIM card, which was checked for WASP subscriptions, was used for this test. We loaded R15 airtime on the SIM card, plugged the phone into a power supply, and connected it to a fast Wi-Fi network.
Mobile data was switched off to ensure the device could not consume any airtime, through data use, during the testing period. During the two-week testing period, no action was performed on the phone, apart from checking the balance using a USSD code.
As a control group and to ensure a fair methodology, MyBroadband also tested disappearing airtime on other networks. MyBroadband found that small amounts of airtime – typically 1c or less per day – disappeared from the Vodacom SIM.
Over the two-week testing period, the Vodacom SIM lost 7c. It is not significant, but it raises the question of why this airtime disappeared. The Telkom and MTN SIMs in the control group, in comparison, lost no airtime during the testing period.
The table below shows the results of MyBroadband’s disappearing airtime test. Vodacom explained the disappearing airtime is partly because Android smartphones are able to use 4G mobile data even when the ‘mobile data’ setting is turned off.
“This is a function of how 4G is designed, the device, operating system, and relevant application developers,” a Vodacom spokesperson said. Testing has shown that, typically, small amounts of data are used for a connectivity test message in this way.
Most applications will allow the handset settings to determine the bearer to be used, although app developers can force data over the mobile connection. The second reason, Vodacom said, relates to the default billing rules on a new prepaid SIM. Vodacom allows a subscriber to opt into Data Limit Lock (DLL) and will allow the SIM to go out-of-bundle, using any airtime balance.
Only when DLL is opted into or if a bundle is purchased — DLL will be set by default when the bundle is depleted — will out of bundle charges be stopped. We encourage customers to change their Data Limit Lock (DLL) to R0 as soon as they purchase a new prepaid SIM,” Vodacom said.
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Source: mybroadband
