...and still Cell C keeps on yapping but not delivering...

For ages now I have been following the Cell C 3G (now supposedly 4G) debacle, initially with great interest, but of late more with sarcasm and doubt.

Having been in touch with customer liaison officers, retentions departments etc. etc. blah blah at the company, all I ever seem to get from this rather dodgy company is empty promises and a whole lot of nonsense.

Back in February 2010 I was hopefully blogging away about the prospect of Cell C getting 4G - and here we still sit waiting (not so patiently) 6 months later.
In that time, not much if anything has happened to change or improve the dire state of affairs that is the Cell C data network.
Instead, a lot of hogwash hype has been generated for the media to willingly lap up:

- Comedian Trevor Noah has been appointed as the company "CEO" (that's Customer Experience Officer... how clever of you Cell C); He will be hearing from me soon when I send him a link to this post...
- Cell C now sports a new look and a new logo;
- The "4Gs" logo adorns the Cell C site all over the place, although in reality there is no such offering as yet on the Cell C network.
Personally I still crawl along at barely-EDGE speeds on a phone which is capable of a lot more...
Clicking on the "Internet - 4Gs" link on the Cell C site, takes you to a page which boldly proclaims:

"The future of mobile services is here, thanks to Cell C. We are proud to announce that Cell C is the first cellular operator in the country to roll out a 4Gs network..."

Ok Cell C - your customers are now just fed up. You claim that 4Gs is here... WHERE???

Is it only available to a few selected square metres of barren land somewhere in the Karoo? 

How about a real rollout in major metropolitan areas like ummm.. JHB maybe? Cape Town? Durban? Have you heard of those places?

All it takes is a bit of communication with the same people who actually pay the Cell C salaries at the end of the day. A countdown to 4G launch, an ETA of some kind, ANYTHING to give us an idea of what the heck is going on and when we can expect to have access to data speeds that are at least close to first world!

Cell C - your customers are getting tired of waiting for your empty promises to be fulfilled...

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Is Cell C getting 4G...?

For many years I have been a loyal Cell C supporter, despite their lack of anything faster than EDGE on their data network.
Cell C have also constantly advised me that 3G is coming soon, not sure EXACTLY when they say, but soon.

That was back in 2008.

So now, 2 years on, I did a little poking, prodding and prying, and a rumour has emerged which claims that Cell C may in fact completely skip 3G (and 3.5G), and launch 4G sometime during 2010...
Now if this turns out to be true, it will be quite an awesome move on the part of Cell C, who up till now have lost a lot of customers based on data speeds inferior to those of MTN and Vodacom, who both currently offer 3.5G (or 3G HSDPA).

Not sure what I'm talking about?
Courtesy of the guys over at Wikipedia:

"4G refers to the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards.
It is a successor to 3G and 2G standards, with the aim to provide a wide range of data rates up to ultra-broadband (gigabit-speed) Internet access to mobile as well as stationary users."

So in layman's terms, 4G is flipping fast mobile internet - the next step up from HSDPA - and therefore faster than anything we currently have available to us in South Africa.

Come on Cell C - your loyal customers await news of 4G!!

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