Smartone-Vodafone Heartless to Its Most Loyal Customer [Updated]

From January 31 – February 14 I travelled to three US cities: New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. As you all know I am a long time iPhone user, someone who is very familiar with the Internet and various technologies. Hence, I was surprised to received a SMS from Smartone-Vodafone (SMV) on Feb. 5th, while in Los Angeles (the second city of my trip), regarding my data roaming charges exceeding HKD1400.00.

I immediately followed the instructions in the SMS and contacted SMV’s Customer Service (CS) department to determine what had went wrong. Especially when at that point, out of the 6 days I had been away from Hong Kong I spent 2 of those traveling on air planes.

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Smartone-Vodafone Began Its Transition (Updated)

Smartone-Vodafone logoThis morning when I plug my iPhone in to iTunes, it reported that there is a new carrier update. The .IPCC file is what was updated and each Apple carrier partner in the world has one of these files. Visual Voicemail and Tethering are dependent on these files to be activated officially on the iPhone.

So with my report yesterday regarding SMV’s Voicemail migration and today’s appearance of the .IPCC file, SMV is well on its way to become Apple’s 2nd official carrier partner in Hong Kong.

[Update: January 16, 2010, 19:00]
After restarting my iPhone I now have Internet Tethering back. What I also had to do was to remove the Profile originally created with Help.Benm.at.

Cryptic Smartone-Vodafone SMS

Smartone-Vodafone logoAll of a sudden I received the following cryptic SMS message from Smartone-Vodafone:

Voicemail system migration has been completed. Your greeting & PIN have been reset. To check messages before system migration, dial 138 & press 5.

The thing is that there was no prior message to say that the Voicemail system is to be migrated. Also what does the last sentence mean? Isn’t this SMS to inform me that the said migration has already been completed?

Seeing that this Voicemail “migration” comes so close to the official iPhone launch by Smartone-Vodafone on the 23rd. Does it imply that I’m correct earlier about Apple’s Visual Voicemail coming to SMV iPhone customers very soon?

Tethering Finally Returns to SMV iPhone Users in HK

Starting January 23, 2010 Smartone-Vodafone (SMV) will become an official Apple carrier partner in Hong Kong, along with 3 HK. May be this will mean that the two long awaited features: “Visual Voicemail” and “Tethering”, will also be officially available to SMV customers (old and new). I was not able to get an official confirmation about this, as everyone I spoke to are keeping the SMV iPhone tariff plans and features very secretive.

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Speed of 3G Network in Hong Kong

Smartone-Vodafone logoPCCW LogoCSL LogoEarly this year both PCCW and CSL launched their HSPA+ network. As a result improving the speed and capacity of their respective networks. Offering a theoretical downlink speed of 21Mbps and uplink speed of 7Mbps.

On Wednesday, November 4th Smartone-Vodafone (SMV) launched their HSPA+ upgrade to their 3G network.

The difference between SMV’s announcements and the others, is that SMV also released a document to clarify the theoretical speed of HSPA+. Where as other mobile carriers in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world, only focused on marketing the HSPA+ networks’ capability of 21Mbps speed, leaving the actual ability to achieve 21Mbps as small prints in their promotional materials. Such practices of these other mobile carriers are very misleading for layman consumers. I will attempt to explain further, to help clarify this theoretical speed of HSPA+ for layman consumers.

Continue reading “Speed of 3G Network in Hong Kong”

Speed of 3G Network in Hong Kong

Smartone-Vodafone logoPCCW LogoCSL LogoEarly this year both PCCW and CSL launched their HSPA+ network. As a result improving the speed and capacity of their respective networks. Offering a theoretical downlink speed of 21Mbps and uplink speed of 7Mbps.
On Wednesday, November 4th Smartone-Vodafone (SMV) launched their HSPA+ upgrade to their 3G network.

The difference between SMV’s announcements and the others, is that SMV also released a document to clarify the theoretical speed of HSPA+. Where as other mobile carriers in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world, only focused on marketing the HSPA+ networks’ capability of 21Mbps speed, leaving the actual ability to achieve 21Mbps as small prints in their promotional materials. Such practices of these other mobile carriers are very misleading for layman consumers. I will attempt to explain further, to help clarify this theoretical speed of HSPA+ for layman consumers.

Continue reading “Speed of 3G Network in Hong Kong”

Smartone-Vodafone HSDPA Network Test Results

As most readers know I conducted a joint test of Smartone-Vodafone’s HSDPA network last week; which I now found out it cost me HKD60.00 in data charges, as I had detailed in my post, Smartone-Vodafone HSDPA Network Speed Tested.

At the time Smartone-Vodafone technicians did not have the data correlated until today.
SMV Network Test with SpeedTest
These results are from running the SpeedTest iPhone application on each of the iPhones used in the test.

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Smartone-Vodafone HSDPA Network Speed Tested

Smartone-Vodafone logoThe people at Smartone-Vodafone took notice of my post, iPhones on Two Different 3G Networks Compared, and wanted to get to the bottom of the cause of the slow down in their HSDPA network; especially compared to 3 HK (another Hong Kong mobile carrier).

They began by acknowledging my claims, although they did not do what most other companies do; especially those in Asia, and simply claims that they had different results and dismissed our findings. Contrary they responded by saying they did not have the same results as we did and wanted to look into why we have different results.

They investigated the un-scientific test results I made and several days later contacted me to arrange a joint test. Today was the joint test at the three locations I had previously tested their HSDPA (3G) network:

  • IFC Mall, Central, Hong Kong
  • Areas near Wanchai Computer Center, Wanchai, Hong Kong
  • Starbucks, Hysan Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

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iPhones on Two Different 3G Networks Compared

3 HK Logo
Smartone-Vodafone logoToday a reader, Stephen C., sent me a video of a test he and his friend conducted (“un-scientifically) with two iPhone 3GS’s connected to two different 3G networks on two (3 HK and Smartone-Vodafone) of six mobile carriers in Hong Kong.

The result are a bit surprising, especially for customers of Smartone-Vodafone. The video had been sent to Smartone-Vodafone Customer Service and hopefully we will receive an official respond.

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HTC Hero Available from Smartone-Vodafone

Smartone-Vodafone logoThis afternoon the mobile carrier Smartone-Vodafone has announced the price and tariff plans for the HTC Hero.

The top of the line plan is identical to the tariff planSmartone-Vodafone is offering iPhone users in Hong Kong, which they called “The Ultimate iPhone Experience“. The main difference being for the iPhone tariff plan, Smartone-Vodafone is not selling the iPhone 3GS themselves. Customers just have to bring in a proof of purchase from a Hong Kong Apple Authorized Reseller or Apple HK that is dated within 3 months.

The plan requires a 24 months contract with the carrier, plus a minimum subscription of HKD36.00 VAS per month. Giving the unlimited data plan a total monthly cost of HKD446.00 after taken into account the mandatory HKD12.00/month Administration fee.
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