A voice message warning that 2G signals will be switched off has “caused extreme panic” in parts of the North West, even though it is not true.
By Amelia Genis, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
Pieter Jonker, chairman of Agri Vryburg, confirmed to African Farming that Vodacom’s chief technical engineer working in that area had assured them they would not turn off signals.
“Agri Vryburg is constantly in contact with this engineer and we will inform our members about changes ourselves.”
Although the cellphone signal is not always good, Vodacom is making improvements in the areas, says Jonker. “We experienced extremely weak signals in our office and our problem has already been resolved.”
Jonker forwarded a message from the Vodacom engineer, whose name cannot be disclosed.
In short, the problem is that modern smartphones worldwide have a factory setting that cannot lock to 2G. The engineer denies that the company has blocked any functions or signals.
‘Signal Is Still Perfect’
“Vodacom has not yet switched off 900 (Hz) at all. We have been tasked by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to reduce the bandwidth on 900 only. This has absolutely no impact on your ‘call signal’.”
He says the problem is today’s smartphones don’t lock to 2G, which is usually the “call signal”. They are currently increasing the bandwidth on LTE, but he assures Vodacom customers in that area that the 2G signal (GSM) that has been available since 1994 is still there.
“Unfortunately with LTE (4G) your footprint is smaller than 2G. LTE is an abbreviation for ‘long term evolution’. It is sometimes called 4G LTE. It enables wireless data transfer that allows music, videos and internet to be downloaded faster than 3G.
“We’ve added the LTE 700 band for LTE. Its range is wider. We’re rolling it out nationwide as we modernise. Not all the towers have it yet, but all the towers still have the old-fashioned GSM signal. It has the 3G-900 signal and the LTE 900 signal.”
“If you have a phone that can still lock to 2G, like the Pep 299 phones, you will see that the signal is still perfect.”
