Last week I purchased a Vodaphone Branded Huaweii HG556a Home Gateway router. This device uses the DSL connection for Internet access with fall-back to the 3G stick. Has voip ports and data switch. While configuring the unit I did so with data card in place, it is pretty obvious when the data card is communicating as the light goes pale blue. Once logged on the router says Internet through ADSL2+ Voice Through ADSL2+ and the data card intermittently flashes dark green, every few minutes. As I was being cautious to ensure that data usage was managed when on HSPA I ensured that (with two exceptions) no data was downloaded or uploaded while on HSPA. Only one PC was connected to the router and windows update and active tiles disabled. After two days I logged in to My Vodafone and the data usage claimed to be 4GB, a call to customer care did not resolve anything, the consensus there being that background processes must have consumed the data. I find it inexplicable that "background processes" shuld be hundreds of times more active on HSPA than on ADSL, particularly considering that updates and tiles were de-activated ( I know other programs like java update too) but these normally occur when first opening the systems, which was done using a different router on ADSL2+. Huaweii care line confirm that there is nothing that thet are aware of in their routers that could contribute to this 100m every few minutes usage.
All the files downloaded can be identified by date and time stamps and do not add up to anything like the claimed data usage. Customer care finally offered a part credit and suggested a data add on for the balance, while trying to set this up the call dropped out and no reply call was received. I could not get the same operator and was not prepared to go through the whole process again.
I remove the sim and place one of my other sim cards in the stick (I have more than enough data capacity to use across several cards and never go over normally, unless travelling.) So I then chose to just buy the data add on and be done, but that is where things get even worse. There is obviously a serious flaw in My Vodafone software. I was very careful to ensure that the data card number was selected, double checked that it was still displayed when selecting the add on, selected proceed (with the correct number still in the drop down box) to get a message saying we hope your enjoy your add on on the WRONG NUMBER. Basically it seems, from yours and other posts, that My Vodafone ignores all selections made and assigns add ons to the phone number you used to log into the service with. Customer care then say this is irreversible. If it was irreversible, there is normally a requirement that a final confirmation screen showing the add on and the number it is being assigned to be displayed with a message something like " please confirm that you wish to purchase add on X for Number Y - and that once confirmed the transaction cannot be reversed" or something like that. In the case of my vodafone, this confirmation step does not exist, so the first time you find out that a number other than the one selected has been credited with the add on, is after it allegedly cannot be reversed. Like others, I was asked why I logged in with a different number to the one I wanted the add on for. In my instance I note that I always log on with a phone number and the add on was for a data stick (which number has never been registered as a my vodafone user - as data sticks cannot display sms messages for activation)
The new my vodafone seems to be much more buggy than the older version it replaced, when it comes to swapping between numbers on a multi number account, even with usage history, etc. I have found several examples of similar problems on the forums and whirlpool, so it is not a problem unique to me or occuring for the first time, yet Vodafone have obviously done nothing to fix these software flaws and customer care tries to assign sole responsibility for miss assignemnt of add ons to the customer, despite the fact that it obviously a known flaw in the user interface on my vodafone and there are no confirmation screens as are normally required on "irreversable" transactions.
The frustation the software errors cause is only further agravated by some "customer care" operators who are like talking to a broken record, and make frustrating statements like- "if you think there was a problem with the software interface you should have taken it up with Vodafone" When - before it happened? I could not have dialled any faster than I did after the wrong number was displayed in the confirmation screen.
Regards