Telkom issues, what can I do?

G-Man

OK so this is vaguely related to guitar because I use the internet to connect to GFSA so here goes...

I just upgraded my line from 2Mbits to a 4Mbit. I saw a difference in speed but it wasn't at 4mbps like I expected, more like 320 on a good day .I contacted my ISP because they look after my line as well, so they logged a call with Telkom and the guy came out. After a day with no internet and him going back and forward to the exchange, he phones me on my cell and says "Sorry the exchange is over capacity" and he then buggers off home. Now before the upgrade I had a constant 200kbps on all downloads etc, and since this guy left my speed has plummeted to under a meg during the day with speeds only getting up to 4mbps after 12 at night.

I can see the Telkom exchange from my house, I could run a fly lead into the building if they'd let me, lol.

So now I phone my ISP and they just say "Sorry, it is a Telkom issue, there is nothing that any of us can do."

Does that sound right to you guys? Should I get ICASA involved? Will that even help?

NorioDS

I dunno what ISP you're with but I'm with Afrihost and, from their ClientZone, you can do some nifty things on your line. I forget what it's called but it helped.

But be warned, it could make things worse. It did that once for me but re-running the tool fixed it back to 10Mbps. Now I don't touch the settings ?

AlanRatcliffe

The secret to dealing with Telkom is make so much of a nuisance of yourself that they sort out your problem just to get you off their backs. Keep complaining, keep reporting the issue. If you don't get satisfaction, report it again and again. While the folk in the call centre know that chances are good that you will get someone else next time you call, it'll usually be the same tech that has to come out to you again and again. The tech will eventually realise that he'll lessen his workload by doing whatever it takes to sort out the problem and if he can't he'll escalate it to someone who can.

ICASA is a bit of a toothless lion, but there are still a few tricks you can use. If you don't get satisfaction, you are (by virtue of the terms of Telkom's license) allowed to ask to speak to the supervisor of the person you are dealing with. and they must pass you on to them. If they don't sort out matters to your satisfaction, you are allowed to ask for their supervisor. And so on - all the way up to the managing director if you feel it's needed.

I have actually done this once before (takes a lot to piss me off, but it's not something you want to achieve) - I ended up with the MD's assistant after 8 hours on the phone (and remember, if you call from a Telkom line, they foot the bill). I called and, when the first person asked if they could help me, I said "No you can't. Can I speak to your supervisor please?". Then I when I got that person, I asked for their supervisor. And so on... I doggedly refused to hang up, regardless of how long I waited, insisting on waiting for the next supervisor in line, regardless of if they were in a meeting, on lunch, busy, whatever. They tried telling me that someone was not in, so I asked for that person's supervisor.

Surprise, surprise, after reaching the MD's office, a Telkom tech was knocking at my door at 7:30 the next morning. He ended up spending the next two days replacing 40km of cable between my town and the next one over just to fix my problem. Added bonus: I now never wait more than a day for a Telkom tech - I suspect they have a flashing "do not piss this guy off" warning on my account. ?

I'm also with Afrihost, BTW and the line resynching tool is great - although as Norio pointed out, it usually resynchs down first, so it's advisable to run it twice.

DaFiz

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: ... I doggedly refused to hang up, regardless of how long I waited

Wow... How polite were you... ? I start spitting and snarling and turning purple under my eyeballs... They sense this and lose my call >☹ It took me days to sort out the problem (which was down at the exchange) Aaargh... My BP goes up again just thinking about it :-[

Jayhell

Drive around your neighborhood till you see a Telkom van. Bribe the guy to come sort out your line with R100 or something, take his Cell number and be very friendly. Every time you have a problem you call the guy, pay him R100 and he comes sort out your problems without having to deal with Telkom.

+1 for Afrihost and even Web Africa, you can do some mighty cool stuff from the web. Reset your line, change speeds and what not. Also check that your line speed with your SP and Telkom is the same speed, even if you have a 10mb package and telkom only supports 4, then your line wont work, then you have to bring your speed down with your SP.

...or get a wireless service provider.

AlanRatcliffe

DaFiz wrote: Wow... How polite were you... ?

I'm one of those that the angrier I get the quieter and more polite I become, but more terse. I like to think people sense the underlying menace. ?

scotty

Reading your post brings back "fond" memories of swearing and complaining :-[

The one thing the Telkom guy told me is that I am too far from the exchange. I eventually sort-of confirmed this (ok, I convinced myself that I confirmed this) after doing lots of reading and by comparing the attenuation on my line with some other magical figure, indicating that it is "low". I was advised that I will probably never get 4mbps and that I should rather stick to a slower line speed. This was especially true for reliability of the network.

I constantly ran (and saved) the results from http://www.speedtest.net/, showing this to the guy when he came to look at the issue.

I get a maximum of 1.6 on a 2mbps line now which seems to be fair. When it was 4mbps it was really unreliable (apparently because of signal loss).

Check this thread on Mybroadband:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/186156-Understanding-SNR-and-Attenuation-Rates

Maybe this will help in some way (even though you can see the box from your house ?).

If you get maximum speeds at some point during the day it does seem plausible that the exchange may be overloaded >☹.

I agree, log complaints and keep pestering them!

IceCreamMan

best thing I ever did was go 3G... hellkom was just to much of a mission to deal with...not saying the mobile companies are any better but never had a problem on 3 g now in 6 years

G-Man

Thanks everyone.

Well nothing has changed since my first post really, I got fed up on Friday and sent a scathing email to my isp basically telling them to update me about the situation or else I would consider taking my business elsewhere and pursuing the Telkom issue myself. Well I got a smug email back saying 'Ok well tell us what you decide to do."

After some backwards and forwards they have agreed to refund me my R400 pm line rental x Xmonths once they get credit from Telkom. So who knows how long it will take. They say that telkom has said that the upgrade date is "undecided as yet" so I'm guessing it won't be any time soon. I went into telkom and asked who I could address a formal written complaint to and I got a blank stare. So I explained my problem to the lady behind the counter and before I could tell her which exchange I was complaining about she interrupted me and said oh, do you live in... and named my exchange. "Oh yes" she started "we always have people complaining about that exchange, maybe they gonna fix it soon". Astonished, I left the store and went back home.

So that's where I'm at.

IceCreamMan

G-Man wrote: Thanks everyone.

Well nothing has changed since my first post really, I got fed up on Friday and sent a scathing email to my isp basically telling them to update me about the situation or else I would consider taking my business elsewhere and pursuing the Telkom issue myself. Well I got a smug email back saying 'Ok well tell us what you decide to do."

After some backwards and forwards they have agreed to refund me my R400 pm line rental x Xmonths once they get credit from Telkom. So who knows how long it will take. They say that telkom has said that the upgrade date is "undecided as yet" so I'm guessing it won't be any time soon. I went into telkom and asked who I could address a formal written complaint to and I got a blank stare. So I explained my problem to the lady behind the counter and before I could tell her which exchange I was complaining about she interrupted me and said oh, do you live in... and named my exchange. "Oh yes" she started "we always have people complaining about that exchange, maybe they gonna fix it soon". Astonished, I left the store and went back home.

So that's where I'm at.

I would fire my ISP here , they should be doing more to assist you esp if you have the Telkom line "through" them..... and escalate it within their strucutres, this is BS and terrible customer service.

ISP's enjoy preferential status with Telkom y virtue of their buying power, they cannot sit by an watch you suffer alone

domhatch

i've recently got hold of a telkom mobile lte/4g modem and, even though i'm on the fringe of the lte coverage area, the difference in speed between this and my old mtn 3g modem (which, in its defence, was old) is significant. as their lte coverage expands, it should get even better.

i'm sticking with mobile. when you move, you pick it up and move it yourself. (provided you move to an area with coverage, of course)
dh|

Norman86

domhatch wrote: i've recently got hold of a telkom mobile lte/4g modem and, even though i'm on the fringe of the lte coverage area, the difference in speed between this and my old mtn 3g modem (which, in its defence, was old) is significant. as their lte coverage expands, it should get even better.

i'm sticking with mobile. when you move, you pick it up and move it yourself. (provided you move to an area with coverage, of course)
dh|

Along with a Poynting antennae.
They really do work and are worth the money.
Though i had quite a spat with MTN, and got mine through them for free.. dunno if that is still possible though.
(and to be honest, i think they have long since fixed their mistake. either way, the difference with the antennae is remarkable when set up correctly ? )