donaldza
14-09-2005, 01:27 PM
Hey everyone, I'm a new poster to this forum so I apologise if I've misplaced the post.
I thought I'd share with you guys why no matter how far things go I may always be negative towards Telkom and the possible future.
Firstly, being an IT person as most of us are on here I have kept up with technological developments regularly, and watching as other countries constantly got improved services while we in South Africa sat helpless. ADSL overseas, when it came here, 8 years late, I was even shocked having struggled along with an analogue leased line up to that point.
Anyways to the point, I have to bring my father into play here to show why I have no faith. I'm not sure if any of you remember or are even familiar with the 'crank' telephones? Don't laugh yet, but seriously, my dad still has one of these on his farm and its still in operation because he can't get a normal phone there, Telkom said its not worth the effort.
Fine sad story, but, its been going on for FIFTEEN YEARS every time a Telkom salesman approaches us with a new product or service, we order it for my dad, whether it be ISDN, ADSL, etc and the Telkom rep happily goes off with the order, and every time they don't even bother us to phone as to say no.
Not only is this sad, but the 40 people my father employs on his farm cannot call their loved ones in other parts of the country, there is no cell phone coverage and nobody can afford to phone because not only is the 'crank' telephone just crap, its also ludicrously expensive because someone has to pay the tannie at the manual exchange to plug in the wires.
If you're unsure what a crank telephone is or a manual exchange is, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange#Manual_telephone_exchanges
Which describes them, not so bad you might say, but, on the exchange everyone in the area shares the same 'party' line, ie, if you want to call someone, and someone on the farm next door is on the line, you must pick up and just ask if they're busy! Obviously there are privacy issues there but thats another story. Just to be clear when the party line 'rings' so people know who's call it is, each ring has a different code, ie two short one long, etc so the farmers know when its their call.
I will stop blabbering now, but to think in this, the 21st Century, world of technology, Gigabit fibre running around the world, my dad can't even send a fax on his phone line.
Shame on you Telkom!
Donald Jackson
PS: I have more stories about my analogue leased line, but thats for another time!
I thought I'd share with you guys why no matter how far things go I may always be negative towards Telkom and the possible future.
Firstly, being an IT person as most of us are on here I have kept up with technological developments regularly, and watching as other countries constantly got improved services while we in South Africa sat helpless. ADSL overseas, when it came here, 8 years late, I was even shocked having struggled along with an analogue leased line up to that point.
Anyways to the point, I have to bring my father into play here to show why I have no faith. I'm not sure if any of you remember or are even familiar with the 'crank' telephones? Don't laugh yet, but seriously, my dad still has one of these on his farm and its still in operation because he can't get a normal phone there, Telkom said its not worth the effort.
Fine sad story, but, its been going on for FIFTEEN YEARS every time a Telkom salesman approaches us with a new product or service, we order it for my dad, whether it be ISDN, ADSL, etc and the Telkom rep happily goes off with the order, and every time they don't even bother us to phone as to say no.
Not only is this sad, but the 40 people my father employs on his farm cannot call their loved ones in other parts of the country, there is no cell phone coverage and nobody can afford to phone because not only is the 'crank' telephone just crap, its also ludicrously expensive because someone has to pay the tannie at the manual exchange to plug in the wires.
If you're unsure what a crank telephone is or a manual exchange is, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange#Manual_telephone_exchanges
Which describes them, not so bad you might say, but, on the exchange everyone in the area shares the same 'party' line, ie, if you want to call someone, and someone on the farm next door is on the line, you must pick up and just ask if they're busy! Obviously there are privacy issues there but thats another story. Just to be clear when the party line 'rings' so people know who's call it is, each ring has a different code, ie two short one long, etc so the farmers know when its their call.
I will stop blabbering now, but to think in this, the 21st Century, world of technology, Gigabit fibre running around the world, my dad can't even send a fax on his phone line.
Shame on you Telkom!
Donald Jackson
PS: I have more stories about my analogue leased line, but thats for another time!