I'm not one to hand out credit to Telkom... but...

[anthor]

On Wednesday afternoon I went to the local Telkom store to apply for an ADSL line. It was an absolute joke. There were about 10 people in the queue, about 8 staff members in the store and only 1 lady behind the counter. When someone called them on it, they made a joke and revved the guy up to the point that he dropped out of the queue and demanded to see the manager. He was reasonably polite, so in my opinion their response was childish and totally unprofessional.

After being met with red tape, a list of required documents and the suggestion that I should go to another branch I decided that I'd try their call centre.

I don't know if I was just fortunate, but I got through to a lady who was really easy to deal with. I only know her first name, Carmen. She gave me good and solid info and was helpful the whole way through.

She said that they would install on Tuesday the 8th, but they ended up calling me on Friday morning to ask me if they can come and install. I was available, so I agreed. After the analogue line installation I called and asked them to upgrade me to ADSL (self-install) and this morning I got an SMS saying that ADSL line is active.

I was honestly expecting to wait anywhere from 10 days to 3 months.

Maybe there is hope... at least if you avoid the Alberton City Telkom store like a plague. Just wanted to share and give (the rest of Telkom) a little credit where it's due.

[werny]

Also had good service with Telkom, Got my ADSL activated in only ONE day.

Went the morning to sign-up and 4pm I got the SMS saying that my ADSL is activated.

I instantly burst into tears when I saw my modems "internet" light go green.

[chrisc4290]

Yes, got my Closer Plan 3 sorted in 15 mins on the phone (10210). Lady was very polite and knew the product

[elriconess]

Wish I could say the same, waiting for my 4Mbps for almost a week now.

[bullfrog]

Recently did an ADSL line move and was also pleasantly surprised with what I can only call excellent service.

The lady on the other end was very informative and they've even jacked up their systems to give an exact date that the line will activated/moved to the new premises. The technicians also got the confirmed date right and followed through.

So all in all, I feel I am paying a lot for the line, but I am definitely getting my moneys worth in terms of service.

[marine1]

There is an old Afrikaans lady I always deal with at their HQ (I assume) what a pleasure to deal with.
Seems the majority of employees today do not know what customer service is.

[theor]

Shockingly I have also had excellent service from Telkom recently.
Moved into my new home and decided to get DSL, so first stop was their online order bundle.
After not hearing back from them by the Friday when I initially placed the order on the Tuesday I decided to give them a call.
The lady I got through to inform me there was no order listed, at this point I was already thinking here we go normal Telkom service levels may apply.
But not deterred I placed an order over the phone provided all the relevant details, a credit check was done while I was holding.
Then I was pleasantly surprised when the suddenly asks if I would like the install to be done the following Friday.
I indicated that would be fine and I even went as far as to put in a day’s leave, optimistically, for the next Friday.
To my shock I received an SMS on the Monday informing me they will be at my place of residence the next day.
I arranged to work from home and lo and behold, the guy pitches up very friendly and professional, 45 minutes later my router is in the, internet light glowing its magnificent green light.
The only holdup was my DSL account details that I had to wait another 24 hours for, was not really a concern just bought some pre-paid data from AXXESS.
I even got a call the following day to find out if everything was satisfactory and if I was happy with the service I received.

Apart from the fact that I have been using various wireless technologies the past couple of years (iBurst, 3g) and almost cried when I got 15ms local pings an 200ms international, it was just refreshing after all the horror stories to receive prompt and decent service from the big evil Telkom.

[Mr.CookieMonster]

Lucky, it took me a month to get ADSL line + Modem from Telkom.

They excuse was:

"Sorry, we ran out of modems and there is nothing we can do about it. "

[evilstebunny]

Telkom, although useless most of the time do have it's moments. I logged a call last night, couldn't sync, and lo & behold by 10 this morning the problem was fixed.

However, they still haven't sorted my 4meg line which could sync at 6meg before but barely does 2 now. So yeah, don't get too excited but Telkom has its moments.

[Spizz]

I was in the Hermanus store a couple of months ago, 3rd in a queue of about 5 and no movement for 10 minutes with no other staff members in sight.

There was a poster on the wall about quality of service and the managers cell number if you were unhappy. So I called it, told him I'm unhappy, and before I could finish the conversation, about 5 guys came running from the back of the shop to the counter to serve us

[XTM]

i am also surprised today that i cant finish a torrent dl of 3MB since the morning

[Jack Shizz]

I instantly burst into tears when I saw my modems "internet" light go green.

[elriconess]

Still waiting!

Operational Mode G.Dmt.BisPlus
Annex Type AnnexA
Upstream 127500
Downstream 383800
SNR Margin(Upstream) 50.5 dB
SNR Margin(Downstream) 42.95 dB
Line Attenuation(Upstream) 1.0 dB
Line Attenuation(Downstream) 8.5 dB

Isn't that just perfect for 24Mbits?

[Zewp]

I'm going to have to be honest here, as much as I hate Telkom for what they're doing to internet in SA, I've never had any complaints about service. Whenever I've had to call tech support for an issue, they've been able to help me out in decent time.