Please let me know when they assign the IP address to your line and what the outcome is.
Hi, they've assigned the Public IP to my line today. As I suspected, no change to my issue. Online gaming is a nightmare as the packet loss I get is up to 60%.
 
I have lost hope in Afrihost trying to resolve this issue so I'm trying to deal directly with Vuma. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with an Afrihost agent yesterday. He spewed out the usual corporate nonsense answers. I asked to speak to a manager and the manager refused to take my call, again. I'm going to compile a history of my experiences with Afrihost and submit a complaint to ICASA.

I tried calling Vumatel this morning. First two calls just cut off while I was waiting to speak to a agent. I'm trying their WhatsApp number. Its been 20 minutes and I'm still waiting for an agent to respond.

Customer care in this country is an absolute joke. Nobody cares at all to have your issues fixed promptly. But miss a payment and your service is suspended immediately.
 
I tried calling Vuma call center again just now. 25 minutes on hold waiting to speak to an agent and nobody answered.

Nobody at Vuma monitors the WhatsApp account. I've been waiting for a response from this morning.

Nobody at Vuma monitors the complaints email. I sent them an email a few days ago and nobody has gotten back to me.

I'm compiling my complaint to ICASA today.
 
Hi, they've assigned the Public IP to my line today. As I suspected, no change to my issue. Online gaming is a nightmare as the packet loss I get is up to 60%.
Hi
Up until now where the line is not working no feedback from Afrigirl or Vuma. Worst service providers ever.
 
Hi
Up until now where the line is not working no feedback from Afrigirl or Vuma. Worst service providers ever.
Good Evening
Tests done just now showing 100% packet loss. Is this enough proof that there is something wrong on my line. I have logged a complaint with ICASA as well as Afrihost and Vuma does nothing to assist. @AfriNatic and @Afrigirl I'm waiting for senior management to contact me.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20260603_194006 (1).jpg
    IMG_20260603_194006 (1).jpg
    57.6 KB · Views: 13
  • IMG_20260603_202712.jpg
    IMG_20260603_202712.jpg
    301.6 KB · Views: 13
  • IMG_20260603_194044 (1).jpg
    IMG_20260603_194044 (1).jpg
    72.5 KB · Views: 12
  • IMG_20260603_203659.jpg
    IMG_20260603_203659.jpg
    303.2 KB · Views: 12
  • IMG_20260603_194540 (1).jpg
    IMG_20260603_194540 (1).jpg
    65.6 KB · Views: 11
  • IMG_20260603_203656.jpg
    IMG_20260603_203656.jpg
    218.9 KB · Views: 9
  • IMG_20260603_203710.jpg
    IMG_20260603_203710.jpg
    301.6 KB · Views: 8
  • IMG_20260603_194649 (1).jpg
    IMG_20260603_194649 (1).jpg
    65.5 KB · Views: 14
Good Evening
Tests done just now showing 100% packet loss. Is this enough proof that there is something wrong on my line. I have logged a complaint with ICASA as well as Afrihost and Vuma does nothing to assist. @AfriNatic and @Afrigirl I'm waiting for senior management to contact me.
Thank you for the tests.
Our Vumatel Service manager has escalated the issue to one of their NOC engineers.
 
Good Evening
Tests done just now showing 100% packet loss. Is this enough proof that there is something wrong on my line. I have logged a complaint with ICASA as well as Afrihost and Vuma does nothing to assist. @AfriNatic and @Afrigirl I'm waiting for senior management to contact me.
Amazing how when you file a complaint, they suddenly started working and your issue has now been escalated

That's the "8x Broadband ISP of the Year Winner" for you
 
Amazing how when you file a complaint, they suddenly started working and your issue has now been escalated

That's the "8x Broadband ISP of the Year Winner" for you
How is this for levels of incompetence....I was told Area Network Owner from Vuma would visit me today. A regular tech visited instead. I had a friend from the area who is with a different ISP, run the same trace route and ping test and send me the results. The Vuma tech began pointing fingers at the ISP. I showed him the pictures that my friend sent me, and I also ran the same tests in his presence. He said he would compile that in his report and left.

I then receive the following email response from Vuma:

"Please note that our maintenance department has advised that a team was on site, and it has been proven that the issue is not on our end.

Kindly reach out to your ISP for further assistance."

This level of incompetence is truly astonishing. I delayed my complaint as I wanted to give Vuma the opportunity to take ownership for this issue and try to fix it. Another week has been wasted. I have no choice but to compile the complaint to ICASA as this seems to be the only way Vuma/Afrihost would wake up and fix this problem.
 
Let's hope it will be sorted with the complaints to ICASA. Afrihost logged another ticket with Vuma today and said it will be resolved in 24 to 48 hours. They expected tests to be done on a line that drops for a few seconds to minutes by the time the test starts to run the line is stable hence it took me so long to run the tests they requested. No senior manager is willing to make the call to a paying customer. My house is the only house in the street that is affected by this I tested my neighbor's lines as well. A Vuma technician told me two weeks ago when installing a line for another neighbor that Vuma is on their heads if there is a fault logged which I can not believe as up to now I have 8 tickets logged all closed resolved.
 
How is this for levels of incompetence....I was told Area Network Owner from Vuma would visit me today. A regular tech visited instead. I had a friend from the area who is with a different ISP, run the same trace route and ping test and send me the results. The Vuma tech began pointing fingers at the ISP. I showed him the pictures that my friend sent me, and I also ran the same tests in his presence. He said he would compile that in his report and left.

I then receive the following email response from Vuma:

"Please note that our maintenance department has advised that a team was on site, and it has been proven that the issue is not on our end.

Kindly reach out to your ISP for further assistance."

This level of incompetence is truly astonishing. I delayed my complaint as I wanted to give Vuma the opportunity to take ownership for this issue and try to fix it. Another week has been wasted. I have no choice but to compile the complaint to ICASA as this seems to be the only way Vuma/Afrihost would wake up and fix this problem.
We could potentially move you over to us to test? If the line behaves the same its a clear issue.
 
We could potentially move you over to us to test? If the line behaves the same its a clear issue.
Hi,

Could you explain how this process would work? I am keen to get as far away from Afrihost as possible, but I have no knowledge or experience with Cool Ideas. I'd appreciate it if you would be willing to answer the following questions:

- Does your company have 24 technical support?
- What is the average turnaround time to resolve an issue?
- Do Managers at your company take or return calls? Afrihost managers are terrified of me and refuse to take my calls.
- What is the turnaround time to switch my line over to your company?
- Does your company have mobile tech support who will visit my residence to investigate if I have a problem? I'm not talking about outsourced tech support. I'm talking about branded employees of your company who visit clients to resolve internet issues.

Only god knows how Afrihost won ISP of the year 8 times and they don't have support that could go clients homes to resolve internet issues. I look forward to your response. I've laid a complaint with ICASA regarding this month long issue and I will see what happens.
 
Good luck with having your issue fixed. I responded to Vuma's email saying I should contact my ISP with proof that the issue on Vuma's side. Guess what they did? They closed my ticket as "Resolved" and asked me to do a survey. Afrihost also contacted me today stating I must use the public IP that was assigned to me to connect to Afrihosts VPN. I don't even know what that means. So I sent a response asking them what do they want me to do exactly. I sent the email at 3:21pm. No response yet. I sent my complaint to ICASA and I copied all the employees from Vuma and Afrihost that I have dealt with. Hopefully ICASA can get them to resolve this. I haven't had this bad of an experience since dealing with Telkom. Never thought I'd ever say ANY company in SA was worse than Telkom when it comes to resolving issues but Afrihost and Vuma may just be the new contenders.
 
Hi,

Could you explain how this process would work? I am keen to get as far away from Afrihost as possible, but I have no knowledge or experience with Cool Ideas. I'd appreciate it if you would be willing to answer the following questions:

- Does your company have 24 technical support?
- What is the average turnaround time to resolve an issue?
- Do Managers at your company take or return calls? Afrihost managers are terrified of me and refuse to take my calls.
- What is the turnaround time to switch my line over to your company?
- Does your company have mobile tech support who will visit my residence to investigate if I have a problem? I'm not talking about outsourced tech support. I'm talking about branded employees of your company who visit clients to resolve internet issues.

Only god knows how Afrihost won ISP of the year 8 times and they don't have support that could go clients homes to resolve internet issues. I look forward to your response. I've laid a complaint with ICASA regarding this month long issue and I will see what happens.
So my offer is a simple one to try and switch over to our network to see if you experience the same, starting point :)

I will find out how long it would take to do, but should be same day.
 
Hi,

Could you explain how this process would work? I am keen to get as far away from Afrihost as possible, but I have no knowledge or experience with Cool Ideas. I'd appreciate it if you would be willing to answer the following questions:

- Does your company have 24 technical support?
- What is the average turnaround time to resolve an issue?
- Do Managers at your company take or return calls? Afrihost managers are terrified of me and refuse to take my calls.
- What is the turnaround time to switch my line over to your company?
- Does your company have mobile tech support who will visit my residence to investigate if I have a problem? I'm not talking about outsourced tech support. I'm talking about branded employees of your company who visit clients to resolve internet issues.

Only god knows how Afrihost won ISP of the year 8 times and they don't have support that could go clients homes to resolve internet issues. I look forward to your response. I've laid a complaint with ICASA regarding this month long issue and I will see what happens.
Psst
Afrihost owns Cool Ideas as well


In my opinion, CI and AH used to be the gold standard for ISPs, but since they got to the top, they've just been grifting their way through

My opinion would've changed on CI if they had answered all your questions, but alas, they dodged all of them

---

If you had an openserve line I would've recommended an ISP for you
 
Psst
Afrihost owns Cool Ideas as well


In my opinion, CI and AH used to be the gold standard for ISPs, but since they got to the top, they've just been grifting their way through

My opinion would've changed on CI if they had answered all your questions, but alas, they dodged all of them

---

If you had an openserve line I would've recommended an ISP for you
Afrihost are majority shareholders, our networks and everything else are still independent.

I am offering to manage the switch and to go out of my way without commitment to narrow down the issue is all im trying to do.
 
Last edited:
Both companies are switching priorities to corporate space - the consumer space has long been the feeder of funding to then scale up and increase their Business Portfolio.

It isn't you, its just business for them. With BCX and Telkom all but collapsed in that space thus with Afrihost - there is a gap to compete with MTN and Vodacom for Business Portfolios. Hence acquisitions.

All of their resources are deployed in making Business Clients happy - again just business. Corporates pay billions - consumers don't.
 
Hi,

Could you explain how this process would work? I am keen to get as far away from Afrihost as possible, but I have no knowledge or experience with Cool Ideas. I'd appreciate it if you would be willing to answer the following questions:

- Does your company have 24 technical support?
- What is the average turnaround time to resolve an issue?
- Do Managers at your company take or return calls? Afrihost managers are terrified of me and refuse to take my calls.
- What is the turnaround time to switch my line over to your company?
- Does your company have mobile tech support who will visit my residence to investigate if I have a problem? I'm not talking about outsourced tech support. I'm talking about branded employees of your company who visit clients to resolve internet issues.

Only god knows how Afrihost won ISP of the year 8 times and they don't have support that could go clients homes to resolve internet issues. I look forward to your response. I've laid a complaint with ICASA regarding this month long issue and I will see what happens.


A better question to ask is - if your standard SLA terms are not met - can I take you guys to court for breach of contract.

I bet his answer is - no as a consumer - you can only escalate within CI and no external body can help you.

The truth is - no companies support is ever going to meet your needs, your timelines and your wishes.

He will try his best to assure you that their service is superior to AF but in reality it is on average the same.

That actually brings an interesting question - are there any governing bodies that regulate them? All the ISPs.
 
A better question to ask is - if your standard SLA terms are not met - can I take you guys to court for breach of contract.

I bet his answer is - no as a consumer - you can only escalate within CI and no external body can help you.

The truth is - no companies support is ever going to meet your needs, your timelines and your wishes.

He will try his best to assure you that their service is superior to AF but in reality it is on average the same.

That actually brings an interesting question - are there any governing bodies that regulate them? All the ISPs.

Is "he" you are referring to me? I didnt once assure anything, this isnt even a customer of mine. I am just trying to assist being an alternative ISP from a technical perspective.

These services dont have SLAs, they are best effort. And in very rare occasions we as ISPs jump through a thousand hoops with the FNOs to try and fix these problems. For 99% of the time services work as advertised.
 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X