Britain also battling

SK33T

SK33T

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Seems in Britain they also battle http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3192055.stm
 
http://www.btyahoo.com/broadband/prices

BT Yahoo! Broadband Prices

Broadband Package: Price:
BT Yahoo! Broadband
- with modem £29.99 rental per month
plus
<font color="red"><b>£50 for modem </b></font id="red">
Only £29.99 rental per month with free line activation. If you order before 21st December 2003 you get one month free rental, modem for just £50 (save£30) - terms and conditions apply.

Plus save an additional £10 if you order online.

Broadband Package: Price:
BT Yahoo! Broadband
- without modem £29.99 rental per month
Only £29.99 rental per month with free line activation and if you order before 21st December 2003 one month free rental - terms and conditions apply.
 
As an ex BT ADSL user I can totally understand that article. Luckily they have a clause in their contract that allows you to terminate your service and get refunded if your service has been down for 14 days, due to their fault. At least in the UK you have choice and the other ADSL providers are way better than BT.

Oh yeah, I was renting my Alcatel speedtouch USB modem from them and when I terminated the contract they sent someone around to fetch it. Luckily for me the helpdesk said they only come around once, after that it is too expensive, so I just wasnt there when the guy arrived and scored a R2000 modem for free.[8D]
 
I lived in London for 8 years, until 2001, when I returned to set up shop here. Basically, I had phone companies begging to refund me for a month because of a lousy service they offered at times. This, by the way, did not happen too often, the general level of service offered was great. I'm not going to go into what type of service, because living here with no choice, it's irrelevant. Suffice to say, the UK does have problems but to offset this, you also have cable operators offering 1mbit lines for the same price as BT (cable is a different infrastructure to ADSL for those whom didn't know). If you don't like it you either get a refund or are able to switch (although there they do stipulate contract periods). So this article was intended to make all feel better, but through my personal experience it didn't work! lol. As far as the modem, even if you need to buy one (www.dabs.com) the prices you pay due to an open market and a much more advanced e-commerce backbone means you'll get one cheap anyway, so that that factor's not even a bother. IMHO, BT is for your average 'Joe Bloggs' whom wouldn't investigate too far for the best option, and quite possibly, anyone on these forums would go with a more competitive provider.

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Fusion.01 : Internet Design & Production
www.fusion01.com
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Chubs</i>
<br />At least in the UK you have choice and the other ADSL providers are way better than BT.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Although other ISPs offer cheaper ADSL packages, note that they are reselling access through the BT ADSL infrastructure pretty much just like non-Telkom ISPs here. UK ADSL is much better and cheaper, but it had many problems when it started and at the time you'd have found forums just like this with just as many complaints.
 
And then again, Telkom delayed th ADSL service for a few years, and could have learnt from the mistakes companies made in other countries. Therefore Telkom could have implemented the service professionally, but this seems not the case.
 
Telkom is incapable of offering a professional service! This is across the board. Forget about ADSL - just try getting a telephone line installed or repaired.

They are a monoploy who have gotten used to a protected & privelaged position. BUT - it's not really their fault!

Think about it. The Ministry of Communication is responsible for creating a competative telecommunications industry in SA - along with the "independant regulator" - ICASA. They are to blame for the sorry state of affairs.

Telkom is just the symptom - not the cause. They will quickly change if proper competative pressures are brought to bear on them...
 
In North America, a trouble ticket is closed on average in under 24 hours by the telecom provider. (Ie if you call you have problems with your telephone line, or can't make calls, etc.) ON AVERAGE.

In France, it is just under 180 days.

I wonder what it is in South Africa.
 
I doubt france takes 180 days? that would infact be worse than Telkom...
 
Nope. My boss was vice president of AT&T and at a meeting in The Hague that was the way he managed to shut the French up who were bitching at American telecom companies business practices. :) The Italians almost laughed themself ****less and bought him a round of drinks later the night. (so he tells me...)
 
I would hardly trust the word of an American businessman. I highly doubt that their "trouble ticket" pickup is just under 180 days.
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Tharaxis</i>
<br />I would hardly trust the word of an American businessman. I highly doubt that their "trouble ticket" pickup is just under 180 days.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

This is true ... if one translates "trouble ticket" into french you get the equivalent of a "speeding fine". The AT&AT vp was right.
 
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