No, no, this is not actually the first compliment to Sentech... [
]
Well, I've been tracking my speed off and on over the last week and a bit, and have no taken up the cudgels, girded my loins, armoured myself with LG's friendly, but persistent, maybe slightly thick which-is-why-I-do-not-understand-the-explanation armour and phoned Sentech.
The Orc first tried the kbps vs kBps trick, but since I was too thick to understand eventually gave up and passed me onto one of the second level orcs. Hello Kallie *waves*. Kallie tried (1) contention ratio, and that my 5k download on a 256k connection was fine. I then asked him to take out a calculator and calculate - at a contention ratio of 30:1 - what I should be getting as a minimum. We both then agreed that I am a wee bitty under the 8k minimum.
Interestingly enough he tried to continue with the Contention card. I aced him with a slightly raised voice - not shouting, just slightly more persistent - that dial-ups are also contented, and - compared to my 128k ISDN connection - the Sentech one by far poorer. I also sited averages (download speeds, speedtests, etc) over the last couple of days that I have been religiously tracking. Furthermore, on my ISDN I achieved maximum / close to maximum speeds for most of the time, whereas with Sentech I saw a close-to-maximum download speed once (yes, once - I even have a screenshot of it) over the past week. In a slightly hurt tone (I mean, I <i>trust</i> Sentech, and now they are *sniffle* stabbing me in the back), I queried why I should be getting close to / under minimum speeds most of the time with Sentech whereas that nasty Telkom and their ISDN can give me such good speeds.
Kallie commisserated. Okay,not really - but he did open a ticket. And he tried commisserating by telling me that they only have control over bandwidth on the Sentech network, and once outside there are no guarantees. Yikes!!! Another stab in the back - so we are only guaranteed the contention ratio speed on the Sentech network! Luckily enough even Sentech's speed test was sub-contention ratio minimum, so Kallie couldn't think of anything else. Or rather his crib-sheet ran out of suggestions.
And then, a brainwave hit Kallie! (Some of us would think it was more a brainf*rt..., but not me as I've built up a rapport with the young man by now). "We haf been hafing problims", he countered confidently, "an we ur fixing dem". "Ah, okay - great", I replied. I could hear over the phone how Kallie's confidence lifted, at last he would get rid of me. Innocently [}] I asked him what the problems were - whether they were specific to a tower, or maybe something with regards to the software? One could literally hear a pin drop, and young Kallie resorted to the first thought that popped into his mind. "I... don't know", he confessed (mmm, story of Sentech's life, maybe?).
At this point I really did feel sorry for Kallie, and allowed him to give me my ticket number with which I shall have fun over the next couple of weeks / months. Not years, as I have only a twelve month contract.
BTW, I have also posted at http://www.hellopeter.com - a very nice, complainy website. For the shortened version of this sordid tale, point your browser to: http://www.hellopeter.com/details.asp?id=21948
Footnote: I guess with me complaining that there are now 1.09% of users unhappy...
]Well, I've been tracking my speed off and on over the last week and a bit, and have no taken up the cudgels, girded my loins, armoured myself with LG's friendly, but persistent, maybe slightly thick which-is-why-I-do-not-understand-the-explanation armour and phoned Sentech.
The Orc first tried the kbps vs kBps trick, but since I was too thick to understand eventually gave up and passed me onto one of the second level orcs. Hello Kallie *waves*. Kallie tried (1) contention ratio, and that my 5k download on a 256k connection was fine. I then asked him to take out a calculator and calculate - at a contention ratio of 30:1 - what I should be getting as a minimum. We both then agreed that I am a wee bitty under the 8k minimum.
Interestingly enough he tried to continue with the Contention card. I aced him with a slightly raised voice - not shouting, just slightly more persistent - that dial-ups are also contented, and - compared to my 128k ISDN connection - the Sentech one by far poorer. I also sited averages (download speeds, speedtests, etc) over the last couple of days that I have been religiously tracking. Furthermore, on my ISDN I achieved maximum / close to maximum speeds for most of the time, whereas with Sentech I saw a close-to-maximum download speed once (yes, once - I even have a screenshot of it) over the past week. In a slightly hurt tone (I mean, I <i>trust</i> Sentech, and now they are *sniffle* stabbing me in the back), I queried why I should be getting close to / under minimum speeds most of the time with Sentech whereas that nasty Telkom and their ISDN can give me such good speeds.
Kallie commisserated. Okay,not really - but he did open a ticket. And he tried commisserating by telling me that they only have control over bandwidth on the Sentech network, and once outside there are no guarantees. Yikes!!! Another stab in the back - so we are only guaranteed the contention ratio speed on the Sentech network! Luckily enough even Sentech's speed test was sub-contention ratio minimum, so Kallie couldn't think of anything else. Or rather his crib-sheet ran out of suggestions.
And then, a brainwave hit Kallie! (Some of us would think it was more a brainf*rt..., but not me as I've built up a rapport with the young man by now). "We haf been hafing problims", he countered confidently, "an we ur fixing dem". "Ah, okay - great", I replied. I could hear over the phone how Kallie's confidence lifted, at last he would get rid of me. Innocently [}
] I asked him what the problems were - whether they were specific to a tower, or maybe something with regards to the software? One could literally hear a pin drop, and young Kallie resorted to the first thought that popped into his mind. "I... don't know", he confessed (mmm, story of Sentech's life, maybe?).At this point I really did feel sorry for Kallie, and allowed him to give me my ticket number with which I shall have fun over the next couple of weeks / months. Not years, as I have only a twelve month contract.
BTW, I have also posted at http://www.hellopeter.com - a very nice, complainy website. For the shortened version of this sordid tale, point your browser to: http://www.hellopeter.com/details.asp?id=21948
Footnote: I guess with me complaining that there are now 1.09% of users unhappy...
