How can Telkom improve?

I would like to see voice and data sold separately, this isn't 1998 anymore. If I only need a data line why should I pay for a voice line as well?

Provide more transparency in terms of network usage. I want to see how much data I use and see some trends to allow for capacity planning.

Simplify the telkom website. Why is it so hard to find the the information about a product? And why are the fair usage details hidden away so well?
 
1)Which new products would you like to see?

I would like to see unbundling of data / voice.

And I don't want to see other new products, they must just make the current ones work. I cancelled my 4mbps ADSL because it was just too slow due to congested exchange. My GF has stopped using her 4mbps ADSL, and is using 8ta because the ADSL is congested. This is all in Joburg (obviously, everything stops due to congestion).


2) Are there areas where Telkom can improve its support?

They can start with the helpdesk, sitting on a phone for hours waiting for support is not fun.

3) Can they make it easier for you to buy their products?

They could, but first get them to work and then worry about selling them.

3) Where do you think the company is losing ground against its competitors?

All areas.
 
Jola said:
1)Which new products would you like to see?

I would like to see unbundling of data / voice.

And I don't want to see other new products, they must just make the current ones work. I cancelled my 4mbps ADSL because it was just too slow due to congested exchange. My GF has stopped using her 4mbps ADSL, and is using 8ta because the ADSL is congested. This is all in Joburg (obviously, everything stops due to congestion).


2) Are there areas where Telkom can improve its support?

They can start with the helpdesk, sitting on a phone for hours waiting for support is not fun.

3) Can they make it easier for you to buy their products?

They could, but first get them to work and then worry about selling them.

3) Where do you think the company is losing ground against its competitors?

All areas.
Click to expand...

You summed up what i would've said, and just to add, they need to fix their caching and P2P issues, but like you it doesn't matter with a congested exchange.
 
Which new products would you like to see?
Naked ADSL. I never, ever use this voice line (partially because it's so noisy) and I could spend the money on a better line - IF it were available to me. Obviously better speeds for improved prices would be welcome - I can't currently afford the high-tier internet (not that it's available in my area anyway).

Are there areas where Telkom can improve its support?
Better online support. Online and sms fault logging is a joke with the fact that it only seems to relate to Telkom Internet and voice line customers when you need to pick a problem from the list they give you. I have to phone the helpline using my cellphone because my landline quality is so bad and it gets expensive. I also don't really like phone support because of that especially slow-talking pre-recorded voice and difficulties with hearing the person on the other end because of low volume, noise and poor English.

I've also had issues with people not understanding me and then playing ping-pong with me as I get sent between different people. It shouldn't be acceptable to be bounced between four technical support personnel and not one of them actualy knows what attenuation is. I've also had someone hang up on me - although I do think it was unintentional, but it was a waste of an hour on the phone to have that happen.

Can they make it easier for you to buy their products?
Not really, although trying to find products and services on their website is an absolute joke. That website really needs a redesign - I search for anything I'm interested in through Google just to find it on the telkom website since it's so unintuitive. Additionally, I never know which website to visit. Is it really necessary to have different websites like telkom.co.za and telkomsa.net (and possibly more that I don't know about)? Make one easy to navigate website and just point all the addresses to that one.

That said, I don't find it difficult to *buy* their products once I know what they are. An online option for ordering products would make life that much easier. My main problem, however, is that I couldn't get some of the products even if I wanted to since Exchange placement and congestion is so bad. I would happily pay more for higher line speeds if they were actually possible for me, but no luck there.

Where do you think the company is losing ground against its competitors?
Poor infrastructure, such as the lack of Exchanges to properly cover an area and large congestion in many exchanges. At this point I can actually get better performance from iBurst, which is embarrassing to say the least. The landline infrastructure is old and often gets damaged/stolen. That really needs to be dealt with.

Telkom Internet prices are overpriced compared to competitors. Line rentals are also cheaper from competitors, but I don't go for that option as I find I want to change ISPs fairly often as their performances fluctuate.

Give me the ability to reset my port so I don't have to phone technical support. I believe Webafrica offers this, so it can't be too difficult, and it would probably open a lot of operators up to help other people who have more important problems.
 
Which new products would you like to see?
Uncapped bundles with free minutes

Are there areas where Telkom can improve its support?
More trained people in technical support

Can they make it easier for you to buy their products?
Less contracts and more month - month products with gifts

Where do you think the company is losing ground against its competitors?
Nowhere that I can think of
 
1) Naked ADSL
2) Investigate intermittent / bad quality lines properly. They will fiox a faulty line quickly, but it is a nightmare to get poor quality line issues resolved.
3) Ensure there is sufficient bandwidth to all DSL exchanges/ MSAN's etc. too many users are stuck with oversubscribed services.
4) Telkom techies are under a lot of pressure to close calls quickly, yet the problems are not properly solved.
 
I feel the greatest reason why customers don't signup with Telkom, is because of their 24 month contracts.

This is too long a period when it comes to internet data. Most, if not all, the data bundles are only offered with 24 month contracts. The deal originally seems good but the 24 month contract puts one off. A 12 month contract should be the most. After 2 years in most cases, there are much better deals out there, so one doesn't want to limit themselves to a contract.

Also the customer care line has too long of a wait. Every time I called in, there was at least a half hour wait. Also some of the staff is incompetent. When querying a billing error, staff were very unhelpful but after many attempts it was finally resolved.

A good idea will be to get a rep on MyBB which can assist in problems promptly.
 
Which new products would you like to see?

voice and data line being seperated out

Are there areas where Telkom can improve its support?

More interaction with their customers and their problems and an attempt to actually care about the problems the customers may be having while buying their products. they could do this by

1.) improving telephone wait times
2.) Improving the quality and technical abilities of the people when you do phone in. It is actually quite annoying when you speak to someone who is supposed to be helping you with support with their product and you know more than them and they just keep making excuses why it cannot be their fault instead of just fault finding the problem.
3.) Make escalations of complaints a reality instead of a fallacy and get the managers to earn their salaries.
4.) Improve your website to make it easier to find things as well as having online resources for customers to use, so they don't have to phone in for help (such as resetting their own ports etc) If Web Africa and Afrihost can do this why can't Telkom?
5.) have some customer service reps on sites such as My broadband and Hello Peter etc.

Can they make it easier for you to buy their products?

As mentioned previously I think telkom needs to get their current products working and working efficienctly. At the moment myself, and probably a lot of other people, only use Telkom for what we have too because of the bad customer service. I will not and would not buy any of their products if it is available from somewhere else, even if it is higher in price. that is the customers attitude they need to change.

Where do you think the company is losing ground against its competitors?

everywhere. the only reason why Telkom is still in business is because they do not have major competition for fixed line ADSL. where customers can get alternatives such as monile phones for calling and 3G for normal everyday downloading, customers are moving to those areas and that is why Telkom is losing customers. They need to stop the rot because when FTTH comes into play and becomes cost effective, they will start losing customers on a major scale.
 
Naked ADSL all the way. Even if ADSL on its own cost more than bundled ADSL. I would trash my fixed phone in a heart beat, even if the saving is only minuscule, cause I don't use the land line and I don't need it.
 
Not particularly answering the questions but here is the dream list:

a. Unbundle local loop.

b. Unbundle data and voice.

c. Offer faster ADSL line speeds at no additional cost.

d. Roll out FTTx.

e. Sell government shares to private sector.
 
1) Which new products would you like to see?

- Unbundle voice and data
- IPTV (or at least ADSL +2 or VDSL so we have the capacity for IPTV)

2) Are there areas where Telkom can improve its support?

- Every time I have had to deal with support they have been fine (mostly resetting my ports to push for 10mb)
- Perhaps more online support where you can get self help - like finding out what exchange you are connected to and the speed/congestion on that exchange

3) Can they make it easier for you to buy their products?

- Linked to the point above, consumers can better select their products if they know what is available from the exchange.

4)Where do you think the company is losing ground against its competitors?

- They are seen as an old incumbent that is out of touch with consumers and technology. If they manage to release VDSL and it is available widely early on and they price the data well (or allow ISPs to connect for low margins) they would really help their reputation.
 
1. Which new products would you like to see?

Unbundle Voice and ADSL. Have a single ADSL price, and get the highest speed your exchange will support rather than this tiered service. The Tiered speed aspect should be handled on the ISP side in my opinion.

2. Are there areas where Telkom can improve its support?

Train the call centre agents better, provide the ability to bypass the first line of support where you are asked to reboot modem blah blah blah (maybe at a small R2 fee or something like that)

Better network reporting for the end user would be great. Seeing the status of your exchange, etc etc

3. Can they make it easier for you to buy their products?

A completely online system would be great, where you can add and remove products as you see fit.

4. Where do you think the company is losing ground against its competitors?

To be totally honest, they have no real competitors in anything except the mobile and ISP space. Neotel is not a competitor to Telkom in the residential market at all.
Telkom's biggest problem is that they are seen as the old incumbent who is completely out of touch with the new technology.
 
1. I would like to see the following products launched by Telkom: naked ADSL introduced where the customer can have ADSL only without a voice line if the so wish. I would also like to see an expansion on the Telkom Mix product where more packages are available. Another increase in data caps on the Do Broadband products would be nice as well.

2. Support wise the Telkom Internet support centre needs to be jacked up a bit. The fault reporting via sms should be expanded to also allow you to get your accout details like balance, free minutes, remaining cap etc also via SMS. The online portal can also be expanded to allow one to add/delete/modify services on their lines online. Addressing the back-haul congestion from exchanges to ISP's would also help a lot.

3. Can they make it easier to but their products? Yes. Have an e-shop allowing one to buy their servies online.
 
Yoh, there is ALOT Telkom has to do. They have to sort out the issues with their congested exchanges. Also, introducing a Naked ADSL Service, even if it means the ADSL Line only price will cost more than the current ADSL Line price which has to be bundled with the telephone line. I think Telkom could also work on giving the ISP's more IPC price cuts. I would also advise Telkom to make their new line speeds (20Mbps and 40Mbps) priced the same as the 4/10Mbps pricing. Also, when Telkom rolls out Fibre to the home, I would like that it be priced in the same range as 10/20/40Mbps DSL.

I am happy with Telkom's technical support people. Telkom should create a new online system that lets us reset our ports, increase ADSL Speeds, etc.
 
Thanks for the speed upgrades Telkom, I now get speeds of 6.30mbps and a max of 7.50 but during the day sites like Youtube and Video downloads are slow whereas they were not in the past.

Please rectify this as even when speeds were slower it wasnt this slow like it is now.
 
1. unbundled voice and data (obvious one)
2. toll free number for mobile calls. (I cant call your toll free number because if I need to call you, my landline is down)
3. seriously look at the neighbourhood line quality and backhaul capacity of your exchanges. In my street we can get 7Mbit based on distance, but due to a fault on the line between the pole and the street box, our lines only sync at 2mbit.
4. Your technicians are very friendly and competent, but I get the feeling that they are frustrated, as they know what the problems are, but cant do anything about it.
5. on-line line quality test and line speed website would be nice. (like webafrica and Afrihost is providing)
 
Another one for unbundled voice and data. I think everyone will say this.
Also the support staff need to be trained properly and not just read from prompt cards.
 
  • Which new products would you like to see?
    I would like to see uncapped offerings that compete with the likes of Mweb in price and reliability/speed.
  • Are there areas where Telkom can improve its support?
    Email support would be awesome. It's much easier to send off an email but it's very annoying when the email isn't replied to in a respectable time frame. Holding on the phone for hours isn't very fun either. I do like the option that tells you they will call you back when you're in the front of the queue, and this is usually reliable.
  • Can they make it easier for you to buy their products?
    Certainly. An online ordering system that is well structured and very easy to use would be really nice, as well as a kind of "customer portal". I'm sure they do have some sort of thing like this, but the website isn't too user friendly and would be nice to have a redesign.
  • Where do you think the company is losing ground against its competitors?
    Well, they do have an advantage in that the fixed line ADSL is sourced from Telkom in most cases. They are losing ground in innovation. Telkom needs to turn their image around and they can do this by things such as introducing innovative ADSL offerings that are very competitive with the other ISP's. I'm not talking about only in price, but in the quality of the service as well!

I think it would be wonderful if Telkom introduced an uncapped offering of 2mb at around the same price as the 1mb offering. :D Wishful thinking but would be great! :)
 
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