How can Telkom improve?


  • [1]Which new products would you like to see?
    [2]Are there areas where Telkom can improve its support?
    [3]Can they make it easier for you to buy their products?
    [4]Where do you think the company is losing ground against its competitors?

1. Cheaper better priced products. The pricing model is what most majority people complain about.
Local IPTV and VOIP/Video calling devices after MSAN is a must. FTTH after MSAN is the dream.
2. Yes, absolutely. An intuitive online customer portal which is uncluttered and easy to operate will lessen the burden on the call center. Also, some of the operators are very competent and even if they can`t help you will try their best to sort out the problem, a lot of the other`s are not. It`s also difficult for them to identify the level/experience of the caller and sometimes they don`t listen to the customers. Telkom have some very fussy QA people so I`m surprised they don`t do random tests on their call operators.
3. Yes. Have an intuitive online customer portal which is uncluttered and easy to operate where you can change your speeds or account (have a separate home/business portal) on the fly and be billed as such (if changing from 1MB/10MB or capped/uncapped half way in the month bill adequately, like most ISP`s operate). Most of these things are software controlled these days anyways.
4. Fixed line vs. wireless. Pricing, penetration and ease (online portal). ADSL always on is better, wireless sucks mostly, but the they push customers away with the 3 things mentioned above and they opt for wireless. The entry level speed for ADSL is now 1MB at R165.00 which is better than before even though they pushed the pricing up (plus that darn R148.37 line rental which gives us nothing really. R313.37 for a 1MB line with no data vs. 1.5GB 3G) Rather give all Telkom copper line owners a free connection to ADSL with capped/uncapped local, even if it is at 128kb/10MB, and have a separate international accessible in their account portal. How many copper lines are in the ground connected to homes but not used.
Also I understand they are having problems with giving some customer`s 4MB instead of 10MB because of the line quality, but don`t charge the same price for 4/10MB. That`s just ridiculous.
 
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Which new products would you like to see?
Fibre to the Home
Naked ADSL
Triple Play (Voice, Internet and Media)
Are there areas where Telkom can improve its support?
Yes, please change the music on the answering system!
Make Call Center 24 hours open
Do not allow technicians to sign off on repair work without first talking to the customer.
Can they make it easier for you to buy their products?
Yes, Their Web Portal should allow you to log in and manage/add/cancel services online.
Where do you think the company is losing ground against its competitors?
It has no competitors, it is a monopoly.
But it is losing ground on not keeping pace with worldwide technology and not improving speeds across the board as promised.
Exchanges are also over crowded and over loaded.
 
Telkom's Broadband much too slow!!! Most buyers prefer a dedicated service, but it is sad to say that one of the biggest providers of DSL lines in the country is way behind the times. Even with the testing of the 40mps, (real rollout who knows when?), other countries seem to leaps and bounds ahead. Canada, The UK, America etc, are already/ or have been using optic fiber (gbs). We are really in the dark ages. On the 1mbs line you will wait for a video to start and still wait for buffering!!! On 4mbs still waiting, streaming should be an enjoyable experience, not a cumbersome frustrating one! Like you said don't mention "cutting prices", but come on, affordability is an issue in this country. The reason why so few people excel in this country intellectually, maybe due to connectivity. Telkom's premiums may increase but not there service, and surely by now, we could enjoy decent lines! Help us to better ourselves as the "brain" is the internet today. Secure our future by affording us the tools to become more than we can imagine!
 
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Fibre to the home .. a realistic roll-out plan that your customers can believe in

Cut the huge bonuses that Telkom execs get, and use the money to employ competent call centre staff

Unbundle voice / data line
 
ADSL service without the need of a telkom voice service.
Online site so the user can upgrade or make changes if they want to resynchronize their speed. Also to be able to self do a port reset.
 
While faster ADSL products are great, I think Telkom needs to concentrate on optimising their existing infrastructure - the introduction of MSANs is a start. I only get 6Mbps on my 10Mbps line and there are many reports of over-utilisation of DSLAMs and exchanges.

Support is another area that Telkom needs to improve on - saying that, it has improved mildly.

Telkom needs to be more flexible and dynamic in terms of product launches, utilisation of products and pricing. An example of this is ADSL-only line and no rental if you have a voice-line.
 
Self-service via the web for e.g. line speed changes. The support line (10210?) is an exercise in frustration. And an online bill that mirrors the paper copy would be nice.
 
1. Naked DSL. MSAN rollout needs to be more speedy!!! It is really sad that only the rich areas get the MSANs and we don't...

2. Offer support over Social Media, and have a online ticketing system that actually works. Have a ticket assigned to a technician/one specific person and you correspond with that person only.

3. Hell yeah. They can make an online sales system similar to FNB's. Why must we have to call and hang on the phone for an hour to do this stuff?

4. There is no real competition in the exact same sector (fixed line communications) however they are losing market share to the mobile sector due to their horrible service standards as well as their miserable speeds they have on their DSL products. While this has gotten better, I would still like to see an average of 4Mbps on DSL products. Your lack of infrastructure in the greater part of the East Rand has been a subject of my disappointment for many years. I have tried to converse with you and ask you why the hell does an area like Boksburg North and Bardene only run on ONE Telco Exchange... We have thousands of units, why only one exchange?

Will edit with more of my sentiments, but this is it for now.
 
They have definately improved their call centre but as for their staff knowing anything, still needs some work.
 
Fix your IVR system

Too many buttons to press before sitting on hold for 25 mins, before speaking to an agent

I've found the quality of call centre agents has improved a bit, but just getting through to them can be such a nightmare and take numerous phone calls

And... Why do we have to enter our phone number, only for the agent to ask for it again? The system is flawed
 
The obvious-unbundle voice and data.
Improved online services
Options for higher uplink speeds- useful for video conferencing or video surveillance
 
First of all, the government must forget to appoint political appointments for top management of Telkom.
Get a person that can turn the company around. He should be known for it.
Fire/retrench access wood, people that has no meaning or need in Telkom.
Make sure all staff is positive about the company.
Products should be aligned towards the needs of the client and not the other way round.
Align the company towards today's needs.
Get subcontracts for areas/needs where it can happen if for cheaper prices.
Get rid of outdated technologies
Charge clients realistically.
Change their Service desk incident management system as well as the way calls are routed and managed.
Train Service Desk staff and make sure they have the ability to serve clients. They are the "face" of the company.
Make more use of fibre optics and other technologies other than copper for it's backbone.
Complete the MSAN project as soon as possible without compromising on quality if found to be feasible.
Telkom Management should start realising that companies like MWeb, Afrihost and other are in fact their clients and treat them as such.
 
Telkom's not half bad for Country in dark Africa ... you gotta work with what you got I guess.
 
1. Unbundle voice and data - it makes me mad and is exploitative!

2. Get staff in Telkom Direct stores to have better business acumen and a customer orientation - hey, we are the clients here!

3. Better pricing for those of us struggling with the old and noisy copper lines
 
1) I'd like to see ADSL-only unbundled lines. I will then be content with Telkoms product offering.
2) Telkom ADSL support has definitely improved over the years; however there are still a few bad apples in the call centre.
3) Telkom is definitely losing ground to the mobile operators on HSPA - by offering a proper converged consumer offering (not where one has to take out a new, separate 8ta package) could see them win back a good portion.
 
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