iBurst subscribers unhappy

rpm said:
Consumer complaints flood in about iBurst billing, support problems and poor service levels; iBurst promises a ‘new and better’ company soon
Click to expand...
"Soon" sounds so "Africa time..."
 
I used to be an iBurst client, decided enough was enough and moved over to ADSL. With the new pricing I thought I'd give them another try when looking for an affordable internet solution for my mom - the feedback was pathetic, the support absolutely useless, so I opted to buy mommy dearest a USB Vodacom 3G modem and never looked back.
 
blah blah blah... soon is now 2 years long for me. My thoughts: tell everyone to go on permanent xmas holiday. I know there clients would get a nice present that way
 
After reading this thread I thought I would go check up on my bank account to check if iBurst screwed me out of my money and looks like they debited more than double the usual amount WTF!! I'm definately reconsidering using iBurst!!!
 
The big problem is that iburst tried to fluke people into buying their new pricing structure which then takes away the 64k throttled connection once your cap is reached.
Although the new pricing looked promising , I and others find that taking away the 64k after cap throttled connection and adding it as an bolt on package would be disasterous and a step backwards .

Here is some reasons why.
1 )
Iburst still compare their pricing on data with products from vodacom , MTN etc.
However Iburst coverage is not big enough to consider them as a true wireless product but rather as an ADSL replacement.
You can drive from Pretoria straight through to Cape Town on the N1 and have a constant internet connection and that is true wireless (speed will vary but you will have internet access), Iburst can not do this.

2 )
There has been constant problems with data usage monitoring so if the 64k throttled falls away after march , users whos accounts reflect wrongly on Iburst`s system will get cut off completely.

3)Iburst now charges you for your connection .
Let me explain.
In past , you paid for your hardware (modem and antenna etc) and then only paid for your data usage. Now you pay a connection fee simular to telkom`s line rental.
The confusing part is that you pay different ammounts depending on your subscribed package yet they all receive the same speed . This has been done to fool people into thinking that iburst works out cheap and comparible to simular ADSL products on the market.

Eg
2GB package = R 60 (excl data)
10GB package = R 370 (excl data)
Both 1Mb connections.

Now you might ask , how does this make sense ?
Well to make a long story short , it comes down to iburst reshuffling numbers to try and fool people into thinking that the new pricing structure makes comparible to other offers on the market . This is not the truth.

Not even telkom changes their connection fee according to your usage and taking into account that you cannot change ISPs with your iburst hardware you cannot shop around for better data pricing.

3)Billing system .... Yeah thats been covered to death so we will leave it at that.
 
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Gennath said:
I used to be an iBurst client, decided enough was enough and moved over to ADSL. .
Click to expand...
Moving soon , as soon as thats done ill be getting adsl.
I am an iburst user not by choice .
Just BTW here is an example of their new pricing structure

I had 5GB data + 64k throttled
That cost me R599 pm

If i had to get the exact same thing it would cost the following
R 445 for 5GB data + R 199 for 64k throttle
= R 644

Explain to me how exactly is their new pricing cheaper ?

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Wireless/10586.html
 
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You know what's quite ironic, is that MyBroadband does stories like this and somehow ignores the fact that people are screaming blue murder about Screamer and DigiChili.
 
cda said:
You know what's quite ironic, is that MyBroadband does stories like this and somehow ignores the fact that people are screaming blue murder about Screamer and DigiChili.
Click to expand...

Atleast people can change to other ISP at any time without having to repurchase new hardware.
Iburst hardware works on Iburst network alone so we dont have a choice of ISP.
 
Same for Screamer. Though I had worst experiences with other ISP's than iBurst.
 
Dusk said:
3)Iburst now charges you for your connection .
Let me explain.
In past , you paid for your hardware (modem and antenna etc) and then only paid for your data usage. Now you pay a connection fee simular to telkom`s line rental.
The confusing part is that you pay different ammounts depending on your subscribed package yet they all receive the same speed . This has been done to fool people into thinking that iburst works out cheap and comparible to simular ADSL products on the market.

Eg
2GB package = R 60 (excl data)
10GB package = R 370 (excl data)
Both 1Mb connections.
Click to expand...

I wonder about that one too. And I am not even getting the full mb connection. Can I get discount because of that then? Or considering that I have to pay more than some of the lesser packages, I should get a better speed, or a better contention ratio?

It was a struggle to get over to the new package, but at least that part is sorted now. Except that if I want to buy extra bandwith I have to phone Mweb/Iburst and cant do it directly from the mweb interface anymore. And judging by people's comments that sounds like a mission. Please let me never have to buy bandwith or that their monitoring doesnt go screwey on my account. Or anything go wrong for that matter :(
 
Try being a reseller / Partner!

If you think this is bad, try asking the Service Providers & Resellers who have build up a client base (for iBurst) over the past years and trying to maintain these clients given these disgusting, & horrific circumstance.

To mention a few IS, MWeb, Atlantic, RSA Web, Vodacom (to the point that some of us have stopped selling this product) etc & how iBurst are literally bankrupting these partners or costing them large sums of money due to these issues, incompetence’s, ostrich syndrome, breech and one of the comments “in writing” from the commercial executive is “we’re also loosing money”

iBurst have allegedly retrenched a 3rd of their work force?

Out sourced their technical call centre to a NON technical competent call centre in KZN.

Are in multiple breech of their agreements with partners.



• MD - resigned

• HR Exec - resigned

• CFO - taken voluntary retrenchment

• GM - taken voluntary retrenchment

• Exec head of commercial - taken voluntary retrenchment

• Head of Credit - taken voluntary retrenchment

They literally have the same size base and half the staff and competencies, due to miss management from the previous MD & management. The partners are trying to assist our customers to the best of our ability but with all the iBoss issues this is not always possible and issues can take weeks to be resolved.
 
I've had the feeling for a while that there's financial problems at iBurst. All signs are pointing to it.
 
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