Hey guys,
Likely not the news you want to hear but maybe a step in the right direction. Unfortuntely we seemed to be the only vocal company present about the quality of service. No one else, and I know that some of the big guys were there, said a word. Maybe I started it all off a bit strongly telling Jason, the COO and a few others that our customers were basically 'pissed off'. I also took up most of the meeting as not many people seemed to want to give feedback or input in to it... either that or i just talk too much!
Sum total is this:
- They have received very few complaints about the speed, until we handed them the file of our clients who had performed speed tests for us as proof.
- They believe they are offering the better service, but haven't checked the MWeb service to see.
- They believe that MWeb will fail in 2-3 months as it's 'unsustainable'... something that I felt was an excuse for not reacting.
- 3% of the users account for 40% of the usage and they wanted to know if we will back them cancelling their accounts. We said 'no' this is not about the user using the system it's about 'do we have the products and pricing in place' to service them correctly.
- They say that their network / IPC is not having issues and it's been upgraded twice in the last two weeks. EDIT: This contradicts what their IT staff are saying to ours, however, they would only confirm it verbally. I wonder if people are hiding things and are causing the lack of knowledge!
- Apparantly 75% of the ADSL issues they looked in to and resolved were Telkom related, however, that was not their fall baack. They would first assume it was their issue until proven differently.
- I called for clarity with all of this.
+++ Let's get an online wiki map showing 'exchange/DSLAM issues' where customers, ISP's, IS and Telkom can feedback on issues.
+++ Let's get an interactive RSS feed showing the network status (e.g. there have been 3 massive SAT-3/SAFE and SEACOM failures in the last 6 weeks).
+++ Let's start an online forum between ISPs and IS to discuss 'future products', ongoing issues etc etc... to allow clarity and feedback directly to the management.
They are having a meeting this evening to analyse all of this and come up with solutions. We shouldn't expect to hear back for 2 weeks... which I felt was disappointing as the meeting was supposed to help them include the custoemr viewpoint in to their thinking and not just a 'piece-meal' offering of it.
At 3 separate times after the meeting different IS guys suggested that they should offer a 'per GB' cost and then we can charge and do what we want with the shaping/throttling of the product. This scared me as it's the product that Afrihost are working with right now and one that we do not believe is right for the progression of the market. Tier 1's provide Tier 1 services... Tier 2's and 3's do what they can.
There does seem to be a massive issue right now where most of the resellers in this country do not have their own network systems and infrastructure of service and are just glorified marketing arms. Therefore, if their ADSL profit margins drop significantly they will all fail as a business. We were the only company there who said that we don't really care about the profit margin but about the qulisty of service... we will provide extra service on the ADSL product where we will make money. They just need to make sure that the service is good enough quality and reasonably priced.
Unfortunately, I feel that IS's concern will be with the wrong people because it's a major part of their business and so feel they will have to pander to it... very likely unsuccessfully.
So, that kind of covers most of the above questions. It was good that they held the meeting but we will see what comes of it. 2 weeks is not an answer and they seemed to think that our clients are loyal enough to hang around for a decent or compeitive service... and they didn't seem to understand the cost and time involved in winning one back after they have left you.
Don't lose faith though. IS are 75% of the 'internet' in South Africa... that's bloody huge. If they don't work it out soon then they will.
One of the head guys who was there. Not sure who he was, as he left quickly, asked for my number and I gave it to girl he sent over. Hopefully he'll give me a call and we can discuss strategy, moving forward and management of the system. What was clear was that everyone was unprepared for this and they are still reeling from the effects.
Telkom phone installations have almost doubled to 11,000 installs a month but that still has to multiply several times again to get this country somewhere within 10 years.
Again, more feedback tomorrow as we start bugging these guys directly for more answers and pushing for the clarity that they thought was a good idea.
EDIT:
I know that there are 'wiki map' system out there to help get the ball rolling on the transparency. I intend to push this for them and if it means doing the work ourselves and handing it over then so be it. If anyone knows of software (like the johburg hijack site) that we can just install and setup that would be a huge help. Thanks!
