It helps to keep on Moaning

[Morgisto]

Peeps i just wanna share my experience with people with slower internet than they have been promised.

I have a 4 meg line and my line is presently with telkom.

For a few months now i have been moaning above poor speedtest speeds and i was chased from pillar to post with Telkom continiously blaming the ISP.

Well to cut a long story short i kept on reporting my line as faulty every 3rd day for the past month or 2 until Telkom finally rock up at my house comletely lost for words.
I then got hold of the technician and started prying into the goings on at a telkom exchange. After a lengthly discussion i finally convinced the tech guy that maybe they should try a diff port or another exchange in my area. He tehn left and i never heard from him again.

NEEDLESS TO SAY I NOTICED THIS FOR THE PAST 2 DAYZ.

From this

Download Speed: 924 kbps (115.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 423 kbps (52.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 29 ms
8/17/2013 4:48:41 PM Afrihost

Download Speed: 1627 kbps (203.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 425 kbps (53.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 27 ms
8/18/2013 5:07:15 PM WEBAFRICA

Download Speed: 1040 kbps (130 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 433 kbps (54.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 39 ms
8/18/2013 5:11:48 PM Openweb

To this full speed from 17:00 all the way to 08:00

TO THIS

Download Speed: 3589 kbps (448.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 412 kbps (51.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 35 ms
8/23/2013 8:55:13 PM

BTW i am using Afrihost Business

 

[HavocXphere]

Might have to do this too. Congestion has gone from "occasional irritation" to "f everything about this".

 

[RudderVator]

Peeps i just wanna share my experience with people with slower internet than they have been promised.

I have a 4 meg line and my line is presently with telkom.

For a few months now i have been moaning above poor speedtest speeds and i was chased from pillar to post with Telkom continiously blaming the ISP.

Well to cut a long story short i kept on reporting my line as faulty every 3rd day for the past month or 2 until Telkom finally rock up at my house comletely lost for words.
I then got hold of the technician and started prying into the goings on at a telkom exchange. After a lengthly discussion i finally convinced the tech guy that maybe they should try a diff port or another exchange in my area. He tehn left and i never heard from him again.

NEEDLESS TO SAY I NOTICED THIS FOR THE PAST 2 DAYZ.

From this

Download Speed: 924 kbps (115.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 423 kbps (52.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 29 ms
8/17/2013 4:48:41 PM Afrihost

Download Speed: 1627 kbps (203.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 425 kbps (53.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 27 ms
8/18/2013 5:07:15 PM WEBAFRICA

Download Speed: 1040 kbps (130 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 433 kbps (54.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 39 ms
8/18/2013 5:11:48 PM Openweb

To this full speed from 17:00 all the way to 08:00

TO THIS

Download Speed: 3589 kbps (448.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 412 kbps (51.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 35 ms
8/23/2013 8:55:13 PM

BTW i am using Afrihost Business

absolutely Morgisto it definitely does work.
The trick is that you must find the people responsible for your area the area office is the place to go if you struggle with a specific exchange.
so your best bet is to try and build up contacts in an area if you have none.
start by a normal fault report and wait for the technician to pitch up to tell you nothing is wrong with your line.
try and take interest in what he says remember you are trying to get the area office number out of him so don't be nasty
if you can at least get to the local area office switchboard number then you will most likely get through to the area manager and keep on bugging him until the problem is resolved.
they must know that if they skrew up my exchange i will find them and "Persuade" them to fix it :twisted:

the biggest mistake people make is to continue to report the fault on 10210 and only to get incompetent techies at your house that either tell you they will do something about it or they cant find the fault and then leave.
But the area manager is totally unaware of these problems because he only sees the faults on the system have been closed and in his mind it means they are resolved.

Then normally people will phone 10210 and scream at the people in the call center that sit in Pretoria or Johannesburg in his small cubicle but that wont help you at all because the call center person can only open and close a fault or add a notes to the fault but they cant communicate with the more senior people in your area such as the area manager.
and with problems at exchange level you need someone senior with telkom unfortunately because the techie at your house will simply dismiss your claims.

I know it should not be this way but in South Africa good service is a luxury unfortunately.
and its very time consuming and sometimes tiring but its the only way you get the service you work your a*s off for to pay for every month.

 

[StevenC]

absolutely Morgisto it definitely does work.
The trick is that you must find the people responsible for your area the area office is the place to go if you struggle with a specific exchange.
so your best bet is to try and build up contacts in an area if you have none.
start by a normal fault report and wait for the technician to pitch up to tell you nothing is wrong with your line.
try and take interest in what he says remember you are trying to get the area office number out of him so don't be nasty
if you can at least get to the local area office switchboard number then you will most likely get through to the area manager and keep on bugging him until the problem is resolved.
they must know that if they skrew up my exchange i will find them and "Persuade" them to fix it :twisted:

the biggest mistake people make is to continue to report the fault on 10210 and only to get incompetent techies at your house that either tell you they will do something about it or they cant find the fault and then leave.
But the area manager is totally unaware of these problems because he only sees the faults on the system have been closed and in his mind it means they are resolved.

Then normally people will phone 10210 and scream at the people in the call center that sit in Pretoria or Johannesburg in his small cubicle but that wont help you at all because the call center person can only open and close a fault or add a notes to the fault but they cant communicate with the more senior people in your area such as the area manager.
and with problems at exchange level you need someone senior with telkom unfortunately because the techie at your house will simply dismiss your claims.

I know it should not be this way but in South Africa good service is a luxury unfortunately.
and its very time consuming and sometimes tiring but its the only way you get the service you work your a*s off for to pay for every month.

QFTMFT!

10210 are staffed by incompetent bumbling fools. Try PM the TelkomZA rep here on the forum, he has more power and you can state your case with evidence / have it in writing. Once it is in writing, then you can really start the battle. I had a problem with a congested exchange about a month ago (for 2 months) and I struggled with 10210. After contacting TelkomZA, it took about a week (mainly because I was at work and missed the technician they sent) for it to get sorted. Hell, the tech even did me a favour and rocked up on a Sunday morning to help me out (he was off shift).

It's strange that such good service exists at Telkom but you have to dig deep to find it. 10210 is a two way firewall of idiocy.

 

[Morgisto]

I dont mind disconnecting or even halfing my speeds during office hour but then i need the speed at least from 7 to 7 after hours

So now i got it am happy and hope it last

 

[ponder]

I had a problem with a congested exchange about a month ago (for 2 months) and I struggled with 10210. After contacting TelkomZA, it took about a week (mainly because I was at work and missed the technician they sent) for it to get sorted. Hell, the tech even did me a favour and rocked up on a Sunday morning to help me out (he was off shift).

Don't see why a tech would have to come out to your premises if you had backhaul congestion at the exchange.

 

[hilrap]

Hey Morgisto, it really helps to be "nice" to the technician. I have made it a habit to get a technician myself, if any line problems occur. Calling 10210 is often useless and takes a loooot of patients. Even if you do find a helpful call-center consultant, all they can really do is to escalate the problem reported.

Thus, the best way to get your problem resolved as quickly as possible: Log a fault (important!), find yourself a telcom technician servicing your area (usually you'l see them around your local exchange). Offer a small incentive - and voilà - your line issues will most probably be resolved!

Good luck!
hilrap

 

[RyanPCMR]

This is very good advice guys.

Always make an effort to be nice to the people trying to assist you with your problem because they are also just people like us who appreciate a friendly face during their work day.

 

[Morgisto]

Or a few bucks on the side they normally go the extra meter

 

[Morgisto]

Extra meter

Don't see why a tech would have to come out to your premises if you had backhaul congestion at the exchange.

thats just it ponder the TELKOM tech never bother to look further than your telephone pole until you convince them that maybe a differant port or card in the exchange itself is maybe the issue. Well i tell you my moaning and nagging paid off bigtime

My barchart looks like this now

 

[HavocXphere]

Offer a small incentive

Or a few bucks on the side

Unfortunately that is not an option for some people.

 

[StevenC]

Don't see why a tech would have to come out to your premises if you had backhaul congestion at the exchange.

They had to do the "check the line" song and dance thing first.

Unfortunately that is not an option for some people.

It shouldn't have to be either! I already pay Telkom for the service, the technicians are paid by them. But being rude to the guy that is helping you, that's just stupid.

 

[bullzeye.za]

My solution a few years back was to call in every single hour and ask to speak to the supervisor. Don't specify which one.

Once you've got a good database of names ( and don't forget, each call center has different supervisors, so create that pivot ), you can call in and bug people who can actually make things speed up.

Another little trick is that after 48 hours if your fault is still open, you must remember to ask for an escalation reference number, because that puts your fault at the front of the assigning queue.

 

[bullzeye.za]

My solution a few years back was to call in every single hour and ask to speak to the supervisor. Don't specify which one.

Once you've got a good database of names ( and don't forget, each call center has different supervisors, so create that pivot ), you can call in and bug people who can actually make things speed up.

Another little trick is that after 48 hours if your fault is still open, you must remember to ask for an escalation reference number, because that puts your fault at the front of the assigning queue.

 

[LinuxMan]

+1 as this is sometimes the only effective solution!

My solution a few years back was to call in every single hour and ask to speak to the supervisor. Don't specify which one.

Once you've got a good database of names ( and don't forget, each call center has different supervisors, so create that pivot ), you can call in and bug people who can actually make things speed up.

Another little trick is that after 48 hours if your fault is still open, you must remember to ask for an escalation reference number, because that puts your fault at the front of the assigning queue.

 

[kopite1985]

My solution a few years back was to call in every single hour and ask to speak to the supervisor. Don't specify which one.

Once you've got a good database of names ( and don't forget, each call center has different supervisors, so create that pivot ), you can call in and bug people who can actually make things speed up.

Another little trick is that after 48 hours if your fault is still open, you must remember to ask for an escalation reference number, because that puts your fault at the front of the assigning queue.

By re-posting this post again you are demonstrating how you annoy Telkom with your belligerence?

By the way thanks for all the help with my Telkom line over the years!

What the heck are you "Seeking..."?

 

[Batista]

Or a few bucks on the side they normally go the extra meter

No effen ways, we already pay for our lines why must we give incentives for ****ty service?

 

[grok]

I have to admit that in my case Telkom has won .. if I have to listen to that Telkom helpdesk ringtone for one minute more I'm going to serial puke.

I've just accepted the <2mbps speeds Telkom gives me for now, if that means leaving my pc on for longer so downloads can finish so be it .. at least I have connectivity.

 

[Budza]

What about the "unnecessary call out fee" ?

If there's nothing wrong with 'your' part of the line- ie, the problem is at the exchange, they claim they'll charge you a fee for wasting their time?

Or is that fee only payable if the oke has to configure your router/splitter etc?

 

[StevenC]

What about the "unnecessary call out fee" ?

If there's nothing wrong with 'your' part of the line- ie, the problem is at the exchange, they claim they'll charge you a fee for wasting their time?

Or is that fee only payable if the oke has to configure your router/splitter etc?

That callout is the safety net for Telkom when you have some person who knows nothing about computers just calling Telkom out to fix their TV, Microwave and anything else with a plug attached to it

All sarcasm aside, if it's not Telkom's fault (and they can prove it), should they have to pay for every call out pertaining to "my internet is slow, must be Telkom" complaint? Possibly ISP issues, virus activity (botnet) and/or Pentium 4. They are fairly busy people and having to go out and diagnose a line where nothing is wrong costs everyone money.