Know your telecoms rights

WTF.

Can I expect then, the same kind of service from my bank? From the City Council call centre ?

Where are the regulations governing those response times ?????

Sounds to me like telecoms companies are getting a bit of a bad stick here, compared to all the other arseholes....
 
Helpdesk and fault resolution times

One regulation which many consumers may welcome is the requirement that all operator assisted calls, better known as helpdesk calls, must be answered within 3 minutes. The average waiting period is measured over a twelve month period.

Companies are required by the regulations to clear 90% of faults within 3 days, and clear the remainder of faults within six days after the fault is reported.
Click to expand...

I am pretty happy about the helpdesk portion - it will definitely mean that MTN would have to do something about their helpdesks. I do hope that if an independent party can show that a helpdesk is not performing that the fine will be levied - because relying on the operators statistics itself would be a joke.

I am not sure whether the rest will mean anything for cellular companies - there is no accurate way to really report on the type of network problems I have been experiencing - obvious network problems are usually resolved within 24 hours. Of course this doesn't say anything about billing which means that MTN can continue blaming its own customers for their billing problems :-)

The interesting piece of this regulations is how it would affect Telkom - especially copper theft related network problems. No way they will beat the 3 day/6 day service levels.
 
Wow, a 95% uptime requirement. Networks "only" allowed 18 days a year of zero-connectivity. I wonder how they'll manage.

Amazing how far the definition of "carrier-grade" has fallen. Used to be five nines, and now the bar had been lowered to the point that any idiot network can pass. I suppose we just have to be grateful there are any performance metrics.
 
I'm sorry, but all of these "rights" are entirely superficial. How many of us have had repeated faults with Telkom (repeated more than just once) that they've conveniently labelled as "Fault Resolved" when it hasn't!

There is nothing in that article that even remotely suggests ICASA will actually go out of their way to enforce any of it, verify the authenticity of these fault resolution claims or put Telkom to the belt/cane/sword. As always, it's the customer's responsibility and the customer's problem.

And as km2 has said - if anything, the standards have fallen, it's pathetic.

ICASA couldn't regulate water out of tap.
 
by my calculation (using business days) these come into effect on 4 September. personally i will be surprised if these regs are worth the paper they are written on ...
 
dominic said:
by my calculation (using business days) these come into effect on 4 September. personally i will be surprised if these regs are worth the paper they are written on ...
Click to expand...

+1

I suppose they have to make it look as though they care:(
 
they can start by fining telkom for poor service .
 
dominic said:
by my calculation (using business days) these come into effect on 4 September. personally i will be surprised if these regs are worth the paper they are written on ...
Click to expand...


+1

Fines should be related to the profit of providers. And there should be compensation for subscribers. Providers should really feel it on their bottom line and indeviduals at the service provider should be personally responsible.

Call centres: I at one time could not get a reply (no answer) from MTN call centre in 2 days How will that be measured. We should have more choice so we can vote with our wallets, that would regulate service levels to what the consumer are prepared to accept/pay for.
 
TheRoDent said:
WTF.

Can I expect then, the same kind of service from my bank? From the City Council call centre ?

Where are the regulations governing those response times ?????

Sounds to me like telecoms companies are getting a bit of a bad stick here, compared to all the other arseholes....
Click to expand...

I still think Vodacom pissed off the ANC and this is their retribution.
 
Should have added that only 1 meg+ can be called broadband...
 
Ok so I lodge a complaint with the helpdesk and they get 3 days to fix it. They dont, So I lodge a complaint with ICACA and then the telko gets another 14 days to fix it. After that theres a hearing and they get another 14 days to fix it.

lmfao

So 3 days actually means 4 weeks and 3 days which fits in with the way things are now. These regs are so bad I wouldnt even use them for toilet paper after a curry night.
 
Contract to prepaid : legality

I need to know the legality of the following statement (Service provider: Nashua Mobile / Network: MTN):

“Please be advised that should you wish to cancel your contract, you will not be able to retain the cell number on prepaid but the cell number can be ported out from Nashua Mobile to another SP. When your 24 month contract expires, the contract will go on a month to month until you notify us of your intentions to port out or cancel the contract completely (which means losing the cell number). If the contract is canceled, the number stays with Nashua Mobile.”

From a legal point of view, when you cancel your call phone contract are you able to retain your cell number. ?
 
Companies are required by the regulations to clear 90% of faults within 3 days, and clear the remainder of faults within six days after the fault is reported.
Click to expand...

How many times have *you* phoned Telkom to follow up on your fault, only to find out that it had miraculously been resolved within SLA, even though everything at your end is still broken? And then they insist that it is impossible to re-open the fault: you have to log a new one. Is it at this point that we have to write ICASA a nice long letter to explain the issue, for ICASA to then spend the next several years deliberating a response, and then to gently tap Telkom on the wrist and to ask them really nicely, pretty please, not to do it anymore?

Juice
 
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