List of congested exchanges?

Rosettenville, Johannesburg South is congested.

4Mbps ADSL, ran at 0.2Mbps during peak congestion periods.

SNR and Attenuation were fine, ADSL line capable of doing 7.2Mbps based on SNR, etc.

Logged problem tickets in Feb and Mar 2011, phoned Telkom every 2-3 weeks to follow up on progress.
Telkom admitted it was an exchange issue.
Tried 4 ISP's same symptoms - Fast in early morning (4-5am), slow during peak times (10am-10pm).
Tried 3 different ADSL modems - no difference.

During peak times, could only get 0.2Mbps on speedtests.
During quite times, I could get 3.4Mbps.

Tested Cell-C, VodaCom, MTN, 8.ta during July/Aug.
Cell-C was the best performing even though the signal was not 100%
Got an antenna to help Cell-C.
No 8.ta signal at all.
As a bonus - of the ones that worked, Cell-C was cheapest.

Cancelled Telkom POTS and ADSL begin Sept.
I get 10-15Mbps DL on Cell-C - very happy.
Only downside is the cap - I was on MWEB uncapped.
ADSL was costing R1085pm (Telkom POTS + ADSL + MWEB uncapped).
R13,020 per year allows me to get about 30G of Cell-C for the same price.

I've asked Telkom for a refund from March 2011 - still waiting.
 
hjobie said:
I have the 4Mb uncapped from MWeb, the line itself used to sync at 10Mb but i had it brought down to 4Mb yesterday to see if it would improve the speed but it didn't work.

I have a reference number for the fault, I'll definitely keep on their case to sort it out.
Click to expand...

Im in Bothasig also and have the exact same issue, been like this since about the 14th of September. I dunno why they bother sending the techies around as they know the issue is with the exchange. I've been told by 2 of their techs that they having issues with the DSLAM's in that area...Now if we could get some sort of feedback as to what is being done about it.

I'd like to know how many guys from Bothasig are having this issue, so that maybe we can make a joint effort into pretty much harrassing them into sorting their ***** out. They have no issues charging us for these so called Broadband services, but when it doesn't work, i'm not gonna sit back and be happy with the "we're attending to it, but can't be sure when it will be resolved" attitude.
 
pietmuis said:
Zappers/Vindicator do you have calls open with Telkom? I want escalate this, maybe if we escalate multiple calls for multiple parties we have a better result... :mad: this is interfering with my game time!
Click to expand...

I'll be more than happy to post my fault call reference number. My game time is also affected. Haven't played Black Ops in like almost 3 weeks. Getting withdrawal symptoms here
 
Sadly this is one of the better traces on a Telkom account.

Code: 
C:\Users\Tinuva>tracert www.mweb.co.za

Tracing route to www.mweb.co.za [196.2.63.110] over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  router.heaven.za.net [10.0.0.1]
  2   131 ms   123 ms   126 ms  dsl-240-220-01.telkomadsl.co.za [41.240.220.1]
  3   158 ms   145 ms   128 ms  196.43.11.218
  4   129 ms   126 ms   124 ms  196.43.25.206
  5   114 ms   111 ms   120 ms  197-84-4-22.cpt.mweb.co.za [197.84.4.22]
  6   165 ms   167 ms   162 ms  vlan11.cpt-hscore-1.mweb.co.za [196.28.178.99]
  7   138 ms   152 ms   150 ms  196-28-178-34.adsl.mweb.co.za [196.28.178.34]
  8   173 ms   177 ms   177 ms  www.mweb.co.za [196.2.63.110]

Trace complete.

This is in Bellville North still. Usually its at 400-500ms on the 2nd hop, on a idle line *grin*
 
BrendanMc said:
I'll be more than happy to post my fault call reference number. My game time is also affected. Haven't played Black Ops in like almost 3 weeks. Getting withdrawal symptoms here
Click to expand...
I got feedback from a techy last week and he told me about the issue and that other people are having issues as well and that it's in the specialists hands now, with a general "we're attending to it, but can't be sure when it will be resolved" like you mentioned and the fault got closed the next day.

But yes this is very frustrating as even the other day I was getting 7-9ms hops just before 18:00 and right after that BAM, it went to hell again...
 
BrendanMc said:
Im in Bothasig also and have the exact same issue, been like this since about the 14th of September. I dunno why they bother sending the techies around as they know the issue is with the exchange. I've been told by 2 of their techs that they having issues with the DSLAM's in that area...Now if we could get some sort of feedback as to what is being done about it.

I'd like to know how many guys from Bothasig are having this issue, so that maybe we can make a joint effort into pretty much harrassing them into sorting their ***** out. They have no issues charging us for these so called Broadband services, but when it doesn't work, i'm not gonna sit back and be happy with the "we're attending to it, but can't be sure when it will be resolved" attitude.
Click to expand...

I am in Edgemead, same exchange. Same story from techies. Who can we escalate this to?
 
For what it's worth, I have the exact same issue (Durbanville) and it took me 7 weeks to get a coherent answer from Telkom. I eventually managed to get hold of a manager in the area who explained to me that the particular mini-DSLAM is congested. When demand is too high it "flatlines" hence the fact that I managed either full speeds or almost zero speed. Request for bandwidth upgrade is lying in Pretoria and awaits approval. ETA unknown.

According to the manager the only option really is to keep on escalating and submitting complaints to the nearest Telkom shop. It sucks, I know. :mad:
 
All users on the Bothasig Exchange

SiriS said:
For what it's worth, I have the exact same issue (Durbanville) and it took me 7 weeks to get a coherent answer from Telkom. I eventually managed to get hold of a manager in the area who explained to me that the particular mini-DSLAM is congested. When demand is too high it "flatlines" hence the fact that I managed either full speeds or almost zero speed. Request for bandwidth upgrade is lying in Pretoria and awaits approval. ETA unknown.

According to the manager the only option really is to keep on escalating and submitting complaints to the nearest Telkom shop. It sucks, I know. :mad:
Click to expand...

I suggest that the next time you are near Canal Walk, walk into the Telkom shop and complain about the slow performance. Perhaps we should stage a sit-in!
 
Olivedale exchange is experiencing the same problems.

Last night was considerably better, ping to www.google.co.za was actually in the double figures for a change (50-60ms).
Telkom called me regarding an open ref I have had since February 2011 regarding it. The guy sounded pretty clued up, said the Olivedale exchange is very oversubscribed at the moment.
He confirmed DSLAM cards 1-4 are completely full and people that have been complaining have been moved over to these cards, they are 10Mb enabled. Cards 5-9 are still only 4mb capable and where the bulk of the problems exist.

He said there is a planned upgrade for the cards to be replaced but no eta. Best thing you can hope for is to complain and ask to be moved over to a different card (1-4) when/if a port becomes available. :(
 
Table View / Parklands also problem area. Had 3 Telkom techies out already , all gave me the same feedback....congestion. I`m lucky to get 0.7Mbps at best ( speed test ) on my 4M line , irrespective of the ISP I`m using.
 
Amazing how we pay for these expensive services and yet when theres no recourse against them when theres issues etc. Maybe we can all clamour for a pro rata refund based on the lack of service delivery...
 
Surely if they are not providing a service and you have a call open with them and they acknowledge the problem you can ask for a refund?
 
pietmuis said:
Surely if they are not providing a service and you have a call open with them and they acknowledge the problem you can ask for a refund?
Click to expand...

Yes you can ask for a refund - I've received one months refund, just wait for the other 5 months.
In Telkom speak, it's called a "dispute" - remember to get a reference number for the "dispute".
 
Canal Walk Shop

Walked into Telkom's Canal Walk shop to report the problem. The are not empowered to do anything. Managed to get the phone number of a Nico Huunen out of them. The number is not being answered however.
 
I called a guy that used to manage the Milnerton area. He now is in charge of another area. Anyway, he said he would get in contact with the specialist that deals with the DSLAMS and Exchange in our area and will call me back. I've dealt with this guy before and he has always come though in the past. I'll post here tomorrow and update you guys. He did mention that Telkom did not like to give specialists' numbers out to people outside of Telkom...Hmm I wonder why that would be...
 
BrendanMc said:
Amazing how we pay for these expensive services and yet when theres no recourse against them when theres issues etc. Maybe we can all clamour for a pro rata refund based on the lack of service delivery...
Click to expand...

The power of being a monopoly.

I'm still busy fighting to get them to even acknowledge that there is a problem!
 
system32 said:
Only downside is the cap - I was on MWEB uncapped.
Click to expand...

Right, and there you go. Everyone demands uncapped, but when Telkom says its not viable, they claim Telkom is being monopolistic. Then, when the experience goes down the toilet because MWEB demanded IPC and have their users using all the backhaul capacity (which couldn't be upgraded in the timeframe MWEB demanded), somehow its Telkom's fault again?

(Yes, more exchanges should be upgraded to Metro Ethernet, and the roll-out is ongoing, but it takes time).

ADSL was costing R1085pm (Telkom POTS + ADSL + MWEB uncapped).
R13,020 per year allows me to get about 30G of Cell-C for the same price.
Click to expand...

For the same money you could have had 40GB on a capped (Telkom) account, but noooooo, everyone wants the ability to do 300GB, only to realise that if your neighbours just leave their torrents running to get as much as they can, your experience is going to be poor.

If mobile operators were forced to provide something similar to IPC, you would see their contention ratios go up too ...
 
Uncapped is not all that great

ranger said:
Right, and there you go. Everyone demands uncapped, but when Telkom says its not viable, they claim Telkom is being monopolistic. Then, when the experience goes down the toilet because MWEB demanded IPC and have their users using all the backhaul capacity (which couldn't be upgraded in the timeframe MWEB demanded), somehow its Telkom's fault again?

For the same money you could have had 40GB on a capped (Telkom) account, but noooooo, everyone wants the ability to do 300GB, only to realise that if your neighbours just leave their torrents running to get as much as they can, your experience is going to be poor.
Click to expand...

The problem is that the carriers (like IS), throttle you if you use too much in their opinion. With an uncapped contract I was trottled to 250kbps after downloading only 15gb in 10 days! It seems that once you are in the top 50% of users for a period, you are throtlled. They then will only review it again in 10 days time! So much for uncapped. My SP calls uncapped their 'Inferior' product because of the throttling.
 
Flaming-Sheep said:
The exchange in nearest to Edgemead, Cape Town has recently gone to sh**. In this past week my pings have shot up from 10-30 all the way to 300+ (Peaks at around 600 sometimes).

My line speed is also diminished, but that could just be me being throttled. I'm more worried about ping anyways. :(
Click to expand...

I stay in that area and my 4mb line is pretty much dead. Managed to get pings of more than 1000ms today :(
 
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