MTN data downtime details

jes

jes

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MTN data downtime details

Subscribers have reported problems on MTN's data network and the operator explains what it has done to resolve the problem
 
Was terrible! No data services at all, no email, BIS, nothing!

Question is, what has MTN done to ensure that this won't happen again?
 
My bro just connected to my wireless using his phone. The joys of uncapped.
 
MTN sucks nuts, their network sucks nuts, and the Moron in chief sucks nuts.
 
Don't even start how big nuts their billing systems suck! But I think that MTN has one of Vodacom's nuts in one cheek and Cell C in the other and vice versa. They complete a circle of nut sucking!
 
saffakanera said:
MTN sucks nuts, their network sucks nuts, and the Moron in chief sucks nuts.
Click to expand...

You can't make these sweeping allegations without substantiating them. What makes you say this? Give us the facts. I am with MTN and am generally pleased with their services and besides, they have the best iPhone deals in the country. To rant like this does not contribute towards anything. Anyone can have failures on their systems. I mean Skype was down for three days. These things happen and MTN was quick to resolve it. How old are you anyway?
 
Last edited:
cozinsky said:
You can't make these sweeping allegations without substantiating them. What makes you say this? Give us the facts. I am with MTN and am generally pleased with their services and besides, they have the best iPhone deals in the country. To rant like this does not contribute towards anything. Anyone can have failures on their systems. I mean Skype was down for three days. These things happen and MTN was quick to resolve it. How old are you anyway?
Click to expand...

Just have to look at their data billing issues last year as widely reported and posted on mybroadband last year which they kept on denying.
 
cozinsky said:
You can't make these sweeping allegations without substantiating them. What makes you say this? Give us the facts. I am with MTN and am generally pleased with their services and besides, they have the best iPhone deals in the country. To rant like this does not contribute towards anything. Anyone can have failures on their systems. I mean Skype was down for three days. These things happen and MTN was quick to resolve it. How old are you anyway?
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree, everybody's cell phone network is the worst.

As a MTN subscriber I KNOW MTN is the worst network. And do I have some facts on my side? Yes!

http://www.hellopeter.com/telecommunications-industry-league-comparison/16/.

When looking at HelloPeter (and these are all ratios, meaning number of subscribers has nothing to do with it):
1) MTN has the worst "complaints to complements" ratio of companies in the telecoms league. I also experienced it for myself. Complaints are "handled" by MTN staff on HelloPeter with no actual contact or action. When a query is actioned it is done by people who don't understand what they are saying, and when they refer it to somebody else it just dies a quiet death. In over a year and a half nobody has been able to acknowledge, let alone fix problems on my statement.
2) MTN receives the least number of compliments compared to complaints.


Then during the past two years there were articles like http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?op...s-all-on-billing&catid=260:telecoms&Itemid=59 where top level MTN managers acknowledge billing problems, but the call center denies any billing problems. A colleague of mine spent an hour during that time to query a bill an order of magnitude large than normal. His line was suspended because of it (as he went over their internal control limit). After an hour their call center terminated the call automatically, and he had to redial again. Was he allowed to speak to the same consultant he just spent an hour with going over the bill line by line? No. The call center agent ask him to start at the very beginning.

During my time with MTN I experienced a problem every single time I tried to upgrade due to a) advertised handsets not being available yet during the period of the offer b) false advertising (advertising offers at one price, but the real contract price is much higher) c) administration errors (I could have scored a free phone if I were evil, instead I spent a couple of hours convincing them I already upgraded until they traced incorrect transactions) d) insisting on selling me a new SIM with the new phone (yup, my old SIM was exactly the same as the new one they gave me, and worked perfectly on other 3G phones) e) phones for upgrades being reserved and confirmed telephonically, and when I get there a couple of hours later ... no phones available. Other problems I had: RICA officers refusing to RICA me, because according to them I am already RICA'd (I was not) because I happened to pre-register. MTN Active not available. Super long queues at service centers.

My new years resolution: 1) Port away from MTN. My contract expires in July. I think I managed to convince two other people so far to port from MTN, but my target is to get 5 people to port from MTN in 2011.

I believe in consumer guerrilla action. 5 people may not sound like much, but typically these people would have been "lifetime" customers. My previous "switch" campaign was against a bank - I got a couple of switchers - cellphones are so much easier because numbers can be ported :-)
 
Johand said:
Yes, I agree, everybody's cell phone network is the worst.

As a MTN subscriber I KNOW MTN is the worst network. And do I have some facts on my side? Yes!

http://www.hellopeter.com/telecommunications-industry-league-comparison/16/.

When looking at HelloPeter (and these are all ratios, meaning number of subscribers has nothing to do with it):
1) MTN has the worst "complaints to complements" ratio of companies in the telecoms league. I also experienced it for myself. Complaints are "handled" by MTN staff on HelloPeter with no actual contact or action. When a query is actioned it is done by people who don't understand what they are saying, and when they refer it to somebody else it just dies a quiet death. In over a year and a half nobody has been able to acknowledge, let alone fix problems on my statement.
2) MTN receives the least number of compliments compared to complaints.


Then during the past two years there were articles like http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?op...s-all-on-billing&catid=260:telecoms&Itemid=59 where top level MTN managers acknowledge billing problems, but the call center denies any billing problems. A colleague of mine spent an hour during that time to query a bill an order of magnitude large than normal. His line was suspended because of it (as he went over their internal control limit). After an hour their call center terminated the call automatically, and he had to redial again. Was he allowed to speak to the same consultant he just spent an hour with going over the bill line by line? No. The call center agent ask him to start at the very beginning.

During my time with MTN I experienced a problem every single time I tried to upgrade due to a) advertised handsets not being available yet during the period of the offer b) false advertising (advertising offers at one price, but the real contract price is much higher) c) administration errors (I could have scored a free phone if I were evil, instead I spent a couple of hours convincing them I already upgraded until they traced incorrect transactions) d) insisting on selling me a new SIM with the new phone (yup, my old SIM was exactly the same as the new one they gave me, and worked perfectly on other 3G phones) e) phones for upgrades being reserved and confirmed telephonically, and when I get there a couple of hours later ... no phones available. Other problems I had: RICA officers refusing to RICA me, because according to them I am already RICA'd (I was not) because I happened to pre-register. MTN Active not available. Super long queues at service centers.

My new years resolution: 1) Port away from MTN. My contract expires in July. I think I managed to convince two other people so far to port from MTN, but my target is to get 5 people to port from MTN in 2011.

I believe in consumer guerrilla action. 5 people may not sound like much, but typically these people would have been "lifetime" customers. My previous "switch" campaign was against a bank - I got a couple of switchers - cellphones are so much easier because numbers can be ported :-)
Click to expand...

Well said :D I am porting from MTN as soon as I can as well! Unfortunetley, that will only be next year, however I am counting the months away! Cell C should buy me out of my contract, then I will go over to them :D sigh...Mtn :/

Sent from my HTC Desire using MyBroadband Android App
 
BIS and BES down in Eldoraigne - Centurion :twisted:
 
I'm also porting from MTN for the exact same reasons Johand gave.

I recall their support monkeys adamantly denying and billing issues for months and then their PR department started downplaying the issues in the media.

So yeah, MTN are a bunch of dishonest snakes who have completely destroyed the trust and goodwill of a long term reasonably high usage customer. (Twelve years this year.)
 
Last edited:
Johand said:
Yes, I agree, everybody's cell phone network is the worst.

As a MTN subscriber I KNOW MTN is the worst network. And do I have some facts on my side? Yes!

http://www.hellopeter.com/telecommunications-industry-league-comparison/16/.

When looking at HelloPeter (and these are all ratios, meaning number of subscribers has nothing to do with it):
1) MTN has the worst "complaints to complements" ratio of companies in the telecoms league. I also experienced it for myself. Complaints are "handled" by MTN staff on HelloPeter with no actual contact or action. When a query is actioned it is done by people who don't understand what they are saying, and when they refer it to somebody else it just dies a quiet death. In over a year and a half nobody has been able to acknowledge, let alone fix problems on my statement.
2) MTN receives the least number of compliments compared to complaints.


Then during the past two years there were articles like http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?op...s-all-on-billing&catid=260:telecoms&Itemid=59 where top level MTN managers acknowledge billing problems, but the call center denies any billing problems. A colleague of mine spent an hour during that time to query a bill an order of magnitude large than normal. His line was suspended because of it (as he went over their internal control limit). After an hour their call center terminated the call automatically, and he had to redial again. Was he allowed to speak to the same consultant he just spent an hour with going over the bill line by line? No. The call center agent ask him to start at the very beginning.

During my time with MTN I experienced a problem every single time I tried to upgrade due to a) advertised handsets not being available yet during the period of the offer b) false advertising (advertising offers at one price, but the real contract price is much higher) c) administration errors (I could have scored a free phone if I were evil, instead I spent a couple of hours convincing them I already upgraded until they traced incorrect transactions) d) insisting on selling me a new SIM with the new phone (yup, my old SIM was exactly the same as the new one they gave me, and worked perfectly on other 3G phones) e) phones for upgrades being reserved and confirmed telephonically, and when I get there a couple of hours later ... no phones available. Other problems I had: RICA officers refusing to RICA me, because according to them I am already RICA'd (I was not) because I happened to pre-register. MTN Active not available. Super long queues at service centers.

My new years resolution: 1) Port away from MTN. My contract expires in July. I think I managed to convince two other people so far to port from MTN, but my target is to get 5 people to port from MTN in 2011.

I believe in consumer guerrilla action. 5 people may not sound like much, but typically these people would have been "lifetime" customers. My previous "switch" campaign was against a bank - I got a couple of switchers - cellphones are so much easier because numbers can be ported :-)
Click to expand...

Ratios interesting.

BLo_0p said:
Well said :D I am porting from MTN as soon as I can as well! Unfortunetley, that will only be next year, however I am counting the months away! Cell C should buy me out of my contract, then I will go over to them :D sigh...Mtn :/

Sent from my HTC Desire using MyBroadband Android App
Click to expand...

I think Cell C will be winning over many subscribers. I will be watching them closely, as I would like to cross over (from VC) when my contract is up.
 
I had no 3G on my phone at all in Olifantsfontein all day up until I left the office at 8pm. Our people in the Free State had no 3G and had to resort to Internet cafes. This caused us major production delays.
 
Dont get me started on MTN! I am so sick and so tired of them, have my new iphone 4 contract from them for 1 month now and christ what a mess! I am on hold 20-30 min each time i wanna call the service centre, then sometimes while i am on hold it just cuts out without even getting to speak to someone! then finally when i get through the people i speak to might just as well not have gone to school, If they went to school!

The day my phone arrives all excited getting it up and working, unfortunatly they have to port my number from vodacom, so it will take a little longer to activate. whatever all good understandable.
few hours later my phone works! all happy i realize but its activated and i have a new number no porting! so ofc called my sales rep and he explained to me that some idiot activated my sime before porting it and he has to now deactivate it then port then reactivate! 2 days later my phone starts to work! all good i can finally start to play around with it as i was told it needs to be switched off till number is successfully ported. create my apple account browsed the apple store for apps got few basic apps. Then phone suddenly stops working,i cant make calls it says insufficient air time! then i find out they forgot to load the Data and only loaded my airtime and i used my airtime on the 3G network! Thanks MTN!

so after all that nonsense and phone up and running and being a huge data user i got the iphone specifically so that i can use it as a modem on my laptop for business, i order a 500 MB data bundel as a tester, so they tell em it takes between 2-24 hours just to load the data!!!! WTF! vodacom i got my data pretty much instant between 10-30 min anyway fine load the damn data and i waited.. 24 hours came and gone no data
so i call them up again and ask whats happening with my data!? So apparently they loaded it as a subscribed bundle and not a once off and because i already get free MB on my iphone i cant have a 2nd subscribed bundle. erm but i just aksed for a god damn once off! so another 2-24 hours.. finally get my data and used it up in a day which is normal for me. so decided to load another 2GB seeing as the 500 did work. ofc i knew 2-24 hours. but again the god damn idiotic morans loaded it as subscribed so after 24 hours had to call again inquire wtf is up and just to find out they have to reload it again as once off and another damn 2-24 hours! sorry MTN is crap their service is CRAP their Signal is crap everything about them is CRAP! been with them 1 month and if i dont get better service they better cancel this contract! plus now been without 3G "because of network issues" for 2 days..
 
MtnUser said:
Anybody else still offline?
Click to expand...

Yep, my BIS is still down here in Rooihuiskraal. My wife, whose BIS was off-line on Sunday while mine was not, is on. This is very strange and perplexing.
I'm guessing it not so much the network infrastructure that is at fault but the servers on which you are registered.
 
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