Network quality in low income areas

[Sersh23]

Hi

I have noticed that the quality of service of Rain is better in high income areas in Durban than lower income areas.

Rain's network works best in places like Ballito, Umhlanga, Durban North, Amanzimtoti etc but other areas you are only able to achieve speeds upto max 1MB p/s download and 3MB upload. I am one of the users that have been using the network from it's early days and even upgraded on the second day after the launch of their 24/7 4 G unlimited which offers upto 10mb as per their offer.


I have mailed the support team on numerous occasions with a response once after almost a month. I responded on the same day and still waiting for a response. The poor customer service is something I have been reading quite often about Rain and there has been no attempt to resolve this.

So what is it?better service offered to rich areas to keep customers and just take money from lower income areas with pathetic service?

Could mybroadband.co.za escalate or investigate?

Thank you

 

[LaraC]

I'm just guessing but mobile operators highlighted damage to their equipment as a reason for poor service.

Servicing an area with no return on your investment might also be a reason.

 

[genetic]

I'm just guessing but mobile operators highlighted damage to their equipment as a reason for poor service.

Servicing an area with no return on your investment might also be a reason.

This unfortunately. Low income areas often have their hardware (like batteries) stolen or cables vandalised for copper scrap.

 

[jbroo]

Hi

I have noticed that the quality of service of Rain is better in high income areas in Durban than lower income areas.

Rain's network works best in places like Ballito, Umhlanga, Durban North, Amanzimtoti etc but other areas you are only able to achieve speeds upto max 1MB p/s download and 3MB upload. I am one of the users that have been using the network from it's early days and even upgraded on the second day after the launch of their 24/7 4 G unlimited which offers upto 10mb as per their offer.


I have mailed the support team on numerous occasions with a response once after almost a month. I responded on the same day and still waiting for a response. The poor customer service is something I have been reading quite often about Rain and there has been no attempt to resolve this.

So what is it?better service offered to rich areas to keep customers and just take money from lower income areas with pathetic service?

Could mybroadband.co.za escalate or investigate?

Thank you

Maybe just a specific case. I am in Glenwood and the service has sucked. My colleague is in Umlazi and has had consistently good speeds since he got rain in March (same time as I did). It really just depends on the number of people connected to a tower, and as another user mentioned, vandalism and theft can affect the towers.

 

[cavedog]

Honestly this is not a low or high income issue but rather just a coverage issue.

I live in the suburb in Centurion and I can't get good MTN coverage. Really struggle if I get 1Mbps it's good.

 

[Sersh23]

Maybe just a specific case. I am in Glenwood and the service has sucked. My colleague is in Umlazi and has had consistently good speeds since he got rain in March (same time as I did). It really just depends on the number of people connected to a tower, and as another user mentioned, vandalism and theft can affect the towers.

I agree with your statement but I live less than a km from the tower and drive pass it on a daily basis. I can almost guarantee that there has been no theft or vandalism. I just don't understand why there is not even an attempt to assist or investigate the issue, even a response from their support team would be appreciated but this is not the case.

 

[ld13]

I swear someone did a RAIN test in Stellenbosch, alluding to something else that might be at play here... density. Lower income areas and places like Universities obviously have higher densities and in turn probably more users. Higher income areas probably have less users in the same space and could thus expect better speeds from RAIN.

I am currently situated in a higher income area and can attest to the fact that even here, RAIN speeds have degraded over time and is simply not the same, as is was before.

Also, RAIN has no incentive and have nothing to gain to provide a 'bad' service to those in a more dense/poorer area.

I just don't understand why there is not even an attempt to assist or investigate the issue, even a response from their support team would be appreciated but this is not the case.

RAIN is known for this - the lack of service. Nothing sinister going on here. Check the Mybroadband article on the situation back in December https://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/332620-rain-users-are-angry-here-is-why.html and you will see that everyone is in the same boat.

 

[devlinh]

I'm in Durban North with my closest tower being 0.02km away (Roof of our building) and another two less than 1km away. Speedtest below, not the worst, but not great

 

[Grassnyer]

It's quite simple. More users = less speed. At R250 they provide a very affordable Internet connection. Go to any area that does not have Fibre/xDSL or simply isn't as wealthy and you'll find Rain to be slow.

The same happened in my area. We don't have Fibre and due to distance, the majority of our neighbourhood can only get up to 2Mbit ADSL.

End result: Everyone jumps on Rain for affordable uncapped Internet, thereby bringing Rain to crawling speeds in the area.

 

[Kiemo]

I’m reading everyone’s feedback and it’s true ... we don’t have fibre ... so we jump to rain for it’s cheap pricing on data ... low income areas ... a lot of battery theft ... it’s the honest truth ... high income areas low congestion because they either have fibre or better service providers ... less people using rain so less congestion ... we struggling because it’s cheap and affordable ... I’m patiently waiting on fibre and when I get that I’m done with rain

 

["D"]

Could mybroadband.co.za escalate or investigate?

@rpm @Jamie McKane @Hanno Labuschagne @Bradley Prior There you go!

 

[ngoni615]

Hi

I have noticed that the quality of service of Rain is better in high income areas in Durban than lower income areas.

Rain's network works best in places like Ballito, Umhlanga, Durban North, Amanzimtoti etc but other areas you are only able to achieve speeds upto max 1MB p/s download and 3MB upload. I am one of the users that have been using the network from it's early days and even upgraded on the second day after the launch of their 24/7 4 G unlimited which offers upto 10mb as per their offer.


I have mailed the support team on numerous occasions with a response once after almost a month. I responded on the same day and still waiting for a response. The poor customer service is something I have been reading quite often about Rain and there has been no attempt to resolve this.

So what is it?better service offered to rich areas to keep customers and just take money from lower income areas with pathetic service?

Could mybroadband.co.za escalate or investigate?

Thank you

not true at all. I am in Pinetown and i have excellent rain service. around 40 -60 megs constant. Lowest i ever got was 20megs

 

[genetic]

I'm in Durban North with my closest tower being 0.02km away (Roof of our building) and another two less than 1km away. Speedtest below, not the worst, but not great

How do you know that's a Rain tower and not a Telkom or CellC tower?

 

[devlinh]

How do you know that's a Rain tower and not a Telkom or CellC tower?

I assume it is as it's one of the sites on their map

 

[WesleyDB]

The way I see it is that it's purely business, the richer areas have better infrastructure due to the greater usage of the network services. I really don't think network providers are sitting around thinking how they can stick it to the lower income users.

 

[spatula]

Hi

I have noticed that the quality of service of Rain is better in high income areas in Durban than lower income areas.

Rain's network works best in places like Ballito, Umhlanga, Durban North, Amanzimtoti etc but other areas you are only able to achieve speeds upto max 1MB p/s download and 3MB upload. I am one of the users that have been using the network from it's early days and even upgraded on the second day after the launch of their 24/7 4 G unlimited which offers upto 10mb as per their offer.


I have mailed the support team on numerous occasions with a response once after almost a month. I responded on the same day and still waiting for a response. The poor customer service is something I have been reading quite often about Rain and there has been no attempt to resolve this.

So what is it?better service offered to rich areas to keep customers and just take money from lower income areas with pathetic service?

Could mybroadband.co.za escalate or investigate?

Thank you

I also live in one of the townships here in durban. Im using the unlimited 24/7..but I only get decent connection when I'm in town

 

[IamMe18]

For me it's the opposite. I live in a low income area around Tshwane and I get speeds of 40-50Mbps when using my B315. But it was a struggle to find just the right spot to place it.

I doubt the area you live in has any effects on the speed. It's all about the number of users and tower location.

Speed tests I did like a week or two ago.