Open letter to MWEB: (Please read)

Lino

Lino

I am back
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Dear MWEB,

I have been a long time subscriber of yours; heck even remembered my parents using “Big black box” back in the day. First off let me say I am grateful to you for lowering the prices of uncapped internet in South Africa all those years ago. You went from loser to hero within a matter of hours, so many people including myself signed up with you.
For the first time we were able to not worry about data usage. The first couple of months were internet bliss and we were truly experiencing internet freedom. There were ups and downs and even at one point I left you for a month or so but came back.

The service I received from MWEB Guy and Wil was truly amazing, if there was an issue the team were always ready to resolve it. Even once contacting Telkom for me on my behalf. I then moved and finally went from having a 3.2Mb ADSL line to a 4Mb line.

My experience was even more amazing, I could use Spotify, download files, and stream Netflix etc. Internet was truly bliss. I knew I was paying a little more but was happy because I wasn’t having issues.
Then all of a sudden the cheaper throttled MWEB packages came out, which left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth but I believed I was using a “premium account”.

One day recently it all went to hell, I couldn’t even load Mybroadband correctly. Granted there were a few issues with congestion on my line but not bad enough to warrant the line running at 0.30Mb.
The final nail in the coffin? When I discovered that I could for cheaper (bundle ADSL line and ISP account) get the same line speed but with a business account at another provider. This topped off with the recent issues users are having with Seacom being down. Makes the decision a no brainer!

I thank you for all the good times MWEB and even more so MWEB Guy (the MWEB Guys) for all your help, dedication. Perhaps one day when you once again “free the web” I will be back. For now though I will be paying less for a superior product.
All the best

Linoman
 
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I fully endorse this Lino, two years of bliss was shattered by a trawler and we have no clear indication that the repairs would be completed within the next week or two.
 
Dear Mweb,

I do understand that Seacom is down and that it is out of your control. This has happened in the past such as in Feb this year.

There has been similar downtime experienced in previous years but alternative capacity has always resulted that browsing hasn't been adversely affected for such long periods. However this not the case lately with MWeb. One would think with all the new undersea cables providing redundancy this would resolve cable breakage impacting your clients. However what in fact has happened this year with these new cables and MWeb is the opposite. In the past when Mweb used SAT3 and other cables as redundancy browsing was possible. With MWeb's new WACS 30% redundant capacity I am not getting 30% of my line speed but in fact only timeouts like a traffic jam where I hoot to move forward but cars are just not moving. To make it sound that the WACS 30% is providing your uncapped clients with a workaround at reduced speeds is disingenuous due to the packet timeouts and failed downloads as the end result is not a workable solution but frustration.

Also if you say this is a Seacom problem that is out of your control then why aren't other ISPs as negatively affected? This just sounds like Mwebs redundant solution is not competent compared to other ISPs.

If this problem is not resolved tomorrow I will be forced to cancel. Cable outages is a common problem so to expect me to wait indefintevely while the process of Seacom negotiating alternative capacity with carriers, connecting to these and testing would be unfair as it isn't seamless as I would expect especially considering breakages have happened before in the exact same region.

Regards
nfbs
 
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meh...lower prices come at a cost...specifically redundancy.

btw which business package lino? I'm guessing axxess or AH?
 
I just took the plunge

"Upgraded" my 4meg uncapped @ R539 to 1 Gig capped @ R29 (this way I get to keep my email addresses intact - wife and I have had these addresses for a long time) - kicks in 1 April.

Signed up with Axxess until the end of the month - we'll see how that goes - if all goes well, then @375 for 4meg uncapped I'm on to a winner.

In years gone by the 300 free WiFi minutes was a good value add - nowadays, WiFi and 3G is so pervasive that it's no longer relevant for me.

Good luck on fixing the network and the pricing - I'm still an MWeb customer but at a price where I believe that I am receiving value for money.

In reality, if not for this weekend's outage, I probably wouldn't have bothered - but there you are - with enough incentive even the terminally lazy will make some effort.
 
AfricanTech said:
"Upgraded" my 4meg uncapped @ R539 to 1 Gig capped @ R29 (this way I get to keep my email addresses intact - wife and I have had these addresses for a long time) - kicks in 1 April.
Click to expand...

How did you do this? I would love to skip next months R500 bill and rather spend it on trying another isp...

I think even if you are with mweb, and you are going to stick with them but your dissatisfied with the service to maybe contact their cancellations department and just ask for the forms.

If enough of us do it it will kick mweb right up the arse and force them to apologize, issue refunds, improve services and overall decrease the shaping and other bad network practices they have on their network.
 
bgotapen said:
How did you do this? I would love to skip next months R500 bill and rather spend it on trying another isp...

I think even if you are with mweb, and you are going to stick with them but your dissatisfied with the service to maybe contact their cancellations department and just ask for the forms.

If enough of us do it it will kick mweb right up the arse and force them to apologize, issue refunds, improve services and overall decrease the shaping and other bad network practices they have on their network.
Click to expand...

Did it on the ordering site. Choose the new package, enter your existing login and password, and you can then click on the 'upgrade'
 
AfricanTech said:
Did it on the ordering site. Choose the new package, enter your existing login and password, and you can then click on the 'upgrade'
Click to expand...

I tried that but for some reason I can only upgrade to 10Mbps, are you sure it isn't just going to charge you the extra R29 with the other account?
 
AfricanTech said:
Did it on the ordering site. Choose the new package, enter your existing login and password, and you can then click on the 'upgrade'
Click to expand...

fuuuuuuuuuk. Why didn't you tell me this a month ago :p I'm in the last week of notice period with them :o
But I'm getting my money's worth for my final month. 530GB and counting :twisted:
Cable break not affecting me - browsing definitely forked but downloads are cruising along (400 KB/s + atm).
 
If this problem is not resolved tomorrow I will be forced to cancel. Cable outages is a common problem so to expect me to wait indefintevely while the process of Seacom negotiating alternative capacity with carriers, connecting to these and testing would be unfair as it isn't seamless as I would expect especially considering breakages have happened before in the exact same region.
Click to expand...

I am rapidly heading down the same road. I signed up to Axxess for a trial account to be able to work at least... and it does work. The person who said low cost comes at a price- lack of redundancy, was speaking the whole truth.

SEACOM are a bunch of palookas.. even as far back as 2010 I recall how their uselessness made certain ISPs take their business elsewhere
 
MartyMarts said:
fuuuuuuuuuk. Why didn't you tell me this a month ago :p I'm in the last week of notice period with them :o
But I'm getting my money's worth for my final month. 530GB and counting :twisted:
Cable break not affecting me - browsing definitely forked but downloads are cruising along (400 KB/s + atm).
Click to expand...

LOL - was too lazy before - but this weekend forced me to apply my mind a bit.
 
Koosi said:
I am rapidly heading down the same road. I signed up to Axxess for a trial account to be able to work at least... and it does work. The person who said low cost comes at a price- lack of redundancy, was speaking the whole truth.

SEACOM are a bunch of palookas.. even as far back as 2010 I recall how their uselessness made certain ISPs take their business elsewhere
Click to expand...

Except that we're not really paying the lowest price with MWeb are we.

Ah well, what did they about Ben Johnson at the time - hero to zero in under 10 seconds

MWeb - hero to zero in 3 days

Sad really - MWeb really ushered in the age of uncapped but then failed to keep up with the rest.
 
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