Still no ADSL!

G

gravdigger

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South Africa.
I applied for ADSL in March 2003. I was told that I could not have ADSL as there were outstanding amounts on my account. I thought this was a bit suspect, especially since my account is paid off monthly and showed no outstanding amounts.

After 3 months of being passed on from one person to another(spending at least an hour on the phone to them daily, calling numerous people in joburg, pretoria, durban and cape town), i get hold of a senior area manager(i think that was her title), who has a meeting with me on my premises and tells me I had R2700 outstanding on my account.

I disputed this amount. After much negotiations, I agreed to pay the amount, on condition that I would get ADSL.

The amount was paid 2 months ago.

I am still waiting. When I try to contact any of the people I dealt with I am told they are not available.

I do not know why I still bother, as with the ridiculous 3GB cap(with all its limits), and all the other problems, it just doesnt seem worth it anymore.

Telkom really need to get themselves into some sort of order, they are (supposedly) a private company, and they should be able to provide a decent service.

Also they need to realise that they are in breach of contract with many of their customers(or clients as they like to call them).
 
Hi Gravdigger,

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for another blatent example of telkoms inability (and reluctance) to provide a service for which they charge a premium.

Have a read through the rest of the site.
It will not make you feel any better, but at least you will not feel alone any more.

Join the crusade, we will win in the end, till then we wil help each other wherever we can.

Cheers
Chris
 
This is actually funny, this is the EXACT SAME response I got from Telkom when I attempted to initially apply for ADSL - You have an outstanding amount on your account. Of course, this outstanding amount was supposedly TWO YEARS OLD, and not only had they not notified us, they had also not indicated it at all when we applied for a new telephone service at our new residence (the outstanding amount was presumably from the prior residence), I think the amount was in the region of R900.

Well, we paid the amount and then had to wait a month for it to clear before we could re-apply for the ADSL service, at which point it was luckily installed within 2 weeks, and the rest, they say, is history.
 
Same thing happened to me. They cancelled my initial ADSL order due to a supposed outstanding amount from a previous residence over 4 years ago. This is the first I hear of an amount owing. I knew for a fact that I was completely up-to-date with my phonebill when I disconnected. The funny thing is that no one could tell me what this amount was for. I spoke to numerous people at telkom and they could not give me proof of an outstanding amount. I was fortunate it was only for R100, but none-the-less I was VERY reluctant to pay, but I did. What choice did I have?

This is typical of Telkom's business policy. Do what I say, not what I do.

So, Gravedigger, I feel for you. I really hope you can get this sorted out.


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United we stand!
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Lol....this is really rather funny - if it meant that I had to pay up a previous amount in order to have ADSL, at this moment in time, I would pay it with glee! I rather think Peapod might feel the same way.....
Does anyone know of an alternative to ADSL that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? I believe that Telkom is implementing Satellite but nobody has been able to tell me anything about it. I am afraid that R3500 per month is way beyond my reach so I am unable to go with Sentech.
 
Wendy, its the fact that a) I didnt really owe the money in the first place and b) I paid R2700 two months ago on condition that they would give me ADSL. I still havent got ADSL(Im not even sure if I want it anymore, with the ridiculous cap, and all traffic counting towards it, and port prioritisations etc), and all the people I have dealt with, and there have been many, all seem to have dissapeared into thin air.
 
gravdigger, contact sharon horton [email protected] with details of your situation. Although she is telkom, she does actually care about customers and the poor service that Telkom mete out.
Oh, and she's an American. Proudly South African? LOL
 
I'm not sure if this is the Satellite offering you're speaking about with regards to Telkom, but here's a link to all the information:

http://www.telkom.co.za/spacestream/introduction.jsp

Of course, if you look at all the packages and the way pricing works, you start to realise that it's even more of a ripoff than ADSL is, I'm going to list a comparison between SpaceStream Express (SSE) 512, and ADSL below:

Telkom ADSL

Technology: Copper Wire
Download Speed: 512Kbits/s
Upload Speed: 256Kbits/s
Availability: 24h
Session Timeout period: Every 24h
IP Address: Dynamic
Combined Monthly Volume Cap: 3GB
Option to buy more towards cap: No
"Punishment" for hitting cap: Slower international performance
Service Level: Best Effort
Monthly Rental: R680pm
Initial Installation Cost: R400 (Not including modem charge)

Telkom SPACESTREAM EXPRESS 512

Technology: Satellite
Download Speed: 512Kbits/s
Upload Speed: 128Kbits/s
Availability: 24h
Session Timeout period: Every 24h
IP Address: Static with 8 IP Addresses
Combined Monthly Volume Cap: 3GB
Option to buy more towards cap: Yes, up to 12GB in 1GB increments @ R1.50/MB
"Punishment" for hitting cap: Service Halts (yes, that means no service)
Service Level: Best Effort
Monthly Rental: R3018pm
Initial Installation Cost: R3100 (Hardware is owned by Telkom)

Now is it just me or does this service strike me as even more ridiculous than ADSL. NO SERVICE AFTER YOU HIT YOUR CAP!? what on earth is Telkom smoking, you seem to pay considerably more for considerably less. Not only that, but SSE512 is the only service that can have its cap upgraded, the rest require you to upgrade to the next highest package.

It's worth noting the initial installation cost, with ADSL there are two costs involved, the ADSL line installation cost @ R400, as well as a modem cost (if purchased from Telkom, in the region of R1500-R2000), while with SLIPSTREAM there is only a single cost of R3100, this cost includes all hardware required, but here's the kicker: THE CLIENT DOES NOT OWN THE HARDWARE, the Hardware is the property of Telkom - you would think that for R3100 they could at least let you own the stuff.
 
Tharaxis, I find that information ridiculously funny. Are they out of their minds? So the only real difference between ADSL and this Satellite service is that you get a static IP. But it costs over 3 times more. I say it again, are they out of their minds??


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United we stand!
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I am sorry but TELKOM is being BL**DY ridiculous. I cant believe they even think that is a reasonable offer.

I mean who the hell is going to pay over a thousand rand a month for a 500MB CAP!!!!!!

Please telkom....get a LIFE!!!!!

And charging R1500 per Gig..ARE YOU MAD?????!!!!!!!

I give up!!!
[V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][?][?][?][?]

[V]
 
just changed the layout of the comparison "Table" (if that's what you could call it) as it was completely unreadable. Also added a bit more information on the installation cost.
 
Oh my Good G*D!!!!!!!!
I finally understand their game...and here comes a brain dump.

Telkom implement ADSL-ish kind of service (international pressure?who knows, but they had to do "something right?)
Sentech implement VSat but cannot deliber at the price they would like to becuase they cannot purchase fibre optic network bandwidth from telkom at wholesale - telkom will only supply at retail pricing. That puts Sentechs offering on the market at over 3k per month.
Telkom punt ISDN and say "wait for our sattelite offering".
Telkom punt ADSL at a high end rather more sophisticated market than the rest of the globe (ADSL was designed to bring cheap fast connectivity to the masses and that is how it is marketed worldover)
Telkom provide such a crap offering on ADSL that most punters wait for the Sattelite offering. (Hans vd Groenedal told me back in April it would be cheaper, faster and better than ADSL)
Telkom then pitch their Sattelite offering at a competitve rate to....wait for it, Sentech's offering. But Sentech can actually deliver their product at about a grand a month if they didnt have to pay retail to Telkom for bandwidth. (See Marina Bidoli article in FM in about March April this year)
So that leaves the question, how is Telkom justifying the cost of the sattelite offering if they own the international bandwidth and don't have to factor it into their pricing model?
Answer: Telkom manipulate the market at every turn.
<b>South Africa, we are being fiddled!</b>
Surely, somewhere in the telcoms act there is a clause that will prevent Telkom from unfair pricing structures. HOW IN HEAVENS NAME DO WE GET TELKOM TO PUBLISH A PRICING MODEL FOR THEIR SATTELITE OFFERING? We can't.
Telkom cannot deny that their product delivery is motivated by only ONE factor - revenue. Service and technology don't even factor into the equation.
I am flabbergasted and for once, absolutely f*cking speechless.
 
Sorry gravdigger, your frustration must be even more than mine! Just trying to find some humour in the whole rotten situation. Telkom know there are plenty of people NEEDING to be on line 24/7 so our complaints don't worry them in the slightest. Peapod I wrote to Sharon Horton and didnt even get the curtesy of a reply! The light at the end of the tunnel is getting very, very dim...
 
....that dim light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming runaway train.....

Sorry, couldn't help saying that, it's just that it doesn't seem that there will be any good news in the foreseeable future [V]
 
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