Telkom LTE Smart Voice unfixable

M

Martin Drewett

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Jan 22, 2024
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Our copper cables were damaged and we were moved to a LTE system. There isnt any fibre in our area. The package included Smart Voice and a new router.
In the 5 months that we've had the system we have not been able to make a call out. Occassionaly we receive a call but cant talk to the person on the other end. Most of the time there is no dial tone other times when there is a dial tone we cant dial past the dial tone. If we do get past the dial tone then we get a recorded message saying the persons number does not exist or the number has changed sometime the message says "Please try again".
We have reported the fault so many times and although they claim to have fixed the problem it still remains. We are starting to doubt if the problem is solvable. We even went as far as to suggest that the technicians contact the supplier of the software and ask for help. If it is a software problem why did Telkom purchase an inferior product? Who supplied the system? Whoever purchased this piece of junk needs to answer for it.
Is there a fix for this problem? Telkom are not interested in puting fibre into our area so our only choice is use our cellphones. To add insult to injury we are still being charged for a service we cant use.
 
What hardware/desktop phone did telkom provide you? Have you tired testing the SIM in your phone to check if the issues persist?
 
We have tried everything that telkom has told us to do. We bought 2 new phones and got another 3 old telkom phones to try. Moving the sim card didnt help. We moved the router all over the place to see if it was a signal problem. The data/internet works fine its just the smart voice that has never worked.
 
My neighbour has the same experience

After messing about for 9 months, I got her sorted with a Freshphone VOIP service. She was able to retain her Telkom number

Calls to Germany are 34c/minute. Less than 1/8th the Telkom price
 
Thanks for your reply. I feel a bit relieved knowing that its not just us that has the problem. The VOIP solution has been considered and may be our only choice.
This morning we had a dial tone and called one of our cellphones and it started ring. Our joy was short lived as we could'nt talk to the person on the other end. We tried again and since that one call we cant get the phone to ring again.
I would have thought that this fault could be fixed by a technician at a computer?
 
All of our fault complaints have been closed with out a follow up. Its as if Telkom are trying to sweep the problem under the carpet and hope that the problem will go away. Threatening them with legal action does nothing. They have no shame about how they treat their customers. This is not the end of this matter. I will post updates on this forum of what transpires re this matter.
 
Telkom rate close to the bottom when it comes to customer relations

In November 2017 I had a Telkom line. it was cut one day. The reason given was that the account was in arrear. I visited a Telkom store with the last invoice and proof of having made payment 2 weeks prior

It turned out that the Yellow Pages had moved an advertising account to my private line and there was R47 000 owing in respect of unpaid advertising. They initially would not tell me the name of this advertiser until I asked for a copy of the signed contract

It was a shoe factory south of Durban who who had since closed. I am in Cape Town and had no connection whatever. The contract had also never been signed

Telkom refused to cancel the invoice. It must have been "escalated" 12 times at least. The one lady thought that escalated meant it was going upstairs. Such is the education level

I contacted Freshphone and got a VOIP service from them. This was in 2018.

For 3 years I received letters of demand from Telkom. Then in 2021 it just stopped
 
We had a similar problem some years back. In our case there was was no problem with calls coming from Telkom. Calls from other networks were told the number was not available. When Telkom did proper routing the problem was solved. But my advice would be to port the number to VOIP like Switch Telecom even if you still use Telkom LTE.
 
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