Telkom slow line speed

[sly100]

I have had an ADSL line for many years and the service gradually slowed down to a point that I currently most of the day have 0.2 mbps line speed. I started off with a '4mps/10mbps fastest' line with Telkom/Mweb. I have tried many options to fix my speed problems. From switching from MWEB to Afrihost, also uncapped 4/10mbps. They promised that they will be able to sort out the problems for me since they are the middleman between Telkom and myself. (Bad move. When you complain to Afrihost about line speed they send you this page of tests to perform that takes forever on a 0.2 mbps line. I am at a stage that I refuse to do these tests, they waste my time and Afrihost doesn't solve my problem.) I switched from uncapped to capped 100, this was the advice given to my by Afrihost. No change. I even bought a 3G modem from Afrihost with 8 gigs of data to switch to when I really need to get something done urgently. In other words, I am paying double to have a workable solution. The biggest problem seems to be exchange congestion. I am at a point where I am about to give up my ADSL/Afrihost line. It's costing me a fortune every month and I don't get the service I am paying for. Does anybody have advice? Will it help if I switch to a business package? I am in Irene, Centurion.

 

[Electric]

Has Telkom come out to check your actual exchange or line for problems?

 

[Glingfram]

Howdy, welcome to mybb.

So the best thing I've found is to tweet @telkomsa, they respond quickly and tend to keep in touch until it's sorted.

They'll ask you to do a tracerout to saix.net, which should take about 2 minutes even with a terribly slow line. Also, determine the times it's slowest and the times it's fastest. Will help with troubleshooting.

 

[Slaught3r]

Hi sly... Good news bad news for this situation.

Good news - Afrihost is probably your best bet to get the situation resolved. After complaining twice a day for about 3 months eventually someone listened up and sorted the problem out. The problem is that Afrihost (even though they manage your line) cannot fix congestion at the exchange. They can, however, put pressure on Telkom to sort the issue out.

Bad news - Telkom couldn't be bothered about your experience and to get to a point where they actually do something about the problem will probably take 3 - 6 months. Congestion is a common problem, but with it being Telkom they couldn't give a rats ass.

Good luck.... If you have the opportunity to switch to some kind of wireless solution go for it. Your latency might be slightly higher and the connection has a lot of dips meaning there isn't the same "stability" (if you want to call it that) that a DSL line has.

 

[Electric]

Oh and of course, take everything mentioned by folks here as 1/2 gospel.
we all have our own experiences.

 

[Gido85]

I've been having the exact same problem with my ADSL line from Telkom/Afrihost in Cape Town. I've been on a 2mb uncapped, max speed constantly throughout the day: 0.6 mbps. Upgraded to 4mb uncapped, didn't change a thing. Switched to capped account, did not change a thing either. 3 months of testing and trying to find 'solutions' to the problem, and I have almost given up. Almost... Is there any way we can put pressure on Telkom to give attention to specific exchanges? Should I just keep on hammering on Afrihost's door until they get Telkom to respond?

 

[Slaught3r]

I've been having the exact same problem with my ADSL line from Telkom/Afrihost in Cape Town. I've been on a 2mb uncapped, max speed constantly throughout the day: 0.6 mbps. Upgraded to 4mb uncapped, didn't change a thing. Switched to capped account, did not change a thing either. 3 months of testing and trying to find 'solutions' to the problem, and I have almost given up. Almost... Is there any way we can put pressure on Telkom to give attention to specific exchanges? Should I just keep on hammering on Afrihost's door until they get Telkom to respond?

This.