Colin62
Executive Member
Vodacom are selling themselves as an ISP, and from their marketing wish to be compared with first tier ISP's (Internet Solitions, UUnet, SAIX and so on), but I'm increasingly thinking that they just don't have what it takes to cut it.
Their network is unreliable - a quick look at the topics posted in this forum (which get many, many hits) that deal with connectivity issues, slow response and vanishing DNS servers is proof enough. IS must handle as much data as Vodacom, but their DNS servers don't go away every evening, nor do their latency times shoot up all the time, and you can always ping www.google.co.za from an IS link. Same can be said for SAIX, and MWeb. I daresay perhaps even from MTN.
I can't help but think hat Vodacom's data network was cobbled together as need arose without proper planning and not enough attention was paid to contigencies and backups. Which is not the end of the world, many networks probably grew that way. The problem is that they are charging a premium rate for a service that is at best iffy, and when it does give problems (as it will do to everyone sooner or later) they are not geared up to sorting the problem out.
First stop is 155 - they have two major objectives, firstly to make you re-install the drivers, and secondly to get rid of you without logging a fault. They actively try to avoid committing a network error to the system, and even when pushed will often wriggle out of it if you are not vigilant.
If you manage to prevail upon them to log a fault, someone will call you back. Long after the problem has resolved itself. The nett result of that phone call is the techie ticking the issue as resolved, when nothing has been done. In fact nothing can ever be done, because by the time the correct department has come in to work (the day after the incident) and had their coffee, there is nothing left to resolve. Nothing left to even see either, and certainly no will to find out what went wrong and ensure that it does not happen again. They are content to clear their faults as quickly as possible and go back to dunk Ouma rucks in their coffee.
So we carry on, and later that day or possibly the next the network plays up again, and you phone 155 again, re-install your drivers again, verbally abuse the first line support staff and eventually get a promise to log a fault "as soon as the system lets me in". And in an hour, maybe more, maybe less it's all working again, so you almost forget that you never did receive the sms with the fault log number.
Things no doubt look pretty rosy from the inside out, and maybe even from the top down, but let me tell you, from the outside looking in, Vodacom has a long, long way to go before it can call itself a first tier ISP. The network is inherently unstable, and the whole system of reporting, investigating and resolving faults is setup in a way the makes improving the network impossible, even assuming that their staff wish to.
And no, you can't blame Telkom and backhaul issues for everything, certainly not for the woefully inadequate systems in place for resolving problems. IS doesn't have DNS issues. Nor does SAIX, nor Telkom, nor MWeb, nor even the local cafe-cum-internetshop on the corner. It's Vodacom, and they refuse to accept responsibility for it and therefore it will never improve.
The other catchall is to blame the wireless nature of the connections, and while this has a little more validity it often can be ruled out too. If I can connect and have a good signal, then you can't blame flakey wireless comms all the time. All too often you'll be connected, good signal, good speed, low latency, and suddenly you get no response. You're still connected, so the radio part of the link is stable, but but there's no-one home. Do a quick check with the cell phone and it can't get google either. Ten minutes (or thirty) later and it's all fine again.
For the first time today, I spoke to someone at Vodacom who offered to keep the fault open and to pass it on to the correct department, even though the fault has gone, so that I can be told what went wrong. At least he is trying to help, but he has no access to any information, because that is all stored in someone else's treehouse, and they've pulled the rope ladder up and aren't playing with him.
So, even where you do get employees who want to improve things they are hamstrung. They get the fault passed to them too late to help, and they cannot do any deep problem solving, because each section doesn't trust the next, and probably doesn't even speak to them.
I keep hearing how much better MTN is - well I can't even make a phone call on MTN form my house, nor any of the last three houses I have lived in over the last ten years, so they're no use to me at all.
This could be such a wonderful product - usually it is. I can access the internet from just about anywhere in the country, often at great speeds. But it's all hanging together by a thread, and a little flatulence in a server room in Cape Town causes my latency in KZN to shoot through the roof.
I just wish I could see more intent on Vodacom's behalf to address these issues head on and make small incremental improvements so that things eventually stabilise, but other than the few glaring exceptions (V3G), I don't.
Their network is unreliable - a quick look at the topics posted in this forum (which get many, many hits) that deal with connectivity issues, slow response and vanishing DNS servers is proof enough. IS must handle as much data as Vodacom, but their DNS servers don't go away every evening, nor do their latency times shoot up all the time, and you can always ping www.google.co.za from an IS link. Same can be said for SAIX, and MWeb. I daresay perhaps even from MTN.
I can't help but think hat Vodacom's data network was cobbled together as need arose without proper planning and not enough attention was paid to contigencies and backups. Which is not the end of the world, many networks probably grew that way. The problem is that they are charging a premium rate for a service that is at best iffy, and when it does give problems (as it will do to everyone sooner or later) they are not geared up to sorting the problem out.
First stop is 155 - they have two major objectives, firstly to make you re-install the drivers, and secondly to get rid of you without logging a fault. They actively try to avoid committing a network error to the system, and even when pushed will often wriggle out of it if you are not vigilant.
If you manage to prevail upon them to log a fault, someone will call you back. Long after the problem has resolved itself. The nett result of that phone call is the techie ticking the issue as resolved, when nothing has been done. In fact nothing can ever be done, because by the time the correct department has come in to work (the day after the incident) and had their coffee, there is nothing left to resolve. Nothing left to even see either, and certainly no will to find out what went wrong and ensure that it does not happen again. They are content to clear their faults as quickly as possible and go back to dunk Ouma rucks in their coffee.
So we carry on, and later that day or possibly the next the network plays up again, and you phone 155 again, re-install your drivers again, verbally abuse the first line support staff and eventually get a promise to log a fault "as soon as the system lets me in". And in an hour, maybe more, maybe less it's all working again, so you almost forget that you never did receive the sms with the fault log number.
Things no doubt look pretty rosy from the inside out, and maybe even from the top down, but let me tell you, from the outside looking in, Vodacom has a long, long way to go before it can call itself a first tier ISP. The network is inherently unstable, and the whole system of reporting, investigating and resolving faults is setup in a way the makes improving the network impossible, even assuming that their staff wish to.
And no, you can't blame Telkom and backhaul issues for everything, certainly not for the woefully inadequate systems in place for resolving problems. IS doesn't have DNS issues. Nor does SAIX, nor Telkom, nor MWeb, nor even the local cafe-cum-internetshop on the corner. It's Vodacom, and they refuse to accept responsibility for it and therefore it will never improve.
The other catchall is to blame the wireless nature of the connections, and while this has a little more validity it often can be ruled out too. If I can connect and have a good signal, then you can't blame flakey wireless comms all the time. All too often you'll be connected, good signal, good speed, low latency, and suddenly you get no response. You're still connected, so the radio part of the link is stable, but but there's no-one home. Do a quick check with the cell phone and it can't get google either. Ten minutes (or thirty) later and it's all fine again.
For the first time today, I spoke to someone at Vodacom who offered to keep the fault open and to pass it on to the correct department, even though the fault has gone, so that I can be told what went wrong. At least he is trying to help, but he has no access to any information, because that is all stored in someone else's treehouse, and they've pulled the rope ladder up and aren't playing with him.
So, even where you do get employees who want to improve things they are hamstrung. They get the fault passed to them too late to help, and they cannot do any deep problem solving, because each section doesn't trust the next, and probably doesn't even speak to them.
I keep hearing how much better MTN is - well I can't even make a phone call on MTN form my house, nor any of the last three houses I have lived in over the last ten years, so they're no use to me at all.
This could be such a wonderful product - usually it is. I can access the internet from just about anywhere in the country, often at great speeds. But it's all hanging together by a thread, and a little flatulence in a server room in Cape Town causes my latency in KZN to shoot through the roof.
I just wish I could see more intent on Vodacom's behalf to address these issues head on and make small incremental improvements so that things eventually stabilise, but other than the few glaring exceptions (V3G), I don't.
