Telkom explains ADSL problems
Telkom said that the slow response to international sites last week was due to a dual failure affecting 3 of the 5 links that carry international traffic to Amsterdam, Hong Kong and New York. Local network issues further compounded the problems.
“A partially damaged optic fibre cable between Ermelo and Bethal, as well as a transmission equipment failure in Durban contributed to the slow response time. Both faults have been repaired,” said Telkom’s Lulu Letlape.
ADSL users in Centurion also had problems with their service due to a cable problem at the exchange. This problem was fixed at the weekend and services are back to normal in this region but customer woes did not end there.
Another cable break, this time between New Germany and New Doornfontein/Barrack Street, caused slow international connectivity yesterday morning. This problem started just before 8 am and was resolved around 12:45pm.
Many consumers are understandably very frustrated with the ADSL problems, and comments like “Your ‘Best Effort’ sucks” and “is this pathetic service ever going to get better” are not hard to find on the MyADSL forums.
The problem seems to be related not only to the downtime but also the lack of fast, reliable information from Telkom informing them of these problems.
There are however also reports of good service from the monopoly, which is encouraging. In two separate postings recently Telkom was congratulated for their good service, with comments like “Telkom somehow had a brilliant day on Friday” and “Line problem fixed asap by Telkom… nice one!”
Telkom must now aim for the positive comments to outnumber the negative ones. This is no easy feat, but possibly a good measure of their progress in becoming a company that is a ‘joy to deal with’.
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