Fibre11.09.2019

Vumatel online map problem – 50 days to install fibre

Vumatel Fibre

Vumatel’s new portal is causing problems for consumers who are signing up for a new fibre service because of a mismatch between their physical address and the GIS mapping system.

This was revealed in an investigation as to why a person who ordered a Vumatel fibre service through Afrihost on 22 July still did not have a fibre connection two months later.

According to Afrihost support, the customer’s order was held up for weeks longer than usual because Vumatel did not have the customer’s address listed on its online portal.

Premises creation issues

A week after the customer had signed up to their fibre package, Vumatel had still not contacted them to organise an installation.

The customer then contacted Afrihost for information about the delay, and was told that Vumatel had not created the order on its online portal, which was holding up the process.

After another week of waiting, the customer had still not received a call from Vumatel.

The customer was then told by Afrihost that their home address was not listed on Vumatel’s new portal at all, which meant Vumatel needed to create the premises on their system before installation could proceed.

Ultimately, an appointment was only scheduled for 10 September – 50 days after the initial order was placed.

Afrihost responds

MyBroadband asked Afrihost for more information about the issues encountered by this customer.

Afrihost confirmed that the issue was with Vumatel’s new portal.

“As the client correctly stated, the delay has been due to a mismatch between their physical address and the GIS mapping system on Vuma’s new portal. Without having a valid premises on the system on which to create the order, it was impossible to complete the order for installation,” said Afrihost.

Afrihost said it has been working with Vumatel during the process to resolve the matter, and claimed there had been constant communication between all three parties.

“The current status is that the installation order has now been processed, and the client’s installation should go ahead.”

Vumatel issues

This may be an isolated incident, but it does compound on a recent spate of issues at the fibre network operator.

MyBroadband recently learned that many Vumatel employees were retrenched without prior warning from the company.

A fibre contractor also recently accused Vumatel of cutting their contractor fees after work had already begun.

However, Vumatel has dismissed speculation that it may cut infrastructure spending going forward.

“If anything, we are committed to more infrastructure investment as we aim to reach over one million homes in the near future,” Vumatel said.

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