Anti-iBurst website launched
The website – currently hosted at http://www.hellburst.co.za/ – encourages iBurst subscribers to vent their frustrations in an open forum. iBurst subscribers have been voicing their frustrations with what they describe as poor service levels, aggressive traffic shaping and accounting issues.
Some subscribers have even been contemplating legal action against the company, saying that they are paying for a service which they do not receive.
According to one consumer he can not use the service for activities like online gaming which he purchased the service for. This subscriber is locked into a 24 month contract, and feels that he has been mislead and that he should not be forced to pay for a service which iBurst ‘does not provide’.
Founder speaks out
Willie Venter, founder of the Hellburst website, says that he stared the site to assist iBurst subscribers and to inform them of what they could realistically expect from the service offering. Venter further wants to provide a channel for users to vent their frustration with the current service levels they are receiving from iBurst.
“Our aim is to assist with open and honest communication. Many users are frustrated as the service does not reflect what has been advertised in the past,” Venter says.
“We would like iBurst to see the users of their service as partners in building an efficient, cost effective wireless service that can be used throughout South Africa with confidence.”
Venter reiterates concerns from other subscribers, saying that many internet applications can no longer be used on the iBurst network due to the “draconian shaping policies”.
“It would be preferred if iBurst would cease to shape the network and instead focus on securing the network from outside attacks and implement similar security procedures like other local internet providers,” he says.
“The advertised speeds are not achievable and in many areas it resembles dial-up connectivity. We would like iBurst to focus on providing the bandwidth capacity that is needed, especially with over utilised towers and upgrading the access speed as was promised on several occasions in the past.”
Venter further says that iBurst should be made aware that their ‘DNS and SMTP servers are unstable as many users have been severely affected’.
iBurst’s pricing also came under fire. “We also feel the costs of the service compared to their international counterparts are excessive and the introduction of the 40 MB service is irresponsible as users could easily exhaust this usage allotment within minutes and then having to purchase extra bandwidth at exorbitant rates. This is no way to assist underprivileged users, it borders on exploitation.”
“Many users have also indicated that they get billed for incorrect and excessive amounts, it seems there are some serious issues with their accounting department. The procedure to rectify this or to terminate the service is laborious and frustrating. These accounting issues need to be resolved as a matter of urgency,” Venter concluded.
iBurst responds
iBurst said that they have been on a drive to “clean up” their subscriber base and re-coup any outstanding monies owing.
“In cases where customers have outstanding balances on their account, we've contacted them via telephone, sms and/or email to notify them of any outstanding balances. Where subscribers have not responded or contact details have been inaccurate, we have been forced to suspend or cancel their accounts,” iBurst said.
The broadband provider says that most of their customers are happy to settle their debts, at which point their account is re-instated. “Of course, the suspension of a subscriber account can be very inconvenient and can result in customer dissatisfaction,” iBurst points out.
Many iBurst subscribers are complaining about severe shaping of traffic, but iBurst says that the only instance where it shapes traffic is to provide a fair allocation of the available network resources to all subscribers across all applications.
“This is to prevent a situation where a small group of subscribers and / or applications receive a disproportionate share of the available network resources thereby negatively affecting the service provided to the majority of subscribers,” iBurst says.
The company says that they do not see websites like Hellburst as constructive and added that it mostly results in general venting and abuse.
“Instead of dedicating resources to monitoring and responding to comments made on websites of this nature, we'd rather invite all subscribers to submit their queries via the appropriate iBurst support channels. In this way, specific queries can be tracked and handled more efficiently,” said iBurst.
iBurst further extended an invitation to the founder of Hellburst to visit them at their Park Lane headquarters in Sandton to discuss the concerns he has and the reasons for launching the website.
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