Telkom support completely useless...

To everyone having support issues with their Telkom accounts (Especially Uncapped LTE connections)

After many months of fantastic service (up to 80Mbps) on my Telkom Uncapped LTE at home package my service has now been drastically affected.

Every day from around 18:00 to 23:00 (some lucky ones only have it from 19:00 to 22:00) the speeds I get on my LTE connection measured anything between 0,2 Mbps to 3,5 Mbps as reported by speedtest.net.

After asking around and posting various posts on Facebook and Twitter and just getting apologies and empty promises that my issue have been escalated, I realised there are many users experiencing the same problem and Telkom Twitter support is actually a bot.

Some say the this could be caused by of the increased capacity requirements, which Telkom can't maintain, and they have actually oversold the platform (and counting) but others recon that this can't be the case as the same patterns remains during weekends when the load is spread.

The service is so bad that any form of streaming (via legal channels like Netflix and YouTube) is hardly usable and even low impact usage like browsing webpages have become a major challenge. I have cancelled my DSTV subscription long ago in exchange for Netflix and Showmax but me and my family now have to sit around and swear at Telkom every day, for not being able to watch our favourite shows every night.

I also tried visiting a Telkom Branch where I was told that I must take my router to a Telkom repair centre which doesn't make sense as the issues are only during certain times of day. I've even tried with another SIM and router (on the same package from another area) that doesn't have this issue, and then I get the same poor result. This points to there being a problem with the tower and not with my hardware which gives me speeds of up to 80 Mbps outside the hours mentioned.

According to Telkom a technician will come to my house to check the connection. This is a totally pointless exercise as the problem only exist at night and my case will likely get closed and the process start again from scratch. We actually had a Telkom technician over at our office for the same reason and he mentioned this is a common issue and there isn't anything that can be done.

Asking about cancelation, I was told it is possible if I were to buy-out the remainder of the term on the contract, as well as pay a R800 cancellation fee on top of that. If Telkom are in fact looking at this issue and plan to make changes to eliminate the slow throughput, it would be nice of them to at least publish something to indicate they acknowledge the problem and they are doing something about it. A publication like that would at least bring some comfort the users to bear the process and not feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

With ICASA on strike I thought it might be our only option to start this online petition and with enough participants perhaps, approach an entity like Carte Blanche or get an article published on MyBroadband to get some more attention. Telkom is not doing anything about this issue and from what I can see the list of affected users grows by the day.

Telkom is still advertising the product to newcomers without any mention of being "throttled" every night when it matters most.

If you have experienced the issue as described, I suggest you open a case with Telkom (that is something they can do) and then add your name to the list so we can see how far we can go to get the deserved attention and also to make potential customers aware of the issues they are potentially signing up for.

I expect and demand the following..

1. A consistent, quality service from Telkom as presented to me when signing the 2 year contract.
2. Comprehensive feedback relating to my reported issue as well as the expected duration for a solution
3. Telkom should make it known publicly if there is a speed and/or capacity problem with their Uncapped LTE package even if it only affects certain areas.
4. I also feel that Telkom should give me the option to cancel my contract without penalties if they cannot consistently provide the service I signed up for at an consistent speed (with minimal acceptable variance)as advertised.

JJ Viljoen aka dieblikman    Contact the author of the petition