Online Again!

Finally I've got broadband! Dealing with Telkom is always tricky, but it actually wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be.

I moved last month, and so I needed a new telkom line installed (well, activated, since the physical line was already there) and thereafter adsl.

Picking up the form wasn't too bad, although they neglect to tell you on their site that you need your ID book to be able to apply. Amazingly the telkom shop wasn't busy, but nobody could tell me if a deposit would be required, what the criteria for this were, or how much it might be (and I'm not prepared to pay a deposit, since you only get it back when you cancel your line, so it's effectively a donation rather a deposit). I actually still don't know, since you can't get a realtime balance, and you only get your first account about two months after your line is activated!

When I picked up the form, they said it might be about 2 weeks for the line to be installed. The next working day, I was amazed to receive an SMS from them! But it quickly turned to dismay when I read that the installation date has been set for 30 July - *5 weeks* from when I applied. Remember that there is a physical line, etc - all they have to do is plug it in at the exchange (although for some reason they still need access to my premises, requiring a day off work). This is so ridiculous - how do they expect to get new customers if that's the fastest they can get it done? It's insane. Oh, and did I mention that for this privilege of waiting 5 weeks for installation of nothing much, I have to pay them R432?

Telkom phoned me up about 4 weeks later, and left voicemail saying that they'd be installing on Sunday! Which was pretty cool, except that they didn't give a time. And trying to phone 10219 was useless - it just rang and then cut off. Phoning the telkom shop was useless, because it said that their voice mailbox was full (this was while supposed working hours). Eventually, I got through to someone who put a note on their computer system that they should only come in the afternoon, and that they should phone first. Sunday, just after lunchtime, I got a call saying that they were on their way. And about an hour later, I had a working phone line. So that wasn't too bad. It still took far too long, I think - they really need to start processing these installations more quickly. But at least it was done relatively painlessly (in retrospect, at least).

I then applied through WebAfrica for a line and usage package, and after two days they told me that Telkom told them that my exchange isn't enabled. Which was odd, since it's a fairly major exchange. So against my will, I applied through Telkom, and the install's gone through just fine. Ether Telkom's being extremely anti-competitive, or WebAfrica caught them at a bad moment and might have got a better answer if they'd tried again. Either way, pretty shoddy of Telkom (not that we expect any better!)

My adsl was apparently activated after just one day, but it took them a week to let me know (and, more importantly, to put a comment in the 'comments' section on their system to say that it was activated and that I could fetch the modem). Then I had a problem whereby the verification step of the self-install had failed, but didn't give an error message. That was sorted relatively easily, by phoning them on 0800 375 375 and asking them to reset the 'verified' status to nothing (and they even work 24 hours a day, which is impressive!). After that, it worked beautifully - and it's much faster than I expected! (Which is great, seeing as my Vodacom connection has been terrible lately - but that's another issue).

Thanks to all the mybroadband guys for help and advice :-)