Telkom blames cable theft for service interruptions
Residents have been plagued with constant issues with their Telkom lines reportedly due to cable theft in the area.
TELKOM customers in Glenwood and Umbilo have been plagued with issues surrounding their Telkom lines over the past few months, reportedly due to cable theft in the area.
Fed-up residents approached the Berea Mail saying that businesses and individuals were suffering as a result of the downed lines.
Resident Pobraj Dehaloo, who has had no Telkom line or Internet for three weeks, said he had heard there were issues in a few areas in Glenwood.
“Whenever I call to report it I get the same story from Telkom, and I can’t seem to get to the bottom of it. Surely the banks and restaurants and other businesses in the area are all affected,” he said.
Another resident said a lot of businesses in the area had been affected and that the communication from Telkom regarding the problem had been ‘shocking’ with many people complaining about the way the issue was being handled.
Umbilo resident, Lynette Brinkworth, said in March her landline number and internet line went down and after contacting Afrihost who investigated the problem, she was told that it was a Telkom line problem.
“Afrihost was informed by Telkom that it was not only us, but a whole area that was affected due to cable theft. Telkom indicated that they did not know when the cables would be replaced or if they were even going to replace them,” she said.
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Brinkworth said Telkom should have advised its customers via the media that they were experiencing problems.
Other complaints received from residents included the fact that Telkom had not communicated with them that they would be changing from landline to wireless phones, with couriers merely dropping off a phone without it being set up for them, and the landline immediately being disconnected.
A pensioner from Morningside said she had taken the phone to Telkom to have it assembled as she was unable to do it herself.
No one explained to her how to use the phone and she is unable to make and access calls or voicemail.
Responding to queries by Berea Mail, Nomalungelo Faku, Head of Group Communications and PR for Telkom, said Telkom was in the process of decommissioning ageing, legacy technology in selected areas, to be replaced with what she said was new and more effective wireless or fibre service.
“This upgrade is necessitated by the need for more reliable infrastructure and ongoing cable theft. The limited availability of parts required to maintain these legacy copper services is impacting our network and our ability to offer reliable technology services. In our efforts to ensure that our customers enjoy uninterrupted connectivity we seek to offer affected customers a more reliable wireless or fibre platform as alternatives. Customers affected include those with fixed voice services as well as DSL customers,” she said.
She said there was no cost for the migration however, should customers elect not to upgrade to the wireless service, a connection fee would be payable if they changed their minds at a later stage.
“This is a multiyear project with the objective to ultimately improve customer experience,” she said.
Faku said customers could contact the call centre on 0800 253 263 (Mondays to Fridays between 8am and 5pm) with any queries.
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