When parastatal signal distribution company Sentech launched their MyWireless "Broadband" internet access packages earlier this year, many internet users rejoiced. At last there was a competitor to Telkom, and the benefits of Sentech's offer seemed exciting to an online community that was starved for choice.
The MyWireless offering included "always on" internet at speeds of 128kbps to 512kbps (depending on the package purchased) at prices that ranged between R650 and R1500 per month. This access was available to certain areas covered by a tower infrastructure that was to be rolled out country-wide. Initial areas covered included parts of Johannesburg and Pretoria, followed by parts of Durban and then Cape Town.
Early adopters of the technology in Johannesburg were very positive, although the service was a "contended" service (meaning that bandwidth was shared amongst users), the speeds experienced were good and the service seemed to be a good alternative to a very expensive ADSL offering from Telkom, with the added advantage of being mobile.
So what went wrong?
In May, users on MyADSL.co.za, an online forum, began to complain of rapidly deteriorating service on MyWireless. Speeds were dropping drastically, and the Sentech support desk seemed to have no solution, and denied that there was a problem. One user, so annoyed by the continual stonewalling of the help desk over 2 months, set up a local website (www.mywirelesssucks.co.za) to voice his displeasure. Sentech's response was not to contact the user to find the reason for his displeasure, but rather a lawyer's letter demanding that the offending site be taken down, or he would face the legal consequences of trademark infringement. He agreed to sell the domain to Sentech to avoid further legal steps. (BTW: The site is back with a new name - www.poopband.co.za)
By this stage the forum on MyADSL was almost white hot with angry users posting on Sentech's poor customer service. The press began to report on the issue, and it seemed that finally Sentech would be forced to face up to the problems with the service.
Sentech's response? Issue a press release blaming the users for the slow speed! Sentech claimed initially that there was only a very small number of users complaining (initially the figure quoted by Michelle Potgieter of Sentech was 2% of subscribers), gradually this number was increased to 5-6% of all subscribers. Most of the users effected rejected these claims as being very unlikely.
Only in the last weeks of July has Sentech admitted that there is a problem with the service, but again blamed the users for "abusing" the service. According to the latest Sentech press releases the problems will be rectified by the end of August. Scant relief for users that have been complaining for almost three months.
Interestingly in the last week, it took one of the users of the service to point out that the network proxies on the MyWireless service were open to abuse by internet users who were not subscribers. Effectively Sentech was giving away free international bandwidth to all and sundry, at the expense of the MyWireless user base. Sentech has rectified this loophole, but has yet to make a statement. Rather the company has focused in on the users once again by pointing out their one sided "AUP" (Acceptable Usage Policy) and threatening to cap or cut off users that "abuse" the system. A long promised "Bulletin Board" was implemented on the Sentech web site - but no user feedback was allowed.
The final nail in the coffin came today with reports that Sentech has breached client confidentiality by accidently e-mailing a file containing the personal information (names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses) of 1500 subscribers to two or more of the users, instead of the "AUP".
For anyone who wants to study CRM, PR and marketing, Sentech is the best example of "what not to do".
