Go on, have a guess.

What other internet service provider (ISP) would lead to in-store meltdowns like this?

I think we all knew that Telkom would romp home with the dubious honour of South Africa’s worst ISP, and they have done just that.

MyBroadband’s Q1 2020 broadband and ISP report is in, based on more than 42 000 customer satisfaction ratings from South African broadband users between 1 January and 31 March 2020.

Here’s more on the methodology:

After a user performs a speed test on these platforms, they are asked to rate their ISP based on their overall satisfaction with the service.

These customer satisfaction ratings are then processed to produce a score out of 10 for each ISP. The higher the score, the better the service provider…

This new methodology puts a higher weight on mobile app data and uses downsampling to remove duplicate results and produce more accurate reports.

In all, 13 ISPs were ranked, and Telkom was more than a full point behind the second-bottom ISP, Rain, and close to 1,5 points behind Cell C, the third-worst.

A landslide ‘victory’. You can see the table in full here.

Cracking a spot in the top four is RSAWEB, which has been identified as an essential service provider and will be operational during the lockdown.

Their excellent support team probably has something to do with that, along with the fact that they’re one of the ISPs providing free internet speed upgrades for South Africans during lockdown.

These line speed upgrades are free as of Wednesday, April 1, and run until May 31.

Fibre network operators Vumatel kicked things off, and their users with a 10Mbps line speed will be upgraded to 20Mbps, 20Mbps to 50Mbps, 50Mbps to 100Mbps, 100Mbps to 200Mbps, and 200Mbps up to 1Gbps.

Frogfoot users followed suit, with 5Mbps upgrading to 10Mbps, 10Mbps to 20Mbps, 20Mbps to 50Mbps, 50Mbps to 100Mbps, 100Mbps to 200Mbps, 200Mbps to 500Mbps, and 500Mbps to 1Gbps.

Other operators have also joined the party.

RSAWEB said that the speed upgrade “seeks to encourage customers to protect themselves from the threat of exposure of COVID-19 by working remotely and entertaining themselves in the safety of their homes”.

Never has the need for high-speed internet access been more pressing.

If you’re after high-speed fibre, or you have queries about which fibre network operators are active in your area, head to RSAWEB, where you can check your area for availability and request assistance.

If you’re after added stress, disappointment, and public meltdowns, get hold of Telkom.

[sources:mybb&mybb]