No Vodacom service in Cape St Francis
All communication via the Vodacom network failed during the welcomed rainfalls on Sunday leaving local residents, inclding St Francis Today without access to the outside world. Service was briefly restored on Monday giving us all hope but this was short lived. Service was again restored on Monday afternoon only to once again fail a short while later.
Early Tuesday morning a glimmer of hope when shortly before 4:00 am several SMS and Whatsapp messages suddenly announced we had service again. St Francis Today diligently started compiling Tuesday’s news only to again be switched off 30 minutes into compiling the day’s edition. Hope was restored at 7:00 am so we resumed work on the news only to once again have our haopes dashed for the service was short lived. At around 5:00 pm last evening service was restored and has lasted until morning so we (hopefully) will be able to publish today.
According to sources the equipment on the Vodacom tower at the lighthouse had been damaged by the rain and because St Francis no longer falls under Vodacom Port Elizabeth but under Vodacom George, we had to wait for the George technicians to deal with the matter. Apparently the damaged equipment was not available locally and has had to be sourced from Head Office.
Guess there is little chance of getting a refund from Vodacom, or even an apology?
Vodacom’s service in St. Francis Bay is just as bad, and in fact has been pathetic for a very long time.
Most often one dials a number and absolutely nothing happens for a very long while, and only then does one get some sort of information.
Also it is most annoying to be continually asked by friends and business associates why you are not answering your phone when you have had the phone on your person at all times and it has not rung.
Other Vodacom users have confirmed the same problems
Only in South Africa would an organisation administer Cape St. Francis under George instead of Port Elizabeth
Basil it has ever been terrible. Back in the early 2000s I spent some time on phone calls to various technical people at Vodacom, eventually to be advised that there were no plans to upgrade the service. At that time Vodacom hosted a golf tournament (Vodacom Classic?) at the links. I recall a dozen or more new Audi Cars lined up in the car park, apparently for those players who ‘made the cut’. So you can see where their priorities lay.
That is not to say the other providers are better, in our area there are still many dead zones.
At least we call them “technicians” in this country, unlike the UK whete anyone who can wield a screwdriver gets called an ‘engineer’; quite patronising in my view but seen to be PC by “Liberals”.