FNB Connect - is the juice worth the squeeze?

Over a year ago I moved my cell phone to FNB Connect. Pretty easy process: move to PAYG, open any FNB bank account, get the sim and port the number to FNB Connect (over Cell C).

I selected Ultimate TopUp, which gives me 4000 minutes, 50 SMS and 50MB data – a pretty good deal for me. And, I add the data that I need on top of that whenever I need it. It’s a topup package which means it’s prepaid. There are some limitation with prepaid that don’t work for me, like no international roaming. You can change to monthly contract; normal process of credit vetting etc.

Although this deal is pretty good, I have been immensely frustrated with the support I get from FNB connect. These are some of the issues I’ve experienced: • Getting a different answer each time I call the call centre with a similar query. The knowledge of the agents doesn’t seem to be consistent. As example, I was once advised by and agent that FNB Connect doesn’t provide and MMS service. • Or, you get cut off halfway through troubleshooting, they don’t call you back. When you call back in, you start with a new agent and have to start again – lengthy security check before you start with your specific issue again. • They don’t come back to you. And if they do, don’t expect them to try contact you more than once. You lucky if you get a voice mail. They call you once and then close the call. • Queries closed when the solution provided doesn’t solve the problem. Have to log a new call and start all over again. They most often haven’t sent feedback. The call gets updated and closed. You only find out they proposed a solution when you call to find out what’s going on. • Cell C coverage is poor. That’s as much as I can say; it’s poor. o When in LTE service, all seems to be fine. o When I drop to 3G, often I can’t connect at all, let alone slow network. When only 3G coverage is available things seems to work fine. Problem seems to be apparent when dropping to 3G in a LTE coverage area. • Still unable to send and receive MMS messages consistently since moving to FNB Connect. Logged plenty of calls; each time the frustrating run-around described above. Case still open currently.

My two cents.