MTN - Absolutely pathetic ISP and client service

We decided to make MTN our internet service provider in October 2021. We got the 20mbps Wi-Fi fair usage contract for 2 years. I was told that this package was unshaped and unthrottled unless you reach your fair use policy of 600gb. Luckily we only went over that 600gb one time, so for the whole year I've been with MTN we were supposed to have the full upload and download speeds as per contract.

Well first issue started in December 2021 and lasted a month and a half, where my download speed dropped to less than 4mbps even though I wasn't even close to reaching my fair use policy with over 300gb still left. After spending over R200 in airtime to call the speed coverage center and being redirected to different departments I still struggled, ultimately I had to involve ICASA on the 31st of December and finally the issue was sorted a mere 2 weeks later.

Fast forward to May 2022 and suddenly I was stuck with a similar issue, but this time the low speeds of below 4mbps was only implemented after 5pm and lasted until after 11pm every single day. At first I thought loadshedding was to blame and I left the issue until after the long mid year loadshedding we had to endure. But as loadshedding came and went, the issue remained.

I then attempted to call the MTN store where I bought the router and signed the contract etc. but to no avail. They didn't answer their phones the times I called. Then I tried to phone the speed coverage center and the same thing there. So I decided to email the customer care department of MTN. They took over a week to reply to my email, but ultimately gave me a reference number. I waited for my internet to improve but still nothing improved the rest of the month (August). I contacted them again pleading to be helped and again after about 5 days I received an email back where I had to fill in a form exactly describing the issue at hand, and they gave me a new reference number. So once again I waited, to no avail. I decided to contact ICASA again, with the hopes they would help me again as the first time, but this time my email was completely ignored. I emailed MTN again, and they as well completely ignored my email.

Now the slow internet problem has spilled over to be every single Saturday and Sunday (full days), and during the week the main problem still remains between 5pm and 11pm. Some days, during the course of the day the same slow speeds are experienced. On top of those speeds I have very high download and upload ping as well (between 400ms and 4000ms).

This issue has been going on for 6 months now. If I only count the hours for the slow speeds on week days, it's roughly 6 hours a day for 6 months... that means it's 6hours x 183days = 1098hours that I did not get the internet speeds I paid for. And that is without the 5 weekends that I had pathetic internet as well. I feel like this is a breach of contract seeing as MTN isn't upholding their contractual duty to provide the internet speeds that I pay for.

This is by far the most pathetic ISP and most pathetic client service that I have ever received! Sad part is I have 12 months left before my contract expires. I hope MTN can fix this once and for all, but past experience tells me that won't happen whatsoever.