1 reviews | Active since Nov 2021
WORST CUSTOMER SUPPORT EVER
I have been an MWEB fibre customer for at least 4 years. Over the last year, I have had at least a full day of downtime every month, and this month has been by far the worst.
Since the start of August, the outages have been constant: down on the 6th, back on the 12th, off again on the 13th, slow all weekend, off again Monday, briefly back Tuesday before going off again, on again briefly this morning, and off again after that. By my own count, that is roughly 46% of the month so far with no working internet. Each time I raise it, I go through the same basic troubleshooting, and each time it comes back to the same answer: it's a fault on the downstream provider's, LinkAfrica's, side.
What I can't get from MWEB is an actual explanation. Every outage is just logged as "there's a break", with no detail on what actually happened, why it keeps recurring, or why it comes back for a few hours and then drops again. Today it briefly came back on and then went off again, and I was told that was also down to a line break, and that it's now too dangerous for LinkAfrica to go out and fix it until tomorrow. That doesn't add up. If it's too dangerous to send technicians out, I don't understand how the line was able to come back on by itself for a few hours in between. When I pushed for real reasons behind the repeated breaks this month, I was told faults are usually man-made, cars hitting poles, municipal work damaging lines, or cable theft, and that this time LinkAfrica considers the area unsafe to work in until they can bring security. That may all be true, but none of it explains why the line keeps failing every few days, why it comes back briefly on its own, or what is actually being done to stop it happening again.
The part that bothers me most is how the line is briefly coming back on at all. It comes on for a few hours, then goes off again for days, and each time it does, MWEB treats it as a brand new break rather than a continuation of the same ongoing fault. The previous outage just seems to cease to exist the moment the line flickers back on, even for a few minutes, and a fresh one starts as soon as it drops again. That resets everything, there's no acknowledgement of cumulative downtime, and it conveniently keeps every individual incident inside whatever repair window they need to avoid taking responsibility for it. It genuinely feels like they don't care, as long as each break on its own looks small enough on paper.
I also noticed that as soon as I mentioned I would be posting about this on social media, the tone from MWEB changed almost immediately, from "the line is down, nothing can be done" to suddenly "we are trying hard to get the internet back up". Nothing about the actual fault had changed at that point, only the language used once there was a risk of public visibility, which says a lot about how seriously this is being taken behind the scenes versus once it's public.
When I asked what MWEB is doing to protect customers from this, the only real offer I got was to switch to MTN LTE instead, since LinkAfrica in my area is apparently unreliable. That is not a solution, that is MWEB telling me to give up on the fibre service I'm paying for and go elsewhere, rather than holding their own supplier accountable. I asked for a call with someone senior to actually understand what is going on, since I've already used my minutes trying to get through this week, and I'm still waiting on that.
MWEB doesn't seem to do anything here except relay whatever LinkAfrica tells them and pass the blame downstream. I have a contract with MWEB, not LinkAfrica, and I expect MWEB to manage that relationship and stand behind the service they sell, not just tell paying customers to cancel and use something else when it stops working. After 4 years, this is not the reliability or accountability I signed up for.
We understand why you’re frustrated. Experiencing repeated outages, brief periods of restored connectivity followed by further interruptions, and having to repeat troubleshooting each time is understandably exhausting, especially when you rely on the service consistently.We recognise that the concern is not simply one isolated outage. It’s the recurring interruptions, downtime and the lack of clarity around why the connection continues to drop. We appreciate why you would want a clearer explanation and a more proactive way forward.We can confirm that a Callback was logged yesterday under *** with the relevant team to review and action your connection and service delivery concerns as a priority. The team will contact you directly to discuss the matter and the next steps.The latest update from LinkAfrica is that the current point of break has been identified in an area that is currently unsafe for technical teams to access. For the safety of the technicians, the fault was therefore deferred until this morning and prioritised for the morning dispatch. This is a precautionary measure to ensure the necessary repair work can be carried out safely, rather than sending technicians into an unsafe environment.It is also possible for a connection to return temporarily while an underlying fibre fault remains unresolved. A brief restoration does not necessarily mean the physical fault has been permanently repaired, which can explain why connectivity may return for a period and then drop again.We appreciate that, from your side, these interruptions are still experienced as one ongoing service issue. Your feedback around the recurring nature of the faults and the need for clearer communication has been noted, and the callback is an opportunity for the relevant team to review the broader service experience with you.We genuinely value your four years with Mweb and acknowledge that the reliability you’ve experienced recently falls short of the service you should expect. We’re committed to helping get this matter properly addressed and your connection stable again.
Kind regards,
The Mweb Team
We understand why you’re frustrated. Experiencing repeated outages, brief periods of restored connectivity followed by further interruptions, and having to repeat troubleshooting each time is understandably exhausting, especially when you rely on the service consistently.We recognise that the concern is not simply one isolated outage. It’s the recurring interruptions, downtime and the lack of clarity around why the connection continues to drop. We appreciate why you would want a clearer explanation and a more proactive way forward.We can confirm that a Callback was logged yesterday under *** with the relevant team to review and action your connection and service delivery concerns as a priority. The team will contact you directly to discuss the matter and the next steps.The latest update from LinkAfrica is that the current point of break has been identified in an area that is currently unsafe for technical teams to access. For the safety of the technicians, the fault was therefore deferred until this morning and prioritised for the morning dispatch. This is a precautionary measure to ensure the necessary repair work can be carried out safely, rather than sending technicians into an unsafe environment.It is also possible for a connection to return temporarily while an underlying fibre fault remains unresolved. A brief restoration does not necessarily mean the physical fault has been permanently repaired, which can explain why connectivity may return for a period and then drop again.We appreciate that, from your side, these interruptions are still experienced as one ongoing service issue. Your feedback around the recurring nature of the faults and the need for clearer communication has been noted, and the callback is an opportunity for the relevant team to review the broader service experience with you.We genuinely value your four years with Mweb and acknowledge that the reliability you’ve experienced recently falls short of the service you should expect. We’re committed to helping get this matter properly addressed and your connection stable again.
Kind regards,
The Mweb Team
At no point does this acknowledge my total downtime this month. Every explanation here, the point of break, the safety delay, the brief restorations not meaning the fault is fixed, is still framed around a single, isolated incident. That's the exact pattern I've been raising: each break gets its own explanation and its own timeline, but nobody at MWEB is adding these up and treating them as one ongoing service failure. I'm not asking why one break happened. I'm asking MWEB to acknowledge how many days I've actually been without a working connection this month, in total, and what that means for the service I'm paying for.
This response also only really engages with the outage that's happening right now, which is on its 4th day. It doesn't touch the fact that this is part of a continuous pattern, and it avoids the real reason this keeps happening at all, it just explains the current break in isolation and stops there.
And by your own explanation, that a brief restoration doesn't mean the underlying fault has actually been fixed, that logic applies to my previous outage too. It came back on for a few hours and then dropped again, which by your own admission does not mean that fault was resolved. That means that outage was, in reality, a continuous 7 day outage, not a resolved incident followed by a separate new one. If MWEB is going to use that reasoning to explain today's outage, it needs to be app**** consistently, not just when it's convenient.
A callback being logged isn't an answer either, it's a promise of a future conversation, not any new information. I still don't have a total downtime figure, a real timeline for a permanent fix, or anything beyond "the relevant team will discuss it with you."
I understand this is meant to acknowledge my frustration, but acknowledging that I'm frustrated isn't the same as acknowledging the actual downtime. I'd like a direct answer.
At no point does this acknowledge my total downtime this month. Every explanation here, the point of break, the safety delay, the brief restorations not meaning the fault is fixed, is still framed around a single, isolated incident. That's the exact pattern I've been raising: each break gets its own explanation and its own timeline, but nobody at MWEB is adding these up and treating them as one ongoing service failure. I'm not asking why one break happened. I'm asking MWEB to acknowledge how many days I've actually been without a working connection this month, in total, and what that means for the service I'm paying for.
This response also only really engages with the outage that's happening right now, which is on its 4th day. It doesn't touch the fact that this is part of a continuous pattern, and it avoids the real reason this keeps happening at all, it just explains the current break in isolation and stops there.
And by your own explanation, that a brief restoration doesn't mean the underlying fault has actually been fixed, that logic applies to my previous outage too. It came back on for a few hours and then dropped again, which by your own admission does not mean that fault was resolved. That means that outage was, in reality, a continuous 7 day outage, not a resolved incident followed by a separate new one. If MWEB is going to use that reasoning to explain today's outage, it needs to be app**** consistently, not just when it's convenient.
A callback being logged isn't an answer either, it's a promise of a future conversation, not any new information. I still don't have a total downtime figure, a real timeline for a permanent fix, or anything beyond "the relevant team will discuss it with you."
I understand this is meant to acknowledge my frustration, but acknowledging that I'm frustrated isn't the same as acknowledging the actual downtime. I'd like a direct answer.
Our teams will be in touch to discuss your downtime credit request directly. We have flagged this for our team to be in touch ASAP.
Kind regards,
The Mweb Team
Our teams will be in touch to discuss your downtime credit request directly. We have flagged this for our team to be in touch ASAP.
Kind regards,
The Mweb Team