1 reviews | Active since Mar 2025
36 Months of Declining Service – Vodacom Has Gone From Reliable to Unusable
For many years, I’ve been a Vodacom customer because I genuinely believed in the quality of their service and network.
Unfortunately, my latest product — a WiFi router and data plan that I took out on a **36-month contract almost three years ago** — has been one of the **worst products I have ever had across all the different network providers I’ve used.** And, quite frankly, I’ll be glad to see this contract come to an end.
When I took the contract out, I had just relocated from another city to where I live now and needed a reliable router because I work from home full-time.
During the **first year**, everything seemed fine. The network was never particularly fast, but I wasn’t bothered because the connection was stable — and for someone working from home, **stability was far more important to me than speed.** It was, for the most part, perfect for what I needed.
Then came the **second year**.
I started experiencing intermittent connectivity issues. The network signal, which had consistently shown full bars during the first year, began dropping to around **four bars**. It wasn’t ideal, but I could still work and the issues were relatively minimal.
Now we’re in the **third year**, and the situation has deteriorated significantly.
The signal constantly jumps between **two and three bars**. I experience **multiple connection drops, poor speeds, poor call quality and, quite often, absolutely no connectivity at all.**
Because I work from home, this has gone from being an inconvenience to becoming a genuine problem.
On numerous occasions, I’ve had to switch over to my cellphone connection just to conduct work meetings. At various times, I’m unable to start or complete my deliverables when I need to, which often means I end up having to work until **8 or 9pm at night** simply because the internet connection I’m paying for isn’t reliable enough to do my job.
And just in case you’re wondering:
**NO — I have not once raised this with Vodacom.**
Why?
Because, quite honestly, I feel it would be pointless.
I’m not the only person experiencing this. **Neighbours, colleagues and people in community WhatsApp groups have all been complaining about the same connectivity problems.** This doesn’t feel like an isolated issue affecting only my router or my particular contract.
To make matters even worse, my wife recently took out a **24-month WiFi contract with Vodacom**. It is **barely three months old**, and she is already experiencing connectivity issues.
So while the service has progressively deteriorated, the price I’m paying has continued to increase every year.
**Pay more. Get less.**
That pretty much sums up my experience.
Anyway, this isn’t a formal complaint, and I don’t really expect any feedback. I simply wanted to put my experience out there so that potential customers can see what my experience with Vodacom has become after being a customer for many years.
Vodacom used to be a network I trusted.
Unfortunately, after this experience, I can honestly say:
**What a **** network Vodacom has become.**
Luckily, my contract is finally coming to an end.
Needless to say, **I won’t be taking anything from Vodacom anytime soon.**
Cheers!!
However, please do not try to rewrite what was discussed to make it sound like the problem has been resolved.
Yes, I mentioned during the call that I had experienced two days without any issues. But how you have taken that and concluded in your response that “your service are more stable” is beyond me.
Two relatively good days does not mean my network is suddenly “more stable.” The problems I described in my original complaint have not magically disappeared.
In fact, not long after that call, the exact same **** started again.
And here is the reality as I respond to you at 19:52 tonight:
I HAVE NO INTERNET.
It has been down/connecting intermittently since approximately 12:30 today.
So while your response says “We hope your connection remains stable,” I am sitting here seven hours later with no internet connection whatsoever.
This is precisely why I made the complaint in the first place. I'm not complaining about one bad day or one isolated incident. I'm talking about three years of a service that has progressively deteriorated, to the point where I can no longer rely on it to do something as basic as provide a stable internet connection.Exactly why I have very little confidence that anything is actually going to change.
At this point, don't bother with another generic response telling me to “reach out should the issue arise again.” The issue HAS arisen again. That's the entire ****ing point.
I will continue responding to every Vodacom response here until you eventually stop responding ,because apparently that's the only consistency I can still rely on from Vodacom.
And finally, if there is genuinely nothing to hide, respond publicly. You were happy to acknowledge my complaint publicly, but your actual response to the situation was handled privately.
However, please do not try to rewrite what was discussed to make it sound like the problem has been resolved.
Yes, I mentioned during the call that I had experienced two days without any issues. But how you have taken that and concluded in your response that “your service are more stable” is beyond me.
Two relatively good days does not mean my network is suddenly “more stable.” The problems I described in my original complaint have not magically disappeared.
In fact, not long after that call, the exact same **** started again.
And here is the reality as I respond to you at 19:52 tonight:
I HAVE NO INTERNET.
It has been down/connecting intermittently since approximately 12:30 today.
So while your response says “We hope your connection remains stable,” I am sitting here seven hours later with no internet connection whatsoever.
This is precisely why I made the complaint in the first place. I'm not complaining about one bad day or one isolated incident. I'm talking about three years of a service that has progressively deteriorated, to the point where I can no longer rely on it to do something as basic as provide a stable internet connection.Exactly why I have very little confidence that anything is actually going to change.
At this point, don't bother with another generic response telling me to “reach out should the issue arise again.” The issue HAS arisen again. That's the entire ****ing point.
I will continue responding to every Vodacom response here until you eventually stop responding ,because apparently that's the only consistency I can still rely on from Vodacom.
And finally, if there is genuinely nothing to hide, respond publicly. You were happy to acknowledge my complaint publicly, but your actual response to the situation was handled privately.
Apart from your previous suggestions to either install Vodacom Fibre or have the matter escalated so that the router can be inspected, both of which I have already declined, what exactly is there left to discuss?
I declined the router inspection because there is no logical reason to assume the router is the problem. My wife's Vodacom router is barely three months old, yet she is experiencing much the same connectivity problems. So are you suggesting that both routers are faulty?
My options seem to be:
1. Install Vodacom Fibre? No thanks.
2. Escalate the matter to have the router inspected? Waste of time.
What I actually want to know is:
1. What is the technical explanation for the significant deterioration in Vodacom's service and connectivity?
2. What has changed between the first year of my contract, when the service was relatively stable, and now?
3. Is this a problem affecting certain areas or regions, and if so, which areas?
4. What is Vodacom actually doing to improve, restore or fix the service?
And if this is ultimately an infrastructure or network capacity issue, then Vodacom needs to explain why customers are still being advertised to, signed into long-term contracts and charged every month for a service that the network is apparently unable to consistently deliver.
At that point, this is no longer simply a case of a customer experiencing poor connectivity. It becomes a question of accountability.
I am paying Vodacom for a service. It is Vodacom's responsibility to provide that service , not mine to keep finding alternative products, replacing equipment or accepting excuses when the underlying problem appears to be with the network itself.
So rather than calling me to offer solutions I have already rejected, answer the questions above and explain what Vodacom is actually doing about the problem.
And if Vodacom cannot provide a straight answer, then simply say so.
Apart from your previous suggestions to either install Vodacom Fibre or have the matter escalated so that the router can be inspected, both of which I have already declined, what exactly is there left to discuss?
I declined the router inspection because there is no logical reason to assume the router is the problem. My wife's Vodacom router is barely three months old, yet she is experiencing much the same connectivity problems. So are you suggesting that both routers are faulty?
My options seem to be:
1. Install Vodacom Fibre? No thanks.
2. Escalate the matter to have the router inspected? Waste of time.
What I actually want to know is:
1. What is the technical explanation for the significant deterioration in Vodacom's service and connectivity?
2. What has changed between the first year of my contract, when the service was relatively stable, and now?
3. Is this a problem affecting certain areas or regions, and if so, which areas?
4. What is Vodacom actually doing to improve, restore or fix the service?
And if this is ultimately an infrastructure or network capacity issue, then Vodacom needs to explain why customers are still being advertised to, signed into long-term contracts and charged every month for a service that the network is apparently unable to consistently deliver.
At that point, this is no longer simply a case of a customer experiencing poor connectivity. It becomes a question of accountability.
I am paying Vodacom for a service. It is Vodacom's responsibility to provide that service , not mine to keep finding alternative products, replacing equipment or accepting excuses when the underlying problem appears to be with the network itself.
So rather than calling me to offer solutions I have already rejected, answer the questions above and explain what Vodacom is actually doing about the problem.
And if Vodacom cannot provide a straight answer, then simply say so.