Limited network coverage, switching between towers does not really work, wifi calling does not work, untrained staff
In short limited network coverage, switching between towers that does not really work in practice, untrained staff that is not able to assist when the service they promise does not work. Lengthy time to enable international roaming.
Just want to make public aware of network problems that they can expect to experience when using Telkom mobile as I am using their service for more than two years now (in jhb area mainly so expect even more problems less populous areas). As they have very limited cellphone towers a lot of time the phone must switch to another service providers' tower and this technical process does not really work. Frequently I must put my phone off and on again, or reboot, or go into settings and manually by trial and error sellect other towers which can be a 10/15 minute exercise. I experienced the same on my samsung phone and on xiaomi. Its not like with vodacom or mtn where you always have a signal (even overseas) and can make calls. Especially when you are traveling (locally) and suddenly your maps stop working or dont get data messages from people trying to get hold of you for many hours. Sometimes I just ignore all the many message allerts on my phone because most are about "no network coverage" - and that in jhb!.   Same with wifi calling; the service is supposed to be available so that you can make calls when you dont have a gsm signal or a poor signal but have wifi available. Every few months I would call the contact centre in high hopes that they received training about it but they either dont know what you talk about or cannot help you or dont understand it. Same with the walk in centres. Most frequent reply from Telkom is that I must contact my internet service provider about wifi calling.
I wonder sometimes what does telkom think when they can see on phone records that you call the same same number 10 times in a row. Is some clever guy there not realizing that calls are constantly dropping or the network is not available. Mostly calling to land lines. So dont blame vodacom or mtn.
Then on vodacom or mtn I was used to call a day before the time and ask to enable international roaming and that was it. With telkom you must fill in forms and wait a week. The result is that you basically dont have phone service overseas with telkom and have to rely on emails and whatsapp at wifi spots, because by the time the roaming is enabled you are already back in SA.
The best thing for Telkom to happen in my view is to get an x-vodacom or mtn ceo to iron everything out and make things work. Its like buying a car with all the bells and whistles but none of them are really working. 
Price is competitive but then you dont compare apples with apples.
Telkom does not have to contact me about this as I by now understand they are not geared to sort out problems, Its requires rather a company (wide) shake up to get things working. Its like complaining about eskom load shedding, but know what you can expect when choosing a telkom service contract.
