South African network provider Telkom came under fire this week after a nationwide outage left many users disconnected for several hours. The Monday, May 13th, disruption impacted phone and internet services, causing frustration and missed opportunities for customers.
What Happened?
Reports of trouble surfaced around 2pm, with a surge in complaints documented on Downdetector. Telkom officially acknowledged the network issue by 4pm and assured users technicians were working on a resolution. While services were restored by 4:16pm, some areas experienced syncing problems for an additional hour.
South Africans’s Reaction: It’s Unacceptable
The outage triggered a wave of criticism on social media, with Telkom customers expressing disappointment in the disruption, especially those who missed crucial calls or work chances due to the network collapse.
Telkom’s attempt to appease customers with a measly 1GB data token failed to impress. Many users questioned the adequacy of the compensation, while others criticized the company’s communication strategy. Telkom’s social media accounts remained active throughout the outage, leading some to question their priorities.
@ZondiTalent: “Sometimes you don’t take us seriously. If you can’t handle us just say so instead of this. If it rains or windy we have problem with your network now this? Loadshedding no, no, no. It’s unacceptable.”
@xolohbuthelezi: “From 10 to 2 until now what if I lost a job opportunity?”
@dlakana_Self: “Hi, Telkom is the data going to get in automatically or we have to send you guys our Numbers?”
@LolaNkosi: “Telkom you did me so dirty today. I missed a very important work call because of this. Yho guys.”
Looking Beyond the Outage
Downdetector data reveals a significant portion of Telkom users experienced a complete loss of service. A concerning 23% of outage reports described a “total blackout” of the mobile network.
While Telkom has apologized for the inconvenience and offered a 1GB data token, the outage has exposed deeper concerns. South Africans are demanding better network reliability and improved communication from Telkom during service disruptions. A simple “free 1GB” simply isn’t enough to win back the trust of frustrated customers
