Vodacom Rant: Poor coverage at Helderberg

If you are a prospective student who plan to come to study at Helderberg College, I want to make one very practical suggestion to you.

Try by all means to use MTN as your cellphone service provider. MTN recently installed a transmitter/transponder/antennae? (whatever) on top of one of the buildings on our campus and you can have hours of leisurely conversation.

I have the misfortune of being bound to a contract by Vodacom and since I have arrived at this College cellphone communication has been a real nightmare. You might even have noticed it if you tried to call me or send me an urgent SMS. I frequently have my cellphone with me, and it is switched on, but I just cannot receive a signal. If I move about 200 metres up or down the hill, the signal is perfect, but in Salisbury House, there is almost no signal.

To the best of my knowledge, CellC, and the new Virgin service providers also make use of the Vodacom network. The signal for these service providers is equally bad.

Switch to MTN. I plan to do so, and with the latest regulations, I will be able to do so without changing my telephone number.

I might change my mind, however if Vodacom improves the signal on our campus.

I just discovered a tool that might help speed this up:

Vodacom allows a person to make requests about network coverage on their website in order to improve their service.

If you are a resident at Helderberg College, I want to encourage you to send your request for better Vodacom Coverage to this website. I would love to see them improve their service in this area.

UPDATE: Tuesday, 28 November

It turns out that Vodacom's customer care people have been very friendly. I received an e-mail asking for more information. I provided this to them and this morning I received a phone call asking for even more information. They said that they would try to send out a technician to assess the situation. The requested me to provide them with the names of a few other people who experience the same problem. I was at a staff function, so I managed to get 12 names in 4 or 5 minutes. I am sure that with a bit of effort I would be able to push this number up to 100.

I am hopeful that I will be able to give an excellent report of Vodacom Customer Service when the problem is solved.