Mobile web still in the slow lane‚ say SA consumers

20 April 2016 - 16:55 By TMG Digital

Mobile internet in South Africa sucks‚ say consumers. The latest South African Consumer Satisfaction Index says companies are failing to deliver on the speeds customers want‚ and make things difficult when people want to switch to another provider.“South Africans are about as happy with their wireless internet service providers as they are with airlines‚ which is to say they are not very happy at all‚” said Adrè Schreuder‚ CEO of Consulta and founder of SAcsi.Average satisfaction scores increased slightly from a year earlier but the industry is among the five poorest-performing of 21 sectors surveyed.More than 1‚400 customers of Telkom‚ Vodacom‚ Cell C and MTN gave wireless internet providers an overall satisfaction score of 68.2 out of 100. Data was collected between November 2015 and January 2016.Schreuder said scores lower than 70 generally indicated poor customer satisfaction.“Even as internet usage grows‚ customers are frustrated with unreliable service and slow broadband internet speeds. They resent not being able to modify products once they’ve made their purchases‚” he said.“Customers have high expectations and we see that when brands that do not live up to those expectations‚ customer satisfaction drops.”An area in which wireless internet providers perform well is value for money‚ with Telkom customers giving the company the highest score‚ followed closely by Cell C.TMG Digital/The Times..

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