Rain, the Eskom of Internet Service Providers
Image credit BuzzFeed
You would have to go a long way to find a company that could rival Eskom when it comes to bad service delivery. Or so you might think. With the lockdowns of the past few years, we have seen ISPs popping up like mushrooms, all competing for their slice of the high speed internet market. One such company calls itself "Rain", and it has actually been around since 2019.
Starting up with an apparent 3000 of their own towers and piggybacking the rest off the Vodacom and MTN infrastructure, Rain soon expanded into the 5G market, with an additional 1500 towers added. Company leading man Johan van Zyl also promised to step up service delivery and support by trippeling their staff compliment, after an overwhelming inflow of service complaints. This however did little to keep the sh!t from raining down on their customers.
One only has to perform a brief scan of HelloPeter, to realize that despite all the promises and aggressive marketing campaigns, this company is simply not delivering. Customers complaining about constant downtime while others are paying for their second month of service, despite not having connected to the internet once during this period. Others still, are bringing up the issue of lower than promised bandwidth. And all falling on deaf ears, as each and every one of these dissatisfied customers, mentions the lack response to their complaints.
This company is happily raking in millions from the already financially strapped middle class South African, and giving nothing in return. They simply do not care that they are taking money from their countrymen and not delivering the product. And, as this low level of service now constitute the new normal, they are getting away it while leaving their customers desperate, broke and unconnected.
The question is, will a company like this last? And the answer is simple. Yes, they will probably be around for a while still, conning more people with their aggressive marketing strategy, into what can only be described as a system of "legalized theft". One has but to visit their website, and enter your address to query the 5G availability in your region, only to be met with package options and pricing instead of a coverage map.
Choosing an ISP can be an overwhelming experience with so much companies competing for your attention. But for most of these companies it's a case of biting off more than they can chew, and their customers more often than not, end up paying the price. As is the case with Rain, you may as well pack away the umbrella, because no Rain is expected for the near future.
