Tuesday 25 February 2014

Namibia Internet connection: Rain? What rain?

Users of Telecom Namibia’s I-way internet service have experienced ongoing problems with the service since mid-December with often very slow connection speeds, especially in early January where there was no internet at all.

Customers complain that this seems to happen every year during the rainy season and they question why Telecom network infrastructure is not rainproof and always has problems whenever it rains.

Telecom’s Senior Manager, Corporate Communications and Public Relations Oiva Angula says that since December last year, Telecom Namibia has experienced a number of cable thefts especially in the Windhoek area.

He added that these criminal activities continue to cause damage to localised feeder cables, which had affected the few customers directly connected through these damaged cables.

“Our technical staff had to work around the clock to replace the damaged cables,” Angula said.

Telecom Namibia has dismissed speculation that the rain is to blame for the erratic internet services and claimed that the rainy season has no overall impact on internet services.

“Of course, in specific localities, lightning does cause power interruptions and then equipment at customers premises might go into resetting procedures. Therefore, Telecom Namibia always recommends connecting all telecommunications equipment to Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) units at the customer’s home.

Telecom Namibia has however failed to respond to question of when they will find a permanent solution to these problems.

The company could also not answer the question of whether it will be able to provide customers in the country with internet service comparable to that found in technologically advanced countries anytime in the near future.

Telecom Namibia did however acknowledge that there was slow internet access to certain specific international websites from 9 February to 10 February due to overloading on five of the international internet links caused by an external network to Telecom Namibia’s network.

“While the one link was not available for internet traffic, the other remaining links took over that additional traffic demand for that period,” Angula explained.

He further gave the assurance that Telecom Namibia would monitor internet capacities and performance on a full-time basis and that the internet experience of customers would be fast and reliable.

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