Major Telkom Mobile network problems

Numerous Telkom mobile network users are reporting issues with accessing the Internet and making phone calls.

Telkom’s Downdetector page showed a big increase in reports of issues from around 05:00, with over 1,500 reports per minute as of 6:22.

The majority of reports were flagged under “Internet”, while some users also reported problems with “Phone” connectivity.

The graph below shows the increase in reports of issues on Downdetector in South Africa on Friday morning.

Twitter was also flooded with complaints from users, many of whom posted screenshots showing they had no signal on Telkom.

@TelkomZA what the hell is going on with your network. I have no network whatsoever on my Telkom sim. I had to switch to a different network this morning. I swear I’m leaving this network what the hell.

— Nkosinathi_M (@OG_Nkosinathi) November 12, 2021

@TelkomZA there seems to be widespread network issues. Has this been detected on your end?

— Ngunezi (@Dr_Nipho_Mkhize) November 12, 2021

@TelkomZA whats up with your signal this morning😠all my telkom phones show me emergency call.

— Lethuh81 (@lethuh81) November 12, 2021

At the time of publication, it was not clear how widespread the issues were or exactly which customers or areas were impacted.

Two MyBroadband staff members with Telkom mobile SIMs had no problems making phone calls or using online services.

However, a third who was using the same package as one of those who had no problems reported that they had no signal and were unable to make phone calls on Telkom in another area.

The map below shows the concentration of reports on Telkom Mobile in South Africa on Friday morning.

Update: Telkom has confirmed the issue and started responding to affected customers from 07:44 on Friday.

“Thank you for your patience and understanding as we worked to fix the error that is causing server outages among several of our clients,” said Telkom.

“We understand the frustration and uncertainty you have gone through. What a day! Please note that the Telkom Network outage is resolved and services are coming back online.”

Telkom told MyBroadband it experienced a network problem following the execution of planned work in the early hours of Friday morning.

“The problem has since been identified and fixed and services were fully restored at 6:48 and the network is stable,” the company said.

“We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.”

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