How Many Times Can Vodafone Ghana Replace Stolen Cables?

Have You Registered Your SIM Card?

With 5 days to go, I ask, have you registered your SIM card yet? Don’t forget per the National Communication Authority’s directive, all SIM cards which have not been registered by close of day, June 30 2011 will be deactivated. This means that from July 1st 2011, only SIM cards that have been registered will be able to make and receive calls. This applies to data sim cards too.

The exercise, which begun on July 1st 2010 according to the National Communication Authority is  ’to enhance the personal safety of subscribers; eliminate fraud and crime made possible by the use of mobile phones and to give consumers permanent ownership of their mobile numbers’. 

If you are not sure if your SIM card has been registered or the registration is one of the 30% invalid registrations, just send an SMS with your SIM card’s (phone) number to 400 (for free) on all networks and you will receive confirmation of your registration. 

It is not difficult finding a registration point in your neighbourhood. Just present either your Driving License, National Passport, National Health Insurance Card, Voter’s ID Card or National Identification Card and your SIM card to be registered.

Go on, register your SIM card and stay connected!

Great Job Vodafone Ghana!!!

Usually, when I tweet or blog about Vodafone Ghana, it is negative but today’s post is different. I got my broadband service installed and working before May 1st, the deadline I set for switching from Zipnet whose service is below par now. This post is a follow up to my previous post which can be found here.

It didn’t take long for this one to be installed. The staff at the Achimota office unlike other Vodafone Ghana staff I have come across were very friendly and helpful; from Evelyn and Martha who processed my application to William, Haruna, Paul and Fiifi who did the installation for me. The installation crew was very helpful with scheduling time for the installation. Thanks guys! There are really some Vodafone Ghana Staff who are committed to the Vodafone Group Plc standards.

One problem they encountered was that most of the copper cables in my neighbourhood had been stolen and they had to request new cables from the Adenta office. I just can’t understand why people would do something like that. If you’re reading this and you have ever stolen or know someone who has stolen or planning to steal a Ghana Telecom/Vodafone Ghana copper cable, please desist from that. How do you expert a telco to provide great services when you keep sabotaging them? Be on the lookout and report such unscrupulous people to the police. It’s just wrong.

Anyway, after using the internet for 4 days, I can say that the connection is very stable and hasn’t gone off even for a minute. The download speed, which hovers at 22kb/s has been constant. However this is where I feel Vodafone can do more. They’re sitting on all that bandwidth and they could increase the speed for us. For the next billing month, I am going to upgrade to Easy Surf to show my satisfaction for the service and my desire for more speed.

Goodbye Zipnet, Welcome Vodafone :)

Vodafone Ghana; One Year On, The Same Old Crappy Service

Happy Anniversary Vodafone Ghana. It’s been a year since you launched and at least if Ghanaians can’t feel your ‘service quality’ like in other countries where you operate, we can see your many red cars and flashy billboards as evidence of your presence in Ghana. I heard on Joy 99.7FM that you made a loss last year because you invested heavily. If that’s true then my basic economics tells me you’re going to reap the benefits soon.

                                                                                               source: nanakofiacquah.blogspot.com

Oh yeah, you’ve started your own trademarked internet cafés. I love them and that’s the only thing I like about Vodafone Ghana now. I do all my legal and ‘illegal’ download there :) but I don’t think they’re 40mbs cafés unless you can prove beyond resonable doubt. I think it’s between the range of 8mbs to 16mbs. And whilst you are at it take a look at your café on the High Street, Accra. They wifi was down all of last week. I doubt it has been fixed.

It’s sad that after a year, you’re still living in the days of Ghana Telecom. Still the same old crappy service and your staff, I don’t know where you get some of them from. I work in the export development sector but I know the ins and outs than a lot of those you put at your info desks. Do you circulate press releases to them? Not of all of them are top of affairs.

Anyway, let me tell you about my experience at your headquarters today. Yeah, I mean the circle offices. That’s your headquarters, right?

So, I have been thinking about dumping Zipnet for Vodafone Broadband. Zipnet’s service is very crappy now. They came from behind and beat you to it. You know we don’t really have alternative in Ghana so I called 102 yesterday to enquire about the service and if I could get it fixed by May 1st. ‘Oh yes!’, the guy who identified himself as William said. ‘We’ve changed and you could have it fised in a week’ he added. I ust laughed. I bet he felt stupid. If you didn’t read my previous post on getting Vodafone Broadband in Sunyani, you should know it took me a month and two days to get it fixed. He asked for my location. New Achimota, I said and he asked me to drop the completed form at any Vodafone Shop or if I could drop it at the Circle office. The Circle office is on my way to work and it’s the headquarters so it will be processed quickly, I thought.

As usual, I downloaded the Vodafone Broadband Application form, and filled it out. I got to the Vodafone office this morning and asked the lady (She didn’t have her name tag on. I didn’t see anyone with the tage on) who attended to me if I could have the service installed by May 1st. ‘You can’t give us deadlines’ she said. ‘I am making an enquiry not giving you a deadline!, I hit back. She took my forms I had downloaded from the Vodafone Ghana website and taken my time to fill and asked where I got it from. I told her the Vodafone Ghana website. ‘This isn’t the form we use’ she said. What? She must be kidding me. She took me to another desk where this guy gave me the old Vodafone Broadband application form. I examined it and saw the details required were the same as the one I had downloaded and printed. I asked him what the difference was and he said ‘I’m here and this is what we use’. I declined to fill it and asked him to check from their website which he said he couldn’t do then. He said if I’m ok with it I should take it upstair for processing, which I did cursing in my head. Again, I ask you, where do you find the staff? Seriously, you should hire me to recruit for you.

Upstairs, I was asked where I got the form from again. Don’t put the form up if it’s of no use or tell your ignorant staff about it! The guy took the form to another guy who I overhead asking him where I got that form from. He came back and said ‘You have to take this to the Achimota exchange’. WTF is wrong with these people? I quietly left the office. 

You can imagine my fury as I jumped into a trotro. I was late for work for no reason. I got to the office, took a pen and paper and started writing this post since I don’t have a desk at work yet and I didn’t take my mac along today. Seriously Vodafone, you have to put your house in order. You can start by firing your ignorant and arrogant staff who don’t even know the value of a smile. Have you ever visited an MTN office? The staff there smile a lot and even if you’re mad at them, it calms you down. Maybe, you can take your staff on an excursion. 

I had to leave work early so I could take my application to the Achimota shop. Evelyn recieved me. She was alright. She asked a colleague if I had the right form. I bet she will copy iy out on the old form. She said it could take up to 3 day for a site survey. That’s a 5 minute job. I wonder when I will get my broadband fixed.

So, on the occassion of your first anniversary, stop spending so much on gigantic billboards, fancy adverts and the ballons you’ve decorated your offices with and spend it on staff training and improving your services and then we can celebrate with you. My people say ‘Adepa na etɔn ne ho’ meaning ‘Good things sell by themselves’. Don’t forget Glo is launching soon o! They have their own undersea cable. MainOne goes live in June and MTN has already laid fibre optics across Ghana. A word to the wise is enough!

Happy Anniversary Vodafone Ghana!! I hope you start making some profits soon so the sate can take it’s cut. 

NB: If you’re reading this and you know a top gun at Vodafone, please print this post out for him/her or send him a link. As usual, I’d appreciate if you drop a comment on the post of share your experience. The last post I did on Vodafone Ghana had over 12 comments. Sad thing is that they all disappeared and no new comment lasts more than 48 on the blog. I’m puzzled and have written to Disqus who said they they’re invetigating it. Nonetheless, I will put all your comments together as a blog post since I have copies in my email. 

PS: This post has been edited and all the cuss words taken out :)

PSS: If you know anyone I can talk to to get my broadband fixed asap, I will be grateful.

Vodafone Ghana: Repeating The Mistakes Of GT OneTouch

Some weeks back, I grew tired of waiting for Glo Mobile Ghana to launch and the Glo-1 cable to go live and on the advice of a friend, I decided to get Vodafone Broadband at home.

So on the 24th of Februay 2010, I went in to Vodafone Ghana’s Sunyani office to put in my application. It was a Wednesday and they indicated that they would have someone come do a site survey by the close of the week. The week ended and no one called or came to do the site survey. By the way I stay in a residential area not far from the CBD and there are a lot of telephone lines and a couple of broadband connections in my neighbourhood.  

The following Friday, I got a call from Vodafone and they indicated that they got my number wrong and just realised I put an alternative number on the form. Come on, a whole week to figure that out? You’ll be contacted next week, the gentleman said.

Anyway, a friend prompted me that it took two months to get his installed and that I should contact the personnel in charge of the site survey. He gave his name as Sammy and sent his cellphone number to me. I called Sammy on Monday, March 8, 2010, which was a holiday and he was very helpful. In 15 minutes he was at my place and within a minute the site survey was done. An hour later, someone called me from the Vodafone office. I was asked to fill a new application form since they couldn’t find my old one, which I did and made payment for the installation and a month of subscription (I wanted to pay for 2 months, which I now believe would have been a mistake). I was told I would be contacted within the week and the installation done. I called Sammy as soon as I left the office to thank him. 

As at Friday, March 12, no one from Vodafone had given me a call so I decided to call Sammy again. This time he didn’t answer my calls but he had someone call me from the Vodafone office, the person I am sure would be doing the installation. Again, he told me next week and explained installation is done within 10 working days after payment. I also hit back saying that I had put in the application about 3 weeks ago. In the end, I was obliged.

Today is Friday, March 19 and my broadband still hasn’t been fixed. I was preparing to go to the office to demand why my broadband hasn’t been fixed when I received a call from Vodafone Ghana. This time, the gentleman who called, who I believe is the same person I have been in contact with asked if I had paid for the service and whom I had paid to. The question sounded stupid to me. A receipt was issued and I saw the guy entering my details in the computer. Doesn’t it show on their records? I told him I had and I don’t remember the name of the person I paid to. He put me on hold and I heard him telling a female colleague; me ka sɛ w’atua meaning I told you he has paid. He got back to me and said they (Vodafone Ghana) would give me a call and have it fixed. I asked him what time the call would come in and he said next week. Ahh, what’s wrong with these people and next week? I told him I really need the service and my application is about a month old. He replied that they will get it sorted and with that I took to writing this blog post.

I don’t know whether I would be fair to say whether the staff at Vodafone Ghana are incompetent or the telecom giant’s way of doing business is just wrong. One thing I can say without hesitation is that Vodafone Ghana  is repeating the same mistakes with their broadband like Ghana Telecom (which was re-branded to Vodafone Ghana) did with OneTouch, their mobile phone service. I don’t understand the long wait. I don’t know if people in Accra, Kumasi or Sekondi-Takoradi also wait this long to get connected. Vodafone has a monopoly in the broadband market in Sunyani and in cable broadband in Ghana and perhaps don’t realise they have to sit up. I have used 2 wireless broadband services previously in Accra. The first one, Skyburst was at my place do a site survey in 2 hours and I got my modem the next day. The second Zipnet also sent someone to do the site survey right after I made a call to them. Within 2 days, I had my modem in hand and Zipnet’s costumer service was one of the best I have experienced in Ghana. It’s a shame they don’t cover Sunyani yet. 

In the past, that is late 90’s and early 00’s, people had to queue for OneTouch SIM cards and they were sold at exorbitant prices. Can you imagine buying a SIM card for GH¢80 (£36 / $56)? Yes, that’s how much the early adopters paid. Some paid more to cut down on the wait time. Those days are over but I can see those days in the Vodafone’s Broadband service.  

* Why the long wait for something which could be done in 3days or a week? It’s not like they have a shortage of ADSL modems or cables. The wait is just too long and unacceptable.

* I find the connection fee of GH¢55 (£25 / $38) quite expensive although it has been lowered from GH¢99. Why can’t installation be free and the ADSL modem remain the property of Vodafone? I think a lot of people would subscribe then or even if the installation fee is lowered to GH¢15. 

* A 256kb/s service with a data cap of 10GB costs GH¢45 a month. This is very expensive and I find the download cap annoying. It’s just 256kb/s and you already have a download cap? Anyway, I understand the reasons for the high cost of the service; the slow and expensive SAT-3 cable. With the Glo-1, ACS, MainOne cables going live or arriving soon, we should have a drastic reduction in data cost. 

* The staff, the staff, the staff. There are millions of Ghanaians out there who need jobs and it shouldn’t be difficult for Vodafone to find competent employees.

* The quality of the service will be discussed in a later post.

Aah.. my blood pressure just went down so I think I will end here. I hope someone from Vodafone, the toothless National Communication Authority or an ISP is reading this. 

PS: I know I complain a lot. My ex-girlfriend told me that!

New Codes For Fixed Lines In Ghana

A few weeks ago, I came across a media release in the Business and Financial Times by the National Communication Authority (NCA) on a new numbering plan for fixed line telephony operators in Ghana. According to the release which was also posted on the NCA’s website:

** The current 53 area codes (021, 022, 051, 061, 0742 etc) will be reduced to 10 regional codes

REGIONS (CURRENT AREA CODES) ➲ NEW CODES

GREATER-ACCRA (021, 022, 0968) ➲ 030

WESTERN (0342, 0345, 0362, 0392, 0394, 0394) ➲ 031

ASHANTI (051, 0531, 0561, 0565, 0572, 0582) ➲ 032

CENTRAL (041, 042, 0372, 0432) ➲ 033

EASTERN (081, 0832, 0842, 0846, 0848, 0858, 0863, 0872, 0876, 0882, 0251) ➲ 034

BRONG-AHAFO (061, 0632, 0648, 0652, 0653, 0567, 0568) ➲ 035

VOLTA (091, 0931, 0935, 0936, 0953, 0962, 0966) ➲ 036

NORTHERN (071, 0715, 0716, 0717, 0744, 0746, 0752) ➲ 037

UPPER-EAST (072, 0742, 0743) ➲ 038

UPPER-WEST (0756) ➲ 039

** The length of all regional codes will be the same as shown above.

** All user numbers will have  the same digit length by the addition of a digit  prefixed to user numbers in Accra and Tema and two digits prefixed to all other users in the country i.e Accra and Tema will now have an 8-digit phone numbers (However, Zain fixed lines will maintain 7-digit user numbers) & the other towns in Ghana will move from 5-digit numbers to 7 digits

Area Old                   Assignment             New Assignment

Accra & Tema             (021) 1234567           (031) X1234567

All Other Towns         (061) 12345               (035) XX12345

Accra & Tema (Zain)   (021) 70XXXXX           (030) 70XXXXX

Zain Ghana has already implemented the new numbering plan.

In the next month or two, Vodafone Ghana is expected to communicate the details to their costumers and the genral public.

I made a small map with the new regional codes. Every Ghanaian should be able to appreciate this one.