Infrastructure Issue Turned Into a Customer Bill

Very disappointing experience with Zoom Fibre regarding a fault on the aerial fibre infrastructure at our property.

Our fibre connection went down and the fault was logged through our ISP, Cool Ideas, who escalated the issue to Zoom Fibre as they manage the physical network. After several days of waiting for feedback, we were informed that the drop cable needed to be reinstalled and that we would be required to pay R1495 for the repair.

This was extremely concerning because the damage was not caused by anyone in our household. Both residents present at the time are elderly and did not access the roof or interact with the fibre infrastructure in any way.

To assist with the investigation I provided photos showing that the fibre termination point at our residence was still intact and undisturbed. However, the aerial fibre span between the poles had excessive slack forming a V-shaped sag. From a technical perspective this typically indicates a tensioning or anchoring issue on the aerial line rather than damage caused from within the property.

I also pointed out that this same fibre span had previously become unwound and required repair, which suggests there may already have been instability with this installation.

Despite providing this evidence and explanation, the final outcome communicated to us was simply that we were required to pay the repair charge. At no stage were the concerns we raised about the aerial span or the previous instability of the installation properly addressed.

Reliable infrastructure and fair fault assessments are critical for fibre services. Unfortunately, in this case it felt like the responsibility for a network issue was placed on the customer without a proper investigation into the cause of the fault.

As we were unable to reach a fair resolution regarding the charge, we ultimately had to cancel the service and begin looking for alternative providers.

This experience has been extremely disappointing and highlights the importance of proper fault investigation and fair dispute resolution when dealing with infrastructure-related issues.