Can anyone provide Sentech Broadband Details

dojob · Nov 11, 2003

Hi Guys,

We are approaching the middle of the month. Most ADSL would appreciate it if Sentech could release details about the service, therefore we have adequate time to evaluate and make a decision whether to swap over.

I understand that they are reluctant to reveal their pricing structure however Sentech could provide us with the following information:

1.) Which areas will the service be available? (A complete list, CBD is a bit vague) They should have a list by now because roll out is in 20 days or so.

2.) What equipment is required? Will it have to be purchase from Sentech? Also how much it would cost?

3.) What are the various options and speeds offered?

4.) Is there any bandwidth restrictions? (Any Cap, Port Prioritization etc)

5.) Do users get a static IP and how many IP's are provided to a users?

6.) How long would it take to setup the service after an order is placed? Also do technical personnel have to come onsite in order to perform the installation?

Would it be possible for Sentech to provide information as to what makes their service different than ADSL and why they believe it is better?

Thankx

armitage · Nov 11, 2003

my 2 cents i would like 2 know
what frequency r they running on? if their running on the 2.4 ghz can we use existing wifi cards and get an antenna with them.
what are their packages.[|)] how much we get for how much
contention ratio
u know al the gooey stuff that make telkom look bad.
maybe rpm can contact them? seeing as how he's big boss man here. [

](i just suck on telephones) ((no keyboard u see))

New service by Telkom broadband speeds up to 5kbps for only R1k a month. heheh

domdom · Nov 11, 2003

They are just as useless as Telkom. No updates on their website.
They are supposed to be the techies and they cannot even keep their website up to date. What will happen to their service if they cannot even keep their potential clients informed.

dorris · Nov 11, 2003

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by domdom
 What will happen to their service if they cannot even keep their potential clients informed.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
from what I can gather, these dudes at Sentech haven't dealt with end users till now, and are very new to the game of looking for customers.

As an international carrier-of-carrier, Sentech is allowed to provide the wholesale traffic of data, voice and Internet services in and out of SA, but can’t sell directly to end-usershttp://m1.mny.co.za/bb.nsf/0/C2256A2A005233F942256C5C001B8035?OpenDocument
This was in an article from late 2002.
There was even talk somewhere about other ISP's reselling their package

About the pricing, of course they reluctant to release them, there are articles all over itweb, stating that Sentech are currently in battles to get wholesale prices on local fibre cables through telkom (This enablesus to get faster local access no satlink latency), and a calculated guess tells me our pricing is dependant on that outcome.
(so much for free trade, telkom keeps their fingers in everything[V])

I also saw in some other article , Ithink it was www.miro.co.za/... that their initial rollout will implement 50-100 hotspots, but then again this was initial plan in April, who knows whats changed since then.

About your decision to swop over immendiately if prices are good, I recommend you wait till late Jan next year, and see what others say about the service. coz installation costs aren't small.

Personally I believe it will be a good service, these dudes know that if they get this right, they can take SA's broadband market before the SNO gets in here.
also just speculation, but as impatient as I am for pricing and availability, I would rather be with someone that keeps me in suspense until they are certain, than some company that makes false promises without investigating their resources, and then change their service after 6 months ie Telkom ADSL

MaD · Nov 11, 2003

I've sent off a mail to Special Assignment asking them if they can do an insert on Telkom and their monopoly, and the putrid cost of bandwidth. I'm just holding thumbs that they will do something - I've offered to help them with whatever and said I'm sure most the peepz on this site will probly also lend a hand finding out whatever is necessary to back them up [

]

But seeing as SABC3 is a state-owned broadcaster and Telkom is also government-owned, I hope the chances aren't slim that they will do an insert. If they won't, I'm sure 3rd degree will... that Debra chick is ruthless [

]

Also in the mail was (of course) a link to the MyADSL forums & that they should take a browse through & see how many ppl are disgruntled just with the ADSL service, also mentioned Diginet prices, overseas prices etc. Hope to hear from them asap.

armitage · Nov 12, 2003

problem though dorris
its bout the middle of the month an the roll out date for the service is end november.
It would be expected that their pr machine would be out an trying to gather customers in droves an telling em bout the cheapish broadband that can be get from them. but all that weve heard is vagueness.

New service by Telkom broadband speeds up to 5kbps for only R1k a month. heheh

guztro · Nov 12, 2003

Hi All

Mmmhhh...as I said in my very first post in this forum "Infosat/Sentech is yet to impress me" - I've been using their service for about a year now and man do they have problems...not monthly...almost every second day!!! If I had a client base as big as theirs, I'll employ a techie just to browse/download from the internet in an effort to make sure that international latency is what it should be. Sometimes...like today, I have to phone them to say they have a problem internationally - surely they should know this before a customer even picks up the phone?

I fully agree with Dorris...wait even till the end of February before making a decision to move over...

With all the negativity about Sentech and Telkom being discussed here, one would think that they would be intelligent enough to at least improve on their current services offered.

Cheers
Guz

tommy · Nov 12, 2003

SENTECH WIRELESS/SATELLITE - Guys what a joke. They are worse than Telkom. I also heard that a lot of the guys that were going to resell for them have given up and have taken other avenues for the service. Taken them 6 months to roll out one product and even that is not working properly

Nickste · Nov 12, 2003

May i ask where you got your info from Tommy?

Nick Smit
[email protected]

dorris · Nov 12, 2003

Hey Tommy, y so aggro
I've just cruised through the forums tonight, and noticed like 30 posts in any possible forum you can get your hands on, with the same chirp each time,
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">they going to share it so much that the bandwidth will be useless. They do not allow anyone to test the service they currently got out but first sign a 3 year contract <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">SENTECH WIRELESS/SATELLITE - Guys what a joke. They are worse than Telkom<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Sentech who are both government with all the democratic bull**** playing the politics and providing very bad service and bandwidth<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
And to top it off, the following on the ICASA formal complaints thread <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I think you should start drafting one up for Sentech as well.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Don't take this the wrong way I'm not trying to start a feud, but don't you think you should give these guys the benefit of the doubt before slamming accusations, y such a grudge against them , is your Ex-wife the CEO ? if she is, I understand [

]

Otherwise, give them a chance, they might just surprise you, as for the delay in services, I did post above, they can;t do much until its cleared by telkom , and that 3 year contract business, thats the agreement for VSTAR , whos to say the wireless follows the same principles? As for contention ratios, they have already stated that there will be different packages with guarenteed contention ratios, I think it was 50:1 or 20:1 (whereas telkom apparently runs 200:1).

Like I said earlier don't take this post the wrong way, I DO NOT want to fight with anyone, it annoys me when people are overly judgemental, and you did make a point to slander them in plenty threads.
You are not totally wrong, they have pissed me off, with all the secrecy, but I can understand the reasoning for it.
Hopefully next year, once some faithfull MYadsl subscribers have tried the service, I will hear good things and be free of telkom, And if that doesn't happen, next year you can say "I told u so!"
for now, please just put aside the bitching until you got something worthwhile to back it up.

Well now that I've had my 2c worth (If they still make them, maybe soon it will be 5c worth [

])
Peace!!!

armitage · Nov 13, 2003

seems like a telkom employee has been employed.
Wonder if it can be termed Digital sabotage.[

]
baaaaaah i just hope that the prices are not insanely high

New service by Telkom broadband speeds up to 5kbps for only R1k a month. heheh

ProAsm · Nov 13, 2003

I dont know how many posts have to be made to clear certain points up but lets try again.
PLEASE guys dont quote me as I'm sticking my neck out here.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">1.) Which areas will the service be available?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Due to VERY recent happenings (this week) initially the rollout in the JHB metro area will go ahead on 1/12 as planned.
Durban and Capetown which were to follow on or before the 8/12 have run into problems with enviromental study problems beyond our control, and could now be much later.
Other major centers would then follow on a month to month basis and so on.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">2.) What equipment is required? Will it have to be purchase from Sentech? Also how much it would cost?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
You would require a Wireless Modem which will be obtainable from us at a cost of around R3000.
This could be a once off payment or you can take a contract to pay this off included in your subscribtion.
Whether it can be purchased else where at this stage I'm not sure as it needs to meet certain radiation criteria and standards.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">3.) What are the various options and speeds offered?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
The initial launch will be a 128/128 system.
Later in 2004 options of 256/128 - 512/128 and 1024/128 options will be available.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">4.) Is there any bandwidth restrictions? (Any Cap, Port Prioritization etc)<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
There are no bandwidth restrictions, no Cap and no Port Prioritization etc.
There is however a contention ratio of 35mbits:1000

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">5.) Do users get a static IP and how many IP's are provided to a users?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yes users get a Static IP - more can be negotiated.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">6.) How long would it take to setup the service after an order is placed? Also do technical personnel have to come onsite in order to perform the installation?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
There is no installation and no techies on site.
You order the modem and install it yourself - like buying a 56k modem from a shop - same principal.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">what frequency r they running on? if their running on the 2.4 ghz can we use existing wifi cards and get an antenna with them.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yes it is in 2.4 gigs region and initially you will need to use specified modems - see reasons above.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">what are their packages. how much we get for how much<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Packages are given above.
Pricing is still undesided or waiting for approval, but the initial 128/128 will be in the region of + - R500 pm with other options up to 1024/128 later in 2004 ranging up to R1200 pm.
As I say, this is not cast in stone but should not be more than 10% either way.
I'm gonna get my ass ripped off for this [

]

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">u know al the gooey stuff that make telkom look bad.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
We are not trying to make anyone look bad - there is room for everyone and Telkom have some excellent offerrings - it just depends on your needs.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">They are just as useless as Telkom. No updates on their website. They are supposed to be the techies and they cannot even keep their website up to date. What will happen to their service if they cannot even keep their potential clients informed.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Being a hardened Internet user a Website might be the most important issue in ones life for communication.
You must remember, we are all new to this and as the Internet section is small and new in comparison to our breadline products, we have much more pressing issues on our plate regarding this rollout than a Website.
Once we are rolling then these issues will be taken care of.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I also heard that a lot of the guys that were going to resell for them have given up and have taken other avenues for the service<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
You are very misguided and misinformed here as to date only 2 or 3 ISP's are involved and NO ISP is involved in selling anything for us, in fact it is the other way around, we are a customer to the ISPs.
The ISP's involved we have bought a total bandwidth of over 150 mbits for local backbone and distribution networks.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">from what I can gather, these dudes at Sentech haven't dealt with end users till now, and are very new to the game of looking for customers.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yes, other than dealing at a corporate level, you are quite correct in your assumptions here and we are looking at you to help us but judging by the attitude of some we would rather go it alone [

]

On a side note, I wonder if anyone knows what is involved in getting anything going on a National basis.
Not like other countries where bandwidth and frequency spectrums are privately owned, here you need a licence for everything.
Hell, you even need a licence to shoot a scene for a movie in most cases, the reason why most major movies are shot in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozimbique.
Getting a licence is the hardest and most time consuming operation ever.
Many a small company has obtained a licence to run a Wireless system in the center of a city and then expanded without a new licence and soon shut down.
Now try and get a licence to operate on a National basis and see who and what you come up against and the time it takes.
Then there is the enviromental issues, eish the list goes on forever [

]
Be patient, once all these issues are solved and behind us we can step on the gas [

]

PS... I am in no position to answer questions of any kind but will help where I am permitted to do so, already I have put my **** on a block [

]

silversurfer · Nov 13, 2003

Shot ProAsm, much appreciated! Bummer bout Cpt being delayed

there are quite a few of us here, really waiting for u guys.

armitage · Nov 13, 2003

unfair damn enviromental study
anyways thx proasm for the info.
Why is the gov doing an enviromental study on a location in cape town that already has towers sprouting there? that's like saying hmmmm. u cant put up a robot here in the city cause we havent done the enviromental impact study yet.

New service by Telkom broadband speeds up to 5kbps for only R1k a month. heheh

microfast · Nov 13, 2003

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by ProAsm
... PLEASE guys dont quote me as I'm sticking my neck out here...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Thanks ProAsm,

One of the best posts on the topic.

Thank you.

Nickste · Nov 13, 2003

Yeah, shot ProAsm, very informative!

Bummer about the Cape Town delay, but i suppose we can wait [

]

Your response Tommy?

Chow, Nick

Nick Smit
[email protected]

Mux · Nov 13, 2003

Thanks for the post ProAsm.
Dealing with red-tape is a very costly and time-consuming item on a project. Everything of the best in meeting expectations.

I can't wait for the Cape Town part! I am still holding on to my ISDN and can't wait to move on. Maybe I will get myself a "New-Year" present [

]

firestorm · Nov 16, 2003

ProASM thanks. What I would like to know is about the 3yr contract one has to sign up for. That is a bit heavy. If the service is g8 people will stay. It makes one a bit worried that they want ot rope you in for 3 years.

Pity about Cape Town. Seems like i will have to stay with ISDN for a bit longer. Will speak to someone at Ssentech CT tomorrow and see what they say about the 3yr contract and the delay.

Will keep ya all posted.

ProAsm · Nov 17, 2003

firestorm, the 3 year contract is only for the VSTAR satellite system.

I stand to correction but with this system there is no contract at all unless you want to pay the modem off and not pay cash for it.

StephanB · Nov 17, 2003

ProAsm >> Do you know if Sentech will be have a wifi internet AP at their Sender Transmission Park (STP) as they call it, in Radiokop JHB?

Thanks

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