Sentech Towers

Hi guys/gals,

Does anybody know what the Sentech towers look like? i.e. are they all on water towers, or do some have their own masts? Are the cells omni-directional (i.e. have one thin little arial) or are they sectored like GSM sites?

We need to gather some photo-evidence for these towers so they can be identified and plotted (GPS positions please!)

This way, we can draw 5.7km circles around the towers to try and find out what the coverage really looks like.

--deckert

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Deckert</i>
<br />Hi guys/gals,

Does anybody know what the Sentech towers look like? i.e. are they all on water towers, or do some have their own masts? Are the cells omni-directional (i.e. have one thin little arial) or are they sectored like GSM sites?

We need to gather some photo-evidence for these towers so they can be identified and plotted (GPS positions please!)

This way, we can draw 5.7km circles around the towers to try and find out what the coverage really looks like.

--deckert

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Well if you want to take a look at the tower, apparently theres one INSIDE their building by the fourways golf greens.
I don't have the GPS co-ords, so I'll leave it up to u.
Happy mapping !

I think I saw one here in ct. pretty close to me But Im not sure. The cellphone towers are all green right? OR is that MTN's Towers and the other ones vodacom's? I SAW funny looking on top of some old building.

It might of just been left over from megawan!

..- dot dot dash

Wonder if I can offer piece of land to errect an tower if I will get some neat benefits

Remember that Sentech provides Radio and Television signal capacity nearly all players in SA. Thus they will use the more prominent towers in PTA and JHB and CT as well. Towers like the Groenkloof tower in PTA and the Brixton in JHB.

[]

Cheers
Antowan

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Deckert</i>
<br />Hi guys/gals,

Does anybody know what the Sentech towers look like? i.e. are they all on water towers, or do some have their own masts? Are the cells omni-directional (i.e. have one thin little arial) or are they sectored like GSM sites?

We need to gather some photo-evidence for these towers so they can be identified and plotted (GPS positions please!)

This way, we can draw 5.7km circles around the towers to try and find out what the coverage really looks like.

--deckert

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

He who does not understand the value of war at the right time, cannot comprehend the value of life at any time - Anonymous

Deckert,

I have not seen any dedicated Mywireless towers from Sentech (I'm around Cape Town), but their radio/tv towers are quite tall, at least 50m and higher. Brixton is of course a couple of 100m tall. Tygerberg, Cape Town, is 80m, etc.
Cell phone towers are usually red and white and if you look right at the top, there should be 3 white rectangular panels, equally spaced from each other covering 3 different directions (making up 3 "cells" effectively). Some cell towers are camouflaged in the form of palm trees or other "naturally tall" structures.

Hope it helps a bit. (If you spot a mywireless tower, email me a photo!)

Ajax

ajax: thanks - I am rather familiar with the GSM towers. I wanted to try and assemble a database of towers with their GPS positions to make it easier for users to check if they're near a tower.

I have it on good authority that Sentech is aiming to cover approx. the same area with MyWireless than the current GSM operators are covering with GSM.

I will post a list of towers for JHB, PTA, DBN and CTN later tonight.

--deckert

The equipment Sentech uses is at
http://axity3g.axcera.com/
but probly depends what antennas they use on the outside?

For interests sake here is a list of TV towers/high sites which they have:

<b>WESTERN CAPE</b>
<b>************</b>
Amanda Glen
Aurora
Beaufort West
Constantiaberg
Ceres
Clifton
Fish Hoek
Franschhoek
George
Grabouw
Grootbrakrivier
Hermanus
Hex River
Hout Bay
Kleinmond
Knysna
Ladismith
Matjiesfontein
Montagu
Napier
Oudtshoorn
Paarl
Piketberg
Plettenberg Bay
Riversdale
Sea Point
Simonstown
Stellenbosch
Table Mountain
Touwsriver
Tygerberg
Uniondale
Uniondale (Town)
Vanrhynsdorp
Villiersdorp

<b>GAUTENG
*******</b>
Bez. Valley (Jhb)
Bronkhorstspruit
Heidelberg
Helderkruin
Johannesburg
Kagiso
Linmeyer
Menlo Park
Mondeor
Mulbarton
Pretoria
Pretoria
Sunnyside
Welverdiend

<b>MPUMALANGA
**********</b>
Carolina
Davel
Dullstroom
Ermelo
Hectorspruit
Lydenburg
Mbuzini
Middelburg
Nelspruit
Piet Retief
Sabie
Secunda
Standerton
Volksrust


<b>KWAZULU/NATAL
*************</b>
Donnybrook
Durban
Empangeni
Eshowe
Estcourt
Glencoe
Greytown
Greytown (Town)
Howick
Kokstad
Ladysmith
Loskop
Matatiele
Mooi River
Newcastle
Nongoma
Nqutu
Overport
Pietermaritzburg
Pongola
Port Shepstone
Qudeni
Richards Bay
The Bluff
Ubombo
Ulundi
Verulam
Vryheid

<b>FREE STATE
**********</b>
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (Town)
Bloemfontein
Boesmanskop
Dewetsdorp
Ficksburg
Kroonstad
Ladybrand
Petrus Steyn
Sasolburg
Senekal
Springfontein
Suidrand
Thaba Nchu
Theunissen
Witsieshoek

<b>NORTHERN CAPE
*************</b>
Alexander Bay
Calvinia
Carnavon
Colesberg
De Aar
Douglas
Garies
Kimberley
Kuruman
Pofadder
Pofadder (Town)
Prieska
Springbok
Upington
Upington (Town)
Victoria West
Williston

<b>NORTH WEST
**********</b>
Bethanie
Christiana
Doringkruin
Enzelsberg
Ga-Rankuwa
Ganyesa
Groot Marico
Itsoseng
Klerksdorp
Kuruman
Mabopane
Madibogo
Makadima
Mmabatho
Mogwase
Moreteletsi
Motswedi
Pankop
Piet Plessis
Pilansberg
Pomfret
Potchefstroom
Rustenburg
Rustenburg (Cashan)
Schweizer-Reneke
Supingstad
Swartruggens
Taung
Thlabane
Zeerust

<b>LIMPOPO
*******</b>
Blouberg
Dzamba
Ellisras
Gaba
Hoedspruit
Louis Trichardt
Malamba
Nylstroom
Phalaborwa
Potgietersrus
Sibasa
Thabazimbi
Tolwe
Tshamavudzi
Tzaneen

<b>EASTERN CAPE
************</b>
Aliwal North
Andrieskraal
Barkly East
Bedford
Burgersdorp
Butterworth
Cala
Cradock
Despatch
East London
Elands Heights
Elliot
Engcobo
eNtshatshongo
Graaff-Reinet
Grahamstown
Hankey
Kareedouw
King Williams Town
Kirkwood
Mount Ayliff
Ngangelizwe
Noupoort
Patensie
Paul Sauer Dam
Port Elizabeth
Poer Elizabeth (City)
Port St. Johns
Queenstown
Queenstown (Town)
Somerset East
Straalhoek
Suurberg
Ugie
Umtata
Willowmore

I haven't heard of quite a few of these place before.. some odd names in there []

<u>________________________________________________</u>
Just imagine where SA would be now if it weren't for Telkom

Here is the actual phase 1 tower deployment for MyWireless. Please don't ask me for dates on when the towers will go live, and where other towers might be placed. I don't know.

<u>Key:</u>
[*] - Operational tower
[+] - Installed, not yet operational
[P] - In Process of being installed

<u>Johannesburg</u>
[*] Sentech Helderkruin
[*] Sentech Tower
[*] Sentech Fourways
[*] Randburg Metro Centre
[*] Northpark Plaza
[*] Linksfield
[*] Council Mineral Tech
[*] Killarney
[*] Hurlyvale
[*] Marlboro
[*] Bedfordview
[P] Hyde Park
[P] Horizon View
[P] Morningside
[P] Sandton City
[P] Woodmead
[P] Lonehill
[P] Allendale Road
[P] Bryanston CC
[P] Bez Valley
[P] Northcliff
[P] Floracliffe
[P] JHB Intl.
[P] Lyndhurst

<u>Pretoria</u>
[+] Kingsley Centre
[+] Kilner Park
[+] La Montagne
[+] Menlo Park
[+] Sunnyside
[P] Zita Park
[P] Elardus Park
[P] Lyttleton Manor
[P] Hennopspark
[P] Samrand

<u>Durban</u>
[+] Sentech Durban North
[+] Sentech The Bluff
[+] Sea Cow Lake
[+] Sunningdale
[+] Mal Park
[P] Melkhour road
[P] Rockford
[P] Bay of Plenty
[P] Umlazi
[P] Overport
[P] Chartwell

<u>Cape Town</u>
[P] Milnerton
[P] Durbanville
[P] Amanda glen
[P] Loevenstein
[P] Blouberg
[P] CTN Intl.
[P] Goodwood
[P] Salt River
[P] Wynberg
[P] Sea Point
[P] Newlands
[P] Parow North
[P] Camps bay
[P] Constantia
[P] IS

--deckert (with some help from privet)

mmm you got a good contact.
Oh well, the +'s in Pretoria and Durban go live (Beta) tomorrow all going well.

Is it possible to get rough locations for these towers. I'm interested in Linksfield and Hurlyvale.

Finally, the lurker (me) registers, because i have something to mention on a specific topic related forum that has gone from adsl to general broadband and wireless issues..... but i digress.

I dont get signal, I am in fourways (douglasdale) area .
The following are a few assumptions.

Assumption 1, I would be using the tower marked as "sentech fourways" on the list.
Assumption 2, There is only one sentech in fourways, meaning that the tower is on their roof.
Assumption 3, the website specifies the fourways offices as:
Augusta House, Fourways Golf Park,
Roos Street, Fourways

So, I am assuming (when i drew up the map) that my direction for pointing a directional antenna (if i need to resort to that) would be 20Degrees north east direction.
ftp://ftp.uunet.co.za/pub/incoming/tadmadlad/tadmap.jpg

So far I have had the Modem device from Friday, and my house is marked as good operational signal, and on the list provided above, i should be connected....

I have a call logged, btw, dont expect the guys to phone you back, I have waited , and frankly, they dont, no offense to anyone, probably workload and i can understand that.

Try getting a hold of Clinton Smith or Tracy Uri at 0116917000, so far they've been a big help, even got them to call me back!

I stay in Maroeladal, and according to the website, will only have a signal end of this quarter....(I'm hoping it's part of the 40? towers they switch on this weekend)

Funny thing is, my neighbor gets "good signal" on the online page...

I'm waiting for my friend who stays in Randburg to get his modem, then he'll come over and test for signal

--

Well, I'm waiting on my modem too right now and I live in Olivedale. I get a "good" signal according to the map and the nearest tower I can determine is either the Randburg one or the 4-Ways one.

As for those of you earlier in this thread that were looking for Ethernet cables, I work in Bryanston at The Campus. I'll send a driver trhough to Fastcomm for a bulk load if there are enough of us.

BTW. Anyone know if you have to have both the Ethernet and the USB connection or can you use either?

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">BTW. Anyone know if you have to have both the Ethernet and the USB connection or can you use either?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">You can use one or the other and not both.

Regarding Ethernet cables, I dont think the stocks are in yet.
Fastcomm ordered a large batch in November - suggest you phone and ask before you go.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by beerygaz</i>
<br />Well, I'm waiting on my modem too right now and I live in Olivedale. I get a "good" signal according to the map and the nearest tower I can determine is either the Randburg one or the 4-Ways one.

As for those of you earlier in this thread that were looking for Ethernet cables, I work in Bryanston at The Campus. I'll send a driver trhough to Fastcomm for a bulk load if there are enough of us.

BTW. Anyone know if you have to have both the Ethernet and the USB connection or can you use either?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Hey Gaz, long time no see! How's Lyn?

I did my morning call to sentech.

My week has been a morning and afternoon and evening call. Just to re ittirate, sentech does not phone back(I am generalizing from past experiences) but not a big problem

The people are once again friendly, and nice, and all those things, much how i would like a helpdesk/support to be, kudos on that.

The bottom line is. My contract says something to the effect of (not that i read it that well), if you dont get signal where you specified on your contract AND it said operational good on the coverage map, then they wont charge you the monthly fees until you get connected. Which I thought was nice of them. I have my modem (unlike those who are still waiting), and its just a matter of time until they get me signal , and in the mean time, all i have to do is wait for that day, which wont be soon, but frankly, its not like i have the option to go for adsl, and i dont have much of a choice.

I do pay for the 500 bucks activation , which involves other payments like the modem, but its not serious. At least i have a modem.

I will leave my device on at home, they can see if the device gets signal, hopefull that will help them find the problem when they work on that problem.

Durban is going live soon, and capetown next month, so I dont think they will get back to fixing guateng towers soon. but as said before, its not like i have much of a choice.

If anyone from sentech wants me to drive around with a notebook or the device to find out where the signal stops and starts, let me know. Might save you guys the time to do it.

What type of signal strenght do you get, and do you know which base station it is?

Like I mentioned before, I wish the modems had lcd display on them showing you where you connect (like the cellphones) that way you can move around the house and get the best option. Last night I had a revelation, and now I can connect (17% signal strenght) but now I have to wait for my password to be reset for some reason.

I get 1 bar about 50 meters from my house, in a patch about 2m x 2m,
then the signal is gone, and about 100 m from my house i get 2 bars.

at my house , no signal.

i didnt check where the signal comes from when i used the wife's notebook to connect to the wireless.