New Vodacom tower that's becoming old
Dear JannievanZyl
A Vodacom tower was erected in our town in November/December 2011 but it has still not been commissioned. We're in rural Northern Cape - Orania. Current internet options are Telkom 56k dial-up modem, ISDN (7 to 14 KB/s) or EDGE (0 to 10 KB/s), so we're desperate for this tower to go live.
Why the delay? Do you know what the problem is and whether or not there's some estimate of when it'll be working?
Try 8ta. Better deals, and so far I've experienced better service as well.
Will ask. Where in the town is this tower exactly?Originally Posted by MsParanoid
Not sure if you've been to Orania, but it's not that small.
Using Google Maps might assist Jannie to indicate where the tower is ?
Oh thank you! It's next to the museum and Dorpskantoor. Site name is BS0034310 - Orania Central
@kilos: It's a challenge to work with either Google Earth or Maps but I can give it a try if necessary.
Location Location Location
Go here Orania and watch the video and you will SEE the cell tower ( a major feature of the project is Internet access )
Damned if I can find it on Google though.
I found a photo of the Verwoerd Gedenkversameling ( Museum ? )
Damned if I can also find that one on Google.
The museum next to which the 3G tower has been erected is the history museum, not the Verwoerd Gedenkversameling. The last time I loaded Google Earth (about 4 months ago) it seemed it was about 3 years out of date.
OK, got some feedback. As I suspected the guys are waiting for the backhaul connections to be installed, basically the links that connect the tower to the Vodacom network. This might take a while but hopefully you'll have a more pleasant Xmas. But please don't hold me (or the VC guys) to it.
Thanks for following up, Jannie. Sure good to have someone like you around :-)OK, got some feedback. As I suspected the guys are waiting for the backhaul connections to be installed, basically the links that connect the tower to the Vodacom network. This might take a while but hopefully you'll have a more pleasant Xmas. But please don't hold me (or the VC guys) to it.
So do these backhaul connections always follow many months after the tower has been erected, or is our case an exceptionally slow installation? Is the delay perhaps the result of the erection teams progressing at a faster rate than the backhaul teams and they're falling further and further behind? Or is it perhaps because the backhaul teams are waiting for equipment? Are they perhaps waiting for Icasa or Telkom to do their bit?
Don't mean to squeeze you into a corner, I'm just interested and like to understand things.
These towers and links costs millions of Rands so they're very well planned in terms of equipment and installations.
What cannot be planned for is dealing with institutions, people, regulatory bodies, etc. that don't come to the party as initially planned and end up delaying a project. Often for years.
Or your neighbors protest the tower.
OK, I'll take this Christmas as a possible date.. don't mention "years"!
Many thanks - I appreciate your efforts.
No problem. I sometimes visit your town so understand your frustration.
I would suspect that the tower is live. But its running on 2G with transmission from telkom copper until they can get fibre there or a microwave link perhaps no LOS so they have build another tower/s to make the hop. Just my thoughts.
FTH
Just an idea
IF there is all this expense involved in getting backhaul to Orania
Why not just go fibre ALL the way and VC provide "wired" access as well as wireless ?
Get one of these new fibre startups to come and light up the town and get the locals involved ( nice job creation )
Be the first town in SA to be all FTH
SURELY some marketing spin in there somewhere ??????
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