Eskom Maintenance Disaster Is Killing The Economy

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Technofreak1

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The entire area from far West of Pelindaba and Broederstroom (Hartbeespoort Dam area) right up to Pretoria West had no power from Monday to Thursday this week... This is super common in the Harties area, but this time it was the 88KV line - the Big Mac, that supplies the mines in North West - and half of PTA as well... Eskom had to basically "rebuild" Hartbeespoort substation because it was so old and neglected that the new fuses couldn't even fit the baseplate that the mount on.... They had to build a new one on-site... it took two days just for the spares to arrive, Afriforum organised Eskom a drone to check the outlying power lines... The technicians fixing the sub-station had to beg locals for a generator so they could power LIGHTS, because they worked through the night on Wednesday to restore the power....????? WTF???? They have no spares, the powerlines are not mainted at all anymore, where they used to have contractors to cut the grass and trees along the lines - now the trees just bliksem onto the wires if there is a slight breeze... plus there are thousands of illegal connections that keep shorting out certain substations, and theft of ALL the components involved - while power is LIVE - has increased immensely - fuses, transformers, DB switches, wire... nothing is safe...
BUT - even worse is that when the electricity is off, ALL THE TELKOM TOWERS' BATTERIES ARE FLAT WITHIN HALF AN HOUR; we have only Telkom LTE coverage where I live - no fibre, no 5G - NO OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS in this area...
So, personally, as I need the internet to work - lost basically a week due to this debacle, and, as I work for myself, this is a freakin disaster!!! There are thousands and thousands of people affected in a similar manner... They are killing us here!!!
For Heaven's Sake - PLEASE JUST LET STARLINK OPERATE IN SA!!! They have the biggest satellite infrastructure for rural coverage - I don't want to sign up to some local dodge satellite provider - WHO IS A DECENT SATELLITE PROVIDER IN SA ANYWAY _ DOES ANYONE KNOW??? - that has a few satellites they can use, are more expensive and slow...
Eskom and Telkom really need to pull their socks up - instead of charging more and more and delivering less and less... and WHY is there not Fibre available when the next Fibre connection is just a few km away??
This internet issue is KILLING us here... What to do???
 
Technofreak1 said:
The entire area from far West of Pelindaba and Broederstroom (Hartbeespoort Dam area) right up to Pretoria West had no power from Monday to Thursday this week... This is super common in the Harties area, but this time it was the 88KV line - the Big Mac, that supplies the mines in North West - and half of PTA as well... Eskom had to basically "rebuild" Hartbeespoort substation because it was so old and neglected that the new fuses couldn't even fit the baseplate that the mount on.... They had to build a new one on-site... it took two days just for the spares to arrive, Afriforum organised Eskom a drone to check the outlying power lines... The technicians fixing the sub-station had to beg locals for a generator so they could power LIGHTS, because they worked through the night on Wednesday to restore the power....????? WTF???? They have no spares, the powerlines are not mainted at all anymore, where they used to have contractors to cut the grass and trees along the lines - now the trees just bliksem onto the wires if there is a slight breeze... plus there are thousands of illegal connections that keep shorting out certain substations, and theft of ALL the components involved - while power is LIVE - has increased immensely - fuses, transformers, DB switches, wire... nothing is safe...
BUT - even worse is that when the electricity is off, ALL THE TELKOM TOWERS' BATTERIES ARE FLAT WITHIN HALF AN HOUR; we have only Telkom LTE coverage where I live - no fibre, no 5G - NO OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS in this area...
So, personally, as I need the internet to work - lost basically a week due to this debacle, and, as I work for myself, this is a freakin disaster!!! There are thousands and thousands of people affected in a similar manner... They are killing us here!!!
For Heaven's Sake - PLEASE JUST LET STARLINK OPERATE IN SA!!! They have the biggest satellite infrastructure for rural coverage - I don't want to sign up to some local dodge satellite provider - WHO IS A DECENT SATELLITE PROVIDER IN SA ANYWAY _ DOES ANYONE KNOW??? - that has a few satellites they can use, are more expensive and slow...
Eskom and Telkom really need to pull their socks up - instead of charging more and more and delivering less and less... and WHY is there not Fibre available when the next Fibre connection is just a few km away??
This internet issue is KILLING us here... What to do???
Click to expand...
@The Gilded
 
Lupus said:
I couldn't, to much rambling
Click to expand...
better?

The entire area from far West of Pelindaba and Broederstroom (Hartbeespoort Dam area) right up to Pretoria West had no power from Monday to Thursday this week.

This is super common in the Harties area, but this time it was the 88KV line - the Big Mac, that supplies the mines in North West - and half of PTA as well.

Eskom had to basically "rebuild" Hartbeespoort substation because it was so old and neglected that the new fuses couldn't even fit the baseplate that the mount on.

They had to build a new one on-site... it took two days just for the spares to arrive, Afriforum organised Eskom a drone to check the outlying power lines. The technicians fixing the sub-station had to beg locals for a generator so they could power LIGHTS, because they worked through the night on Wednesday to restore the power....????? WTF???? They have no spares, the powerlines are not mainted at all anymore, where they used to have contractors to cut the grass and trees along the lines - now the trees just bliksem onto the wires if there is a slight breeze... plus there are thousands of illegal connections that keep shorting out certain substations, and theft of ALL the components involved - while power is LIVE - has increased immensely - fuses, transformers, DB switches, wire... nothing is safe...

BUT - even worse is that when the electricity is off, ALL THE TELKOM TOWERS' BATTERIES ARE FLAT WITHIN HALF AN HOUR; we have only Telkom LTE coverage where I live - no fibre, no 5G - NO OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS in this area...

So, personally, as I need the internet to work - lost basically a week due to this debacle, and, as I work for myself, this is a freakin disaster!!! There are thousands and thousands of people affected in a similar manner... They are killing us here!!!

For Heaven's Sake - PLEASE JUST LET STARLINK OPERATE IN SA!!! They have the biggest satellite infrastructure for rural coverage - I don't want to sign up to some local dodge satellite provider - WHO IS A DECENT SATELLITE PROVIDER IN SA ANYWAY _ DOES ANYONE KNOW??? - that has a few satellites they can use, are more expensive and slow...

Eskom and Telkom really need to pull their socks up - instead of charging more and more and delivering less and less... and WHY is there not Fibre available when the next Fibre connection is just a few km away??
This internet issue is KILLING us here... What to do???
Click to expand...
 
wingnut771 said:
There is no internet because there is no eskom. Jeez, keep up.
Click to expand...

Well he wants to live in the fsck arse end of nowhere... he should have a generator or backup power anyway.

And he should rant at Telkom for having piss poor backup power systems anyway.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Well he wants to live in the fsck arse end of nowhere... he should have a generator or backup power anyway.

And he should rant at Telkom for having piss poor backup power systems anyway.
Click to expand...
Are you shaming people who live in rural areas? How does ranting at Telkom solve his problems? You expect telkom to have 7 days of backup? What is the current solution to fix his work from home internet problem immediately? Is it not starlink and a solar panel and battery? Must he rant at eskom aswell for fuses not fitting or tree branches not being cut?

Are you a champagne socialist?
 
wingnut771 said:
Are you shaming people who live in rural areas? How does ranting at Telkom solve his problems? You expect telkom to have 7 days of backup? What is the current solution to fix his work from home internet problem immediately? Is it not starlink and a solar panel and battery? Must he rant at eskom aswell for fuses not fitting or tree branches not being cut?

Are you a champagne socialist?
Click to expand...

WISP of some form or another.

He apparently relies on an internet connection to operate his business, and chooses to live in the fsck arse end of nowhere and doesn't seem to have a backup (even if its a shyte one), that is going to be on him.
 
AI summary:

"A prolonged power outage caused by aging electricity infrastructure also disrupted mobile connectivity, highlighting the growing impact of unreliable power and telecom services on residents, businesses, and remote workers in the Hartbeespoort/Pretoria area"
 
ToxicBunny said:
WISP of some form or another.

He apparently relies on an internet connection to operate his business, and chooses to live in the fsck arse end of nowhere and doesn't seem to have a backup (even if its a shyte one), that is going to be on him.
Click to expand...
Doesn't WISP also need electricity?
1793358855402.png
 
ToxicBunny said:
Yes, but they're more likely to actually have proper backup power, or make a plan since you can talk to a real person... sometimes its good to be with the little people.
Click to expand...
Anyway, all our problems will be solved when leo is launched next year, well not all, doubt the rural schools will get free internet as leo meets 30% cadre enrichment policy.
 
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