Cities go in-house

[rpm]

Cities go in-house

No more blackouts. This will be one of the bonuses when SA's four major cities - Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini (Durban) and Cape Town - deploy their own telecommunications networks within the next year.

 

[Tommygun]

IBIWISI

"We will be able to shut down hot water geysers during nonpeak times," says Jacquie Subban, the municipality's head of geographic information and policy.

Thats what I was afraid of when you let municipalities start controling things like electricity and God forbid, traffic lights. Its a non peak time, theres no load on the grid and they shut down my geyser!

James Masonganye, Tshwane's director of operations & systems management, says networks will give cities capacity to remotely reduce how much each household consumes rather than blacking out whole blocks during load shedding.

Really? Are municipalities going to pay for all the extra relays and wiring in my house that will enable remote controlling of devices in my house? Ooops, that plug isn't actually my fridge, its my dialysis machine...

Dont get me wrong, its not impossible, just very unlikely in the next 5 years.

 

[dominic]

IBIWISI

Really? Are municipalities going to pay for all the extra relays and wiring in my house that will enable remote controlling of devices in my house? Ooops, that plug isn't actually my fridge, its my dialysis machine...

Dont get me wrong, its not impossible, just very unlikely in the next 5 years.

agreed - they have been talking the talk for the past 5 years & i don't see what is going to change in the next 5

 

[Bounce]

They will be able to control traffic lights

Anyone remember Hackers?

 

[vodacom3g]

agreed - they have been talking the talk for the past 5 years & i don't see what is going to change in the next 5

The logistics to do this is going to be a massive challenge.

Heating and Cooling elements are the biggest instantaneous consumers of energy and thus the efforts we see around geyser control. But this is relatively easy with geysers (it's in a known position, on a known circuit and has inbuilt heat retention). So switching it remotely is easy and probably will go unnoticed by the occupants.

Other HVAC elements are not so easy to control if you've not wired for it from day-1.

 

[rpm]

agreed - they have been talking the talk for the past 5 years & i don't see what is going to change in the next 5

This is the sad reality about municipal initiatives in the telecoms space. If you speak to people who were involved in these projects you quickly realize that while it is a great idea other factors like political will, political infighting and self-serving individuals have seriously damaged these projects.

And if VANS are allowed to self provide, SEACOM lands as expected and fibre rollouts continue the value proposition for municipal broadband will continue to diminish. I think municipal telecoms’ value proposition will however remain in terms of community centres, connecting libraries etc.

 

[stoke]

How secure is this going to be? How long before my neighbor's 18 y/o teenager turns off all my appliances cos I scolded him for playing his music too loudly at 03H20 in the morning?

 

[d-_-b]

Cities go in-house

No more blackouts. This will be one of the bonuses when SA's four major cities - Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini (Durban) and Cape Town - deploy their own telecommunications networks within the next year.

Cities or municipalities? Because last time I checked there is no city called Tshwane?

 

[TheRoDent]

Cities or municipalities? Because last time I checked there is no city called Tshwane?

In her budget speech on 29 May 2008, the City of Tshwane's Executive Mayor, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, said that the current

 

[<moLe>]

for once I'm going to play the role of the optimist, and say "lets do it". Sure our government and the ruling party currently can be compared to a "limping butt-monkey with both eyes poked out jumping around with a light saber" but who knows, maybe this might just be the start of a better tomorrow. And sure the anyone driving through Pretoria central will see the rolls of fibre lying next to Pretoria.str and Schuman. And shame on you, who ever u are that wrote the article..how can u call our capitol by it's municipalities name? sies

 

[d-_-b]

I know, I know, it is petty. But by calling a municipality a city you are spreading UD and to make it worst I do believe it is exactly what they want.

The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (also known as the City of Tshwane, pronounced /ˈtswɑːneɪ/ (listen)) is a metropolitan municipality contained in the province of Gauteng, South Africa, that includes the city of Pretoria. The municipality came into existence on 5 December 2000.

Pretoria is contained in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as one of several constituent former administrations (among which also Centurion and Soshanguve), and therefore sometimes incorrectly referred to as Tshwane — this contentious issue is still being decided as of 11 October 2008.

 

[-toady-]

This is the sad reality about municipal initiatives in the telecoms space. If you speak to people who were involved in these projects you quickly realize that while it is a great idea other factors like political will, political infighting and self-serving individuals have seriously damaged these projects.

And if VANS are allowed to self provide, SEACOM lands as expected and fibre rollouts continue the value proposition for municipal broadband will continue to diminish. I think municipal telecoms’ value proposition will however remain in terms of community centres, connecting libraries etc.

Taken me four years to realise we here in the Zone are 'involved' in this exact project.... losses totalling thousands and self-serving individuals? Never a truer word spoken ...CLAB!