Doesn't seem like Evonet will be with us for much longer?

CataclysmZA

CataclysmZA

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I'm bringing this back from the dead because Evonet are not in a good place. It's clear that the company isn't able to raise capital on their own, nor are they able to get a bank loan because (afaik) they still have creditors to the tune of over R650,000 that they haven't paid.

This isn't intended as a dig at the company. Rather, this is what I predicted would happen back in 2018. They bought the CW client book and the existing customer base, but people kept migrating away due to the poor service received. If they couldn't support themselves, the company would inevitably fold once it was no longer feasible.

It looks like that has now happened. Well, it hasn't folded, but they're in a hole they can't easily dig themselves out of.

EvoNet

Get ADSL, VDSL, Cellular, Mobile Data, Fibre, Web Hosting, Pure Uncapped, Pure Unlimited
evonet.co.za evonet.co.za


If you head over to their website now, this text appears under their COVID-19 announcement and appeal:

The global pandemic known as Covid-19 has wreaked havoc for many SMMEs, and we’re not immune to it. As an essential service, EvoNet and its staff have continued operations during the lockdown while data usage has surged due to doubling of speeds across numerous operators and everyone staying at home (well done for this). In addition, the Rand has taken a substantial knock, greatly increasing the cost of doing business for companies like us who rely on numerous international partners and networks to connect you to the internet.

Because EvoNet offers enterprise-grade bandwidth to home users, a large portion of our client base has been SMMEs and we continue to support them as best we can. However numerous clients are simply unable to pay us and this has caused a substantial loss of revenue for EvoNet in a very short space of time. Our shareholders have personally paid the salaries of all EvoNet staff during this difficult time.

The solution to this sort of crisis is not to increase prices nor to do anything to impose a further financial burden on South Africans. We all need to do everything that we can to make things easier for clients and we believe in the spirit of Ubuntu in this regard. So instead, we need to ask for your help in the only way we know you can assist us. For EvoNet to continue to offer the best possible connection to customers at an affordable rate, we need to increase our critical mass of clients. We need 1,500 new clients over the next 3 months and we’d like your help to achieve this. We therefore ask that if you have friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances with a fibre-to-the-home connection, to please do your bit to ask them to switch over to the best ISP around: EvoNet. Typically an operator like Vumatel will charge R1000.00 for this switch, however EvoNet will cover this cost entirely. The migration will result in no downtime on the connection at all. On the date of the migration it will simply switch over to EvoNet, no need to change usernames or passwords. In order to support and encourage this, EvoNet will launch our new website with a direct sign-up form. Simply direct everyone you know to our website and we will take care of the rest.

During this difficult time, we ask you to show your support and help us as best as you possibly can, to get just 1,500 clients migrated to our network. The movement of 1,500 clients from numerous large corporate ISPs won’t have any material impact on them, however it will have a major material impact for an SMME like ourselves. A plea like this is unprecedented, and we didn’t expect to have to make it, but rather than being a burden on government/taxpayer funds and taking on substantial debt, we believe that this is a smarter and more sustainable mechanism to achieve financial stability during such unprecedented times.

How will the additional clients assist us? The additional revenue and profits generated from the additional clients will be used to offset against clients who have been unable to pay us. We will be supporting SMMEs and vulnerable clients during this time. It is our goal to be able to write-off any debts owed to us by these clients who haven’t been able to pay. In other words, all profits generated will go towards suppliers, staff and supporting those who have been unable to make payment and have discussed this with us already. It is unfortunately not sustainable for us to keep offering services on a significantly lower revenue, which is unfortunately the position due to the loss of income from numerous clients, however by adopting another 1,500 clients onto our book, we know we can achieve this as well as explore the option to entirely write it off. It should also be noted that during this time, all directors and senior management of EvoNet have already forfeited their salaries in order to support this, and will continue to do so.

We hope that you agree and support our initiative in this regard, and will support us as best you can!
Click to expand...

While I wasn't able to write the third chapter of the CW saga, I know personally that as of 2018 they owed over R150,000 to their rental agent for their old premises, and over R500,000 to a software firm that was building an ERP platform for them, which they never paid. Then there were others like Openserve, who still haven't been paid the money owed to them AFAIK. I understand that legal challenges were considered by both the parties I contacted, including the rental agent which had no idea that Evonet was going to vacate their premises practically overnight. Whether that happened is uncertain.

Now we have Evonet pleading with their customers to sign up new customers. 1,500 new customers doesn't seem like a lot, but Evonet's legacy is tied into their dealings with Crystal Web and my articles still get DMs directed to me on Twitter. It's going to be difficult for them to grow based purely on the side effect of a shrinking economy, and their history.

I don't envy them, but it looks like they aren't going to live to see the end of 2020. If you're a current Evonet customer, you might want to consider migrating to another ISP before this one folds like CW did.
 
CataclysmZA said:
Is there a problem with me not letting a company sweep their mess underneath the mat? Evonet left so many people high and dry.
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ok, hier is jou sterriejie, voel jy nou beter dat iemand vir jou gesê het... hey mooi so en hiers 'n pat op jou rug.

Gee my asb jou facebook post en twitter posts dat ek hulle sommer ook like en retweet. Dan is ons almal sommer nou lekker pielle in een mus.
 
CataclysmZA said:
I'm bringing this back from the dead because Evonet are not in a good place. It's clear that the company isn't able to raise capital on their own, nor are they able to get a bank loan because (afaik) they still have creditors to the tune of over R650,000 that they haven't paid.

This isn't intended as a dig at the company. Rather, this is what I predicted would happen back in 2018. They bought the CW client book and the existing customer base, but people kept migrating away due to the poor service received. If they couldn't support themselves, the company would inevitably fold once it was no longer feasible.

It looks like that has now happened. Well, it hasn't folded, but they're in a hole they can't easily dig themselves out of.

EvoNet

Get ADSL, VDSL, Cellular, Mobile Data, Fibre, Web Hosting, Pure Uncapped, Pure Unlimited
evonet.co.za evonet.co.za


If you head over to their website now, this text appears under their COVID-19 announcement and appeal:



While I wasn't able to write the third chapter of the CW saga, I know personally that as of 2018 they owed over R150,000 to their rental agent for their old premises, and over R500,000 to a software firm that was building an ERP platform for them, which they never paid. Then there were others like Openserve, who still haven't been paid the money owed to them AFAIK. I understand that legal challenges were considered by both the parties I contacted, including the rental agent which had no idea that Evonet was going to vacate their premises practically overnight. Whether that happened is uncertain.

Now we have Evonet pleading with their customers to sign up new customers. 1,500 new customers doesn't seem like a lot, but Evonet's legacy is tied into their dealings with Crystal Web and my articles still get DMs directed to me on Twitter. It's going to be difficult for them to grow based purely on the side effect of a shrinking economy, and their history.

I don't envy them, but it looks like they aren't going to live to see the end of 2020. If you're a current Evonet customer, you might want to consider migrating to another ISP before this one folds like CW did.
Click to expand...

I was a CW customer based in Cape Town. EvoNet took over and started routing traffic to JHB. After a few days of it not being fixed I cancelled my account. Glad I made that decision.
 
Seems we are now part of Gigawave :cautious::unsure:
 
does anybody knows something about gigawave as I can't find reviews, Facebook and Twitter
 
Sbonki said:
Thanks, I was actually looking for reviews as I am not sure I should go to other ISP as I am not sure if they have experience with Fibre
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I wondered the same, then decided to wait and see what transpires.

I've never had any real problems with CrystalWeb / Evonet, so figured that I at least owed them that.
 
Sbonki said:
Thanks, I was actually looking for reviews as I am not sure I should go to other ISP as I am not sure if they have experience with Fibre
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Very fancy website.

But going by their fibre coverage map they do not have a lot of experience with fibre. They say I am covered by Vumatel and Openserve for fibre (as well as ADSL and VDSL for Openserve). We are actually only covered by Vumatel for fibre.

Double-checked Openserve's own coverage map to make sure. According to them I am only covered for VDSL, not fibre nor ADSL. Gigawave's map is very wrong.
 
Sbonki said:
does anybody knows something about gigawave as I can't find reviews, Facebook and Twitter
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rrh said:
link
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Hmmm. There are some interesting things going on here.

Here's what the coverage map says for my location:

1621255599420.png

Speculation:

Evonet has had this message on their website for a while:

EvoNet

Get ADSL, VDSL, Cellular, Mobile Data, Fibre, Web Hosting, Pure Uncapped, Pure Unlimited
evonet.co.za evonet.co.za

They basically needed to onboard 1500 new business-level clients in order to stay afloat.

When Evonet and CW split, Evonet bought the client book, the most valuable assed in the company, and tried to wedge their way into getting control over the ASN and the existing services provided via Openserve for their DSL clients. Because they didn't have a ECN/ECNS license with ICASA, they tried to get one transferred from CW to them - only to discover that it doesn't work that way.

The same applies to the ASN. It's still in Crystal Web's control, not Evonet. That can't be transferred either because of how AFRINIC works.

Management at Evonet almost certainly knew about the looming issues with their DSL clients long before they were cut off - how could they not? An MOU was signed (by Shaun) with their noting to Openserve that they understood they were behind on fees, and they knew they'd be cut off if they didn't have their account paid up before the due date.

So it looks like the only option on the table was to sell up everything and merge into another company which had all these things in place.

Ah. But that's where the plot thickens.

Gigawave.co.za is only 83 days old.

Whois Lookup Captcha

whois.domaintools.com whois.domaintools.com

Its registrar is Evonet.

Gigawave was incorporated in 2018.

1621257165610.png

Karen Ann Charlton is listed as a director. Karen was also a director at Crystal Web. 7 Masefield used to be a registered address for Crystal Web as well.

Gigawave is very likely the subsidiary that Evonet set up in 2018 to run their wireless service, the air fibre thing.

Currently they don't have their own ASN. There is a ASN assigned to Gigawave Communications, but that is based in Australia.

So Evonet has absorbed itself into another company that it technically owns or set up? How are they reselling services on Openserve? They don't have any licences from ICASA according to the 2020 list, and we know that you can't apply for an IECS or IECNS license unless the business is 30% black-owned.

Edit: It should also be noted that Evonet has not filed returns for the 2020 and 2021 financial year.

Edit 2: Gigawave and Evonet share the same phone number - 010 612 0001.
 
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