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Fibre internet in Gauteng on Openserve (Telkom) network
- Thread starter jcheek
- Start date
I know where you are, and what you're experiencing...I think it's called heaven.
I am also running a squid proxy so websites are instant
(not that the images would even register on the download)Just a quick update...: Ordered the Telkom FTTH on Monday 29/06.. Believe it or not, Telkom installed on Sunday 5/7..!
20Mbps pretty solid through out the day - although not here in the day normally.
Upload only 4.5-5 Mbps. Pings not that great - <10ms on telkom network, 20-30ms to other local networks.
50Gb cap is a bit of worry, but there is night surfer, plus a top ups for the odd occasion when I do exceed.
Hope yours is coming soon
20Mbps pretty solid through out the day - although not here in the day normally.
Upload only 4.5-5 Mbps. Pings not that great - <10ms on telkom network, 20-30ms to other local networks.
50Gb cap is a bit of worry, but there is night surfer, plus a top ups for the odd occasion when I do exceed.
Hope yours is coming soon
Just a quick update...: Ordered the Telkom FTTH on Monday 29/06.. Believe it or not, Telkom installed on Sunday 5/7..!
20Mbps pretty solid through out the day - although not here in the day normally.
Upload only 4.5-5 Mbps. Pings not that great - <10ms on telkom network, 20-30ms to other local networks.
50Gb cap is a bit of worry, but there is night surfer, plus a top ups for the odd occasion when I do exceed.
Hope yours is coming soon
Congrats, gerrievj !
I see from your previous post that you are somewhere in Faerie Glen ?
Would you mind PMing me your approximate address ?
I'd like to follow up with WebAfrica and see why mine is taking so long.
It's understandable that Telkom would prioritise its own retail clients over those of other ISPs, but I smell a rat ...
Anyway, that aside ... Enjoy your new connection!
Nothing yet for Hatfield, Garsfontein or Constantia Park..
Not yet, but ... bear in mind that Garsfontein already has great Telkom 4G/LTE and is earmarked for LTE-A.
With real-world LTE speeds easily in excess of 20Mbps, the current Telkom 24 x 50GB/R699 LTE deals are near as dammit as good as fibre ... !
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Sounds promising.. will have to cut back on the uncapped though.
I've had the techies call up also on a Sunday at 7:30am to ask if they can come in to install... only to find out that there's no junction box in the manhole. I'm not sure what that actually looks like either but I just have a green sleeve/pipe running through the manhole.
They always pitch up without the two steel pipes to take the massive concrete manhole cover out. Today the guy drove off "coming right back" and never pitched again. They did actually call this past sunday, again at 7:30am, to ask if they can come but since we had to leave at 11am they said it's "not enough time". Never pitched on Monday after it was booked but instead came today.
I did however find out that my current ADSL is running through my neighbours garden underground and that the conduit has been broken. I have since taken a grinder and cut through the driveway edge to make a new route to the sidewalk to a little brick hole that was dug out by Telkom contractors at some point. Always little surprises after you move into a new place
We had really good speed on 3G/LTE (MTN & CellC) before we moved but on this side towards Wierda Road close to Mercedes the signal is dodgy. I will be ditching MTN on my cellphone in Sept since Vodacom reception here is much better.
They always pitch up without the two steel pipes to take the massive concrete manhole cover out. Today the guy drove off "coming right back" and never pitched again. They did actually call this past sunday, again at 7:30am, to ask if they can come but since we had to leave at 11am they said it's "not enough time". Never pitched on Monday after it was booked but instead came today.
I did however find out that my current ADSL is running through my neighbours garden underground and that the conduit has been broken. I have since taken a grinder and cut through the driveway edge to make a new route to the sidewalk to a little brick hole that was dug out by Telkom contractors at some point. Always little surprises after you move into a new place
We had really good speed on 3G/LTE (MTN & CellC) before we moved but on this side towards Wierda Road close to Mercedes the signal is dodgy. I will be ditching MTN on my cellphone in Sept since Vodacom reception here is much better.
Telkom arrived again this morning.
It just took one technician with a little more ambition to go and check another manhole for the junction box. The missing junction box was actually installed some time ago already .. three houses down.
Will see what happens once they get the fibre to the house to figure out how it distributes in the house.
It just took one technician with a little more ambition to go and check another manhole for the junction box. The missing junction box was actually installed some time ago already .. three houses down.
Will see what happens once they get the fibre to the house to figure out how it distributes in the house.
After a bit of a lull on the thread, it's great to hear of some more FTTH installations happening around Pretoria !
Some news from my side : precisely 11 weeks after placing my order with WebAfrica, I gave them an ultimatum to either get me commitment on an installation date by that Friday (31/7/15), or I move the order elsewhere. I got a call from a sales manager at WebAfrica a few hours later promising that they would move heaven and earth to make something happen.
Well the next few days (and Friday) came and went with no further comms ... but then ....
Bright and early on Saturday morning, two Telkom technicians pitched up (completely unannounced) on my doorstep, all fired up and ready to install. They couldn't, of course (I wasn't ready), but at least we could talk about how they will install.
Talk about 11th-hour stuff. Now why does it take so much kicking and screaming to get there ??
Flashback : I'd hoped to have the "pre-installation discussion" with Telkom well ahead of the actual install date. That's because I need(ed) to do some ducting inside the house, the routing of which depends on which FTTH pole (and hence entry point) Telkom wanted to use.
The LAST thing I wanted was for them to call me one day and say they wanted to come and install the next day. Which is of course, exactly what happened - give (or rather take) one day !
So we had the installation discussion, and mine will be an "aerial drop" installation, ie the drop cable from my nearest FTTH poletop junction box will come into my house on an overhead line (only about a 15m run) rather than through a duct. From there I'll be putting a duct inside the roof space to lead into the room where the FTTH kit will live.
So I have a rather loose commitment for installation about a week from now ... I just hope the Telkom techies don't do a disappearing act on me.
Spent the rest of the weekend finalising the route and getting started on the ducting. Some pics :
The point where the FTTH line will enter my place.
I decided to move the old analogue voice/DSL line to the same entry point, for the sake of neatness.
There's a very good chance I will toss the analogue line in favour of a fibre-based voice service soon.
Hard to judge scale from the pics, but I opted to use 25mm (1") conduit instead of the usual 20mm stuff.
I figured 32mm is (even more!) overkill for a 3mm FTTH cable!
The large diameter and the gentle bends should give the installation guys a nice easy run.
Some news from my side : precisely 11 weeks after placing my order with WebAfrica, I gave them an ultimatum to either get me commitment on an installation date by that Friday (31/7/15), or I move the order elsewhere. I got a call from a sales manager at WebAfrica a few hours later promising that they would move heaven and earth to make something happen.
Well the next few days (and Friday) came and went with no further comms ... but then ....
Bright and early on Saturday morning, two Telkom technicians pitched up (completely unannounced) on my doorstep, all fired up and ready to install. They couldn't, of course (I wasn't ready), but at least we could talk about how they will install.
Talk about 11th-hour stuff. Now why does it take so much kicking and screaming to get there ??
Flashback : I'd hoped to have the "pre-installation discussion" with Telkom well ahead of the actual install date. That's because I need(ed) to do some ducting inside the house, the routing of which depends on which FTTH pole (and hence entry point) Telkom wanted to use.
The LAST thing I wanted was for them to call me one day and say they wanted to come and install the next day. Which is of course, exactly what happened - give (or rather take) one day !
So we had the installation discussion, and mine will be an "aerial drop" installation, ie the drop cable from my nearest FTTH poletop junction box will come into my house on an overhead line (only about a 15m run) rather than through a duct. From there I'll be putting a duct inside the roof space to lead into the room where the FTTH kit will live.
So I have a rather loose commitment for installation about a week from now ... I just hope the Telkom techies don't do a disappearing act on me.
Spent the rest of the weekend finalising the route and getting started on the ducting. Some pics :
The point where the FTTH line will enter my place.
I decided to move the old analogue voice/DSL line to the same entry point, for the sake of neatness.
There's a very good chance I will toss the analogue line in favour of a fibre-based voice service soon.
Hard to judge scale from the pics, but I opted to use 25mm (1") conduit instead of the usual 20mm stuff.
I figured 32mm is (even more!) overkill for a 3mm FTTH cable!
The large diameter and the gentle bends should give the installation guys a nice easy run.
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You lucky fish. I eventually went to a Telkom store to demand that technicians are sent to my house so that we can discuss why Telkom claims there's no fibre in my area when my house has 2 fibre enabled poles on its boundaries. Was promised technicians would visit in 2-3 days. Obviously no one pitched.
Back to the store I go.
Back to the store I go.
Hi,
Glad to hear you are also getting some progress. Telkom finally left a few minutes ago after three days of installation.
First try the fibre broke somewhere ( I think it probably didn't as we found out today the incorrect incoming fibre was used at the junction box) and they had to discard the original fibre and pull a new 50m plus section to the house.
Mine is all underground or in the ground floor slab of the house. I had all the new conduits in (20mm but I think the 25mm would have been better since they used a very stiff blue 8mm sleeve before the actual fibre is put inside that.
Word of warning if they use the same process elsewhere: the long 90 deg bends for 20mm conduit does not work well if you have more than 3 in a length. In fact the fewer bends the better.
Once inside the house if the existing conduits are in the slab and you have tight 90deg bends it becomes a mission.
As for equipment:
-There is a little Huawei box for the main incoming fibre
-Next is the Huawei EchoLife Gateway GPON Terminal. Has two telephone jacks and four LAN ports. LAN 1 is used to connect to the next device
- Huawei HG532F setup in Ethernet Uplink mode. It can also function as an ADSL modem.
First speed test:
Download Speed: 9721 kbps (1215.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 2241 kbps (280.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 6 ms
Jitter: 0 ms
8/5/2015, 11:57:44 AM
in comparison last ADSL speed test this morning:
Download Speed: 3332 kbps (416.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 413 kbps (51.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 13 ms
Jitter: 5 ms
8/5/2015, 10:19:13 AM
Glad to hear you are also getting some progress. Telkom finally left a few minutes ago after three days of installation.
First try the fibre broke somewhere ( I think it probably didn't as we found out today the incorrect incoming fibre was used at the junction box) and they had to discard the original fibre and pull a new 50m plus section to the house.
Mine is all underground or in the ground floor slab of the house. I had all the new conduits in (20mm but I think the 25mm would have been better since they used a very stiff blue 8mm sleeve before the actual fibre is put inside that.
Word of warning if they use the same process elsewhere: the long 90 deg bends for 20mm conduit does not work well if you have more than 3 in a length. In fact the fewer bends the better.
Once inside the house if the existing conduits are in the slab and you have tight 90deg bends it becomes a mission.
As for equipment:
-There is a little Huawei box for the main incoming fibre
-Next is the Huawei EchoLife Gateway GPON Terminal. Has two telephone jacks and four LAN ports. LAN 1 is used to connect to the next device
- Huawei HG532F setup in Ethernet Uplink mode. It can also function as an ADSL modem.
First speed test:
Download Speed: 9721 kbps (1215.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 2241 kbps (280.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 6 ms
Jitter: 0 ms
8/5/2015, 11:57:44 AM
in comparison last ADSL speed test this morning:
Download Speed: 3332 kbps (416.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 413 kbps (51.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 13 ms
Jitter: 5 ms
8/5/2015, 10:19:13 AM
Great news!
3 days ... sheez ... what a mission.
That's interesting ! That seems to be a slight change in technique (using another sub-duct inside the conduit).
Maybe that's a PTFE-lined and/or pre-lubricated duct that allows the black 3mm fibre cable to slide more easily.
Any chance of a pic ?
Compare your installation to Biena's shown here, which seemed to involve the 3mm OD black FTTH cable being pulled "naked".
All great info, thanks for the heads-up!
That bit sounds pretty standard, yes.
Lekker - enjoy!
dualmeister
Honorary Master
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2005
- Messages
- 51,401
Replace this. It is terrible.
Terrible in what sense?
My alternative at the moment without spending money is a TP Link TD-W8970
Will do some photo's after I've mounted all the loose boxes. Had some tricky stuff to sort out indoors.
Equipment looks the same as the stuff from Biena's posts.
If I knew that I wouldn't be using any of the wifi or LAN ports, other than the link to the ADSL router, from the GPON terminal device I would have told them to stick it in the garage where the fibre enters the house. Could have pulled a Cat5 or 6 into the study with much less hassle. As it is the copper telephone cables pass through an electrical outlet socket. Not my preferred setup.
Equipment looks the same as the stuff from Biena's posts.
If I knew that I wouldn't be using any of the wifi or LAN ports, other than the link to the ADSL router, from the GPON terminal device I would have told them to stick it in the garage where the fibre enters the house. Could have pulled a Cat5 or 6 into the study with much less hassle. As it is the copper telephone cables pass through an electrical outlet socket. Not my preferred setup.
Thanks!
Speaking for myself, and with an impending install, I'm specifically interested in this bit :
... though any and all install pics are helpful !
dualmeister
Honorary Master
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2005
- Messages
- 51,401
I kept on losing WIFI signal and my place isn't that big.
Any router that has a WAN port and supports PPPoE or has a LAN port that can be configured as a WAN port with PPPoE should work.
Luckily my ADSL router could do this with a Firmware update I so could use my old one
Photos added. The blue sleeve is much stiffer than the black fibre and they had to ditch it for the last bit from my kitchen to the study since the existing conduit has some or other restriction in it somewhere under the slab.
The photo of the stuff on the wall... not my favorite.
The black fibre and existing copper telephone cable pass through that power socket into a cupboard and impossible to negotiate. If I had know that I would be running a Cat5/6 from there to another router I would have installed all of that stuff in the garage.
The Black fibre and copper exit top left of the power socket. The copper is to take the telephone components from the Gateway back to the kitchen and upstairs telephones. Black fibre does not bend well but despite a few nicks seem to work ok. Black fibre goes into the little white box and goes out as the yellow into the bottom of the Gateway. LAN1 exits to the ADSL router. Telephone exits to wall socket for telephones.
Technicians wanted to glue everything to the wall. I mounted the little white box and Gateway with a drill and the supplied screws. Rest was glue gunned in place. The Black fibre is just glued close to the white box entry since it has a nick there.
The photo of the stuff on the wall... not my favorite.
The black fibre and existing copper telephone cable pass through that power socket into a cupboard and impossible to negotiate. If I had know that I would be running a Cat5/6 from there to another router I would have installed all of that stuff in the garage.
The Black fibre and copper exit top left of the power socket. The copper is to take the telephone components from the Gateway back to the kitchen and upstairs telephones. Black fibre does not bend well but despite a few nicks seem to work ok. Black fibre goes into the little white box and goes out as the yellow into the bottom of the Gateway. LAN1 exits to the ADSL router. Telephone exits to wall socket for telephones.
Technicians wanted to glue everything to the wall. I mounted the little white box and Gateway with a drill and the supplied screws. Rest was glue gunned in place. The Black fibre is just glued close to the white box entry since it has a nick there.
Attachments
Nice pics!
The photo of the blue sleeve and ruler is particularly helpful, as is the close-up shot of the black fibre - thanks.
The black FTTH cable in your pic looks identical to the one used in Biena's install and described here :
So it looks like Telkom haven't started rolling out CBI's new FTTH cable yet - they're still using the Gen1 dual-purpose (aerial/duct) stuff.
Yeah, looks like a fairly thick-walled sub-duct.
Agree. Really messy to use about 1/8 of the functionality of a perfectly good fibre router and then add a whole 'nother router somewhere else.
So it looks like you've opted for the fibre-based voice service on top of the FTTH package ? When you've had a chance to try it out, please come back & let us know how well it works.
Thanks for sharing!
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