So Telkom stopped by to complete the site inspection on Friday last week and the contractors indicated that we should be live by the end of the week
That's a great sign, but ... as always, take these "off-the-cuff" contractor comments with a pinch of salt.
The guys laying conduits and fibres don't necessarily have the whole picture.
Given that information, I attempted to kick off the order process with Webafrica. The response from two different consultants, however, is that ...
You probably spoke to Nicola Grebe at some point, she seems to handle most of these initial requests.
Try to stay in touch with her as she knows the process reasonably well. Be aware that she is based at WebAfrica's HQ in Cape Town and that WebAfrica doesn't necessarily understand the Pretoria-specific issues that well.
Based on my own experience with WebAfrica, be warned that they are not particularly aggressive in expediting new installations or following up existing ones with Telkom. Where liaison with Telkom is concerned, they seem to have more of a "Wait and see" than a "Get it done!" approach, especially before the Telkom map says that FTTH is available.
...I can only start the order process once the Telkom coverage map is updated. For those of you who have ordered without being in the purple area on the coverage map, how did you go about this?
Quick answer : Unless you have inside connections, you don't, I'm afraid.
In my initial enquiries, only MWeb was willing to accept an order when the Telkom map showed my block as "planned".
The others - including WebAfrica - wouldn't even give me the time of day when my area was light purple, even when I sent them pics of FTTH hardware in my back yard.
That all changed when the coverage map went dark purple on my block.
Although it seems a very passive approach, my advice is to just take a number, watch the coverage map, and wait.
You can try and speed up the system (as I did) but you will likely take a couple of months off your life!
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