Fibre internet in Gauteng on Openserve (Telkom) network

[Fintan]

This.

I am just patiently waiting (for the last 2+ months) for something to happen on the coverage map. Phoning and emailing Telkom or will just result in wasted time, wasted money on phone bills, grey hairs, violent mood swings and choice words being used.

Every day I look at that fibre connection box on the pole in our yard and silently swear at Telkom.

This is what I am worried about, there have been reports in this thread of people having active FTTH connections even though they are still in the light pink area.

Seeing as month-to-month is now an option, perhaps it makes sense to order the service with one provider only to switch to your preferred provider at a later stage if you are unhappy with the service.

 

[jcheek]

there have been reports in this thread of people having active FTTH connections even though they are still in the light pink area.

Only one such case I think (?), and there were very specific reasons for that!

Seeing as month-to-month is now an option, perhaps it makes sense to order the service with one provider only to switch to your preferred provider at a later stage if you are unhappy with the service. ...

The move from long-term contract to month-to-month FTTH certainly came quicker than I expected.
It hasn't really made a big splash in the press (yet), but I see at least some of the ISPs (like MWeb) are now starting to advertise month-to-month contracts openly :

 

[Biscuit1018]

Hi

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

Given that information, I attempted to kick off the order process with Webafrica. The response from two different consultants, however, is that 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?

Speaking as the resident liaison in a Telkom FTTH area

This is currently a problem
Telkom are working on being able to take back orders on pink areas

But until the coverage maps are updated... orders are a problem unless you know how to escalate

 

[User4456]

I'm in Faerie Glen and got a month to month fibre contract through WebAfrica recently. Speeds are phenomenal!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/4880120563.png

 

[jcheek]

On 12 / 2 / 2015, Alexcon said :

I've just moved into Faerie Glen behind the PnP Hyper and cannot wait to get fibre when it's available at a reasonable rate!

And then on 2 / 12 / 2015, he said :

I'm in Faerie Glen and got a month to month fibre contract through WebAfrica recently. Speeds are phenomenal!

So from 12/2 to 2/12 .... it's been a long haul, mate .... but for that Speedtest, my guess you now feel it was worth the wait ?
Congrats and enjoy.

PS1: So from the look of the (recently-updated) Telkom FTTH coverage map, it seems like you are (at last!) in the magic of the Dark Purple Zone ?

PS2: Not that I need it myself, but ... that 1ms Ping just makes me plain nauseous, man. Sick!

 

[User4456]

On 12 / 2 / 2015, Alexcon said :


And then on 2 / 12 / 2015, he said :


So from 12/2 to 2/12 .... it's been a long haul, mate .... but for that Speedtest, my guess you now feel it was worth the wait ?
Congrats and enjoy.

PS1: So from the look of the (recently-updated) Telkom FTTH coverage map, it seems like you are (at last!) in the magic of the Dark Purple Zone ?

PS2: Not that I need it myself, but ... that 1ms Ping just makes me plain nauseous, man. Sick!

Lol indeed! I have been waiting forever to scratch this itch!

That's exactly right, I've just pipped into the dark purple zone!

My significant other can now watch Nflix/Hlu in HD, while I jam some Dota/ARK with updates going on and not suffer any in-game lag nor will Nflix/Hlu buffer like it used to. So far, I haven't needed to enable QoS in my router to prevent in-game lag like before. The QoS worked reasonably well with the 4mb copper.. but that line was bursting at the seams.

Now if an ARK update of 1GB comes along which is not that unusual, I don't even have enough time to make a cup of coffee and the download is complete

I have these awesome UniFi wifi APs that are now not able to keep up with the line speed.. so all wifi connected devices are 'hamstrung' to around 30Mbps until I can figure out how to get them to work better. I suppose that's a good problem to have

General online quality of life has never been better! Totally worth it!

 

[biena]

On 12 / 2 / 2015, Alexcon said :
And then on 2 / 12 / 2015, he said :
So from 12/2 to 2/12 .... /snip

10 Days is not that bad




/jokes

 

[User4456]

10 Days is not that bad




/jokes

hehe

 

[Fintan]

I'm in Faerie Glen and got a month to month fibre contract through WebAfrica recently. Speeds are phenomenal!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/4880120563.png

Congrats, speedtest looks awesome

 

[Bryn]

I'm in Faerie Glen and got a month to month fibre contract through WebAfrica recently. Speeds are phenomenal!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/4880120563.png

I thought Telkom fibre had identical download and upload speeds?

 

[jcheek]

That's exactly right, I've just pipped into the dark purple zone!

Amazing how that simple colour flip changes the tune at the ISP, huh ?

The QoS worked reasonably well with the 4mb copper.. but that line was bursting at the seams.

Copper, schmopper !

I have these awesome UniFi wifi APs that are now not able to keep up with the line speed.. so all wifi connected devices are 'hamstrung' to around 30Mbps until I can figure out how to get them to work better.

Perhaps my good pal Azimuth - a self-confessed Ubiquiti nut - will chime in here with a well-considered information nugget ... ?

General online quality of life has never been better! Totally worth it!

Out of interest : what router are you using downstream of the ONT ? Your own ?
Also : How about posting some pics of your installation ?

 

[jcheek]

I thought Telkom fibre had identical download and upload speeds?

Sadly not.
Originally 1:10 up:down speed ratios, nowadays looking more like 1:5 or even 1:4.

 

[Fintan]

Hi Guys

For those of you that are interested, here are a couple more pics of the installation in our estate. The image below shows the box used to splice the "back-bone" network in our estate. From here the fibre fans out to a bunch of nodes that will service the individual homes. Each one of those gray flaps is used to splice two different cables together.



Here is an image of the fibre just prior to splicing. Some of the cable management has already been done.



This box then gets dropped down into a manhole and the fibre cable is fed through conduits to other manholes. The image below shows one of the nodes that will service a couple of homes.



And here is an image of its internals. It is pretty much the same as the first box, but it just handles less fibre.



The image below shows the splicing equipment. The main box in the centre actually does the splice. Hidden behind that is a tool used to get a clean cut on the fibre. In the top right is a tool used to add a protective brace to the splice. The splice process was as follows:

1. Roughly cut the fibre to size
2. Strip the outer coating off fibre with stripping tool
3. Clean the stripped portion with some solvent
4. Use the cutting tool to clean up the cut and make sure the length of exposed fibre is correct
5. Place two fibre cores into the splicing machine
6. Once the splice is complete, apply the protective brace
7. Organise the spliced fibre into the provided channels

The splicing machine would complain at times at which point the contractor would start the process above again.

 

[jcheek]

For those of you that are interested, here are a couple more pics of the installation in our estate.

I'm sure there're a whole bunch of us that are interested !
Great pics - thanks for sharing !



Go (dark) purple, go purple, go purple ....

PS : Out of interest - which contractors are doing the physical fibre installation work out your way ? Sukumani ?

 

[Fintan]

I'm sure there're a whole bunch of us that are interested !
Great pics - thanks for sharing !

View attachment 320481

Go (dark) purple, go purple, go purple ....

PS : Out of interest - which contractors are doing the physical fibre installation work out your way ? Sukumani ?

Yeah I can't wait for it to go purple now.

The contractors are Lungisa -VRG

 

[Inertia]

Are the contractors installing Telkom FTTH?

 

[Bursty-dude]

Congrats Fintan.

We are still not lucky here....

That triangular piece on Highlands road is a damn building sight where a new complex is going up and they are purple already.
Meanwhile just a few blocks away, the pink still haunts us:

 

[MickeyD]

Speaking of splicing fibres... I remember being on a site visit in the mid-90s and the cable jointer allowed me to do a splice. Bliksem it was frustrating. He demo'd the process at his usual working speed and then did a slo-mo one ... both tested perfectly, of course. My turn... that damn 3M splicing rig did not like me! 10 minutes later and I did one splice. He told me I would be fired and should stick to my day job.



PS. he destroyed my splice and re-did it as it would not pass QC.

 

[Fintan]

Are the contractors installing Telkom FTTH?

Yes they are installing Telkom infrasturcture using the existing Telkom manholes and ducting.

Congrats Fintan.

We are still not lucky here....

That triangular piece on Highlands road is a damn building sight where a new complex is going up and they are purple already.
Meanwhile just a few blocks away, the pink still haunts us:
View attachment 320513

Although the installation is underway, I still don't really have any idea when it will be live. My current understanding is either late this year or late early year. This is just the contractors opinion though, I haven't heard anything from Telkom.

Speaking of splicing fibres... I remember being on a site visit in the mid-90s and the cable jointer allowed me to do a splice. Bliksem it was frustrating. He demo'd the process at his usual working speed and then did a slo-mo one ... both tested perfectly, of course. My turn... that damn 3M splicing rig did not like me! 10 minutes later and I did one splice. He told me I would be fired and should stick to my day job.



PS. he destroyed my splice and re-did it as it would not pass QC.

I must say, these guys were pretty proficient from what I could tell. Of the two guys doing the installation, the one appeared to be pretty experienced, the other appeared to be shadowing. I have a video of the guys splicing that I can upload if you guys are interested.

 

[jcheek]

I have a video of the guys splicing that I can upload if you guys are interested.

Yes please !