Fibre internet in Gauteng on Openserve (Telkom) network

[Fintan]

Yes please !

Will do, when I get home today. Youtube is blocked at work :/

 

[MickeyD]

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.

The second guy will take over after a while as you need a break (pardon the pun). They normally erect a little gazebo or tent over the area where they are splicing to protect themselves from the elements. Many of these guys get flak from the public as it appears as if they are sitting there and doing nothing...

 

[MickeyD]

The new Telkom splicing team's bakkies




A closer look at their splicing setup in the bakkie...




Under cover (using his own beach umbrella) while wiring up an ISAM...

 

[Inertia]

Fancy

 

[jcheek]

The new Telkom splicing team's bakkies

A closer look at their splicing setup in the bakkie...

Under cover (using his own beach umbrella) while wiring up an ISAM...

Interesting! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Fintan]

Yes please !

video as requested: http://yespleasestudio.co.za/fibre

 

[jcheek]

video as requested:

Pretty nifty!
Looks like the operator was even doing some multi-tasking there - trimming one while waiting for the other to "set" ?

Also intrigued by the separate tool that appears to gently crimp a little protective sleeve over the joint :


Thanks for posting !

PS: You need fibre!

 

[Fintan]

Pretty nifty!
Looks like the operator was even doing some multi-tasking there - trimming one while waiting for the other to "set" ?

Also intrigued by the separate tool that appears to gently crimp a little protective sleeve over the joint :
View attachment 320675

Thanks for posting !

PS: You need fibre!

You can hear the machine beeping telling him it is done in the background, so while i guess it does need time to set, it is not as long as it appears in the video.

The protective sleeve also acts as a fitting for a bracket in the housing to assist with cable management.

 

[jackscolon]

Hey everyone, anyone know how long it takes Telkom to update the coverage map, reason being that they finished installing Fibre in the estate in which I live in (Highlands Estate on Ajax street). Since I heard that Telkom is busy installing Fibre in the estate, I've been keeping an eye on that coverage map - but nothing, it merely went from not planned to planned. Any ideas?

 

[Fintan]

Hey everyone, anyone know how long it takes Telkom to update the coverage map, reason being that they finished installing Fibre in the estate in which I live in (Highlands Estate on Ajax street). Since I heard that Telkom is busy installing Fibre in the estate, I've been keeping an eye on that coverage map - but nothing, it merely went from not planned to planned. Any ideas?

Hi jackscolon

I'm in the same estate and asked the same question two weeks ago. The contractors seems unsure when Telkom will turn us on and the last time i spoke to them they had not spliced in to the Telkom MSAN/DSLAM/???? on the corner outside the estate. Unfortunately, we are both in the dark.

Although I think they are close, I don't think they are quite finished yet. This photo was taken on Tuesday this week.

 

[jackscolon]

Hi jackscolon

I'm in the same estate and asked the same question two weeks ago. The contractors seems unsure when Telkom will turn us on and the last time i spoke to them they had not spliced in to the Telkom MSAN/DSLAM/???? on the corner outside the estate. Unfortunately, we are both in the dark.

Thanks for the info, I just asked Susan if she has any info - but you said it all, really appreciate it. I started reading the entire thread, but got distracted by something else on the internet. I'll keep checking this thread for any updates. Really hope Telkom gets us up n running soon .

 

[jcheek]

Hey everyone, anyone know how long it takes Telkom to update the coverage map, reason being that they finished installing Fibre in the estate in which I live in (Highlands Estate on Ajax street). Since I heard that Telkom is busy installing Fibre in the estate, I've been keeping an eye on that coverage map - but nothing, it merely went from not planned to planned. Any ideas?

Hi jackscolon (as in "I am Jack's colon" ? ), welcome to the thread !

In my own case, it went something like this :

Start of infrastructure installation : +- 10 Jan 2015 (see OP here)
FTTH cable visible in my yard : 21 Jan 2015 (see here)
FTTH node complete in my yard : 8 Feb 2015 (see here)
Telkom map goes from 'blank' to 'planned' : 8 Feb 2015 (see here)
Telkom map goes from 'planned' to 'available' : 13 Apr 2015 (see here)
Order placed with WebAfrica : 12 May 2015
Installation complete : 12 Aug 2015

I think things have generally gotten a bit faster since then (whew!), but with a new area, QC tests and commissioning hassles following the physical installation can sometimes 'delay' the dark purple 'availability' change for a good few weeks - nearly 2 months, in my case. Even after ordering, there can be some curved balls, especially in an area of new expansion - another 3 months, in my case!

If you can stand it, my whole (rather sad) post-ordering blog is here.

 

[User4456]

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

That would be great! Any advice on speeding up the throughout on the UniFi-LR model (They are supposed to handle up to 150Mbps so being stuck at 30Mbps is a bit frustrating now that I can actually go faster)

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

I'm using a Ubiquiti Edge Router Lite (3 port - 1Gbps) router >>> Ubiquiti ToughSwitch PoE (5port - 1Gbps) >>> PC. (Other ports to UniFi for rest of house, etc..)

The setup is actually a bit of mess right now- you'd cringe if you saw it I'm planning on building (soonish) a wall box with USB powered cabinet fans (that i ordered from Amazon) for ventilation. Then will post some pics

 

[Azimuth]

Telkom-based FTTH in Pretoria

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

Better late than never, right? I don't want to be the derailer of an otherwise excellent thread so I'll keep it brief.

The UniFi software controller has been known to go pear-shaped if one has previously tampered with the client device bandwidth throttling settings. @Alexcon you may need to reset this. There is no reason why the UAPs will be applying a measly 30Mbps limit. As you've stated, the spec far exceeds the peak speak of your new fibre connection.

I personally use the UAP LR and had no issues when I used to hit 73Mbps in the early days of LTE in my area.

 

[luka138]

Anybody know of a good 4Mbps deal on fibre? On a budget. No fibre yet and there probably won't be for a while, but preparing for the future. Pricing will likely decrease in future, but I'm just following along anyway. If I take an ADSL package, e.g. 4Mbps uncapped, how does line rental work? Do I pay the price that I would pay for ADSL line rental or is rental pricing different?

 

[Hemi300c]

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 ?

Yip I'm chanting with you.

 

[jcheek]

Anybody know of a good 4Mbps deal on fibre? On a budget. No fibre yet and there probably won't be for a while, but preparing for the future��. Pricing will likely decrease in future, but I'm just following along anyway.

All depends what area you are in and which fibre line providers are active there.
As with ADSL, the provision of the (fibre) line is essentially separate from the ISP (data) services, though most ISPs are packaging a data product together with a line from one of the fibre providers (Vumatel, Telkom, Fibrehoods).
We haven't quite reached the stage of "naked fibre" - where you can buy just fibre connectivity on its own - yet, but we do seem to be going that way.

As an example, WebAfrica are currently offering data packages of various sizes (typically 100GB minimum) together with fibre lines from Telkom, Vumatel, Fibrehoods or Octotel, depending on the area. In areas where Vumatel is active, a 4Mbps fibre line is available as the entry-level product. With Telkom, the entry-level used to be 10Mbps, though I see that you can now get as low as 2Mbps(!) from some ISPs. Due to way that fibre has been rolled out to the early adopters, you will generally find only one fibre provider per area for the moment.

WebAfrica have recently added quite a nice "fibre provider browser" map to their website here, where you can see which providers are active in which areas :



Clicking on a specific address will show you WebAfrica's available line+data packages for the provider(s) active in that area:



The other ISPs will have similar tools.

If I take an ADSL package, e.g. 4Mbps uncapped, how does line rental work? Do I pay the price that I would pay for ADSL line rental or is rental pricing different?

The installation and rental charges are different for ADSL and fibre, and the fibre situation is very fluid right now.
Fibre installation used to be about R1750, though it's very often being waived now (as in WebAfrica examples shown above).

As regards line rental, fibre has the advantage that you don't need an analogue telephone line from Telkom to make it work. That gives it an automatic R189pm advantage.
If you already have an analogue telephone line (ie you're already paying the R189pm), then you will probably find that the additional rental for an ADSL line still works out cheaper than that for a fibre line at the 4Mbps level (I haven't done this exercise).
Note that there are no uncapped fibre packages (that I know of) at the moment - that is still the exclusive domain of xDSL.

 

[luka138]

All depends what area you are in and which fibre line providers are active there.
As with ADSL, the provision of the (fibre) line is essentially separate from the ISP (data) services, though most ISPs are packaging a data product together with a line from one of the fibre providers (Vumatel, Telkom, Fibrehoods).
We haven't quite reached the stage of "naked fibre" - where you can buy just fibre connectivity on its own - yet, but we do seem to be going that way.

As an example, WebAfrica are currently offering data packages of various sizes (typically 100GB minimum) together with fibre lines from Telkom, Vumatel, Fibrehoods or Octotel, depending on the area. In areas where Vumatel is active, a 4Mbps fibre line is available as the entry-level product. With Telkom, the entry-level used to be 10Mbps, though I see that you can now get as low as 2Mbps(!) from some ISPs. Due to way that fibre has been rolled out to the early adopters, you will generally find only one fibre provider per area for the moment.

WebAfrica have recently added quite a nice "fibre provider browser" map to their website here, where you can see which providers are active in which areas :

View attachment 322145

Clicking on a specific address will show you WebAfrica's available line+data packages for the provider(s) active in that area:

View attachment 322141

The other ISPs will have similar tools.



The installation and rental charges are different for ADSL and fibre, and the fibre situation is very fluid right now.
Fibre installation used to be about R1750, though it's very often being waived now (as in WebAfrica examples shown above).

As regards line rental, fibre has the advantage that you don't need an analogue telephone line from Telkom to make it work. That gives it an automatic R189pm advantage.
If you already have an analogue telephone line (ie you're already paying the R189pm), then you will probably find that the additional rental for an ADSL line still works out cheaper than that for a fibre line at the 4Mbps level (I haven't done this exercise).
Note that there are no uncapped fibre packages (that I know of) at the moment - that is still the exclusive domain of xDSL.

That Telkom Fibre + 100GB is actually cheaper than what it costs right now, but I plan to get my parents to switch to VoIP if we get fibre (because of low latency). The rates are quite awesome, though I'm not sure about who's the best in terms of cost to performance. Could you perhaps recommend any?

 

[jcheek]

That Telkom Fibre + 100GB is actually cheaper than what it costs right now

Purely by way of example (WebAfrica figures) :
WebAfrica 100GB over 4Mbps ADSL, including line rental : R499pm (R688 if you include the R189 analogue voice line rental)
WebAfrica 100GB over 4Mbps fibre, including line rental : R638pm

... but I plan to get my parents to switch to VoIP if we get fibre (because of low latency).

As far as voice goes, it's still hard to beat the low latency of a dedicated analogue voice line
Personally, after my first few months with fibre, I haven't experienced quite the level of reliability that I would want to see before ditching the analogue landline and switching completely to VoIP over fibre.

The rates are quite awesome, though I'm not sure about who's the best in terms of cost to performance. Could you perhaps recommend any?

If you mean VoIP subscriptions and call rates, I've no personal experience of those; but a few folks on this thread have gone the VoIP over fibre route (mostly with Telkom, I think, though perhaps some are with SwitchTel or Vox).
Perhaps they'll chip in with their experiences having completed a few month's service ?

 

[luka138]

Purely by way of example (WebAfrica figures) :
WebAfrica 100GB over 4Mbps ADSL, including line rental : R499pm (R688 if you include the R189 analogue voice line rental)
WebAfrica 100GB over 4Mbps fibre, including line rental : R638pm



As far as voice goes, it's still hard to beat the low latency of a dedicated analogue voice line
Personally, after my first few months with fibre, I haven't experienced quite the level of reliability that I would want to see before ditching the analogue landline and switching completely to VoIP over fibre.



If you mean VoIP subscriptions and call rates, I've no personal experience of those; but a few folks on this thread have gone the VoIP over fibre route (mostly with Telkom, I think, though perhaps some are with SwitchTel or Vox).
Perhaps they'll chip in with their experiences having completed a few month's service ?

Wow thanks for all this advice
I doubt we'll use Telkom VoIP though. I might be mistaken about this, but I think I saw it for R200 0_o
How do analogue lines manage to have low latency? Sorry I'm still a noob to this