Fibre internet in Gauteng on Openserve (Telkom) network

[supersunbird]

The run from pole into our house is more than 8m, I hear the charge about R150 per meter after that, guess I'll just get them to run it to the closest room to pole and run a network cable to there.

 

[jacosmit]

OpenServe called, they will be installing tomorrow afternoon. We do have the black box on our pole, so that's good.

Lekker maatjie, ek bring n download server die naweek ;-)

 

[jacosmit]

The run from pole into our house is more than 8m, I hear the charge about R150 per meter after that, guess I'll just get them to run it to the closest room to pole and run a network cable to there.

Most ISPs cover this cost part of the install. Check with Afrihost and the R4500 discount special they are running.

What is the latest feeling regarding ISPs here? I am currently with MWeb for my ADSL. Should I just "upgrade" my account once my fiber is run in March or do I move to another ISP such as Crystal, Axxess or ISPAfrika?

 

[jcheek]

The run from pole into our house is more than 8m, I hear the charge about R150 per meter after that, guess I'll just get them to run it to the closest room to pole and run a network cable to there.

I don't personally know of anyone who has been charged for "excess" cable run to date (if someone knows different, jump in).
Once they're on site, with all the overhead that entails, the Openserve guys don't seem to be sensitive about the length of the drop cable at all - within reason, I guess.
If you look at some of the installations on this thread, there are many that are 20m+. 8m wouldn't even cover the typical run from the pole to nearest point on the average house.
My own installation was probably a good 50m run, and they left about another 20m of cable slack (on request) lol.

 

[jacosmit]

Here is the slack Openserve left after an install at a client of mine in Bedfordview, Jhb.

 

[LukeKroon]

Don'y have to worry about 8 meters at all. My installations was probably 100 meters!

 

[Geoff.D]

The run from pole into our house is more than 8m, I hear the charge about R150 per meter after that, guess I'll just get them to run it to the closest room to pole and run a network cable to there.

No, don't fall for this. get the ONT installed in the best place that you want it to be installed. The n go from there with your internal LAN cabling. The longer you stay on fibre the better off you will be.

 

[Geoff.D]

Here is the slack Openserve left after an install at a client of mine in Bedfordview, Jhb.

View attachment 419330

I would be too ashamed to publish a picture showing that mess! Just look at the ropey power feed setup on the RHS side of that rack! And they could not even place the fibre neatly and strapped to the sides of the rack! Disgusting!

 

[jacosmit]

I would be too ashamed to publish a picture showing that mess! Just look at the ropey power feed setup on the RHS side of that rack! And they could not even place the fibre neatly and strapped to the sides of the rack! Disgusting!

Sorry that I disappointed you Geoff, I will try harder

 

[supersunbird]

Still waiting for OpenServe to rock up :erm:

 

[supersunbird]

OK, they never came yesterday but came this morning and all installed in 3 hours. Huawei OTN on with the 2 green LEDs.

What next? Send Fibre Number to Afrihost?

I have a Netgear N300 DGN 2200 but the OpenServe guy told me that from his experience they don't work for Fibre. What and where do I have to buy something so I can get myself online?

 

[jcheek]

OK, they never came yesterday but came this morning and all installed in 3 hours. Huawei OTN on with the 2 green LEDs.

Congrats!

What next? Send Fibre Number to Afrihost?

Yip, you need to send your Openserve circuit number (usually a B-number) to Afrihost so that you can connect into their system via the Openserve IPC. The Openserve guys should have left you with this info (also see here).

Afrihost should respond with a PPPoE username/password combination that you will use to authenticate yourself and obtain data service from their system. This is basically identical to how it works for xDSL.

Once you have your username/password combination, you can already test the connection by connecting an ethernet LAN cable between the one working port on the ONT (usually LAN1) and the LAN port on your PC, and defining a PPPoE "dial-up" connection on your PC using your Afrihost login details.

I have a Netgear N300 DGN 2200 but the OpenServe guy told me that from his experience they don't work for Fibre. What and where do I have to buy something so I can get myself online?

The router needs to have:

1. A WAN port (sometimes also called an EWAN port), or a dual-purpose LAN/WAN port that can be configured as a WAN port.
   
   
2. The ability to open a PPPoE session over the WAN connection.

I haven't checked the DGN2200 personally, but many late-model xDSL routers will fit the bill. Check the specific hardware/firmware version and documentation for your DGN2200 and see if it supports an external WAN. Sometimes a firmware upgrade is needed to give that functionality.
See here for a similar discussion.

 

[coop]

I haven't checked the DGN2200 personally, but many late-model xDSL routers will fit the bill. Check the specific hardware/firmware version and documentation for your DGN2200 and see if it supports an external WAN. Sometimes a firmware upgrade is needed to give that functionality.
See here for a similar discussion.

I have a DGN 2200 V4. If the router is a v4 and not an earlier version, then it does have an ethernet wan port. You just need to connect from the CPE to ethernet port 1 (it is marked as a WAN / LAN port on the underside of the router). This is what I did when I first got fiber. However, my router overheated after about 3 days and since then, it works, but can't get above 4 Mb/s through it (I'm on a 100 Mb/s connection). Fortunately, it wasn't my only router. I'm unsure if the speed of the fiber caused the overheating, but it seems a big coincidence that it failed so soon after the install.

 

[Geoff.D]

I have a DGN 2200 V4. If the router is a v4 and not an earlier version, then it does have an ethernet wan port. You just need to connect from the CPE to ethernet port 1 (it is marked as a WAN / LAN port on the underside of the router). This is what I did when I first got fiber. However, my router overheated after about 3 days and since then, it works, but can't get above 4 Mb/s through it (I'm on a 100 Mb/s connection). Fortunately, it wasn't my only router. I'm unsure if the speed of the fiber caused the overheating, but it seems a big coincidence that it failed so soon after the install.

Must a pure co-incidence. The fibre is terminated by the ONT unit. Thereafter it is a simple Ethernet connection. Maybe a faulty cable Ethernet cable? Or a PSU problem or a surge of some sort.

 

[coop]

Must a pure co-incidence. The fibre is terminated by the ONT unit. Thereafter it is a simple Ethernet connection. Maybe a faulty cable Ethernet cable? Or a PSU problem or a surge of some sort.

It's not a faulty cable, I've tried lots of cables and tested them. However, I moved to a Mikrotik for my main router anyway as it is a little more flexible than than the netgear.

 

[supersunbird]

I have a DGN 2200 V4. If the router is a v4 and not an earlier version, then it does have an ethernet wan port. You just need to connect from the CPE to ethernet port 1 (it is marked as a WAN / LAN port on the underside of the router). This is what I did when I first got fiber. However, my router overheated after about 3 days and since then, it works, but can't get above 4 Mb/s through it (I'm on a 100 Mb/s connection). Fortunately, it wasn't my only router. I'm unsure if the speed of the fiber caused the overheating, but it seems a big coincidence that it failed so soon after the install.

YAY! Have the DGN2200v4 with newest firmware and LAN port 4 says WAN!

 

[supersunbird]

Oh my... I just put the port 4 on WAN on the router via browser, unplugged the ADSL line, plugged the cable into router WAN port and ONT LAN 1. Already have AfriHost ADSL credentials and I seem to be up and running...

 

[supersunbird]

 

[Geoff.D]

View attachment 419796

So what is your service supposed to be?

 

[supersunbird]

So what is your service supposed to be?

Openserve Afrihost account, 10mbps up and 5mbps down