Fibre internet in Gauteng on Openserve (Telkom) network

[JayM]

Yup.

Wonder if a router somewhere rebooted?

Seems fine now...

Happened at exactly 10PM so probably planned maintenance.

 

[supersunbird]

Happened at exactly 10PM so probably planned maintenance.

They should do it at 2 or 3am Interfered with my Hawaii 5-0 watching on Showmax

 

[Johnatan56]

Happened at exactly 10PM so probably planned maintenance.

Check your IP before and after, it could be just a session renewal.

 

[jcheek]

So I had a couple of minutes red LOS flashing tonight. But it disappeared after a few minutes and now I'm running back at full speed.

Hmm .... there was nothing like that at my place last night, but tonight (also at exactly 22:00), the same little hiccup :



I see that a few other folks in Pretoria East saw the same thing tonight.

Does this happen regularly ?

To answer your question : nope, this doesn't happen regularly (at all). At least, it hasn't to date.
I had a few such hiccups in the first 3-6 months I had my connection (Q4 2015), but in the past year or so, I can count the outages on one or two fingers.

 

[Soprono]

Wow that was pretty darn quick, Fibre line back up and running after cancellation again, now to choose a data provider and still dont know who would be the best to go with.

I wonder if the gated community contracts would ever "expire" and allow us to take out normal Openserve accounts, If I knew this from the beginning I would have rather opted to pay my installation and not be limited to Telkom or even make use of Afrihosts free installation deals they have running bleh...rant over.

 

[vdpollm]

Hi,

i can confirm that if you are in a gated community, then, the "080-011-1250 - the Gated Communities Fibre Help Desk" is the way to go. just called them to ask how to upgrade my package, and the person that answered (quite quickly) was very helpful and informative. what an awesome experience.

regards

 

[kreepo]

Hi guys - I am in need of some advice

I cancelled the data portion with a ****TY ISP about mid-January. The Openserve line was supposed to be migrated to Afrihost...but the previous ISP ended up cancelling it.

After I got the Afrihost credentials, I reset the router and plugged them in - and everything was running dandily.

Pawpaw met fan mid February, when the line went down one afternoon. After a number of phonecalls and holding music, it was determined that the previous ISP cancelled the line.

The installation has been done, and the line has been working perfectly until it was cancelled - my assumption is that the line has to be activated and "allocated" or assigned to Afrihihost again. Is anyone aware of a way to speed this "allocation" up?

 

[Geoff.D]

Hi guys - I am in need of some advice

I cancelled the data portion with a ****TY ISP about mid-January. The Openserve line was supposed to be migrated to Afrihost...but the previous ISP ended up cancelling it.

After I got the Afrihost credentials, I reset the router and plugged them in - and everything was running dandily.

Pawpaw met fan mid February, when the line went down one afternoon. After a number of phonecalls and holding music, it was determined that the previous ISP cancelled the line.

The installation has been done, and the line has been working perfectly until it was cancelled - my assumption is that the line has to be activated and "allocated" or assigned to Afrihihost again. Is anyone aware of a way to speed this "allocation" up?

So what you have highlighted is how easily the OSS/BSS systems used by ISPs and service providers breakdown. Clearly, the whole process of ensuring that the "line" was moved from one ISP to another did not get done properly, and as soon as the previous ISP found it again activated, they did what they should have done and that is cancel the line again.

Your new ISP (Afrihost) also did not ensure the "transfer" was done properly. Maybe it is because this process when applied to FTTH systems is rather new to everyone.

This is a lesson to all users out there. Think carefully before you start moving from one ISP to another. Make sure the move is really worth the effort.

I am still of the opinion that regardless of the technology, it should be possible for customers to get their Access connection from one service provider (an ASP), and then get their actual services from another (an ISP) and not have to start moving "lines" between ISPs.

In this case it means Open serve should be leasing their services direct on a ONT with no restrictions on the ports. The billing should be dead simple. A line charge and a port charge . If you activate the line it is fixed charge independent of data rate, and then you activate one or more "ports" each attracting a port charge. Simple, clean and maintenance responsibilities are clearly defined.

The ISP then simply activates its services over the relevant line and port. We seem to be going straight down the same route, repeating all the "mistakes" made when ADSL was introduced.

 

[Johnatan56]

So what you have highlighted is how easily the OSS/BSS systems used by ISPs and service providers breakdown. Clearly, the whole process of ensuring that the "line" was moved from one ISP to another did not get done properly, and as soon as the previous ISP found it again activated, they did what they should have done and that is cancel the line again.

Your new ISP (Afrihost) also did not ensure the "transfer" was done properly. Maybe it is because this process when applied to FTTH systems is rather new to everyone.

This is a lesson to all users out there. Think carefully before you start moving from one ISP to another. Make sure the move is really worth the effort.

I am still of the opinion that regardless of the technology, it should be possible for customers to get their Access connection from one service provider (an ASP), and then get their actual services from another (an ISP) and not have to start moving "lines" between ISPs.

In this case it means Open serve should be leasing their services direct on a ONT with no restrictions on the ports. The billing should be dead simple. A line charge and a port charge . If you activate the line it is fixed charge independent of data rate, and then you activate one or more "ports" each attracting a port charge. Simple, clean and maintenance responsibilities are clearly defined.

The ISP then simply activates its services over the relevant line and port. We seem to be going straight down the same route, repeating all the "mistakes" made when ADSL was introduced.

If his previous ISP was Telkom yes. They still manually process it all.
Transferred my line from Afrihost to Crystal Web at the beginning of the month and it was seamless, no down time or any hiccups.
There is a post by DJ. (CEO of Crystal Web) who explains the process on DSL which is probably the same as they're both treated the same.

 

[Geoff.D]

If his previous ISP was Telkom yes. They still manually process it all.
Transferred my line from Afrihost to Crystal Web at the beginning of the month and it was seamless, no down time or any hiccups.
There is a post by DJ. (CEO of Crystal Web) who explains the process on DSL which is probably the same as they're both treated the same.

Yes We all followed the posts from Crystal web at the time. A clumsy and highly labour intensive process requiring well trained personnel with level heads to follow and implement.

Now that there are two "fixed line" technologies available for providing fixed line services, we may actually get a chance to show up where most of the problems experienced on a daily basis actually lie.

NOT with the technology used BUT with the service management of the services provided over those technologies!

BTW, with more and more persons "moving off" that crappy old ADSL service, those of us Are getting really good service out of that crappy old ADSL service! :twisted:

Now for my dig at the IT industry as a whole: The OSS/BSS services are all provided on platforms developed by this so-called "Cinderella industry" called the IT Industry. Makes you thinks does it not!

 

[jcheek]

It's official !

By a slim margin of some 254 views, we're now the most-viewed FTTH-related thread on MyBB :



At just under 130k views, and 165-odd views a day, that's a lot of people reading up while Waiting For Purple
I'm not sure how long we'll stay ahead of the Secunda fibre thread, but it's a good thing whichever way things go.

As before, thanks again to all the readers and contributors - you guys (still) rock!
Keep those views, questions and posts coming!

 

[jcheek]

Hi guys - I am in need of some advice

Hey kreepo, welcome to the thread.

I cancelled the data portion with a ****TY ISP about mid-January. The Openserve line was supposed to be migrated to Afrihost...but the previous ISP ended up cancelling it.
<snip>
The installation has been done, and the line has been working perfectly until it was cancelled - my assumption is that the line has to be activated and "allocated" or assigned to Afrihost again. Is anyone aware of a way to speed this "allocation" up?

Bummer
Not sure if you already came right with this ?

If not, I guess this will be treated as a "new installation" by Openserve, with the upside being that the physical part of the installation is already done.
( Out of interest : What happened to the Openserve ONT ? I assume it's still with you ? )

If you haven't been sorted out yet, I'd suggest the following approach : Once you've logged an "installation ticket" with Afrihost, get hold of the corresponding Openserve order number from them (Afrihost) and follow up with the Telkom Fibre Help Desk as described here.

Good luck!

 

[jmacc]

I am still of the opinion that regardless of the technology, it should be possible for customers to get their Access connection from one service provider (an ASP), and then get their actual services from another (an ISP) and not have to start moving "lines" between ISPs.

In this case it means Open serve should be leasing their services direct on a ONT with no restrictions on the ports. The billing should be dead simple. A line charge and a port charge . If you activate the line it is fixed charge independent of data rate, and then you activate one or more "ports" each attracting a port charge. Simple, clean and maintenance responsibilities are clearly defined.

The ISP then simply activates its services over the relevant line and port. We seem to be going straight down the same route, repeating all the "mistakes" made when ADSL was introduced.

I could not agree more Geoff.D.

Openserve (Telkom) just completed the Fibre installation in our area and the infrastructure is active. We've been waiting for this for many months. The Telkom Fibre coverage map also reflects that our location is live. We can basically sign up with Telkom today if we want to. The problem is that their pricing is a lot more expensive than some of the other Service Providers. WebAfrica seems to have a very compelling and competitive offering. Although, their coverage map does not have our location listed as Openserve Fibre access Active. It also appears that you have to wait 4 - 8 weeks for installation. Telkom told me they can install in 2 days. The concern I have is what happens if you sign up and you eventually either want to move to another ISP or you start experiencing problems with your physical connection. Our current VDSL connection with Telkom/Openserve was not without its problems but because the line is with them their service has been good. And I mean really good. Their service was actually a lot better than the service we got from the ISP on the ISP portion.

 

[ChrisChris]

I pre-ordered FTTH from WebAfrica/Openserve around November last year and have only gotten feedback that it's planned, I've seen the Huawei van at the exchange a few times now and have seen digging in Saxby Ave (this road leads into mine). Anyone know what their schedule is around getting fibre access is on Frederik Ave, Eldoraigne and how long I'm most likely to still wait? It's been 4 months since ordering and the dsl exchange in my area is congested.

 

[jacosmit]

I pre-ordered FTTH from WebAfrica/Openserve around November last year and have only gotten feedback that it's planned, I've seen the Huawei van at the exchange a few times now and have seen digging in Saxby Ave (this road leads into mine). Anyone know what their schedule is around getting fibre access is on Frederik Ave, Eldoraigne and how long I'm most likely to still wait? It's been 4 months since ordering and the dsl exchange in my area is congested.

Hi Chris, good luck! Huawei has been busy since June last year in Erasmia and we are still waiting for them to lay the link between Laudium and Erasmia.

 

[Soprono]

So finally sorted my contacts and all out with Telkom what a damm process. Was on the GCS Trail, Cancelled and Re-Applied for a fixed line only rather (100mbps) and they thought it was a new application so re-started the entire process, anyways 3 weeks later got assigned a new B number and was good to go.

I also found out that Gated Communities have to make the lines open access to any other Openserve provider after 3 months from completed installation so a good to know point.

I had some issues with Afrihost at first as my DSL (40mbps) account would not authenticate on the line however a test account that I had would, so called them up and since my line was bundled with them they tied it to my home landline (since uncapped accounts cannot have concurrent sessions), so gave them my new B number and they deallocated the landline number and re-assigned it to my B number (instant change) and all was good again the Fibre is working and running like a dream with Afrihost (decided to stick with my ISP as I have been with them since mweb introduced heavy shaping so Iv always maintained a good history with Afrihost since).

I honestly think im in a good position at the moment as DSL accounts have a upload equiv speed to that of the download speed on the package thus im currently 40mbps down and up Happy Days! Speed test below.

The 100mbps line was only R80 difference so just got that to avoid headaches in future with Telkom down the line. Really cannot see myself or the house using that amount of bandwidth at once.

 

[creeper]

I got home and my wife informed me we are moving our ADSL to Fibre. Same month-to-month contract. Uncapped, same price.

 

[jcheek]

Afrihost now offering capped FTTH packages on Openserve

For those who may have missed this morning's MyBB article : Afrihost is now offering capped fibre packages - as well as uncapped - on the Openserve FTTH network.

By way of example, here are the all-inclusive (line+data) prices on a capped 20Mbps line :



The Uncapped and Capped navigation choices aren't quite working properly from the Afrihost home page yet, but from what I can gather, the page for capped is here, and that for uncapped is here.

 

[ebendl]

For those who may have missed this morning's MyBB article : Afrihost is now offering capped fibre packages - as well as uncapped - on the Openserve FTTH network.

I saw it yesterday. WebAfrica (love/hate them) still a bit cheaper (around R100) and I'm not sure if there's additional benefits to Afrihost (although their account management is better I think).

 

[jcheek]

WebAfrica (love/hate them) ...

Amen to that! :crylaugh:

... still a bit cheaper (around R100) ...

Yep. In my case (40Mbps line), a similar pattern :
WebAfrica, 200GB anytime data, 1TB night-time data : R938pm
Afrihost, 200GB anytime data, no midnight data (?) : R1077pm (+R139)

...and I'm not sure if there's additional benefits to Afrihost (although their account management is better I think).

Maybe they have actual customer support ;-)
I see that they emphasize the 'Unshaped' aspect of their capped packages quite hard.
Another interesting thing is that their 'fibre line speed selector' tool is pretty optimistic (I think). For example, for a 'whole family' streaming 4K video, they recommend 25Mbps minimum.
Not convinced, especially for an offshore source with no local caching !

Anyone on the thread currently using Afrihost-over-Openserve fibre ? How's your general experience ? And how do your offshore speeds compare to local ones ?