Fibre options in Pretoria

F

feo

Honorary Master
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Pretoria, South Africa
Hi there

So there's quite a bit of activity happening in Joburg areas but Pretoria seems to be getting a lot less love, which needs to change.

I'm trying to gauge what the options are in terms of fibre for Pretoria in general and Erasmia (+Laudium/Claudius) specifically. Our suburb Erasmia, mainly has free standing residential homes with a few complexes as well. I understand that complexes and densely populated areas are prime candidates but we need some fibre as well. For me, I think providers that use aerial fibre would be the best option, to avoid trenching everywhere.

I've emailed a few providers and their responses are below:

Greencom: So I emailed them and got no response, pretty poor to be honest. Although I did manage to speak to someone by the name of Colin. Seemed very knowledgeable and he said that if I could generate interest then they would consider rolling out in stages. Maybe to target complexes first and move out from there.

Fibrehoods: Not offering connections in Pretoria yet, but still pointed me to the link to request it for my area.

Vumatel: Also not targeting Pretoria in the short term but they said that if I could drum up enough interest, they would consider our area. At least 30% moral commitment and then they can see if it's financially viable.

Telkom: Absolutely useless, can't get any info from anywhere. Twitter reps basically say no plans for fibre rollout yet.

123Net: Not in Pretoria yet, lady on the phone had a THICK Bulgarian accent so I could barely understand her. Wasn't very helpful and couldn't say if they would come if I could generate enough interest. Note sure if these guys are legit given what's happening in Secunda and I don't see any reports of what the service is like from people in Durban.

Are there any other options for us Pretorians?

Greencom seems like the best option but I'd have to print flyers at my own cost to get support going.

I see on DFA's site, we do have some dark fibre running through Erasmia, would that help at all with rolling out fibre?

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I would suggest you go with VUMA. Being the first is not easy, but if you can get the interest they will be your best bet.

Do you guys have a community association?
 
feo said:
123Net: Not in Pretoria yet, lady on the phone had a THICK Bulgarian accent so I could barely understand her. Wasn't very helpful and couldn't say if they would come if I could generate enough interest. Note sure if these guys are legit given what's happening in Secunda and I don't see any reports of what the service is like from people in Durban.
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Oh dear lord. If it wasn't enough the Chinese are being sent here. It's probably Kalin's wife or sister in law or something. :D

If only people in Durban would speak up about their service so that we could know if all this hoopla is worth it. But on a more serious note Webprinter's flyer prices are the most cost effective at R627 for 5,000 A5 flyers. Don't bother with their A6 as it's only R57 cheaper. Rather print two of them on A5 and cut it yourself.
 
Anyone in Hatfield area got Fibre ? Who should i contact.. have tried Mweb and Telkom they will get back to me...
 
DERoestorf said:
I would suggest you go with VUMA. Being the first is not easy, but if you can get the interest they will be your best bet.

Do you guys have a community association?
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I'm not sure that we have a formal community association, I know that's not ideal but that shouldn't be a deal breaker.

I'm more than willing to actively go around and get support. I've heard that Vuma provide the flyers, maybe I should contact them and ask further about that before printing a whole lot myself?

Swa said:
Oh dear lord. If it wasn't enough the Chinese are being sent here. It's probably Kalin's wife or sister in law or something. :D

If only people in Durban would speak up about their service so that we could know if all this hoopla is worth it. But on a more serious note Webprinter's flyer prices are the most cost effective at R627 for 5,000 A5 flyers. Don't bother with their A6 as it's only R57 cheaper. Rather print two of them on A5 and cut it yourself.
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I thought I had the wrong number when I called, it was super weird.

Good to know about the flyer prices, thanks.

And about DFA, what is the point of having all that fibre running all over the place when nobody can provide fibre as last mile connectivity?
 
Hi Feo would also be interested in getting fibre in Erasmia, have been trying with Lightspeed for about a year now but nothing ever comes of it. maybe give them a try. You may just have the luck. Any other help you need I will be willing to. instead of flyers we could always just setup a google form and get people to fill out there.
 
dalmine007 said:
Hi Feo would also be interested in getting fibre in Erasmia, have been trying with Lightspeed for about a year now but nothing ever comes of it. maybe give them a try. You may just have the luck. Any other help you need I will be willing to. instead of flyers we could always just setup a google form and get people to fill out there.
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Awesome, thought I was the only one here that wants fibre.

I think Vumatel may be the answer though. I'm in contact with them over email, hopefully something can come of it.

What other options have you explored besides Lightspeed?
 
feo said:
Awesome, thought I was the only one here that wants fibre.

I think Vumatel may be the answer though. I'm in contact with them over email, hopefully something can come of it.

What other options have you explored besides Lightspeed?
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I have spoken to Vodacom as well it was supposed to be installed in the the second quarter :cry:
Also have spoken to the guys at at ansaar estate and they 100% on.
 
I'm also confused.
2015-10-22 01.JPG

According to that map, the fibre line runs right past my house, but there are seemingly no options anywhere for me to get fibre. What is missing, except the fibre connection into my house?
 
Ho3n3r said:
I'm also confused.
View attachment 308972

According to that map, the fibre line runs right past my house, but there are seemingly no options anywhere for me to get fibre. What is missing, except the fibre connection into my house?
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I'd also like to know this.

I don't know any individual that has a DFA connection, it's just the backbone. I think it was the guy from Greencom that mentioned that getting access to DFA is very expensive so they don't do that. So what exactly is the point of DFA?
 
feo said:
I'd also like to know this.

I don't know any individual that has a DFA connection, it's just the backbone. I think it was the guy from Greencom that mentioned that getting access to DFA is very expensive so they don't do that. So what exactly is the point of DFA?
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Yeah, if that's the case, they might as well build a Ferrari dealership in Soshanguve for the locals.
 
So Lightspeed says that they would need a commitment of R20k in order to make fibre feasible for me.

If you look at the image in my OP, I'm in Van Leenhof Street and DFA runs about 100m away from me in Alletta and they can't lay fibre to my home without the R20k commitment. Does that mean I need to get the entire block to sign up? Or is it commitment from people in the general area?

I'm also being ignored by Vumatel.

Seriously, are there no fibre options in Pretoria?
 
feo said:
So Lightspeed says that they would need a commitment of R20k in order to make fibre feasible for me.

If you look at the image in my OP, I'm in Van Leenhof Street and DFA runs about 100m away from me in Alletta and they can't lay fibre to my home without the R20k commitment. Does that mean I need to get the entire block to sign up? Or is it commitment from people in the general area?

I'm also being ignored by Vumatel.

Seriously, are there no fibre options in Pretoria?
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Not yet.
 
Hi Gents! Managed to take a read through the whole thread.

OK so being in the position that I am in, I was able to find most of the info you lot were searching for a while back.

VOX - Useless, they want 800 signatures and then there's the possibility that they maybe could come into the area.

vumatel - Asking the same, possibly maybe, long term.

123net - Responsive, but only long term solutions, no user feedback to how they operate.

LightSpeed - Responsive, managed to get right to the tip of the mountain, They need around 10K before plans and their stages of roll-out on DFA network can happen. That is within your immediate area and or suburb, regardless of what packages are signed up for, if you collect the interested forms and submit it all to them their turn around time is around the same as Telkom 1-2 months. That's if the DFA has got infrastructure in the area.

Telkom - It's as though the different departments in Telkom do their own thing and then don't let the rest know what they are doing. Lots of miscommunication and head smacking, I can pass the info for the manager who ever wants it and you can take up your request from there. Doubt you'll get a straight answer and there are no time frames.

As it goes for Greencom and Aerial fiber and the rest, no immediate plans as they are just starting up and looking for the more "rich" and more vibrant communities.

Hope it helps, like I said I've done most of the looking around already, even spoke to DFA and I know what they want too.
I'm running the Garsfontein FTTH, Fiber Community on Facebook so yea, been there done that got the beer mug.

Signed up for the 40mb line with Telkom R1599 a month, after looking at the speed drops and so on, having second thoughts, but hopefully all will be well.

Regards

Hart
 
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feo said:
So Lightspeed says that they would need a commitment of R20k in order to make fibre feasible for me.

If you look at the image in my OP, I'm in Van Leenhof Street and DFA runs about 100m away from me in Alletta and they can't lay fibre to my home without the R20k commitment. Does that mean I need to get the entire block to sign up? Or is it commitment from people in the general area?

I'm also being ignored by Vumatel.

Seriously, are there no fibre options in Pretoria?
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Feo if you can find out what Radius they need i can probably get us the 20k commitment also if they can give us a monetary amount for the entire Erasmia we have something to work towards
 
dalmine007 said:
Feo if you can find out what Radius they need i can probably get us the 20k commitment also if they can give us a monetary amount for the entire Erasmia we have something to work towards
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Hey, have a look at my post here.

Erasmia may be a bit too big to tackle at once, given that we only have DFA running on Aletta and Willem Erasmus. I'm 300m from Aletta so maybe houses in that area and also Ansaar Estate because it's close to the main road.

NB. I sent you a PM a few days ago.
 
feo said:
Hey, have a look at my post here.

Erasmia may be a bit too big to tackle at once, given that we only have DFA running on Aletta and Willem Erasmus. I'm 300m from Aletta so maybe houses in that area and also Ansaar Estate because it's close to the main road.

NB. I sent you a PM a few days ago.
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FEO PM me ure phone number than we can hopefully sort out asap
 
@dalmine007 @feo
Any updates ?
 
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