Getting Fibre Installed in South Africa — The Ultimate Guide: Part 1

C

Colsuldel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2014
Messages
320
Thanx, Good read!
looking forward to part two.

I will be heading down this route in the next
few months to replace the 2mbps ADSL.

/sub
 
S

SZN

Expert Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Messages
2,905
Excellent write up, informative and quite funny.

Really enjoyed reading it, looking forward to part 2.
 
MickeyD

MickeyD

RIP
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
139,117
lawrencecawood said:
Hey Nitro... I still have to write Part 2 :) But I'll post it here as soon as it's done.
Click to expand...
Hi Lawrence

Please post it in this thread. I have already applied sticky tape to this one and will edit your thread title once part two is posted.

Thanks!!
 
M

MickZA

Executive Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
7,575
Thanks Lawrence, very informative and I love your writing style :)

Looking forward to part 2.
 
D

DERoestorf

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2014
Messages
923
Good Article, but flawed information provided by Webafrica guy

"He said that depending on the area it could be another provider (e.g. Vumatel, Fibrehoods, Frogfoot, or Octotel) and that Telkom/Openserve is the only provider to serve my area currently. He mentioned that it doesn’t matter who the provider is — technically they’re all the same and I don’t need to worry about that."

There is a major difference between Openserve and the rest, as Openserve interaction with ISP's contains IPC, which makes Fibre way more expensive. Something I think he should have mentioned. Technically, that is a massive difference, and not a small one as he want to make it out to me, in my mind.
 
S

sybawoods

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Messages
1,230
kang

kang

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
817
Nice read. It was so refreshing to read something that was written properly.
Do you work from home? You're fortunate to be available for when the installers come knocking.
 
D

donn_edwards

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
173
Here is my simplifed setup guide for once the equipment has been installed: Vumatel and Cool Ideas: A setup guide

I use Cool Ideas because they are my new ISP, thanks to the wierd FTTH pricing structure of MWEB. I think the procedure would be much the same with any other Vumatel ISP.

My writing style isn't as good as Lawrence, but I hope it's readable and informative.
 
L

lawrencecawood

Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Messages
13
DERoestorf said:
Good Article, but flawed information provided by Webafrica guy

There is a major difference between Openserve and the rest, as Openserve interaction with ISP's contains IPC, which makes Fibre way more expensive. Something I think he should have mentioned. Technically, that is a massive difference, and not a small one as he want to make it out to me, in my mind.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the extra info DERoestorf! I wasn't aware of IPC but busy reading about it now :)
 
L

lawrencecawood

Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Messages
13
sybawoods said:
Curious to know whether there was any trenching done in the street directly outside your home? Or was the fibre laid in some other way?
Click to expand...

No there wasn't any trenching. Telkom had previously installed the main fibre lines in the estate, which ended at the nearest manhole. All that needed to be done in my case was to draw a cable from my house to that nearest manhole, where they connect it up to the fibre splitter or whatever they call it.
 
L

lawrencecawood

Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Messages
13
kang said:
Nice read. It was so refreshing to read something that was written properly.
Do you work from home? You're fortunate to be available for when the installers come knocking.
Click to expand...

Thanks kang :) Yeah I can work from any location. Most of the time the installers would call me first then I'd just pop back home to oversee things... and to take pics for my blog post! ;)
 
J

jcheek

Expert Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Messages
1,117
lawrencecawood said:
Hey, Lawrence here... I wrote the 2007 sticky "Lawrence's Guide to Ordering Home DSL" which has since had 99k views here on MyBroadband.

I've just written "Getting Fibre Installed in South Africa — The Ultimate Guide: Part 1" - hope you enjoy and find it useful!
Click to expand...
A great read! Well done.
This is written primarily from an "estate" / gated community perspective, but very relevant.


lawrencecawood said:
... I still have to write Part 2 :) But I'll post it here as soon as it's done.
Click to expand...
There've been several excellent - albeit informal - "install blogs" written on MyBB.

While waiting for Part 2, and in addition to the blogs already linked here, readers can head on over to the Telkom-based FTTH in Pretoria thread for some additional insights into the emotional rollercoaster ride that is "ordering Telkom FTTH" ! Even though it's specific to Telkom/OpenServe, and to Pretoria, that thread has also garnered some 90k reads in its 20-month existence, an indication of how quickly FTTH is taking off now.

DERoestorf highlighted the very important issue of IPConnect sitting between OpenServe and the "independent" ISPs, which has also been raised in that thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top