ADSLokNOTgood
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- Joined
- Nov 8, 2005
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Hi all,
1stly I am new to the world of forums and ADSL. Not the technology though, I come from a telecoms background. I must say I am slightly disappointed at the services available in South Africa.
My wife is part of a pilot (she is actually the only one) for her company to test the feasibility of homeworkers. This is maybe not the normal teleworker type concept. Their work require them to be online during normal office hours (DSL is a good technology for this), they need to make/receive a lot of calls during the day and offer some consultation (a normal POTS line is OK for this). To ensure that she doesn't loose any important calls we have a call answer, caller ID and call waiting service. We also employ a normal dial-up modem with answering machine software (this is the primary answering service - answers before call answer service - easier to access voice mails on PC). She also has to send/receive many faxes, and for this we use a FAX-EMAIL-FAX service from a local provider.
Now this is where the problem starts. During my 1st 1.5 weeks of DSL we had almost 2 whole days of downtime due to network problems. My wife has to work according to a financial target, and imagine trying to catch up. In both cases my ADSL service provider performed DSL tests, they thought I was stupid and had me repeadtedly run through my router's set-up wizard. I tried to tell them the fault is not with the line (DSL modem synchs and I have speach), but they insist to test the line. Etc. In both cases the problem where not with my set-up, nor with the line.
The 2nd problem is with the RAS modem used for the answering service on my PC. This modem (LT Winmodem) supports caller ID, but not the RSA specific varient. I tried to get a list of modems from my service provider that would work in RSA with CLI support. Whenever you however mention the words modem and CLI in the same sentence they tell you that you will not receive calls when you are on the Internet, and then when you add that you have DSL they tell you they have a USB, an Ethernet and a wireless modem and they quote the prices. I am just looking for a normal RAS modem that supports Caller ID in RSA so I can use my PC as an answering machine/telephone!
And then the last problem. My POTS service provider does not offer a service where my phone line at home can be seen as an extension of the companies PBX. Something like Centrex, or a special extension line. This implies that my wife now needs to market herself and her own telephone numer, and people who previously contacted her on her companies PBX, now have to get her new number from the PBX attendant and the caller must make an additional call to my wifes "new" number. It get's worce. During peak periods my wife have to be in the office for a few weeks in succession. How will the clients calling her at home now reach her?
Is my "design" of my wife's service too complex? Can I make small changes to get better results? I thought all of this would be easy, but without proper support, knowledge and experience from Telkom I cannot make this work.
I hope you have some great ideas.
1stly I am new to the world of forums and ADSL. Not the technology though, I come from a telecoms background. I must say I am slightly disappointed at the services available in South Africa.
My wife is part of a pilot (she is actually the only one) for her company to test the feasibility of homeworkers. This is maybe not the normal teleworker type concept. Their work require them to be online during normal office hours (DSL is a good technology for this), they need to make/receive a lot of calls during the day and offer some consultation (a normal POTS line is OK for this). To ensure that she doesn't loose any important calls we have a call answer, caller ID and call waiting service. We also employ a normal dial-up modem with answering machine software (this is the primary answering service - answers before call answer service - easier to access voice mails on PC). She also has to send/receive many faxes, and for this we use a FAX-EMAIL-FAX service from a local provider.
Now this is where the problem starts. During my 1st 1.5 weeks of DSL we had almost 2 whole days of downtime due to network problems. My wife has to work according to a financial target, and imagine trying to catch up. In both cases my ADSL service provider performed DSL tests, they thought I was stupid and had me repeadtedly run through my router's set-up wizard. I tried to tell them the fault is not with the line (DSL modem synchs and I have speach), but they insist to test the line. Etc. In both cases the problem where not with my set-up, nor with the line.
The 2nd problem is with the RAS modem used for the answering service on my PC. This modem (LT Winmodem) supports caller ID, but not the RSA specific varient. I tried to get a list of modems from my service provider that would work in RSA with CLI support. Whenever you however mention the words modem and CLI in the same sentence they tell you that you will not receive calls when you are on the Internet, and then when you add that you have DSL they tell you they have a USB, an Ethernet and a wireless modem and they quote the prices. I am just looking for a normal RAS modem that supports Caller ID in RSA so I can use my PC as an answering machine/telephone!
And then the last problem. My POTS service provider does not offer a service where my phone line at home can be seen as an extension of the companies PBX. Something like Centrex, or a special extension line. This implies that my wife now needs to market herself and her own telephone numer, and people who previously contacted her on her companies PBX, now have to get her new number from the PBX attendant and the caller must make an additional call to my wifes "new" number. It get's worce. During peak periods my wife have to be in the office for a few weeks in succession. How will the clients calling her at home now reach her?
Is my "design" of my wife's service too complex? Can I make small changes to get better results? I thought all of this would be easy, but without proper support, knowledge and experience from Telkom I cannot make this work.
I hope you have some great ideas.
