How to get TELKOM to fix exchange in Panorama, Cape Town

[FNfal]

Hey all,

We have recently moved house from Parow North (Cape Town) to Panorama (Cape Town). We have transferred our lines to the new house, but I come to discover that I will not be able to get 10MB or even 4MB ADSL here as the lines are too far from the exchange, though telkom still sells the connection speed for the area.

When I was in Parow North, connecting to the same exchange at the new house, I was synch'ing at 10Mbs and now moving an additional 2 kms I cannot get decent ADSL!

A Telkom technician that came to the house today, told me that the best and most reliable speed I will get is 384Kbs. *

According to the technician what needs to happen is for Telkom to install a min-exchange for the area to boost the line transmission and requests have been made on numerous occassions to Telkom but nothing has happened and no one knows if it will ever happen.

Does anyone know anyone at Telkom I could contact to try see how this problem can be rectified.. someone with power and some willingness to have things dones properly...

thanx
Dave

It is not a simple matter to just go and park a mini exchange on the side of the road fiber has to be laid and way leaves from the local council for the fiber and the erection of the mini exchange .
the erection and electricity has to be done to.
cable networks feed geographical areas almost never overlap ( one block of houses will feed to one DP ) each DP feeds a street box from the street box it goes to the exchange .
when they fit a mini exchange (UMC) they normally fit them next to an existing street box which serves a number of DPs
This process i would estimate to take about a year

 

[Axen]

Hi peeps, It's been over a year since i last read this thread and still telkom are messing around with the general Panorama area. Recently though, I have seen guys laying cable and working on street boxes in the area. Have our prayers been answered? Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks.

 

[snagroot]

Hi peeps, It's been over a year since i last read this thread and still telkom are messing around with the general Panorama area. Recently though, I have seen guys laying cable and working on street boxes in the area. Have our prayers been answered? Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks.

Hey guys,
How can all of you complain so much . Jeez, I live in Plattekloof 1 and am connected to the same exchange as you guys. Guess what? The maximum speed I can get here in Plattekloof 1, is 0.8 Megabit and that is the same as my neighbour next door. WOW amaZinG! :wtf: And you guys complain about having 2 to 4 megabit. sigh.

Plattekloof 1 is approximately 5 to 6 km from the Parow exchange, and I am experiencing the following noise:
Line Attenuation 61.5 db
Noise Margin 15.85 db

My router must sync to the exchange at 1Megabit at the most, otherwise it keeps dropping its connection.

As far as I know, they are performing 40Megabit trials on the Durbanville exchange currently and are supposed to roll this out over the next 5 years (supposed to being the key word here). I also know that Plattekloof 4 seems to magically get 4 to 10 Megabit because Telscum installed a DSLAM for the businesses located there (where there's money to be made, there's Telscum). Also some lucky bastards in Plattekloof 3 and maybe 2 are connected to one of these fast DSLAMs and they can get around 2 Megabit so I have been told.

Consequently, I do not have high hopes for the Parow exchange (which is based near Voortrekker road - the TelKom engineer informed me of this).
I have no other cost-effective options for fast internet right now. Maybe in 10 years time when everyone has 100 Megabit connections, they will upgrade the Parow exchange.

If anyone hears of any other means of achieving fast cost-effective broadband in Parow akin to at least a 2Megabit ADSL connection, please let me know!

Cheerio

 

[Gtx Gaming]

Consequently, I do not have high hopes for the Parow exchange (which is based near Voortrekker road - the TelKom engineer informed me of this).

yep near the post office

i have 6mb stable link to the same exchange, though i live in parow north , gets about 42 line attenuation.

its just plattekloofand panorama is to far , and should have its own exchange.

 

[psudan]

I am in Plattekloof 2 and was 5Km from the exchange, I finally cancel my ADSL and landline in early 2011 and moved to Amobia wireless, I have 2 links with them 1) capped 2Mbps sync high-end low latency, needed for my work 2) uncapped 3Mbps async for R799/month which works great for everyday use (e-mail, browsing, download, etc..) only issue is VOIP (Skype) but they are working on it, mWeb is the provider behind it. I must say I am extremely impressed with Amobia support team, best I have ever experienced in SA. So if you have a clear line of sight to one of their high site in Goodwood or Milnerton might be worth giving a try.

Over the last few weeks, Telkom has just installed a new exchange around the corner, finally! About 500m away. I have now requested a new Telkom line but only on the new exchange, which is not operational yet. Made it very clear on the request form, even with the exchange number! Got a call yesterday from Telkom to install my line and I ask them if it was on the new exchange, the answer was NO, just shows how communication works within Telkom, I obviously told them to call me back once it is operational. Now it looks like I might have to cancel my request and only reapply once the new exchange is working. I love red tape....

 

[snagroot]

Over the last few weeks, Telkom has just installed a new exchange around the corner, finally! About 500m away. I have now requested a new Telkom line but only on the new exchange, which is not operational yet.

Hi Psudan,
How did you hear about this new exchange near Plattekloof? Where exactly is it located?

 

[yebocan]

im at parow north, near the grounds as you ride into it.

i was not asked or notified just noticed it went off.

it was at full 4096/512 at 43db.

now its 4095/507 with 29db, telkom stealing my bandwidth lol

what weird is i always got some errors , not allot but there were showing on the router, now i don't even get 1 error, atm 10 days connected not 1 error o.0

you may be on one of the a new MSANs that Telkom is rolling out....."it will sync at adsl 2+ if your on new tech, your upload will be 507 and not 512 on a 4mb and 1mb line, on a 384 its 123 upload i think , and your modem tells you if you are using adsl2+ , or should tell you

Make sure your modem is set to use Auto modulation and not forced for gmt." -Luck Bugger

 

[psudan]

Hi Psudan,

How did you hear about this new exchange near Plattekloof? Where exactly is it located?

Snagroot,

I saw them doing the work and ask them... It is in Plattekloof 2 cnr of Keurboom and Essenhout. Based on Telkom engineer it will cover the older part of Plattekloof 2 which at the time was connected straight to Parow, the rest of Plattekloof 2 & 3 has already their own exchange-mDslam.

 

[snagroot]

Snagroot,

I saw them doing the work and ask them... It is in Plattekloof 2 cnr of Keurboom and Essenhout. Based on Telkom engineer it will cover the older part of Plattekloof 2 which at the time was connected straight to Parow, the rest of Plattekloof 2 & 3 has already their own exchange-mDslam.

That is hilarious. So the whole of Plattekloof 2, 3 and 4 have high-speed broadband > 4Megabit and Plattekloof 1 gets 0.7 Megabits/sec. Awesome.

 

[JohnJuniorV3]

im at parow north, near the grounds as you ride into it.

i was not asked or notified just noticed it went off.

it was at full 4096/512 at 43db.

now its 4095/507 with 29db, telkom stealing my bandwidth lol

what weird is i always got some errors , not allot but there were showing on the router, now i don't even get 1 error, atm 10 days connected not 1 error o.0

Ur moved to a 10mb adsl2+ exchange

 

[jvrs]

Sorry to revive this one, I am in the exact same boat. Moved to Panorama and bam instant 1/4 speed internet.

Lucky I could get connection at all being 4.5 km away from the exchange.

Does someone know who to approach @ telkom to discuss or query or get any type of info ? The call desk is just useless with this, they see it as a fault and wants to send a technician out everytime !!!!

 

[Hummercellc]

Ur moved to a 10mb adsl2+ exchange

I sync using ADSL2+ modulation just don't have 10Mbps as our exchange is still on ATM and not ME.....

 

[b@nD]

Desperate

Just a crazy idea

I guess some people would actually think of doing the wiring and installations if they could -- or sub-contract them
Obviously Telkom would not allow this
However seeing as Neotel are a licensed telcoms operator could one not approach them to do the cabling wiring and installation -- and then hand over the finished installation to Telkom for commissioning ?

I guess all the installation stuff works according to laid down industry standards ( and Telkom probabaly get other sub-contractors to do the work anyway.)

Comments about taking a year to do something that in the US would be done and dusted in a week are just beyond embarrassing.

Desperate measures for desperate situations .........

 

[MickZA]

1) However seeing as Neotel are a licensed telcoms operator could one not approach them to do the cabling wiring and installation -- and then hand over the finished installation to Telkom for commissioning ?

2) Comments about taking a year to do something that in the US would be done and dusted in a week are just beyond embarrassing.

1) If this was a practical solution and there were bucks to made Neotel would already have their snouts in the trough.

2) Wrong - if the ROI was lousy (as is the case here) nobody would touch it.

As you say, just a crazy idea

 

[jvrs]

Got an sms yesterday that the installation is scheduled for friday, what installation I do not know, I have my current connection @ 1Mbps, I phoned and asked more detail as I have a line already, the oke said I am getting a new number....Lets see what this means

 

[Dimpie (COMPUTEK)]

Got an sms yesterday that the installation is scheduled for friday, what installation I do not know, I have my current connection @ 1Mbps, I phoned and asked more detail as I have a line already, the oke said I am getting a new number....Lets see what this means

yeah, they do these kind of f***ups ... they replaced my line between the inside wall-socket & the outside pole (± 30m) .... 10 hours later after everything was connected, I had my neighbor's number .... took another 30min to find the correct 2 little wires that belongs to me. ... I was happy & everything was back to normal ... about the neighbor's line, they couldn't give 2 *****s ... they packed up & left. He had to submit a new complaint and was only sorted out 2 weeks later. .... but what can you do???? ... just smile & wave :wtf:

PS: obviously this is not what they planning for you

 

[jvrs]

yeah, they do these kind of f***ups ... they replaced my line between the inside wall-socket & the outside pole (± 30m) .... 10 hours later after everything was connected, I had my neighbor's number .... took another 30min to find the correct 2 little wires that belongs to me. ... I was happy & everything was back to normal ... about the neighbor's line, they couldn't give 2 *****s ... they packed up & left. He had to submit a new complaint and was only sorted out 2 weeks later. .... but what can you do???? ... just smile & wave :wtf:

PS: obviously this is not what they planning for you

Guess what was the outcome !!!!

The big T was a "NO SHOW" after they confirmed yesterday via phone call, I should probably not have taken leave, sitting and waiting for these %^#^& people !!

 

[jvrs]

Even better, my DSL 1 Meg is now completely dead, phoning from the line it tells me I have a pre-paid line now WTF

Phoning 10210 does not help either, the last entry on my progress report was over a month ago.

I do not know what to do now...

 

[nbroers]

I created a petition for Telkom to improve the situation in Panorama - I have gathered a few signatures already. I will send it to them this week and thereafter repeatedly until they take action! Please sign it here:

http://www.foo.co.za/petition-for-telkom-to-improve-adsl-in-panorama-parow-by-installing-a-mini-dslam

The only thing we can do is to pressure them continually - as frequently and as publicly as possible. It has been a year and a half since we started battling with them and our connectivity is just getting worst every day.

If you have any email addresses or fax numbers of relevant contacts within Telkom, please post them as well!

 

[jvrs]

for what its worth I signed thanks for the attempt !