iBurst Centurion Tower

LandyMan · Mar 2, 2005

Morning all

I have been monitoring the Centurion tower deployment for the past few weeks, seeing that Telkom is unable to provide an ADSL connection to my house (they claim they don't have the money to put in the cables) - go figure.

Is there anyone out there that has been able to connect to this tower (I believe it only went live yesterday, so I might be rushing it a bit).

Raithlin · Mar 2, 2005

I'll be taking my terminal to a friend's house in a few days. I can report back if you wish. He stays in Highveld...

louisp · Mar 2, 2005

Landyman said:
they claim they don't have the money to put in the cables

Hmmm, just go check their financial results, I'm sure they can spare a few cables??

Ps. Also followed the deployment on the rollout page. It is now showing as live

LandyMan · Mar 2, 2005

Money money money

As far as I can recall they showed profit of about R4.2bn? How much can it cost to put in a cable ... maybe a platinum cable network is on the cards?

I also saw the tower is tagged live. My problem is that we are in Midstream Estate, somewhere between Midrand (don't get signal from there) and Centurion. I believe the tower is in Highveld, so I might get reception!

Cheers, and thanks Raithlin, much appreciated!

Raithlin · Mar 2, 2005

Methinks WBS should mount a tower on the rise near DBSA. That would cater for Samrand, Blue Valley, Noordwyk (North end), Randjesfontein... the list goes on.

<edit>
Of course, there is a tower about 250m from my house in Noordwyk that they could use too...

</edit>

Swoosh · Mar 2, 2005

That will be great!!

Gimli_ · Mar 2, 2005

LandyMan, I can report that I am currently connected to the Centurion tower, and I am getting a 80-100 % connection. I am 5 km away in near Smuts house on the other side of Botha Avenue (Irene). My speed according to tcpiq is 275 kbits/s download and 95 kbits/s upload.

I thing you will get reception in Midstream

Gimli_ · Mar 3, 2005

One day later and..... in the morining I got good connection with the tower but 0 kbits/s either way. Then now when I got home 0% signal as well. Hope this is not a sign of what is to come.

Gimli_ · Mar 3, 2005

Came up again at about 19h15 and the speed is fine. I don't know what everybody is on about, centurion tower seems ok?

mmm..... Maybe cause I am probibly the only one on the tower, it only came up for the first time two days ago.

Raithlin · Mar 4, 2005

It's alive!!

Gimli said:
mmm..... Maybe cause I am probibly the only one on the tower, it only came up for the first time two days ago.

Not any more.

I'm typing from about 1km from the Centurion tower, downloading a 690MB ISO at an average of 125kB/sec. Upload average is 3.6kB/sec. I peak at around 150kB/sec... and this forum loads in about 1.5 seconds.

Ping times average around 500ms to www.google.com.

Pinging www.is.co.za as follows:

Code:

Pinging www.is.co.za [196.35.72.14] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=109ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=47ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=47ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=125ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=125ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=125ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=47ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=118
Reply from 196.35.72.14: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=118

Ping statistics for 196.35.72.14:
    Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 50, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 47ms, Maximum =  125ms, Average =  70ms

Dunno about you, but it looks good from here...

Let's see how long it lasts...

LandyMan · Mar 5, 2005

Good day!

Yes, it is a good day!

I found a nice sweet spot on my desk ... pity it is in the middle of the desk

What I did notice however is that when connected to iBurst, I get about 50% reception ... as soon as I send a data request through, it jumps to about 94% signal. I would imagine that the data sending increase the power to the aerial, which means I get better reception all round. So how to find the sweet spot: Keep sending ping requests to wherever, just to increase the power to the aerial.

Sitting typing, the signal dropped to 40%, opening a google ping, we are back up to 90%.

So, the Centurion tower from Midstream looks quite good ... now we are 3 on it

ping www.google.com: Average 347ms
ping www.is.co.za: Average 82ms

LandyMan · Mar 5, 2005

Short update: downloading a 6Mb file from Microsoft at 46KB/sec

FISHborn · Mar 6, 2005

I stay in Tarentaal nook Zwartkop x7, just under the Benschoeman highway. The map states that i will get good signal, but i get none. I've tested the modem @ Kempton and when the Centurion tower went live, i've got signal from the other side of Centurion and dl speeds of 120kb. (10mb Telkom test.file in 1:25. And a total dl and browsing of 210mb in 17min) Is their anybody staying near me that have the same problem or that does have a connection.

UnUnOctium · Mar 6, 2005

hi i just got iBurst on Thursday and am very happy with it.
I Stay in Valhalla and i presume therefore im on the Centurion tower. I get full signal when idling and my local and international DL speeds average at +-120 KB/s

Crash · Mar 7, 2005

I'm going to move to Centurian.

Shaun Green · Mar 7, 2005

What can i say

Centurion sorted out nicely with another base station, resolving certain signal prob's.

Help us achieve the ultimate in broadband in South Africa.

This product looks better by the day.

Shaun Green

LandyMan · Mar 15, 2005

No complaints

Guys and Girls,

I have to say that I cannot complain about the connection to the Centurion BS. Found my sweet spot, running anything between 90% and 94% signal strength.

I have had 2 major downtimes in the last 3 weeks, but other than that no problems.

My tcpiq speeds are in the region of 380KBits/s down, 150KBits/s up:

http://www.tcpiq.com/tcpIQ/LineSpee...ountryId=196&ConnectionId=12263&UserId=152618

, and on Telkom's speed test I very seldom get anything below 900KBits/s

Well done WBS, Centurion seems to be a stable BS!

Raithlin · Mar 15, 2005

Shaun, any chance of getting another Midrand BS in the near future? I know there are several Telkom towers begging for iBurst...

slimothy · Mar 15, 2005

How much trouble is it for iburst to get new base stations? is ti a simple proccess (fill out an application, wait 2 weeks sort of thing) or more tedious?

guest2013-1 · Mar 15, 2005

they need enviromental impact studies done by government before they actually can put up a tower, this is normally what delays it significantly. Also, hardware for the tower itself could be delayed by customs etc.

However, I can tell you now, that planning the "where and how" of a tower is farely simple and takes only a few days. But then, government came.... and they said... you men must hunt... but see.. the government didn't say what they must hunt... and thats why there is no dinosaurs anymore....

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