Infraplex

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phiber

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Hi guys and gals,

I live in Bedfordview and our management agent wants to use Infraplex for Fibre. They currently don't cross connect with anyone, and on questioning them today, they said I can ask an ISP to cross connect with them as their service is open but I would need to drive it with their ISP. They do provide ISP services, but their fees and installation are quite high in comparison to other providers.

Has anyone dealt with them or even heard of them?
 
Stay far away. They're expensive and their network is relatively stable, but when it goes down they just do not know how to deal with it and are terrible with service. They are flat out unethical and will ignore customers at the best and worst of times. If the internet isn't important to you then stay away.
 
phiber said:
Hi guys and gals,

I live in Bedfordview and our management agent wants to use Infraplex for Fibre. They currently don't cross connect with anyone, and on questioning them today, they said I can ask an ISP to cross connect with them as their service is open but I would need to drive it with their ISP. They do provide ISP services, but their fees and installation are quite high in comparison to other providers.

Has anyone dealt with them or even heard of them?
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They mostly backhaul via wireless links. So you may get fibre within the complex, but that goes out to the internet via a shared wireless link. I know them well and have worked with and around them for years.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like a proper open access FNO to contact your managing agent.
 
Duly said:
Stay far away. They're expensive and their network is relatively stable, but when it goes down they just do not know how to deal with it and are terrible with service. They are flat out unethical and will ignore customers at the best and worst of times. If the internet isn't important to you then stay away.
Click to expand...

Especially if there is a wireless hop in the backhaul.
 
pinball wizard said:
Especially if there is a wireless hop in the backhaul.
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Thanks for the advice, so there's really no difference between the "Fiber" they sold me or a wireless connection when we were face-to-face but my agent seems to have signed a contract for something else.
 
Duly said:
Thanks for the advice, so there's really no difference between the "Fiber" they sold me or a wireless connection when we were face-to-face but my agent seems to have signed a contract for something else.
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So, I've seen them do two things in complexes. One is to install fibre within the environment and then backhaul it wirelessly, the other is to install wireless links for each user until they have enough users within the complex signed up to pay for the fibre to be installed. I have heard rumours that they have actual FTTH installations with fibre backhaul, but I haven't seen it in real life.
 
pinball wizard said:
So, I've seen them do two things in complexes. One is to install fibre within the environment and then backhaul it wirelessly, the other is to install wireless links for each user until they have enough users within the complex signed up to pay for the fibre to be installed. I have heard rumours that they have actual FTTH installations with fibre backhaul, but I haven't seen it in real life.
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Pretty sure the former is true, but I recall them marketing "Fiber" - I had seen sidewalks dug up around Bedfordview but not around our complex, so I was very surprised when they started marketing in the complex. Gave them the benefit of the doubt until it started raining and my net+tv died.

I asked them about it and they declined to respond.
 
Duly said:
Pretty sure the former is true, but I recall them marketing "Fiber" - I had seen sidewalks dug up around Bedfordview but not around our complex,
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Yeah, that was mostly TT Connect and Link Africa. We did a small bit of backhaul around Bedford Centre as well.
 
pinball wizard said:
Yeah, rain shouldn't ever affect fibre.
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Yeah, as I mentioned to them. But they ignored my messages, then when the "system was struck by lightning" and went down they couldn't tell me when I would get a connection again and it got heated from there.
 
After asking around and not hearing a lot about then, we ditched them for TT Connect. Ended up costing a ton less and the service is really good!
 
phiber said:
After asking around and not hearing a lot about then, we ditched them for TT Connect. Ended up costing a ton less and the service is really good!
Click to expand...

Wish I had that option. Somehow we can't get any other ISP in our complex
 
Duly said:
Wish I had that option. Somehow we can't get any other ISP in our complex
Click to expand...

Since the complex is a small one they called in all the owners before any decisions were made, so I spent a lot of time investigating. Asked anyone and everyone I know who is in the networking game about these guys, and no-one seemed to have heard of them.

Infraplex has a clause that gives them 5 year exclusive on connectivity in the complex, something that annoyed me as well. They wanted 20k per house upfront as well and the managing agents were pushing hard to onboard them. In the end we called out TTConnect and they came in and said would do all the work for no cost and don't require exclusivity, but will not allow any provider to use the infrastructure they laid down in the complex. All owners are really happy with TTConnect.

Which complex are you in? I used to live in Van Buuren Estate when they went Infraplex and we didn't have the option to vote on the provider. Was much easier to get involved in the smaller complex.
 
I'm in Van Buuren hey. I'm going to cancel the contract with Infraplex and then move to a wireless connection, especially with this being a wireless connection marketed as Fibre - they were very smart to only put up posters saying fibre but it's not promised anywhere in the contracts.
 
Nothing is ever as simple as it looks. If you need fast internet you often have to take what you can get. I ended up with Infraplex after switching from another large service provider who after false advertising could not up me from 3G. My overall data costs is a lot lower in spite of now streaming Netflix and Amazon and and and. I have had a lot less technical issues. Actually hardly any.
 
I signed up with Infraplex against my better judgement. While the installation they did was quite nice, that is where the nice experience ended.

1. They charged me a R215 support fee as I requested a simple port forwarding rule to be set up.
2. I am currently struggling with an 8% packet loss over a cabled connection to google DNS.
3. All their pricing on their paperwork is seemingly VAT exclusive. I have yet to peruse it properly, but I would not be surprised if it isn't stated anywhere.
4. My night time speeds are dismal. a 20Mbit connection results in probably 1.86mb of usable bandwidth (cabled)
5. Netflix struggles, reddit videos are non existent, whatsapps struggle (especially media sending and receiving)

Only 2 weeks with them and I am already pulling my hair out. I have now put a Mikrotik between their GW and my network so that I can monitor and graph the speed of the fiber. They refused to give me access to the router, even though I am a paying customer.
 
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Currently struggling with 6-10% packet loss on any ping to 8.8.8.8. I logged a ticket last night, but the 2nd level tech on the other side could not tell me what the light levels on the ONU was like. I am suspecting a bad last mile install / splice job.

I told the tech that I had put a Mikrotik between his UFiber unit and my network, and he suggested we use my 3011 as a router, put the UFiber unit into bridge mode, and run the PPPoE on the Mikrotik.

Anyways, we did that, but still I struggle. Was running a ping the entire time I was typing this, sitting at 6%.

1625059185426.png

Oh, and that all being said, I will most likely also be charged for this call I had logged. Or at least, I would not be surprised if I was charged for it.
 
Update. Packet loss remains. I have reverted to plugging a cable directly into my laptop with no change.

To add to my frustration, my Wife's company uses Box.com as their cloud storage. Their servers sit in Amsterdam as far as the IP geolocation tells me. This complicates my life a lot, because my wife gets frustrated with how slowly box updates. I have tested, and I get eye-wateringly slow speeds. Maybe 2Mbit download speeds. Their peering us absolutely non existent.

Can I somehow claim buyers remorse and cancel this line somehow? Just pick Vuma up from out in the street and bypass them completely? ****sakes I am pulling my hair out.
 
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@Jan @Jamie McKane @rpm

You guys bored? Want to chase up some ISP that is bending users over a barrel?

Infraplex are screwing their users so hard. Just look at these prices.
I have tried talking to them to get answers as to why their service is so outrageously expensive, but my tickets are being ignored.

Unfortunately the complex I live in are 2 years into a 5 year monopoly contract with these clowns.

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Also, don't ask their tech support to change anything on your router, as you will be charged for that. Want port forwarding done, invoice. Want your WiFi name or password changed, invoice.
 
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