NeoBroadband Wireless - Cape Town Coverage?

[RatX]

So I finally got sick and tired of my unstable max 2 Mbit/s aDSL line (Cape Town Milnerton area) and after having done some shopping around found the NeoBroadband offering quite compelling (currently R699 per month for 4 Mbit/s, 36-month contract, no installation fee, R1,000 cancellation fee). The attractive part is the 400 GB AUP, this is reasonable considering that there's generally one or more devices streaming at home all day long - I haven't been able to find a comparable service with similar AUP.

The WISP's I've approached stop talking to me as soon as I ask about AUP's - ~100 GB p/m doesn't cut it any more. Initial feedback was that there was a Neotel LTE base station ~2km's from my home address, then I was informed nope - no go, no coverage. This I find disappointing, I live in a very flat area with good LoS to most surrounding areas - any way I can twist somebody's arm into coming around and doing a site survey? Any handy contacts to help out with that? I don't want to sign up for the service if it's going to be marginal, but I would at least like the courtesy of a site survey.

 

[SideWinder]

Hi RatX,

1) You can get your LOS profile off Google Earth, after reverse engineering the Neotel coverage maps. You can do it yourself, if you know what to look for. Seems you already know when the base station is. (more or less), you can always try and zoom into that area and spot it "from the air", then go into streetview, or even take a drive around. Unfortunately tower don't have a sign saying "This is a Neotel Tower" (MNO's mostly have those signs on, but /Neotel probably use other people's towers.)

If you don't yet know howto do a profile on GE, just Google "Howto View Elevation Profile in GE"

2) I don't think Neotel has LTE in Cape Town yet. I'm in Joburg, so dont't get to Cape Town much. I think the coverage you see is Wimax coverage. The service may be the same, but the infrastructure is different. Different antennas, modem etc. But essentially all the same internet speeds, FUP, costs etc.

3) If your profile looks good, flat, and you are with a few km's fro the tower, need to find a Neotel contact (first try: Neotel WIC (Walk in Centre)). Try dealing with a actual person - not a voice in a Call Centre.

4) I found Neotel's maps not too accurate, with coverage where non, and visa versa - probably because they are theoretical maps, not actual!

Let us know what transpires. Maybe can help someone in the same scenario as you. If no other Internet players (not MNO's) are around you are in the next few months - watch out and see if these new fibre players aren't moving into you are . They offer beter, cheaper services then anyone else, hell, I even consider Telkom Fibre, if and when they eventually get to my street.

 

[RatX]

Thanks for the info, Sidewinder. For anybody else in Cape Town who is following this, I was eventually able to persuade them to come around to do a site survey (WiMax), but unfortunately it was no go. The installers tried their best but they couldn't get a signal. I got conflicting reports around the availability of LTE - initially the statement was that the nearest tower had reached it's 25 subscriber limit, then I was told that it wasn't ready yet and there was no ETA. Trying Sonic now...