New Vodacom tower that's becoming old

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MsParanoid

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Dear JannievanZyl

A Vodacom tower was erected in our town in November/December 2011 but it has still not been commissioned. We're in rural Northern Cape - Orania. Current internet options are Telkom 56k dial-up modem, ISDN (7 to 14 KB/s) or EDGE (0 to 10 KB/s), so we're desperate for this tower to go live.

Why the delay? Do you know what the problem is and whether or not there's some estimate of when it'll be working?
 
MsParanoid said:
Dear JannievanZyl

A Vodacom tower was erected in our town in November/December 2011 but it has still not been commissioned. We're in rural Northern Cape - Orania. Current internet options are Telkom 56k dial-up modem, ISDN (7 to 14 KB/s) or EDGE (0 to 10 KB/s), so we're desperate for this tower to go live.

Why the delay? Do you know what the problem is and whether or not there's some estimate of when it'll be working?
Click to expand...

Will ask. Where in the town is this tower exactly?
 
MsParanoid said:
Dear JannievanZyl

A Vodacom tower was erected in our town in November/December 2011 but it has still not been commissioned. We're in rural Northern Cape - Orania. Current internet options are Telkom 56k dial-up modem, ISDN (7 to 14 KB/s) or EDGE (0 to 10 KB/s), so we're desperate for this tower to go live.

Why the delay? Do you know what the problem is and whether or not there's some estimate of when it'll be working?
Click to expand...

Using Google Maps might assist Jannie to indicate where the tower is ?
 
jannievanzyl said:
Will ask. Where in the town is this tower exactly?
Click to expand...

Oh thank you! It's next to the museum and Dorpskantoor. Site name is BS0034310 - Orania Central



@kilos: It's a challenge to work with either Google Earth or Maps but I can give it a try if necessary.
 
Location Location Location

MsParanoid said:
Oh thank you! It's next to the museum and Dorpskantoor.
Site name is BS0034310 - Orania Central

@kilos: It's a challenge to work with either Google Earth or Maps but I can give it a try if necessary.
Click to expand...
Go here Orania and watch the video and you will SEE the cell tower ( a major feature of the project is Internet access )
Damned if I can find it on Google though.
I found a photo of the Verwoerd Gedenkversameling ( Museum ? )
Damned if I can also find that one on Google.
 
b@nD said:
Go here Orania and watch the video and you will SEE the cell tower ( a major feature of the project is Internet access )
Damned if I can find it on Google though.
I found a photo of the Verwoerd Gedenkversameling ( Museum ? )
Damned if I can also find that one on Google.
Click to expand...

The museum next to which the 3G tower has been erected is the history museum, not the Verwoerd Gedenkversameling. The last time I loaded Google Earth (about 4 months ago) it seemed it was about 3 years out of date.
 
MsParanoid said:
The museum next to which the 3G tower has been erected is the history museum, not the Verwoerd Gedenkversameling. The last time I loaded Google Earth (about 4 months ago) it seemed it was about 3 years out of date.
Click to expand...

OK, got some feedback. As I suspected the guys are waiting for the backhaul connections to be installed, basically the links that connect the tower to the Vodacom network. This might take a while but hopefully you'll have a more pleasant Xmas. But please don't hold me (or the VC guys) to it. :)
 
jannievanzyl said:
OK, got some feedback. As I suspected the guys are waiting for the backhaul connections to be installed, basically the links that connect the tower to the Vodacom network. This might take a while but hopefully you'll have a more pleasant Xmas. But please don't hold me (or the VC guys) to it. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for following up, Jannie. Sure good to have someone like you around :-)

So do these backhaul connections always follow many months after the tower has been erected, or is our case an exceptionally slow installation? Is the delay perhaps the result of the erection teams progressing at a faster rate than the backhaul teams and they're falling further and further behind? Or is it perhaps because the backhaul teams are waiting for equipment? Are they perhaps waiting for Icasa or Telkom to do their bit?

Don't mean to squeeze you into a corner, I'm just interested and like to understand things.
 
MsParanoid said:
Thanks for following up, Jannie. Sure good to have someone like you around :-)

So do these backhaul connections always follow many months after the tower has been erected, or is our case an exceptionally slow installation? Is the delay perhaps the result of the erection teams progressing at a faster rate than the backhaul teams and they're falling further and further behind? Or is it perhaps because the backhaul teams are waiting for equipment? Are they perhaps waiting for Icasa or Telkom to do their bit?

Don't mean to squeeze you into a corner, I'm just interested and like to understand things.
Click to expand...

These towers and links costs millions of Rands so they're very well planned in terms of equipment and installations.

What cannot be planned for is dealing with institutions, people, regulatory bodies, etc. that don't come to the party as initially planned and end up delaying a project. Often for years.

Or your neighbors protest the tower.
 
jannievanzyl said:
What cannot be planned for is dealing with institutions, people, regulatory bodies, etc. that don't come to the party as initially planned and end up delaying a project. Often for years.
Click to expand...

OK, I'll take this Christmas as a possible date.. don't mention "years"!

Many thanks - I appreciate your efforts.
 
I would suspect that the tower is live. But its running on 2G with transmission from telkom copper until they can get fibre there or a microwave link perhaps no LOS so they have build another tower/s to make the hop. Just my thoughts.
 
FTH

TowerGuru said:
I would suspect that the tower is live. But its running on 2G with transmission from telkom copper until they can get fibre there or a microwave link perhaps no LOS so they have build another tower/s to make the hop. Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...
Just an idea
IF there is all this expense involved in getting backhaul to Orania
Why not just go fibre ALL the way and VC provide "wired" access as well as wireless ?
Get one of these new fibre startups to come and light up the town and get the locals involved ( nice job creation )
Be the first town in SA to be all FTH

SURELY some marketing spin in there somewhere ??????
 
b@nD said:
Just an idea
IF there is all this expense involved in getting backhaul to Orania
Why not just go fibre ALL the way and VC provide "wired" access as well as wireless ?
Get one of these new fibre startups to come and light up the town and get the locals involved ( nice job creation )
Be the first town in SA to be all FTH

SURELY some marketing spin in there somewhere ??????
Click to expand...

Have you ever tried to negotiate a fibre wayleave agreement? Do it and then come back and tell people it can just happen in 5mins.
 
Expedite

TowerGuru said:
Have you ever tried to negotiate a fibre wayleave agreement?
Do it and then come back and tell people it can just happen in 5mins.
Click to expand...
I never mentioned anything about 5mins
When you are in a little C150 and the Jumbo wants to land ATC normally tell you to EXPEDITE
IF this was the Pres's palace in Nkandla how much wayleave do you think you would need ?

How much wayleave do you need for Satellite ?

IF one wants to talk about expropriation then surely one small trench for a fibre cable is justification enough ?

How much "wayleave" are the trenchers all along the N3 ( and other highways ) having to get ?

How much "wayleave" did SEACOM have to get to run their cables on the Transnet infrastructure ?

How much wayleave do you need to run aerial fibre on existing Telkom copper cable installations ? ( pole to pole )

The trouble with South Africans is that they can only ever see PROBLEMS and never OPPORTUNITY !
 
And this shows what I've always said about our country. The problem isn't money but the regulatory framework. Deregulation FTW! Free the web! :p :D
 
b@nD said:
I never mentioned anything about 5mins
When you are in a little C150 and the Jumbo wants to land ATC normally tell you to EXPEDITE
IF this was the Pres's palace in Nkandla how much wayleave do you think you would need ?

How much wayleave do you need for Satellite ?

IF one wants to talk about expropriation then surely one small trench for a fibre cable is justification enough ?

How much "wayleave" are the trenchers all along the N3 ( and other highways ) having to get ?

How much "wayleave" did SEACOM have to get to run their cables on the Transnet infrastructure ?

How much wayleave do you need to run aerial fibre on existing Telkom copper cable installations ? ( pole to pole )

The trouble with South Africans is that they can only ever see PROBLEMS and never OPPORTUNITY !
Click to expand...

watch-out-we-got-a-badass-over-here-meme.png
 
Swa said:
And this shows what I've always said about our country. The problem isn't money but the regulatory framework. Deregulation FTW! Free the web! :p :D
Click to expand...

Spot on. Broadband for all won't happen unless the amount of hoops the telcos need to jump through gets reduced.
 
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