Openserve Fiber

[Henrico101]

So, hey! Hi! Hello!

I'm new to the forums, amazing place this - some of the things people write here is pretty amazing :crylaugh:

I have a question that has probably been answered, but I am unable to find it, maybe I'm just a bit to n00b for this forum:
Openserve was at my house about 3 weeks ago and put up a bunch of cables in my yard upon some pole and also on the poles in my streets - how long is it going to take till I can eventually apply for the fiber?
Will it be 1 month? 1 Year? 1 Decade?

I just want my numbers here so I can decide how much I alcohol I need to buy in advance to deal with my 2mb ADSL line that won't even sync at 1.3mbps

All jokes aside, any feedback would be helpful!

 

[PBCool]

So, hey! Hi! Hello!

I'm new to the forums, amazing place this - some of the things people write here is pretty amazing :crylaugh:

I have a question that has probably been answered, but I am unable to find it, maybe I'm just a bit to n00b for this forum:
Openserve was at my house about 3 weeks ago and put up a bunch of cables in my yard upon some pole and also on the poles in my streets - how long is it going to take till I can eventually apply for the fiber?
Will it be 1 month? 1 Year? 1 Decade?

I just want my numbers here so I can decide how much I alcohol I need to buy in advance to deal with my 2mb ADSL line that won't even sync at 1.3mbps

All jokes aside, any feedback would be helpful!

Is your area not dark purple on the Openserve coverage map as yet?

 

[Henrico101]

Is your area not dark purple on the Openserve coverage map as yet?

Currently? Everything is pink!

 

[sybawoods]

So, hey! Hi! Hello!

I'm new to the forums, amazing place this - some of the things people write here is pretty amazing :crylaugh:

I have a question that has probably been answered, but I am unable to find it, maybe I'm just a bit to n00b for this forum:
Openserve was at my house about 3 weeks ago and put up a bunch of cables in my yard upon some pole and also on the poles in my streets - how long is it going to take till I can eventually apply for the fiber?
Will it be 1 month? 1 Year? 1 Decade?

I just want my numbers here so I can decide how much I alcohol I need to buy in advance to deal with my 2mb ADSL line that won't even sync at 1.3mbps

All jokes aside, any feedback would be helpful!

Hi Henrico101, and welcome to the forums. It's a generally a mixed bag with OpenServe timelines. Their go-live dates (when the fiber is eventually "lit") is not very transparent on their part. I'm in the same boat, the cables were brought in via overhead cables and the important "black box" strung up on a pole in my yard more than a month ago. Since then, nothing's happened. The good news, is that this is an indication that fiber is close.

Reports elsewhere suggest it could take up to 6 months from this point, but there are cases where it goes quickly after this (2 to 3 months), and others where people report that it's taken more than 8 months. There is the odd horror story of people waiting more than a year, despite having the cables and the black box, but this is rather isolated. There are some variables - they have to "splice" (join) the cables, quality check the lines and run diagnostics, all of which is a lot more complicated than it sounds. If a fault is found, it could delay things quite substantially (months). The best thing to do is to check in on the coverage map on the OpenServe web-site and check when your area moves from pink status (planned) to purple (fiber available). Unfortunately, other than watching the map, nobody has managed to crack the OpenServe code to determine accurate timelines.

 

[Mr.Jax]

Welcome and just to echo what sybawoods has already said, fibre in your area is imminent (weeks, months, NOT years).

Just visit the coverage map weekly, or simply wait until Telkom comes knocking on your door (or calls you) to advertise the fact that its available in your area.
In my suburb, the same week it went dark purple, Telkom sales reps? were walking the streets and knocking on doors, after hours on a Friday, to inform all residents.

 

[Henrico101]

Thank you, everyone!
The feedback came way faster than I would have imagined.


Ya'll insane

 

[LazyLion]

Stay away from Openserve/Telkom.
You're just asking for headaches and k@k service.
Wait for a different provider.

 

[Yster21]

If you say the pole is in your back yard, that means that they're doing a mid-block roll-out. The tricky part to this is that they need to gain access to each and every pole that's in the back of someone's yard, and this is extremely difficult to achieve if the people are never home or won't allow them in.

Once they're done, it apparently takes up to six weeks to process the backlog of orders. Since beggars can't be choosers, you'd have to go Openserve for now. Perhaps in the future a different provider will roll out in your area as well.

If there's a Resident's Association in your area, try contacting them to find out if they have any information on the project. Openserve and Huawei love to collaborate with the community in order to get the project going as quickly as possible.

 

[Henrico101]

If you say the pole is in your back yard, that means that they're doing a mid-block roll-out. The tricky part to this is that they need to gain access to each and every pole that's in the back of someone's yard, and this is extremely difficult to achieve if the people are never home or won't allow them in.

Once they're done, it apparently takes up to six weeks to process the backlog of orders. Since beggars can't be choosers, you'd have to go Openserve for now. Perhaps in the future a different provider will roll out in your area as well.

If there's a Resident's Association in your area, try contacting them to find out if they have any information on the project. Openserve and Huawei love to collaborate with the community in order to get the project going as quickly as possible.

Thank you, Yster21!

I actually think we do, since it is in the Lourensford Estate in Somerset-West, surely they must have spoken to someone in there.

I'll give them a call!

 

[supersunbird]

Stay away from Openserve/Telkom.
You're just asking for headaches and k@k service.
Wait for a different provider.

Don’t listen to this advice.

 

[LazyLion]

Don't say I didn't warn you.

 

[coop]

Stay away from Openserve/Telkom.
You're just asking for headaches and k@k service.
Wait for a different provider.

If you have a choice, I'd agree with this, but most don't really. the choice usually comes down to Telkom ADSL or Openserve Fiber. All I can say is Openserve fiber is much better than Telkom ADSL and the service won't be any worse than your already used to.

 

[LazyLion]

... the service won't be any worse than your already used to.

The service I'm used to?

So I can expect my line to go down, and for them to refuse to fix it for 5 months (all the while telling me that it is working), and then refuse to refund me for the 5 months without any service, and then when I ask for a refund then someone will call me pretending to be from Telkom and will then proceed to commit fraud with my credit card and bank account to the tune of R10 Grand....

Is that what I can look forward to with Openserve?

 

[coop]

The service I'm used to?

So I can expect my line to go down, and for them to refuse to fix it for 5 months (all the while telling me that it is working), and then refuse to refund me for the 5 months without any service, and then when I ask for a refund then someone will call me pretending to be from Telkom and will then proceed to commit fraud with my credit card and bank account to the tune of R10 Grand....

Is that what I can look forward to with Openserve?

Sounds about right

 

[Igor III]

Openserve rolled out installations in my area around Feb/March (I used to see plenty of their vehicles in the streets and ppl laying fiber cables on the sidewalks). Not long after that the fiber cables and boxes were installed back to back on the existing telephone lines across our backyard. I did not diligently monitor the availability map, but around mid May I had a peek and was astounded that my area (albeit only a few blocks around my house) was purple - Woohoo!

Shopped around, went with line rental from ISPAfrika (Garth is very quick to help and provides answers on all the questions) - 3 days after my application for the line rental was submitted to ISPAfrika, I got a call from the Openserve techies and a few hours later I was up and running on a 10 Mb/s fiber line (I am using my existing DSL data though).

Downloaded the Telkom rental cancellation form, completed it, visited my local Telkom shop and had the cancellation processed with immediate effect.

In conclusion - My experience thus far revealed excellent service from ISPAfrika, Openserve and Telkom.

 

[Henrico101]

Well now, I think aside from all the negativity that Mr. Lion experienced, the fact of the matter stands that no one will be able to tell me when I will be blessed with the best invention since 2 Minute Noodles that is Fiber interwebz.

Thank you for everyone's feedback!

I just want to be one of those guys that joins a CSGO Comp and has 5 ping or who can watch the newest movies on 1080p instead of the usual 480p
And Yes, I know you can get that with ADSL as well, but my 2mbps area is not going to get that anytime soon.
Besides, saying "I have fiber" is way more exiting when someone asks you what line you have.

 

[Genisys]

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Actually, no. That isn't how this FTTH thing works. There isn't always more than one company rolling out. I'd rather take openserve fibre than no Fibre.

 

[Igor III]

Besides, saying "I have fiber" is way more exiting when someone asks you what line you have.

That is always possible .... just change your diet

PS: Sorry, I could not resist

 

[SandMan]

Actually, no. That isn't how this FTTH thing works. There isn't always more than one company rolling out. I'd rather take openserve fibre than no Fibre.

Agreed.

 

[Henrico101]

So, I see a lot of Openserve bakkies driving around and a lot of manholes where there is a bunch of cables being fed in. This is a good sign, right?