Openserve Fibre Questions

[Shamus]

Openserve fibre has just gone live in our area and I am just about to sign up but I have a few questions first:
1. After fibre install does the phone landline i.e. voice calls come down the fibre or do they leave the old copper line for that?
2. If the voice calls come down the fibre do I still pay for a voice landline as well as a fibre rental cost?
3. If the voice calls come down the fibre do the phone lines I currently have in the house going to various extensions just plug into the fibre box (OPN?)?
4. I already asked this elsewhere but just to confirm that if the voice calls come down the fibre then if there is loadshedding then no power equals no phone calls.
Note, when I say voice calls I am not talking about VOIP, rather plan old voice landline calls.

Please help as I am all excited about getting fibre but need to make sure I understand what I will be getting.

 

[wudisc]

As far as I understand, a fibre line is a completely different product to your copper voice line. i.e. Openserve will connect your home to the fibre network and leave the existing copper lines untouched.

I have not looked into this but, there might be a way to port your existing landline over to a VOIP service - but this is not something that Openserve would do "automagically" when you sign up for fibre (I don't think openserve provides VOIP services, but I could be wrong).

There are a few threads in this subforum discussing load shedding and fibre - long story short, a UPS with sufficient battery should keep you online. If you combine this with a VOIP service, you will have the ability to make phone calls during load shedding.

If you have an ADSL with Telkom which you intend to cancel, be careful to explicitly state that you would like cancel the ADSL only. If Telkom cancels your landline number it is essentially "released" for another subscriber to use, at which point you no longer own the number and will likely lose the ability to port it to another network.

 

[cavedog]

So there are a couple of things to note and like @wudisc mentioned too is correct.

When installing fibre it's completely separate from the existing copper line so you can have fibre and adsl as two separate services. Telkom ISP is the only provider that allows you to migrate your landline to the fibre ONT and for that to happen you need to migrate from a Telkom adsl/landline combo to a Telkom package on Openserve fibre then they will migrate your line to a VOIP on the ONT and cancel your analogue line. When you do this the "line rental" for the phone is usually included in the bundles like the Unlimited home bundles but I think if you don't take the bundles then the normal line rental fee will still apply as normal.

If you do migrate to the Telkom fibre and have the land line number move with to fibre you would need to keep the Fibre ONT powered to have voice or it won't work because it's essentially VOIP.

So if you don't want to do that then keep the land line as is and just cancel the adsl ect and keep it as a landline for calls only.

Choose your fibre ISP and have Openserve install the fibre line which would not affect the land line at all and they will operate as two separate services. Please choose your fibre ISP wisely. There are some bad choices people make that would make Openserve fibre seem pathetic while it's actually the ISP that is pathetic.

 

[Geoff.D]

The info provided is correct.
If you are an existing Telkom landline and ADSL client, then the complete package can be transferred onto the Openserve fibre. In fact, in some areas, Telkom/Openserve is encouraging such a move as they want to shut down the copper cable networks in those areas.

The line rental still applies for your telephone connection as it is NOT really associated with the physical line, but with the "port" on the exchange which is coupled with the telephone number. So many never understood this in the past.

Depending on the package you take, the "telephone port rental" will be included in the package.

My advice still remains even with a fibre connection. If you have a Telkom physical line, then even when going for a fibre connection, you are better off IF ALL the services are provided by Telkom for the fibre connection. You can always at a later date, go for ISP services form any other ISP, but keep the physical line with the provider (Openserve) always a bundle.

That will in the future simplify line cancellations, transfers etc.
the same applies. If the physical fibre belongs to Vumatel, keep thta service with Vumatel.

 

[Shamus]

Thanks for all the help everybody. The thing that had me concerned was the contractor who was stringing the fibre from pole to pole said that when Openserve ran the fibre to my house they would remove the copper wire and that everything would come down the fibre. This ties in with the fact that Telkom are pushing their wireless phone service hard in our area at the moment and this is no use to us so I need to stick with a normal landline for our voice calls.
Geoff.D I take your point about using Telkom and I will look into that tomorrow before ordering anything.
Thanks again.

 

[deesef]

Thanks for all the help everybody. The thing that had me concerned was the contractor who was stringing the fibre from pole to pole said that when Openserve ran the fibre to my house they would remove the copper wire and that everything would come down the fibre. This ties in with the fact that Telkom are pushing their wireless phone service hard in our area at the moment and this is no use to us so I need to stick with a normal landline for our voice calls.
Geoff.D I take your point about using Telkom and I will look into that tomorrow before ordering anything.
Thanks again.

Telkom has 3 sets of fibre packages:
1. Fibre line only (no phone on the fibre), with capped and uncapped isp. This is quite expensive, mainly aimed at business customers.

2. Fibre bundles that include Fibre, uncapped isp, voice line via Fibre and a data sim. Prices are reasonable, compared to other isp's (about R810 for the 10 down 5 up speed)

3. Uncapped Fibre without the other add-ons. Costs about R650 for the 10 down 5 up speed.

The fup on the fibre packages is very good.

 

[Geoff.D]

Thanks for all the help everybody. The thing that had me concerned was the contractor who was stringing the fibre from pole to pole said that when Openserve ran the fibre to my house they would remove the copper wire and that everything would come down the fibre. This ties in with the fact that Telkom are pushing their wireless phone service hard in our area at the moment and this is no use to us so I need to stick with a normal landline for our voice calls.
Geoff.D I take your point about using Telkom and I will look into that tomorrow before ordering anything.
Thanks again.

If was forced into a choice between fibre based VOIP and that FLLA, the fibre will win hands down. FLLA is a very bad choice as a replacement for a copper phone connection.

The design and implementation smells of a very rushed and poorly conceived idea.