Panorama ADSL infrastructure

A

Axen

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Panorama DSL infrastructure

Firstly, I'm more of a myBB reader than a poster. I would like to explain my sad story as briefly as possible, the TL;DR version.

Panorama is a small suburb in Parow, Cape Town where i reside. There a couple of institution/facilities/services nearby, namely:
  • Hospital
  • School
  • College
  • Shops
  • Mweb headoffice
  • 2x Old age homes
  • Multiple SME's

If I'm a large broadband cable/ bandwidth supplier I give all the above a good quality service providing them access to at least 10mb ADSL although some will need fiber given the size of their operations and needs.

Because all of these lie in the general Panorama area one would expect the residents of Panorama to have similar access to at least 10mb ADSL. I say this because all these services are so close and the infrastructure should be to.

Since my last phone call with Telkom/Mweb/Afrihost....the list goes on: My house sits roughly 5KM from the nearest exchange which permits me to a measly 2mb (sometimes 1mb). I experience a disturbing 60+db attenuation and an SNR of 6-10 somehow.

My plea: Is it possible that somewhere in these forums, there is a member with enough clout within Telkom to get something done about the quality of service in my area.

I would love to experience 20mb or even VDSL for that matter given the amount of money I have saved, having only paid for 2mb since it's inception.

Kind regards
A very patient DSL customer.

-I take no responsibility for grammar and typos in this message.
-have a nice day
 
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It is because you connect to parow post office DSLAM ,same as me. I have a 10mbs line,because i only 3km away. The parow post office DSLAM also supports up to 40mbs now.

It is just the way the the cables are wired to exchange/DSLAM ,they need to wire you up to panorama DSLAM which is 40mbs enabled the one by the panorama school.

Pretty sure ,this issue was going on for years now ,only solution is to move. I doubt telkom will change there whole wiring system for a few users :(
 
Axen said:
Firstly, I'm more of a myBB reader than a poster. I would like to explain my sad story as briefly as possible, the TL;DR version.

Panorama is a small suburb in Parow, Cape Town where i reside. There a couple of institution/facilities/services nearby, namely:
  • Hospital
  • School
  • College
  • Shops
  • Mweb headoffice
  • 2x Old age homes
  • Multiple SME's

If I'm a large broadband cable/ bandwidth supplier I give all the above a good quality service providing them access to at least 10mb ADSL although some will need fiber given the size of their operations and needs.

Because all of these lie in the general Panorama area one would expect the residents of Panorama to have similar access to at least 10mb ADSL. I say this because all these services are so close and the infrastructure should be to.

Since my last phone call with Telkom/Mweb/Afrihost....the list goes on: My house sits roughly 5KM from the nearest exchange which permits me to a measly 2mb (sometimes 1mb). I experience a disturbing 60+db attenuation and an SNR of 6-10 somehow.

My plea: Is it possible that somewhere in these forums, there is a member with enough clout within Telkom to get something done about the quality of service in my area.

I would love to experience 20mb or even VDSL for that matter given the amount of money I have saved, having only paid for 2mb since it's inception.

Kind regards
A very patient DSL customer.

-I take no responsibility for grammar and typos in this message.
-have a nice day
Click to expand...

You could've written this message and launched it into space, the end result will be the same.
Your pleas (will) fall on deaf ears, trust me, been there done that.
The only way, right now, to fix that problem is to drop telkom altogether or move.
Good luck.
 
Thanks for your insights. The school actually sits in Welgelegen, which is why it is not possible for me to be connected to it.

I saw 3 Telkom vans outside the Church, at one of the manholes over the past weekend.

Does anyone know what this was about? What frustrates me the most about this whole situation is that Telkom, and most digital content providers can never give ETAs (or ones they can actually stick to). Telkom reps and street technicians have been telling me for years that it's coming....

Last year Telkom or DFA or whoever laid fiber all the way to a park 100m from my house. I later found out that it was for a new private clinic. :wtf:
 
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Bump, 85 views and only 2 responses. I appreciate the attention but need more input from more knowledgeable parties. *cough* Telkom *cough*.

I have been told before (~2005) to move which at the time sounded rather silly.
 
Sorry to be the bearer of crap news, you are as screwed as the rest of us.

There has been petitions, phone calls, letters you name it to Telkom about this, no progress whatsoever.

My latest problem was, during loadshedding somewhere on my cable route to the exchange there is a old battery in need of changing, as soon as eskom dumps its load i have 2 mins of dsl access, just enough for my UPS to send an email the power failed.

Can still make calls, but no dsl sync, according to telkom it is impossible. What is impossible is to cancel my freaken 1.2 Mbps dsl service because I have gone to a WISP.

So ja, can only hope you have better luck.

P.S been trying 4 years now
 
One of the reasons I have been so patient is because of my CTWUG connection. It's the only thing keeping me from going mad. Some people in the panorama area are worst off than other though. I believe that a few of my neighbors are only able to get 384k (which should be a violation of some sorts) or 1mb.

Day 2 - Still no Telkom response.

A while back someone in the Panorama area proposed to pay for the infrastructure upgrades to some extent. Telkom declined the proposition. This could be a folk tale but one can dream.

P.S. I've lived in Panorama for 16 years. It's a lovely area but given the opportunity I would never choose to live here again (this owing to the terrible DSL coverage).
 
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Axen said:
P.S. I've lived in Panorama for 16 years. It's a lovely area but given the opportunity I would never choose to live here again (this owing to the terrible DSL coverage).
Click to expand...

I'm also on the WUG, and now on a wireless internet connection (far better connection than dsl), I wouldn't go as far as saying I would not stay there due to Telkom, they can go twist a few wires for all I care. If i only could cancel the damn thing
 
jvrs, I will never consider wireless. I need the stability of a fixed line. Wireless is definitely a very fast technology though, as i have observed on the WUG.

I wonder if Telkom will offer a bonded pairing? I just need to speak to the right person.
 
Agreed, I also won't consider wireless as a primary internet connection, especially for my needs. Number 1 being stability, and number 2 large download volumes per month.

This is purely a matter of distance from the closest exchange, so the entire area of Panorama will be affected. I am lucky enough to live *closer* to the exchange than the rest of Panorama allowing me the use of 4Mbps ADSL, still... an archaic speed by many definitions.

The sad reality is that most of the surrounding areas have FTTH (Plattekloof), VDSL (Edgemead and Bothasig), 10Mbps ADSL (Monte Vista and Parow North).

The only solution I foresee for our area is the installation of an MSAN. If I'm not mistaken the MSAN is connected by fibre to the exchange and this will considerably shorten the local loop distance. Even if it allows us access to 10Mbps ADSL, it's better than what we have.

Maybe we should start a petition and go door-to-door to every place in Panorama including the SME's :p
 
Axen said:
jvrs, I will never consider wireless. I need the stability of a fixed line. Wireless is definitely a very fast technology though, as i have observed on the WUG.

I wonder if Telkom will offer a bonded pairing? I just need to speak to the right person.
Click to expand...

You can bond lines yes, done it before, but its got nothing to do with Telkom, they just install another dsl service in your house, ISP needs to be capable and hardware.

You sound like me " I will never" LOL think of it this way, we dont have stable fixed lines.....
 
I am in Welgelegen 1 and sit with the same problem. The sad thing is my house is 250 meters from the MSAN on the corner of Malmesbury and Akademie - yet I am connected to an exchange kilometers away. And there is no way that anybody can even think of rerouting cabling to connect to the MSAN - even if most of cabling would go through undeveloped City Parks property. It is the saddest MSAN in the world - if you look at it from above it only serves a 90 degree segment. I think the only reason they even put it there is to tick some box that they are covering a school.

I am wondering if the only way we can get decent connectivity is to form a neighborhood action group to get somebody to install fiber.
 
Morning All, within a few days of making this thread I discovered that Telkom has started the preparations for DSLAM expansion into the Panorama Area. Two concrete slabs have been laid in the last 3 weeks.
1 on Uys Krige Dr./ Hennie Winterbach St.
1 on Seing St./Rachel Bloch Ave (in the Park)

My questions:
1. Does anyone know when the DSLAMs themselves will be installed, and what date we can expect the cut-over?
2. Are Telkom going to offer any trials so that we can test out the new service (so that they can test out)?
3. Are there anymore of these slabs being laid?
 
Can a Telkom representative out there give an indication on the cut over date for 021 930**** numbers in Panorama.

Contractors are digging trenches and all the MSAN plots seems to be ready.

Really keen for faster internet speeds than 2mb.
 
Axen said:
Can a Telkom representative out there give an indication on the cut over date for 021 930**** numbers in Panorama.

Contractors are digging trenches and all the MSAN plots seems to be ready.

Really keen for faster internet speeds than 2mb.
Click to expand...

early november.
 
Any indication as to which services I'll be able to upgrade to?
4mb
10mb
20mb
40mb -the dream.
100mb -another dream.

ghost, are you based in panorama or are you a rep?
 
Axen said:
Any indication as to which services I'll be able to upgrade to?
4mb
10mb
20mb
40mb -the dream.
100mb -another dream.

ghost, are you based in panorama or are you a rep?
Click to expand...

ISAM's are being deployed in your area, so most likely up to 40mbps.

the attainable sync still depends on your loop length of course.
 
We're currently syncing 2mb with 65+ attenuation. This would put me roughly 5.3km from the nearest exchange. As for my distance from one of these new ISAM's, less than 200m of copper.
 
Axen said:
We're currently syncing 2mb with 65+ attenuation. This would put me roughly 5.3km from the nearest exchange. As for my distance from one of these new ISAM's, less than 200m of copper.
Click to expand...

You should therefore be able to attain 40mbps sync depending on copper quality if the ISAM is that close, Although it will be doubtful that you will be able to upgrade to 40mbps as soon as you are cut over to the new DSLAM, Generally the DSLAM's go through conformance testing for a short while.
 
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