Royal Ascot in Cape Town - anyone live there?

[Smartieee]

Thanks Aessa for the informative summary of the joys of Birkdale Village Internet, I already signed up for interest for WebAfrica fiber and had one of their staff members confirm there are no plans for rollout in Royal Ascot as of yet.

With Neotel I dont have much faith but think they need to price themselves a little better to properly compete with broadband ADSL, which will be difficult i'm sure with a wireless infrastructure. I think I bite the bullet here and live with 4 megs which should still be fine, very happy with living in Birkdale so its not all bad.

 

[Garson007]

Had a good bath this morning when I found the water was working...

 

[hj2k_x]

Had a good bath this morning when I found the water was working...

At least they fixed it nice and quickly.

So odd not having running water.

So sad that that is still a daily reality for so many people.

 

[genetic]

At least they fixed it nice and quickly.

So odd not having running water.

So sad that that is still a daily reality for so many people.

The city fixed the leak quite quickly. Was working later in the evening last night.

You don't know what you got till it's gone!

 

[Garson007]

Hey guys, since my thread didn't get a lot of responses...

What are your experiences like with the local GPs? Which one do you go to? Of course I can just go to a different one each time until I find one that works - but I'd be more interested in actually getting a recommendation.

I'm specifically asking because we're not exactly located in the most affluent of areas and I don't want some dodgy doc.

 

[Garson007]

Just got a call from Telkom* today that they're going to be moving my line to a new exchange. Wtf? I thought the exchange I am on already supported VDSL - why would it move? Apparently they'll come by on Saturday to talk about it

Anyone got any ideas as to wtf is going on?

*That's what the lady said in any case, she had both my numbers and my address so seems reasonable.

 

[hj2k_x]

Just got a call from Telkom* today that they're going to be moving my line to a new exchange. Wtf? I thought the exchange I am on already supported VDSL - why would it move? Apparently they'll come by on Saturday to talk about it

Anyone got any ideas as to wtf is going on?

*That's what the lady said in any case, she had both my numbers and my address so seems reasonable.

Sounds like what happened to me a few months back.

They were very pushy. Wanting to come in and show me how my new line worked.

I said no thank you and eventually they left me alone.

There is nothing I need to know that can't be emailed to me or told to me over the phone...

 

[Garson007]

I heard there was fibre roll-out at Sandown Crescent. Anyone got any details?

 

[FHTheron]

I heard there was fibre roll-out at Sandown Crescent. Anyone got any details?

No, but if that's true I want to know how they managed it and want in. I'm right across their entrance and haven't seen any kind of construction there. I've registered interest with WebAfrica and after the third time I was still being referred back to the "check your area" page so clearly that wasn't helping. Finally realised how to properly register with Vumatel.

 

[airborne]

Apparently there's a nature reserve in the middle of the race course, one of the last remaining natural Cape flats scrub land area's, what's it like?

 

[genetic]

Apparently there's a nature reserve in the middle of the race course, one of the last remaining natural Cape flats scrub land area's, what's it like?

There's a little pond right next to Equini in Arena North. Has chameleons, all sorts of frogs etc. In summer it sounds like the beginning of Paul McCarthy's We All Stan Together. .

Nothing that great to be honest. But I'm seeing less and less chameleons over the past few years. Used to get them down by Warrick Place. Haven't seen any on that stretch of road for 2 years now.

 

[Praemon]

There's a little pond right next to Equini in Arena North. Has chameleons, all sorts of frogs etc. In summer it sounds like the beginning of Paul McCarthy's We All Stan Together. .

Nothing that great to be honest. But I'm seeing less and less chameleons over the past few years. Used to get them down by Warrick Place. Haven't seen any on that stretch of road for 2 years now.

Where exactly is this? Is it inside Arena North, or by the entrance where the circle is? Shows how much attention I pay to things. Been living in Equini for 2 years and haven't seen it

 

[genetic]

Where exactly is this? Is it inside Arena North, or by the entrance where the circle is? Shows how much attention I pay to things. Been living in Equini for 2 years and haven't seen it

Right by the entrance. Main gate.

 

[Praemon]

Right by the entrance. Main gate.

View attachment 236216

Ah, okay. Thanks.

 

[FHTheron]

How serious would people on this thread be about pushing for FTTH? I registered interest with Cybersmart 2 days ago, they got back yesterday with a real answer as opposed to the "check our site regularly for coverage" from other ISPs. They're perhaps not the cheapest, but I quite like what I read so far.

I provided Birkdale Village as the location. I have no idea what a longer distance will do to the minimum commitment. I also asked a bunch of questions on package variations, openness, what happens at the end of the contract. Hope to get answers soon.

* Minimum uptake of R36 250 per month, 12 month contract, free installation.
** On their cheapest package (20/20Mbps R899), this is 41 customers.
** On 50/50 at R1499pm, that's 25 customers.
* Seems like trenching is inevitable and this could be the biggest hurdle - the grass and pavement in Royal Ascot looks great and lots of people walk and jog along the road. If trenching happens on the nice side it's bound to upset people and I won't blame them. Hopefully trenching could be on the boundary wall side where there is mostly garden to dig up. They claim 90 days turn-around for installation to a central distribution point (in a complex).
* They do distribution within the complex, 5 to 7 days.

Getting 41 units doesn't seem so far fetched. Maybe there's far more interest than expected, maybe there's nothing. The question I have at this point is if it will be worth sending this to RAMPOA and ask them to send the details to each body corporate and get the whole discussion started.

 

[Lynds007]

Just got a call from Telkom* today that they're going to be moving my line to a new exchange. Wtf? I thought the exchange I am on already supported VDSL - why would it move? Apparently they'll come by on Saturday to talk about it

Anyone got any ideas as to wtf is going on?

*That's what the lady said in any case, she had both my numbers and my address so seems reasonable.

Did your line ever get moved to the VDSL exchange?

 

[KaMoS]

How serious would people on this thread be about pushing for FTTH? I registered interest with Cybersmart 2 days ago, they got back yesterday with a real answer as opposed to the "check our site regularly for coverage" from other ISPs. They're perhaps not the cheapest, but I quite like what I read so far.

I provided Birkdale Village as the location. I have no idea what a longer distance will do to the minimum commitment. I also asked a bunch of questions on package variations, openness, what happens at the end of the contract. Hope to get answers soon.

* Minimum uptake of R36 250 per month, 12 month contract, free installation.
** On their cheapest package (20/20Mbps R899), this is 41 customers.
** On 50/50 at R1499pm, that's 25 customers.
* Seems like trenching is inevitable and this could be the biggest hurdle - the grass and pavement in Royal Ascot looks great and lots of people walk and jog along the road. If trenching happens on the nice side it's bound to upset people and I won't blame them. Hopefully trenching could be on the boundary wall side where there is mostly garden to dig up. They claim 90 days turn-around for installation to a central distribution point (in a complex).
* They do distribution within the complex, 5 to 7 days.

Getting 41 units doesn't seem so far fetched. Maybe there's far more interest than expected, maybe there's nothing. The question I have at this point is if it will be worth sending this to RAMPOA and ask them to send the details to each body corporate and get the whole discussion started.

Already tried get people on to Fibre in my complex (ascot grove). Not a lot of uptake because most of the users are on VDSL and happy with their connection.

Did your line ever get moved to the VDSL exchange?

 

[hjl]

For the Royal Ascot residents. While I can't provide much info at this stage. I can tell you that a major undertaking is happening as I type this with regards to getting Fibre. Survey's are due to go up soon. Look out for large posters in Paddocks Shopping Centre in the next couple of months. I will try and get a mention from the MyBB folks too to help spread the word once everything goes live.

See preview of site: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wo85jpot7zh65yc/RoyalAscotFibre.png?dl=0

 

[Garson007]

I'm in, as long as there is no ISP lock-in and the line rental isn't insanely expensive.

 

[hjlinde]

I'm in, as long as there is no ISP lock-in and the line rental isn't insanely expensive.

That's the plan. Upon discussing in the initial stages it was quite clear that an open-access model is required/preferred. Personally I am 110% for open-access. At this stage I am pushing to finalise the site so that Phase 1 can begin. Look, there is certainly a degree of frustration in some parts of RA, which is understandable as pretty much half of RA has poor internet (max 4mbps) where the other half have access to VDSL. Let's hold thumbs that interest is of such a nature that Fibre can become an affordable reality within RA.