Should switching ISPs on Vumatel be this problematic?

[JamesMS]

Apologies if I am not completely familiar with all the jargon, or if this is old territory (I have browsed and searched): I'm actually based in the UK.

BACKGROUND: In November my sisters and I inherited my late mom's little cottage in Cape Town which has previously been rented out long term while estate being executed. While some sisters are in Durban, none of us are in CT anymore but we want to be able still visit, rather than sell it, so decided to switch to short term rentals. I booked to spend 2 weeks there early December sorting out what DIY I could to get it ready. So we booked a new fibre installation for the day I arrived via Afrihost which one of my sister's already had service with in Durban and recommended.

Unfortunately when the installers arrived from Openserve there was no route from a pole. But the installers pointed out the existing ONT (Raycore) from Zumatel (I presume this is Zumatel trench if it is buried?). So my sister contacted Afrihost to switch to Zumatel. The next day I plugged in my laptop directly to the Raycore and via DCHP got internet at 100 down/50 up which was the package we had requested so thought switching in RSA is amazing.

I plugged in the TPlink router shipped by Afrihost, set it for DCHP only (loving this ethernet approach to internet provision) and set up guest network, smart TV, smart locks, CCTV, alarm, gate remote and remote control of the router via TPLink's dynamic dns. Everything neatly locked up in a cabinet away from prying hands with mini UPS and left the keys with lettings agent.

However, Afrihost told my sister the line was still being held by the previous tenant's ISP who wouldn't release until we proved ownership. The switchover could only happen after that. This then happened on New Year's Eve, at which moment I receive notice that my remote devices have gone offline.

My sister gets hold of Afrihost, who say after a one hour whatsapp that the ONT and router probably just need to be rebooted. But because it is locked away on a UPS we can't just get someone to throw a switch... So we arrange for a lettings agent rep who is tech savvy to go to the property, open the cabinet, unplug DC power after UPS to reboot ONT and router, take pictures of lights (Raycore shows connection OK, TPlink no internet). Agent reports still no internet so sister back on one hour whatsapp to Afrihost, during which length of time the agent can't hang around.

Afrihost person says connection IP lease has expired, a new one needs to be released. They said "I managed to delete the expired IP and release a new one. A power off for 5 minutes at the ONT and wifi router and back on and you should be connected".

So we book another visit today by the techy agent who does this, waits 5 minutes, sends pictures showing Raycon lights OK but still no internet on the TPLink router. So this time I get on the Whatsapp with Afrihost. This of course takes another 30 minutes until they are actually in a position to troubleshoot by which time agent has had to leave once more.

Now the Afrihost rep says they cannot do anything until someone returns and shuts down the ONT for 15 minutes (!?) and then gets in touch while there and tells them what the IP is of the ONT when rebooted so they can get Vumatel to activate it. I said that surely being an active connected device on Zumatel's ethernet network, this should not require someone to be at the premises to tell Afrihost what device or IP it is? Surely Zumatel should know and just patch it over (metaphorically) to Afrihost? Can they not simply ask Vumatel? They tell me I cannot try and get in touch with Vumatel myself.

I am concerned that a third visit/reboot/wait for an hour on Whatsapp may still be fruitless. (I realise not being at the premises to waste this time is my own fault and not optimal). And to be fair perhaps the TPlink router has somehow managed to get screwed up, but being straight DHCP my instinct is it's not that.

But surely an ethernet based system with a router that works on DHCP should't have needed more than this? At least I would have thought someone would be able to go "Yes, our device is online and has a route through to Afrihost. We can see no traffic though so it must be your router not connecting."

Any advice or thoughts welcome.

Best

James M-S

 

[Bliksis]

I had that same kak about 4 years ago , and after two weeks ended up swearing at every Afrihost agent that I could get hold of.

This is not of much help, becasue I cannot determine at which point of my rage wave, someone clicked that I am the new owner, and the next morning it was done.

 

[PBCool]

This is often called a cross patch, so as the ISP you have to go back and forth just to figure out that Vumatel have cross patched it to another address.

Who is the previous ISP?

 

[JamesMS]

This is often called a cross patch, so as the ISP you have to go back and forth just to figure out that Vumatel have cross patched it to another address.

Who is the previous ISP?

Don't know who the previous ISP was annoyingly as lack of comms with previous tenant and Afrihost would not say. i did a reverse DNS on the IP (152.110.139.1) while there and it showed up as Webafrica/Dimension Data Ltd?

 

[PBCool]

Don't know who the previous ISP was annoyingly as lack of comms with previous tenant and Afrihost would not say. i did a reverse DNS on the IP (152.110.139.1) while there and it showed up as Webafrica/Dimension Data Ltd?

If it was DD then more than likely Webafrica, its an unfortunate situation but Afrihost should be able to assist.

@Afrigirl

 

[Anthro]

This is often called a cross patch, so as the ISP you have to go back and forth just to figure out that Vumatel have cross patched it to another address.

Who is the previous ISP?

The retard in me asks "Why doesn't Afrihost know this"

 

[PBCool]

The retard in me asks "Why doesn't Afrihost know this"

They do, as I say we need to go through the ringer before the FNO will bother investigating beyond the usual.

 

[Afrigirl]

Morning @JamesMS

Please accept our sincere apologies for the frustration and inconvenience you’ve experienced so far. We understand how disruptive this has been, especially while managing the setup remotely.

To properly investigate and resolve this, could you please provide the Afrihost order number and the full service address? Once we have this, we can review the line status and engage with Vuma to assist.

 

[Bliksis]

The retard in me asks "Why doesn't Afrihost know this"

Companies try to put in as little effort as possible.

 

[Rickster]

It's always the previous tenants fault. They always manage to bugger something up in the process.

 

[JamesMS]

Morning @JamesMS

Please accept our sincere apologies for the frustration and inconvenience you’ve experienced so far. We understand how disruptive this has been, especially while managing the setup remotely.

To properly investigate and resolve this, could you please provide the Afrihost order number and the full service address? Once we have this, we can review the line status and engage with Vuma to assist.

Thanks for engaging I will DM you now.

 

[JamesMS]

So after amazing help by @Afrigirl and Sophie from Vumatel we got to the bottom of the problem which I am summarising here to help anyone who runs into this in future.

When Afrihost posted the router, it had default wifi settings, as outlined on the router label underneath. I used these to set up all my devices: CCTV etc. I then set up a guest network for guests.

This all worked fine while on the previous tenant's line.

Then on the night of the changeover, it seems Afrihost automatically update the router once they have sight of it to change the wifi settings to something like SSD: Afrihost1, password AH plus the client's mobile phone number. (This information came with the router, but of course was not correct until the router was reprogrammed when the line changed over, 6 weeks later).

So of course everything set up for wifi went offline at that point and access to the router on the main network was not possible (the guest network settings remained OK).

Once connected to the correct wifi settings it was still necessary to activate the Vumatel connection by clicking on the default web page, choosing the correct service and getting a OTP, as outlined often regarding Vumatel.

But as we did not realise the wifi access had automatically changed, no-one had been able to do that up til now...

Thanks again to everyone involved for the help.