Telkom LTE Advanced

[Azimuth]

What i dont understand is, majority of cities doesnt have lte.or just a small part of the city has.

Why not ensure that the original lte coverage is nation wide like 3g before releasing an even more limited lte service

It is a standard roadmap of the major providers to upgrade their radios. It is happening all the time. Obviously metropolitans get the upgrades first[/url] but it will become standard over time. LTE is far superior to 3G and offers customers a better experience...happy customer, happy provider.

LTE-A is being tested as a direct competitor to fibre. The technology is there so a provider like Telkom wants to get their share of customers that might otherwise consider fibre (far more expensive to implement). Again in time, most radios will be upgraded to LTE-A. Let's also not forget that "5G" is just around the corner too.

Of interest:

Cellular Performance Testing Improves Customer Experience
and
Test Issues Affecting LTE Rollout

 

[Alacrity]

Anybody had any joy with getting this product? The call centre thinks I am on crack and tells me to go to a Telkom Direct store and I am sure you can picture the blank stares I get when trying that route.

Centurion Mall has them now. R4299 with 60GB + 60GB prepaid. Other deals also but this one I like

 

[RichardG]

Centurion Mall has them now. R4299 with 60GB + 60GB prepaid. Other deals also but this one I like

How many did they have in stock. Will have to take a drive there then. When I am in the area again

 

[jcheek]

Anybody got a LTE-A test result with E5186?

I haven't seen any speed test that shows that Telkom has actually LTE-A anywhere.

Telkom's coverage map shows that round Johannesburg/Pretoria, LTE-A is only implemented on a handful of base-stations, some of which are in the Midrand area, to the north-east and south-west of the intersection of Olifantsfontein Road and the N1 :



If you want to find out how that E5186 of yours performs with high-octane signal , maybe drop it into your car with a laptop and a power supply, take a drive to the area(s) which seem to have coverage, and go look !

The red-ringed area in the coverage map above seems to be at the north end of an LTE-A coverage strip and might be a good place to start. At a guess I'd say that that LTE-A coverage emanates from the big Telkom base-station just to the south of Olifanstfontein Road, at the corner of Baobab and Acacia Streets:

 

[Alacrity]

... but this E5186-61a won't do - far too limited it seems.

Can you please give me a link(s) to info on what are the problems with this device

 

[jcheek]

What's LTE-Advanced all about ?

Quick video on some of the facts behind LTE-A, by Dr André Fourie of Poynting Antennas.

[video=youtube;817S22-d16k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=817S22-d16k[/video]

Looking ahead .... 8 antennas on the base station and 4 on the "User Terminal" ... Hmmm !

Also check out some of his other YT videos about LTE, LTE-A and general wireless issues. Quite a few new videos added just recently.

 

[jacksparrow.greg]

Use LTE-A router for LTE?

Hi Guys.

I live in Bryanston. SO LTE signal is great but no LTE-Advanced yet.

I got the Telkom demo company to come do a demo. Lady brought both Routers, LTE(Huawei B593 LTE ) and LTE-A (Huawei E5186S).

LTE was good speeds according to speedtest.net. LTE-A only seemed to pick up signal with those bunny ears connected.
However on two different tests, the LTE-A got close enough to the LTE speed.

Which brings me to my question.

Can i still get the LTE-A router and use it as backward compatible device for the LTE signal? while i wait for telkom to upgrade the LTE towers to LTE-A.



Also what effect would an antenna installation have on such said speeds.

 

[Alacrity]

E5186 works for LTE and LTE-A

Buy the E5186 cash (do not sign 24/36 months contract).

External antennas will firstly give you excellent signal. And you should get nice speed increase also.

 

[RichardG]

E5186 works for LTE and LTE-A

Buy the E5186 cash (do not sign 24/36 months contract).

External antennas will firstly give you excellent signal. And you should get nice speed increase also.

+1 unless you sign up for that 24 month(R599) contract which will save you about R3500 with hardware and antenna.

 

[sydCPT]

So I have struggled with different departs of Telkom for nearly a month now, but yesterday, my new E5186 arrived. Took 24 hours to activate it, but it works great.

I fall right into one of the LTE-A areas in Cape Town southern suburbs, but the guy who did the demo only had a normal LTE router, which gave decent speeds around 35 - 50meg. However, the LTE-A is giving me really high results, with stable pings and upload of around 8meg :/





Overall the experience has been great, I am waiting for it to get a bit later so I can see what it can really get.

After fighting ALOT with Telkom to buy their product, I really couldn't be more impressed - so far

 

[RichardG]

So I have struggled with different departs of Telkom for nearly a month now, but yesterday, my new E5186 arrived. Took 24 hours to activate it, but it works great.

I fall right into one of the LTE-A areas in Cape Town southern suburbs, but the guy who did the demo only had a normal LTE router, which gave decent speeds around 35 - 50meg. However, the LTE-A is giving me really high results, with stable pings and upload of around 8meg :/

View attachment 226344

View attachment 226346

Overall the experience has been great, I am waiting for it to get a bit later so I can see what it can really get.

After fighting ALOT with Telkom to buy their product, I really couldn't be more impressed - so far

On contract or prepaid. How much did it set you back financially.

 

[sydCPT]

On contract or prepaid. How much did it set you back financially.

Contract. 24 month 50gig, R699.

It worked out to be cheaper than what I was paying for ADSL, with only slightly less cap. So decided to bite the bullet and go for it. Hope it was the right decision!

 

[Alacrity]

Contract. 24 month 50gig, R699.

It worked out to be cheaper than what I was paying for ADSL, with only slightly less cap. So decided to bite the bullet and go for it. Hope it was the right decision!

What is your local speed test results?

 

[sydCPT]

What is your local speed test results?

Did a few tests at about 10 this morning and was hitting 108meg, but then it drops down to about 95meg. It seems to fluctuate between 75 - 105 meg.

However, the ping is super stable at 20ms local and +-45ms to Joburg.