Telkom-Mobile Secrets Confirmed...

I thought it was confirmed when they head hunted half of Vodas people...:p
 
in June we had no Broadband Services what so ever! I am Richmond KZN a very small town... 40KM's East of Pietermartizburg.

Now with in the last few months we Got ADSL first, Vodacom 3G second, Now Telkom 3G in the last month... I Gave Neotel a Call and they said Pietermartizburg has been completed. So it won't be long.

Best part of all is VodaSuck! Informed me in June that they had no plans for our area, This was when i was trying to get one company to supply our town with something half decent atleast!

Now Telkom stepped up, VodaSuck did to! bunch of Nah Nah's if you ask me. Or Idiots would work better.

I suppose Vodacom Missed the bus as everyone i know cancelled there 3G contracts and got ADSL. :D

Sorry Vodacom.... Next time you should listen to a customers. After all with-out us your nothing.

And Well done Telkom you have really improved over the last few months!! :)
 
Some Sad News..................

Some Sad News..................


I bring to you.

Guys the dates have been pushed forward till march 2010 for an official launch.

Telkom is on it's toes and running out of time to get it's mobile network up to scratch to launch properly.

While some small issues ( which i cannot mention here will take between 2-3 months to sort out ) The network roll-out is pushing ahead.

Those people in the remote more rural areas should start picking up a signal with their 2G ( 1800 GSM phones )

Please expect a full new mobile network with all the bells and whistles on launch.

PREPAID is working and there are a few minor hiccups.

The full network roll-out is going to be about 36 months.

Roaming is also sorted out.

Some good competition is on the horizon if we can get Interconnect Rates to cost immediately.

( THIS is a Rumour - NeoTel is looking into providing a CDMA mobile Solution combined with GSM as Well ) hey guys i never mentioned this.


DXL - Technical
 
MidnightWizard's Posts

Who else loves the way MW sets out his posts?

K
 
DXL Eludes Identification

Who the hell is this DXL guy/team?

K
 
When is Telkom going to release 3G in Welkom?
I use Vodacom 3G. When I take 2GB databundle, the last 500MB will get over within no time. It happend 4times. Its pathetic.
 
When I purchase 2GB data bundle from Vodacom and use internet in my PC, firstly till the data gets over until 1.5GB the data consumption is ok but the remaining 500MB gets over within no time. I dont know wats the reason. I called customer care but nothing works out.
 
MidnightWizard said:
Thanks

OK maybe the original querry sounded a bit flippant

I see all these big towers on the highest points all over the rural areas.
Used by Telkom ( for link spanning ) as well as the Mobile operators with what is obvioulsy microwave dishes.

So I would REALLY like to know how this technology works.

It might be an alternative for people that cannot get connectivity any other way.

SOooo WHO are the "providers" I need to speak to ????


MW
Click to expand...

MW, sorry to jump into the thread this late, only joined the forums yesterday. Unless you operate in the free ISM band it is illegal to run microwave (MW) services. You need spectrum licenses from ICASA to do that, and the licenses are extremely (as in really, really extremely) expensive. Even if you operate in the ISM band, you will need to adhere to transmit power limitations, which will make your link length fairly short. And even if your link could operate fine, your link is legally not allowed to cross a public road or any boundary, unless you have a telco service provider license from ICASA. Meaning that the sweet 802.11 WiFi networks stretching across some of our metros are strictly not legal...

The companies in SA who may operate microwave are, amongst a few others, Vodacom, MTN, Neotel, Telkom, SANDF, Eskom (with very little spectrum), and, I think, transnet.
 
Throttling the little guy

No Problem

We live and learn -- ALL -- the time

SO feel free to add any little bit of knowledge.

I was asking about true long haul microwave ( not WiFi or WiMAX -- or anything else )

IF you have no cables and you need fairly high capacity bandwidth a microwave link is about your only option.

VSAT throughput too little.

3G data is still way too exhorbitant. ( OK you do not need a Telkom line but how reliable is the 3G data ? )


I wonder if you can piggyback on any of these providers for a once off one to one link ?

I wonder how many installations the SANDF have and how often they use their license ?

ESKOM / TRANSTEL -- now part of INFRACO -- Hhhmmm -- they have been VERY quiet of late ??????


The other problem from a purely educational perspective

To learn anything about these technologies one pretty much needs to be an insider in the industry.

As mentioned here -- equipment suppliers will apparently not even talk to you unless you have all the licenses documentation etc -- bit of a dead end for an interested amateur party if you ask me.

How many steps from interested amateur to prospective client ??????? ( Obviously something that they do not think about)



MW
 
I don't think microwave will be a solution for you. A simple RLAN link (about 100MB throughput, 10km range) will cost you 10s of grands. The full-fledged, large links easily goes for serious money, even for a telco. It is by far cheaper to lease a dedicated line from a telco. Also, any microwave equipment needs to be approved by ICASA.

Regarding how much who use - sorry, can't tell. The spectrum in SA is fairly saturated, though. Some place you might be interested in:

http://www.sarl.org.za/

They have some great tutorials and links to vendors selling equipment in the various amateur frequencies. Be warned though, even amateur radio is well regulated. I know "amateur radio" sounds very different from "microwave", but the principals are the same.

PS - ever heard about Free Space Optics?...
 
Last edited:
FSO doesn't have all the spectrum licensing issues. Bit more difficult to allign, and lenses needs to be kept clean. Still, though, you need to have a license to operate a link that cross a boundary.
 
Tacet said:
FSO doesn't have all the spectrum licensing issues. Bit more difficult to allign, and lenses needs to be kept clean. Still, though, you need to have a license to operate a link that cross a boundary.
Click to expand...

That's the catch! And in some areas in our beautiful country we have some weird atmospheric conditions!
 
Yep, the boundary issue is main for most people. But I know that i.e. the CSIR uses FSO to interconnect within their own grounds. Since no boundary is crossed there are no legal issues. All depends on where you want to do what.
 
Advice

Hello All. I recently moved to Chartwell near Fourways which is an area where telkom cables have been stolen regularly and as a result, telkom no longer installs them. I therefore need to go wireless, DSL is not an option :(

If I look at the neotel or telkom 3G coverage maps, my home falls in an area where there is no coverage even though about 50 - 100m away from my home there is coverage. I loan a neotel device and only got 1 bar. Telkom will not give me a loan device so that I cannot test connectivity.

I require good internet speed since I download regularly and play the odd online game. Any advice on what to do and options out there?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X