The Constantia FTTH Thread

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jackshiels

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EDIT: CONSTANTIA RESIDENTS SIGN UP FOR FTTH HERE: http://constantiafibre.com/packages/

Hello all!

It's an exciting time for Constantia as we are busy selecting a service provider to lay fiber in the suburb. Huzzah!

I wanted to check and see if there are any other Constantia residents on MyBB, as well as keep people updated on the situation at hand. Today we are meeting to discuss the offers to RFP and chat about infrastructure. Long term we are hoping to have live FTTH by mid-late 2015, with final cutovers happening next year.

ALSO - website is constantiafibre.com
 
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baskill

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I stay in Meadowridge, one of the nearby suburbs that I hope will be receiving FTTH once the Constantia project is finished. Hoping all goes well.
 
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Chris.Geerdts

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I live in Constantia. I had a lame call from Telkom on Friday telling me they had 'upgraded the infrastructure in the area' and could offer me a faster ADSL line (2mbps to 4mbps).

Anyone else had a call like that?
 
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jackshiels

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Chris.Geerdts said:
I live in Constantia. I had a lame call from Telkom on Friday telling me they had 'upgraded the infrastructure in the area' and could offer me a faster ADSL line (2mbps to 4mbps).

Anyone else had a call like that?
Click to expand...

Telkom has been upgrading Constantia to VDSL over the past 6 months. However, it is possible this is a push to get people locked into 24 month contracts before the FTTH comes.
 
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Chris.Geerdts

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I would love to know if others get such a call. If it is a defensive campaign then I guess they will call ALL their ADSL clients in the area

The upgrade they offered me is month-to-month (I checked that) so no sinister lock-in this time.

Of interest is that it was Telkom itself calling (and not an outsourced call centre). They called my home and cell numbers, they knew what package I was on and they suggested a basic upgrade (2 - 4mbps) which isn't tapping into their VDSL.

Disappointing part is there's no special discount - it's the same pricing as their website. Darn.

Holding out for the fibre though. We've come this far :)
 
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Chris.Geerdts

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Telkom wants R800 for 4mbps uncapped (including all line rentals). It will be interesting to compare with what the Constantia Fibre ISP's are offering, later today.
 
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jackshiels

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Yes, here's hoping the ISP's got back to infrastructure on time. Rest assured the pricing will be better than R800 p/m for 4Mb.
 
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Chris.Geerdts

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jackshiels said:
Yes, here's hoping the ISP's got back to infrastructure on time. Rest assured the pricing will be better than R800 p/m for 4Mb.
Click to expand...

Came in at R770. There's more though. I got another, identical call from someone else soon after I ordered. There's no co-ordination. Then they lost the order - I got the SMS with the reference number but the system has no record of this number and their call centre (even retentions) is just a time-waster.

Let's get this fibre rolling asap! :)
 
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jackshiels

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Chris.Geerdts said:
Came in at R770. There's more though. I got another, identical call from someone else soon after I ordered. There's no co-ordination. Then they lost the order - I got the SMS with the reference number but the system has no record of this number and their call centre (even retentions) is just a time-waster.

Let's get this fibre rolling asap! :)
Click to expand...

Rollout map should be live this Monday. Today is the final day for ISP's to submit their packages... exciting times.
 
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jackshiels

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TimTDP said:
Constantia Fibre ISP's announced today.
http://constantiafibre.com/packages/provider/

But which ISP to chose?
Any recommendations?

VOX offer month to month so I am inclined to go with that, but what are they like?
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A couple of the ISP's offer month-to-month - one of the benefits of competition!

Vox are well priced and offer a voip phone, but they have been a little slow lately. The rollout will only be gaining traction in the next couple of months, so I'm registered with their packages in the hope that these problems will be resolved by then.

Web Africa also have similarly priced packages. Have a look. However, they have a 24 month contract.

More will be coming on board throughout the year.
 
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p51mustang

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I just had to retype five packages from four ISPs into a spreadsheet because the http://constantiafibre.com/packages/provider/ website does not make it easy to compare the different providers.

I currently have a R299/month MTN 3G uncapped dongle (month-to-month contract). As I need a mobile connection when I'm out the office, the Vox Telecom 10 MBPS seems good at R649/month.

However, I'm going to wait before contacting the ISPs as more ISPs may be added soon.
 
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jackshiels

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p51mustang said:
I just had to retype five packages from four ISPs into a spreadsheet because the http://constantiafibre.com/packages/provider/ website does not make it easy to compare the different providers.

I currently have a R299/month MTN 3G uncapped dongle (month-to-month contract). As I need a mobile connection when I'm out the office, the Vox Telecom 10 MBPS seems good at R649/month.

However, I'm going to wait before contacting the ISPs as more ISPs may be added soon.
Click to expand...

We were going to add a section that allows you to choose by budget, data etc. However we didn't have enough time. Martin, our IT guy, basically volunteered to make the site for free. I imagine it will be coming soon.
 
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Chris.Geerdts

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jackshiels said:
We were going to add a section that allows you to choose by budget, data etc. However we didn't have enough time. Martin, our IT guy, basically volunteered to make the site for free. I imagine it will be coming soon.
Click to expand...

You guys have put a lot of work into the content - most appreciated.

I obviously enjoy the consumer benefits that come from side-by-side comparisons. However (having been both service provider and my customer) I see there's also benefit in allowing service providers communicate their own value. What I loved, in looking through each offering, was that the ISPs push so many different value buttons : contracts are 1m, 12m and 24m; some include a free modem, some given incentives (sign up now or for longer and get more), upload speeds, download speeds, local bandwidth, bundle size as well as speed and including phone lines or other services.

In other words, there's obviously value for consumers in getting good pricing, but longer term value comes from all the innovation and exploration of what is important to customers other than pure price (the value drivers and value adds) - which is what the website allows for right now.
 
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ebendl

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Hi all,

So we're looking at using Frogfoot/LinkAfrica for our estate in PTA East as well. Is there somebody in the Constantia project I can chat to about your experience so far? We've already received proposals from multiple providers and need to pick the one we wish to use.

Then one of the biggest questions: how likely is the sewer system to block once you install the fibre optical cables in there?
 
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