Vodacom FTTH

[Napalm2880]

A friend of mine received this from his body corporate the other day. Feel welcome to share your thoughts...

Dear Resident

XXX Estate will be one of the first in South Africa if we proceed.

We have partnered with Fibre Connect and Vodacom to change the way you live, work and play. Would you like a fast, affordable world class internet link? The future is here, and the future is Optic Fibre.

What is Optic Fibre?

A technology that uses glass threads (fibres) to transmit data, at the speed of light. A fibre optic cable consists of a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting data modulated onto light waves.

What does Fibre replace?

Fibre optics have several advantages over traditional metal (copper) communication lines and it replaces the need for ADSL/copper cables for both your internet/data as well as telephone lines. You do not need existing data/phone lines for these services, as the complete (independent) infrastructure will be installed.

What are the advantages?

1. Improved security for your estate.

2. Improved cell phone signal, guaranteed 4G/LTE at the premises where Vodacom Fibre is installed.

3. Extremely fast internet speeds, up to 100mb/sec.

4. Free equipment (CPE Router, ONT)

5. Free installation

6. No setup costs (if signed up before installation)

7. No activation fee

8. Free 25GB Cloud storage for personal multimedia and documents



Included in all packages:

1. Line rental for fixed voice services

2. Connection equipment

3. Data

4. Vodacom IP-TV


Value added Services included:

1. Ability to integrate Live TV over fibre. No more signal loss because of bad weather

2. No need for excessively large data caps, as streaming VOD (video on demand) services do not use your data allocation
3. Health and Educational portals, grade 4 to 12

4. Online gaming

5. Access to home security HD monitoring

6. Access to home automation

7. You will never be disconnected, all packages are only soft capped with top-ups available at R7/GB

 

[Napalm2880]

After reading through the fine print...

* There's no SLA (as far as I can tell)
* They charge R899 for installation - if you miss the initial install period
* They charge a R899 re-connection fee
* No mention if this is a month-by-month contract or 24 month contract?
* They also say there are cancellation fees (but no mention of how this works)

Other misleading stuff...
* Vodacom IP-TV hasn't even launched yet.
* They say streaming VOD (video on demand) services do not use your data allocation but there's nothing indicating if this applies to non-Vodacom VOD services eg. Netflix
* Vodacom own all the fibre, so once the complex is locked in, it will be very difficult to change providers.
* They also don't mention that they're going to be using all the remaining draw wires in the conduits in the complex - which will go a long way in locking out the competition.

 

[The_MAC]

I would never support an operator which installs a Closed-Access Fibre Network, especially a company like Vodacom. They make you feel all exclusive but have no intention to give you the best deal for your money. They will sell you less than attractive deals and always try to upsell a whole bunch of extras which should have been part of the deal to start with.

If they do an Open-Access fibre installation, I might consider it.

 

[zeely]

I would never support an operator which installs a Closed-Access Fibre Network, especially a company like Vodacom. They make you feel all exclusive but have no intention to give you the best deal for your money. They will sell you less than attractive deals and always try to upsell a whole bunch of extras which should have been part of the deal to start with.

If they do an Open-Access fibre installation, I might consider it.

our estate is 90 units, each plot is 10 000m2. it would cost us millions just to roll our own fibre in the estate, never mind the 10km from the OLT up to our estate

yes, VC owns the fibre, but even if we pay for 20 years, its cheapr than rolling our own. And they do allow other providers (like mweb) to sell their fibre services