Warning - before you get fibre

[SC2019]

It's not like ADSL or LTE.

With ADSL, as long as you had your line with Telkom or some other ISP that didn't LOCK your line, then you could connect using any ISP in South Africa. Getting connected with any ISP was a fast, painless experience. You could use different ISPs for different things etc, switching between them in seconds.

With Fiber it's a different beast.

I unfortunately got my fiber line activated with Axxess.
Their service has been literally non-existent both in terms of internet and support.
They're trying to hold my line prisoner. They say they won't release my line to be able to connect to another ISP until the end of January! Then they want to charge me a R999 early cancellation fee for "Installation".

I signed up 8 days ago but they seem to think the consumer protection act 2 week refund period does not apply?!?

Neither Axxess nor Octotel installed anything. The equipment and fiber line has been here for over a year already from the previous ISP. The actual INSTALLATION was paid for long ago with the previous ISP. All Axxess (apparently) did was enter the numbers on my ONT and performed ACTIVATION.

Think VERY VERY carefully before choosing an ISP.
It's a big commitment. Even though there is no logical reason that it should be.

With LTE, you're also free. If your ISP's service is bad, you just put in another sim card and you're online.

If you get a bad fiber ISP, they take your money, and they stop you from earning money at the same time.

This is TERRIBLE

It would be nice if ISPA could remedy this.

Thank god I've still got LTE. This is INSANE. I can't believe how insane this is.

We are still in the very dark ages of South African fiber. You usually can't choose what fiber network you use, and have to deal with this fictional "installation" lock-in.

Axxess no internet or support (escalate fault means Do and Say NOTHING)

TLDR * 086 number in the title of their website was not working last week (I haven't re-tested because I call the unlisted 041 number now) * They took my money on Monday last week and said my fiber was activated but the ONT does not give my router (setup as a DHCP client) an IP address. * For...

mybroadband.co.za

 

[supersunbird]

So it's on Octotel backbone, not OpenServe?

On OpenServe it works like ADSL.

 

[SC2019]

Yes, it's Octohell

Oh, that's good to know. I next time I rent an apartment I'll look for one with OpenServe.

 

[ld13]

On OpenServe it works like ADSL.

Yep. And it is not exactly a state secret @SC2019

 

[Geoff.D]

So it's on Octotel backbone, not OpenServe?

On OpenServe it works like ADSL.

Wish that this is the case!. So far trying to find out how I can make use of an alternative ISP on the OS fibre connection I have has been a rather dismal failure.

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

I unfortunately got my fiber line activated with Axxess.

That is unfortunate.

They say they won't release my line to be able to connect to another ISP until the end of January! Then they want to charge me a R999 early cancellation fee for "Installation".

Did you read what you signed? Especially the bit that said "calendar months notice" and "R999 cancellation fee within the first X months", I'm guessing not.

I signed up 8 days ago but they seem to think the consumer protection act 2 week refund period does not apply?!?

It doesn't.

All Axxess (apparently) did was ACTIVATION.

Which Octotel charge for.

Axxess no internet or support (escalate fault means Do and Say NOTHING) TLDR * 086 number in the title of their website was not working last week (I haven't re-tested because I call the unlisted 041 number now) * They took my money on Monday last week and said my fiber was activated but the ONT does not give my router (setup as a DHCP client) an IP address. * For...

Multiple threads are not necessary.

Oh and swearing at customer support is a great way to get ignored by the people you need help from.

Wish that this us the case!. So far trying to find out how I can make use of an alternative ISP on the OS fibre connection I have has been a rather dismal failure.

Sign up with another provider and change the PPPoE log in details on your router, done.

 

[SC2019]

Yep. And it is not exactly a state secret @SC2019

Where can I see a list of fiber networks that allow you to connect to any ISP?
And also whether there are charges or not to connect with a new ISP.

Did you read what you signed? Especially the bit that said "calendar months notice" and "R999 cancellation fee within the first X months", I'm guessing not.

Unfortunately I assumed that the installation fee and cancellation fee would be for ACTUAL INSTALLATION.
The word install means to put something in somewhere, where that thing did not previously exist in that space.
My line and equipment has been here for over a year, actual (physical) installation occurred very long ago and has already been paid for.
So when they mentioned "Installation", naturally I thought it did not apply to me. They called that activation. I discussed getting connected with Axxess on the phone prior to signing up. They told me to sign up online. They made it sound so casual "we just type in the numbers on your ONT blah blah activated". When I read or hear the word installation, I picture someone on-site with cables and equipment. It's misleading to call typing in some numbers "installation" and also call physically installing equipment and a line "installation".


(consumer protection act 2 week refund period)

It doesn't.

Can you elaborate?

Multiple threads are not necessary.

One thread to comment on my experience with Axxess.
One thread to warn everybody who's interested in signing up with fiber with ANY ISP. They are totally different subjects. One thread is specific to a single ISP, the other thread is general for all ISP's and some fiber networks. 2 threads are necessary.

swearing at customer support is a great way to get ignored by the people you need help from.

I did not swear at them. I made very clear that I had no issue with the consultant personally but the service from the company. And they were not helping one iota which you should have noticed.

 

[thehuman]

Where can I see a list of fiber networks that allow you to connect to any ISP?
And also whether there are charges or not to connect with a new ISP.

Only openserve do this

 

[supersunbird]

Wish that this is the case!. So far trying to find out how I can make use of an alternative ISP on the OS fibre connection I have has been a rather dismal failure.

What ScottulusMaximus said, you take the account credentials and you enter them in place of where your current credentials are and you connect.

 

[Geoff.D]

IN theory, IF you get OS fibre connection provided to you by OS and are billed for that separately from any ISP, you should be free to then choose any ISP after that. But in reality, this does not appear to work at the moment.

Telkom seems to not be able to explain how this works and I am reluctant to do anything until I get a convincing answer and process out of Telkom. I know that right now, my service is "locked" to Telkom as my ISP. I tried as an experiment to do what has already been suggested and nothing happened except I lost connectivity.

 

[mister]

Wish that this is the case!. So far trying to find out how I can make use of an alternative ISP on the OS fibre connection I have has been a rather dismal failure.

You just need another Openserve ISP account. Adsl or Fiber. I change account any time there is an issue with my main ISP.

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

Where can I see a list of fiber networks that allow you to connect to any ISP?
And also whether there are charges or not to connect with a new ISP.



Unfortunately I assumed that the installation fee and cancellation fee would be for ACTUAL INSTALLATION.
The word install means to put something in somewhere, where that thing did not previously exist in that space.
My line and equipment has been here for over a year, actual (physical) installation occurred very long ago and has already been paid for.
So when they mentioned "Installation", naturally I thought it did not apply to me. They called that activation. I discussed getting connected with Axxess on the phone prior to signing up. They told me to sign up online. They made it sound so casual "we just type in the numbers on your ONT blah blah activated". When I read or hear the word installation, I picture someone on-site with cables and equipment. It's misleading to call typing in some numbers "installation" and also call physically installing equipment and a line "installation".


(consumer protection act 2 week refund period)

Can you elaborate?



One thread to comment on my experience with Axxess.
One thread to warn everybody who's interested in signing up with fiber with ANY ISP. They are totally different subjects. One thread is specific to a single ISP, the other thread is general for all ISP's and some fiber networks. 2 threads are necessary.


I did not swear at them. I made very clear that I had no issue with the consultant personally but the service from the company. And they were not helping one iota which you should have noticed.

At no point is it said the cancellation fee is to refund for the installation, or activation for that matter, so your semantics are irrelevant.

2 week "cooling off" period is only for sales through direct marketing, as you went to Axxess this too is irrelevant.

While your frustrations are understandable dealing with them by throwing tantrums at support and wall o' texting on this forum isn't the way to deal with them.

I was told that the Octotel ONT will give my router (set as a DHCP client) an IP address.

As per your other thread ^^^. I don't know exactly how Octotel works but that doesn't sound right. Your router should be the DHCP server AFAIK, other members on Octotel should be able to assist. Maybe explain your setup in more details and they'll be able to help.

IN theory, IF you get OS fibre connection provided to you by OS and are billed for that separately from any ISP, you should be free to then choose any ISP after that. But in reality, this does not appear to work at the moment.

Works perfectly fine on Openserve as above.

 

[supersunbird]

IN theory, IF you get OS fibre connection provided to you by OS and are billed for that separately from any ISP, you should be free to then choose any ISP after that. But in reality, this does not appear to work at the moment.

Telkom seems to not be able to explain how this works and I am reluctant to do anything until I get a convincing answer and process out of Telkom. I know that right now, my service is "locked" to Telkom as my ISP. I tried as an experiment to do what has already been suggested and nothing happened except I lost connectivity.

Did you pay for an OS account from another ISP, or used someone elses OS account details?

 

[Geoff.D]

Did you pay for an OS account from another ISP, or used someone elses OS account details?

A friend of mine on the same GPON network came to my place with his router and it would not connect.

 

[cavedog]

A friend of mine on the same GPON network came to my place with his router and it would not connect.

His pppoe details might be B number locked.

You can give any ADSL details a go and they will work like the Axxess 1GB or even the Infogro 10GB free account.

Paid Capped accounts like:

Cybersmart 200GB
Afrihost
Axxess
Infogro
RSAWeb
Webafrica

All will work fine.

 

[dunkyd]

Seems all a lot of bullshit. Lte works seamlessly.

 

[Geoff.D]

If I do not want to reconfigure my own router with another account, is it possible to use another router already configured with one of the ADSL details?

 

[madeinjapan]

Guys with openserve I don't think it so easy as some state to just change logon details and off you go.

I have been without internet for a month now since I cancelled Telkom internet. My new ISP cannot set me up as Telkom does not know how to release my fibre line into the pool. MWEB can't help me until Telkom releases my line and I'm stuck in an endless loop.

 

[Genisys]

Seems all a lot of bullshit. Lte works seamlessly.

If you have signal it works flawlessly, else you are stuck alongside the rest of us trying to get signal and having to make do with 2 - 3 Mbps.

 

[JamesBoy]

“Once the line is released, we can order a new Cool Ideas service for that object.”
He said that Vumatel Aerial has a different portal which functions along the same lines, but there can be provisioning issues which require manual intervention from Vumatel and can delay the process.

Okay so to confirm, Vumatel Fibre (and probably trenched too) would require the current ISP to release the line before you can connect to another ISP?