FTTH inside gated communities ("estates") in Pretoria
Today I was helping an elderly couple in an estate in Pretoria East to interpret the various internet connectivity options available to them, including FTTH. I thought I'd relate parts of the story, since it's very relevant to this thread and also demonstrates the following things quite nicely :
- How Telkom-based FTTx inside gated communities (aka "estates") is typically working.
- How an apparent lack of FTTx options on the official Telkom FTTH/FTTB coverage map doesn't always reflect reality.
- Some background info and contact names for people in the same position.
As background:
For people living in free-standing houses (not estates), where Telkom FTTH infrastructure has been provided in the streets and between blocks, the situation is now pretty straightforward : You can sign up for a Telkom-based FTTx connection, with Telkom itself, or another ISP of your choice, as soon as your area is marked as 'available' on the Telkom coverage map. The provision of a suitable route for the final "drop cable" from the nearest access point (typically a pole, or manhole) to a designated point in your home, is your baby. In the simplest installation scenarios, you can leave that part to Telkom's installation team and take pot luck as to the end result. Or, you can climb in and get it done the way you like. And since that part will be on your own property, you can do it however the hell you like
.
For people living in estates or complexes, things are - as always, with such places - more complicated. Telkom can provide FTTx infrastructure on public property and servitudes right up to the estate's front gate, but once inside the gate, special arrangements are needed to traverse estate property. The Body Corporate or Homeowner's Association (HOA) has to make arrangements with suitable service provider(s) to provide all the necessary infrastructure (trenching, manholes, ducting etc) and to install a suitable fibre backbone passing each dwelling. Many estates don't permit aerial reticulation for such services, so this is a non-trivial underground project, especially in a big estate. In addition, each homeowner will usually end up having to provide ducting from the nearest fibre manhole(s) at the boundary of the property, to a suitable central point in the house, at his/her own cost. The more forward-thinking estate planners and architects would typically have made provision for underground telecommunication services well before starting construction of houses, however this is most often not the case.
From Telkom's point of view, estates and larger gated communities are a juicy target for FTTH. Particularly in the more upmarket estates, there is a lot of buying power concentrated in one area, so it's in their interests to market to these communities. Telkom appear to have set up a specific division to assist gated communities with FTTH rollouts, and in suburbs where the infrastructure exists, they're marketing it quite aggressively to the larger estates and complexes. Telkom is typically offering new subscribers 2 months' free internet service at a fairly Rolls-Royce level (100Mbps, 100GB per month) in order to move product. Hard to go back to anything else after that!
What also seems evident is that Telkom is making use of the services of dedicated fibre service providers to perform trenching, ducting and commissioning inside the estates where they've closed such deals. For instance, several folks on this and other similar threads have reported seeing Huawei technicians working inside the estates (see
here).
The elderly couple I mentioned live in The Wilds, an estate in the east of Pretoria, just off Devillebois Mareuil Drive. (
Note : For people already living in The Wilds, all of what follows should already be old news, if your Body Corporate / HOA is doing its job of communication properly. For the rest of you, read on.)
On the Telkom FTTx coverage map (as of now, August 2016), the FTTx situation in The Wilds looks pretty bleak : FTTx not even planned, let alone available :
To make matters worse, an abundance of FTTH activity all around. Everywhere except in The Wilds!
In reality, however, things are quite different. It appears that The Wilds has signed up with Telkom (?) for the provision of a fibre backbone within the estate, which will be capable of carrying broadband (data), voice and certain other services. From what I've gathered, this backbone will be used to carry a basic intra-estate "intercom" system that facilitates communications for the usual controlled access arrangements, along with a "panic-button" system. Each unit will contribute R150 per month for these services. In addition, individual houses will be able to sign up for voice services (fibre telephone) and broadband internet at their own cost.
In the case of The Wilds, it seems that their FTTH project is already quite far advanced. Much of the trenching and ducting within the estate appears to have been completed, and I'm told that some households and small businesses are already connected. The drive to get people signed up for the 2-month free internet trial is in full swing, and Huawei staff are on site to commission subscriber-side equipment and facilitate the process on behalf of Telkom.
For interest, I've attached an example of the letter that is typically sent to homeowners in estates where deals like this have been concluded between Telkom and the HOA/BC.
For people in estates and complexes where deals like this haven't yet got off the ground, the division inside Telkom that deals with this kind of scheme seems to be "Gated Community Services" (GCS). GCS can be reached by email at
[email protected] or on
080-011-1250. This desk seems to handle mostly support for existing GC fibre clients.
As regards complexes looking to get connected with fibre,
Antony Naude is involved in the marketing of FTTH to gated communities. He can be reached at
[email protected] or on
+27-81-363-2104.
Estates that I'm aware of where this kind of thing is already underway include :
PS : If you're living in one of the estates/complexes where a scheme like this is starting up, and you happen to be reading this, please post on this thread and share your experiences!
PPS : Regardless of whether you're in an estate or a free-standing house, the second attachment ("Telkom More Information.pdf") has a couple of sketches that give good guidance on how to provide a proper access duct from the boundary of your property into the house. For example :
With reference to
this post, I read the annotation at the bottom of the last sketch somewhat wryly : "
A separate duct to each dwelling no linking of dwellings on the same duct allowed.". (sorry,
p[ay3r !).
