Feedback from ConnectParkview meeting 18 Nov 2014 For those unable to attend here is a summary of points discussed at this weeks meeting. Timelines Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) will publish their rollout plan in the 2nd week of December and expect to start civils work in January. They expect to be complete by the end of April. Installations DFA will trench along the length of each road (not via the service lanes), and will then cut across each pavement to install a box on each perimeter wall. From there the fibre will be taken into the house if the resident chooses to take the service. This could be extended to a cottage on the premises via fixed cabling or via Wi-Fi. Should you require that the cottage have its own connectivity DFA would be happy to oblige oblige at an extra cost to the homeowner. Once installed, residents will be responsible for the equipment within their property (i.e. the “last 10 metres”). Providing services to complexes is will require a consultative approach between DFA and the body corporates, a process which has been kicked off. Services The maximum throughput of a single fibre strand is 400Mbps. If everyone on the network maxed out their service simultaneously they’d each be capable of 80Mbps throughput. Performance with therefore be significantly influenced by your choice of ISP, and which of their services you choose to take. By way of perspective watching a movie in standard definition (SD) requres a 3Mbps stream, while watching a movie in high definition (HD) requires an 8Mbps stream. Service levels There was a lot of concern expressed around advertised throughput vs that actually achieved, and how that could be enforced. The concept of an open access network is that the ISPs compete on quality, with the residents having the ability to switch between ISP’s at short notice should they be unhappy with the service they are receiving. ConnectParkview have a service level agreement (SLA) in place with DFA to guarantee the availability of the underlying fibre infrastructure and are busy putting a framework together to publish speed tests across the various ISPs. This collectively, we believe, will guarantee the residents the best possible service. Concern was also raised around resolution of faults. At a high level the process will be that residents will log a call with the ISP, who will then forward on to DFA if required, who will resolve or even possibly push back to the ISP. This process is already in place with some of the ISPs while others are busy setting it up. Its important to note that optical fibre networks are inherently easier to manage than legacy copper networks (across which ADSL runs), which bodes well for the residents’ user experience. Schools Connectivity to schools falls under the Gauteng Broadband Project, a Dept of Education programme. While this is obviously a separate initiative from ConnectParkview, we believe it would make sense for the schools to engage with the ISPs for services until such time that they have access to services through the GBP. Voice services Most of the ISPs offer voice services (VoIP) as part of, or as an add-on service. The cost of this is generally lower than the Telkom service. You will either have to take a new number or port your existing phone number away from Telkom to your ISP. This means that you can cancel your Telkom phone line. Note that unlike a traditional telephone service this will require power, and will be unavailable during an Eskom outage unless you have backup power. Vodacom informs us that they provide an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) as part of their service offering. Services to adjacent suburbs While there is no current plan for DFA to extend their network beyond Parkview and Greenside east they would encourage residents of Parkwood and Westcliff to gather information and residents buy in and present it to them for consideration. Pricing Pricing was provided in pamphlet form at the meeting. The ISPs (via DFA) have been requested to provide this pricing online for comparison purposes. We will link to this information when its made available. List of ISPs present Cybersmart SA Digital Villages Vodacom Vox Telecom XDSL In addition to the ISP’s above, Afrihost and MWeb have confirmed that they will be providing services on our network. Thank you to all that were able to attend, we really appreciate the interest that has been shown to this project to date. The ConnectParkview team
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 20:43:12 +0000
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