[Question] Vumatel and fibre installations

[ians]

What has this got to do with electrical ... well switched off the power and did a bit of work on a site.

8 pm that night I get a call to ask if I had switched on the power to the Vumatel Model GSW-2020F ... yes I did and made sure the green light was on.

Get to site in the morning and first thing check the power to the switch ... 12 VDC at the switch.

the customer calls the service provider (I think it is Mweb) to get a technician to check the system ... the customer is informed that a service ticket is opened and a technician will be sent to site in the next 7 working days ... wow I thought telkom was bad (3 days).

But here is the part that gets me ... th technician will be there in 7 days ... however if it is the switch they dont have stock of the Model-2020F and cannot give a date they will receive stock ... OK.

So how difficult can it be to replace a fuse or whatever is damaged in the switch ... and considering we have 7 days and no idea when they will receive stock ... I decide to remove the switch.

This is where it gets interesting ... firstly to cut corners the installer has used the trunking for other services ... but the cable is too short ... simple solution ... just pull the trunking cover off until the cable reaches the switch ... or they could say the fibre cable cant take sharp bends ... I notice the cable has insulation tape wrapped around the fibre plug ... I am assuming they damaged the cable during installation ... and thought a bit of tape would be a quick fix ... I thought these cables had to be spliced in special conditions.

Since the system was installed they have been having issues with the service ... like dropping connections etc ... I am starting to wonder if it was the switch causing the problems or the damage fibre cable ... when I opened the switch and removed the PCB ... I found what looks like an old dry joint on one of the components ... something that looks like it started from the day it was installed ... you can see by the white power and bubbling of the green coating.

So what seemed like simple "network issue" has turned into a nightmare ... I wonder how many other switches have experienced the same dry joint issue ... at R2000 a pop they want to charge for a replacement switch and the fact that the person who took the call seems to be adamant that the switch would need to be replaced makes me wonder how many of theses units are being replaced per day or per week.

[ians]

VX-fibre model GSW-2020f ... I did some research and found it is a swedish technology company ... I must say I am surprise ... wasnt expecting to see component failure like that on a PCB from a company supplying 200 units a day ... with 20 years experience

VX Fiber is a Swedish Technology company – a digital infrastructure specialist with more than 20 years’ experience building and operating full fibre FTTP open access networks globally, connecting new subscribers at a rate of 200 per day / 5,000 per month.

https://vxfiber.com/

[Firepool]

Sounds like a bad fibre install.Fibre should be installed once and just work with maybe dropping once very few years when the ISP goes down or a bulldozer takes out the cable or maybe if DFA down.That job sounds messy!

[ians]

the switch had a bad contact which you can see by the white powder on the component.

I was watching the fibre lads doing an installation ... lift the gras put the pipe under the grass and walla job down ... eeeish.

I will be getting fibre installed one of these days ... I have installed the conduit and draw wires myself and plan to source a fibre switch and pre made cable ... that way I dont have to get involved in contracts or be tied to a service provider.

I need to find a good reliable fibre switch and a decent router which can handle the speed.

[Justloadit]

Just be extra careful with the fibre as it is a little brittle when you pull it through the conduit.
Maybe join a wire to the fibre end when you pull, so that all the strain will be on the wire, and not the fibre

[ians]

We are told there is no warranty on the unit because we took it off the wall ...yet they still took the faulty unit ... I would be my old bicycle tubes that they put in a claim for a replacement unit.

I thought aircon installer who arrive in their old 3 series BMW wit ha ladder on the roof were a dodgy bunch ... wait till the fibre techs arrive ... time to start scratching in this area of expertise ... talk about a quick buck.

I cant wait to see the call out fee ... plus the new switch R2000.00.