The Interweb
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<p>I live in the sticks. I have watched them lay fibre across the road for the past month and it doesn't include us. Slightly frustrating as we are not on their plans. We have to utilise Vodafone Rural or whatever it is called. I need to organise that as we are on Telecom dross at the moment.</p>
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That fibre is likely a backhaul from the Voda Rural Broadband tower. <br>
Using a roading analogy again it would be like asking for your own on ramp to the motorway that goes past your property <br>
Distance from a cabinet is the biggest decider in service. The closer you live to other people the more likely you'll be close to a cabinet -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="465647" data-time="1418772822">
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<p>Nah it's the chorus stuff to the school down Highway 27</p>
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<p>If it's just RBI <strong>distribution fibre</strong> then, no, it can't be accessed, but in many cases it is RBI <strong>access fibre</strong>, which means that if you are willing to pay then you can be joined to it.</p>
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<p>It's only luck if you are next to an access fibre though. Generally I think it's when the fibre from the node to the school or the Voda Tower passes you. On the access map there is nothing down SH27, that is likely to be the distribution fibre only. eg the node may well be right outside the school so there is little chance of latching on to it.</p>
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<p>Basically the govt has commissioned the RBI to the towers and schools but the network builders have said that if you sit between the node and the tower/school then they are happy to connect you on. It would be silly to exclude you from it.</p>
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<p>There's a pic on this page ( <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://www.chorus.co.nz/rural-broadband-initiative/fibre-in-rural-community/fibre-to-rural-communities-1'>https://www.chorus.co.nz/rural-broadband-initiative/fibre-in-rural-community/fibre-to-rural-communities-1</a> ) that kind of explains it. In the top of the pic you can see the little exchange building in the town with the distribution fibre coming in. Then the access fibre goes from there to the scholl but anyone in between can get on it as well. </p>
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<p>If you look at the map below that you can kind of see the pattern. Stretches of access fibre from the nodes to the end user, some very short, some long. It's all luck.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="465660" data-time="1418776877"><p>All the other side of the road have access as per chorus website. Just not our side</p></blockquote> <br>That's common for how it is rolled out. You could be on an entirely different exchange from the house directly across the road.
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="465660" data-time="1418776877">
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<p>All the other side of the road have access as per chorus website. Just not our side</p>
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<p>The key is if you are adjacent to the duct. So yes, the side of the road with the duct will be able to connect in but unless you have an existing duct carrying your copper from that side to your side then you are out of luck. In the future, it may be possible to run an overhead on existing overhead poles depending on agreement from whoever owns the poles on the road, but again if they are on the opposite side to the fibre you'll be out of luck.</p>
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<p>The ISP you choose plays a big part in availability as well because of the equipment they have in the exchanges and whether it will talk to the chorus network in your area. Had a really confusing time over sorting out my parent's new place which was only just down the road from their old one in Papamoa. Being a new development it was set up fibre ready but Spark and other ISPs were saying they couldn't connect. Papamoa is in the area that UFF are building the UFB network so the ISPs have configured their fibre products to handshake with the UFF network. This particular development was started before the UFB rollout so is a lone blue dot on the Chorus map. Only Trustpower could get the chorus network to talk to their equipment in the nodes. The other ISPs hadn't arranged for it.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JC" data-cid="465664" data-time="1418777952">
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<p>I'm not in the sticks. No UltraVDSL, no Fibre, until at least 2016. So I get 5.75Mbps down, 0.64Mbps up, with a ping of 202ms. Appalling from Spark, all for only $129 per month.</p>
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<p>At those speeds you are probably too far from the cabinet for VDSL. Call Spark and save yourself some $ though. An unlimited ADSL plan with landline is $109 ($89 if you ditch the landline). You must be on an old plan. They won't proactively change you.</p>
<p>If you are only getting under 6Mbps then it's unlikely you even need to go unlimited. 80GB is only $85 now.</p>
<p>Stop giving the bastards money they don't deserve.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="465665" data-time="1418778525">
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<p>The key is if you are adjacent to the duct. So yes, the side of the road with the duct will be able to connect in but unless you have an existing duct carrying your copper from that side to your side then you are out of luck. In the future, it may be possible to run an overhead on existing overhead poles depending on agreement from whoever owns the poles on the road, but again if they are on the opposite side to the fibre you'll be out of luck.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The ISP you choose plays a big part in availability as well because of the equipment they have in the exchanges and whether it will talk to the chorus network in your area. Had a really confusing time over sorting out my parent's new place which was only just down the road from their old one in Papamoa. Being a new development it was set up fibre ready but Spark and other ISPs were saying they couldn't connect. Papamoa is in the area that UFF are building the UFB network so the ISPs have configured their fibre products to handshake with the UFF network. This particular development was started before the UFB rollout so is a lone blue dot on the Chorus map. Only Trustpower could get the chorus network to talk to their equipment in the nodes. The other ISPs hadn't arranged for it.</p>
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<p>YEs I agree it really is a shit process from a shit offshoot of telecom. You just put it in a long winded way.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="465670" data-time="1418779667">
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<p>YEs I agree it really is a shit process from a shit offshoot of telecom. You just put it in a long winded way.</p>
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<p>Not sure if that's what I am saying but I understand it must be frustrating knowing there is something so close but so far away. The people on the other side of your road are getting a bonus basically. They live in a rural area yet are fortunate enough that an access fibre to a school is running down their side of the road and the network owner has offered them the chance to connect onto it.</p>
<p>Even in town no one gets connected under roads unless there are existing ducts.</p>
<p>I don't understand what the 'shit process' part is. </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="465667" data-time="1418778997">
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<p>At those speeds you are probably too far from the cabinet for VDSL. Call Spark and save yourself some $ though. An unlimited ADSL plan with landline is $109 ($89 if you ditch the landline). You must be on an old plan. They won't proactively change you.</p>
<p>If you are only getting under 6Mbps then it's unlikely you even need to go unlimited. 80GB is only $85 now.</p>
<p>Stop giving the bastards money they don't deserve.</p>
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<p>You're right about the distance apparently. If you use their online tool it says I am VDSL capable, but the engineers say no dice. Any idea why it would have gotten worse as the year goes on though? I was getting 10Mbps which was poor but usable. And the upload speed is a complete nightmare when trying to use Google docs or iCloud etc. Honestly, the quickest way to upload anything or send a bulky email is to turn the wifi off on my phone and use 3G to do the job.</p>
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<p>It annoys me that while my contract is with Spark they happily blame Chorus any time you call them on the crap quality. And to think they're going to increase the price by $5 pm next year. Mind you, first world problems, eh?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="465667" data-time="1418778997">
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<p>At those speeds you are probably too far from the cabinet for VDSL. Call Spark and save yourself some $ though. An unlimited ADSL plan with landline is $109 ($89 if you ditch the landline). You must be on an old plan. They won't proactively change you.</p>
<p>If you are only getting under 6Mbps then it's unlikely you even need to go unlimited. 80GB is only $85 now.</p>
<p>Stop giving the bastards money they don't deserve.</p>
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<p>This. I did this with Vodafone, and saved $15 per month and went from 60GB per month to unlimited.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="465642" data-time="1418768895">
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<p>It's amazing how many people say that internet connection is vital for them yet don't check the situation before building/buying/moving.</p>
<p>There is often some idiot moaning in the paper about how he's trying to run a web based business from his home (which turns out to be a lifestyle block 3km out of town) yet struggles with international time zones conflicting with heavy usage periods on his ADSL connection etc etc. </p>
<p>That's like trying to run a truck distribution depot from a property down an unsealed road, through a residential suburb and onto choked commuter routes. You simply wouldn't even attempt it. You'd put your depot close to the highway.</p>
<p>I would be very happy to leave Wellington and live in the backblocks in the South Island, contracting services for work for 3 days a week to support myself but to pitch a good business case to the boss for that I'd need a VDSL connection minimum.</p>
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<p>My wife thought I was nuts, but that was second or third on my list for when we went looking for a house. I actively moved into a fibre area because I work from home, and a good connect is very important to me.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JC" data-cid="465673" data-time="1418780286">
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<p>You're right about the distance apparently. If you use their online tool it says I am VDSL capable, but the engineers say no dice. Any idea why it would have gotten worse as the year goes on though? I was getting 10Mbps which was poor but usable. And the upload speed is a complete nightmare when trying to use Google docs or iCloud etc. Honestly, the quickest way to upload anything or send a bulky email is to turn the wifi off on my phone and use 3G to do the job.</p>
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<p>It annoys me that while my contract is with Spark they happily blame Chorus any time you call them on the crap quality. And to think they're going to increase the price by $5 pm next year. Mind you, first world problems, eh?</p>
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<p>The tool just shows that your cabinet is VDSL capable. VDSL degrades heaps over distance and quality of the copper both at your house and in the street will also have a big effect. If you are in a fibre area then no one is going to re-run a degrading copper network only to then lay down fibre as you come into the rollout.</p>
<p>Very first thing to look at is your in home wiring, If you have some old piggyback shit dick smith home job extensions to every room type set up then cut the lot and run some Cat5 (minimum) from the junction to one jackpoint. If you already have a cleanish wiring setup then the next step is to try a new splitter/ line filter. The cheap ones can really degrade your signal. Check out this thread on Geekzone for better info as well. <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=27834'>http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=27834</a></p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Kirwan" data-cid="465677" data-time="1418781648">
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<p>My wife thought I was nuts, but that was second or third on my list for when we went looking for a house. I actively moved into a fibre area because I work from home, and a good connect is very important to me.</p>
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<p>Ditto. I work from home at least twice a week and I simply wouldn't countenance moving to an area that wasn't already riddled with fibre for the new NBN.</p> -
<p>I work from home over this shitty connection - RDP to my work PC even!</p>
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<p>I pay $49 a month and get ADSL2+ with 100Gb download and land line (Mrs TA doesn't trust VOIP enough to let go of it). My ISP also runs mobile so I get 3G for $18 a month with $600 of calls and 1Gb data. Throw in the $1.10 fee they charge me for using credit card and its under $70 a month.</p> -
<p>Is NZ more advanced than Australia regards the national network? I was speaking to an Australian Telstra manager/mate (in Martin Place ironically) just a few weeks ago, and I am not allowed to say their projects are status SNAFU, without the the N for Normal. I repeat, not allowed to say it.</p>
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<p>400 gig (split into off peak and peak - don't know why) for $70 a month. No phone however, not that it matters given I use Lync anyway.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="nostrildamus" data-cid="465730" data-time="1418812601">
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<p>Is NZ more advanced than Australia regards the national network? I was speaking to an Australian Telstra manager/mate (in Martin Place ironically) just a few weeks ago, and I am not allowed to say their projects are status SNAFU, without the the N for Normal. I repeat, not allowed to say it.</p>
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<p>I think in metropolitan terms at least, yes for connectivity speeds.</p>
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<p>I know our stores in NZ have much better data connections than the stores in Oz, but then we inherited a lot of them. Of course, I think our buying teams here are utter fuckwits too, and couldn't negotiate their way out of bed in the morning.</p>