Spark 3G data on phone but not broadband?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark 3G data on phone but not broadband?

kiwibrad

14 posts

Geek

#191032 20-Jan-2016 14:54

Trying to help out a friend. Here is the situation:

Rural address no landline (Makarau, Kaukapakapa)
With my Spark mobile I get 3G (3 bars)
I can work easily on my laptop at his house when I use hot spot
There is no Vodafone signal at all
I call up Spark and they advise they cannot provide RBI as they only offer 4G

Questions:

Is the only option Farmside which is far more expensive than Spark RBI?
Does anyone else piggy back on the Spark tower and offer 3G RBI?
Have I just got the whole thing wrong?

Any counsel on this matter

johnr

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#1475466 20-Jan-2016 15:11

My friend lives close by same issue check out stratanet.co.nz they have wireless coverage up that way

http://www.stratanet.co.nz/stratanet/rural-internet/rural-coverage-map/

coffeebaron

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#1475468 20-Jan-2016 15:15

Is there any Vodafone signal nearby, on the roof, 1 bar? There is also a new tower coming to near this area due within the next few months.

Feel free to PM / email the address to me, and I can have a look to see if it possibly close enough to coverage to attempt an install.

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johnr

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#1475474 20-Jan-2016 15:21

I think new site is around April

coffeebaron

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#1475482 20-Jan-2016 15:30

Yup, Ahuroa:

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kiwibrad

14 posts

Geek

#1475487 20-Jan-2016 15:36

Thanks everyone.

Checked with stratanet.co.nz and unfortunately they don't cover . . .yet. They have a new tower in March - June but I dont think the house is in line of site so wont be in luck
New Vodafone tower sounds better but will it be too far away?

coffeebaron

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#1475492 20-Jan-2016 15:46

Either the new tower or existing Kaukapakapa or even Kaipara Harbour sites will all give some coverage towards that area, but still appears there is some gap so difficult to tell. maybe if you can give as an approx. address or PM me exact address, then can give a better estimate.

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johnr

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#1475503 20-Jan-2016 15:55

new tower will be on a hill and support 2G 3G 4G

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Andypb

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1475611 20-Jan-2016 18:31

Hi Kiwibrad
You must be very close to me. I on SH16 close to makurau road.
Exactly the same issue. I do have adsl which gives me about .5 mb up and down. Complete waste of time. Great spark 3G. I even tried to use their 4G rural broadband and put the sim into a 3G router but they have super locked the Simms to 4G only and would not budge on switching to 3G. I even spoke to the woman that setup the plan and she refused to let me "flood" her 3G network with my dirty home internet. As John mentioned there is a Vodafone tower on its way. And if i get even a sniff of coverage I'm switching all my business back to them. There's my two cents. Oh and if your new to the neighbourhood we should catch up.

coffeebaron

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#1475634 20-Jan-2016 19:03

I suspect that the router that Spark / Skinny use is not actually 3G 850 capable, thus locked to 4G only. I don't know this for sure, but based on any search of B315 specification I've done, I cannot find any 850/2100 3G variant.

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firefuze

510 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1475657 20-Jan-2016 19:35

coffeebaron: I suspect that the router that Spark / Skinny use is not actually 3G 850 capable, thus locked to 4G only. I don't know this for sure, but based on any search of B315 specification I've done, I cannot find any 850/2100 3G variant.

Correct, Spark/Skinny B315s are all LTE only. No 3G support.

Andypb

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1475729 20-Jan-2016 21:48

So the router i tried was a cradle point IBR350
3G only. Even after speaking with the highest engineer at spark they could not change
The block to allow 3G. It's the SIMM that limits the 4G 3G side of things.
But at least I tried. :)

coffeebaron

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#1475839 21-Jan-2016 07:39

Andypb: So the router i tried was a cradle point IBR350
3G only. Even after speaking with the highest engineer at spark they could not change
The block to allow 3G. It's the SIMM that limits the 4G 3G side of things.
But at least I tried. :)

The SIM card Spark use for their Rural Broadband is TAC locked to the B315. The B315 is 4G only. This prevents the SIM card being used in any other device as this is effectively a Fixed Broadband service.

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Cretti

1 post

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#1533549 15-Apr-2016 13:24

The Vodafone tower in Ahuroa which is described in this topic - above, has been placed in the ground. - This happened on Tuesday this week on 'Woodcock's Hill'.

Apparently there is no comms gear up the top of it yet, but work has started now.

I live locally and I administer the 'Ahuroa.nz' Grapevine for local residents (around 250 households). If there's a VF contact in here who would like to PM me, I would be interested in knowing more about services which would be available once this is livened up, we would be happy to take some properly detailed information from you and circulate it to the local households a little closer to go-live.

Thanks everyone. :)

coffeebaron

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#1533555 15-Apr-2016 13:54

Tower will have 2G + 3G U900 + 4G L700

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