Vodafone Home Wireless Connection

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jonnz

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#270291 2-May-2020 13:31

Hi I live on a property on Banks Peninsula, in a building about 50 meters from where the owner lives. I currently share his ADSL connection (6mpbs).

I know of at least 1 property owner in my neighbourhood who has a Vodafone Home Wireless Connection, I would like to get the same.

From the building where I live in there is unobstructed line of sight to the cell tower and I get download and upload speeds of around 30mbps using my phone and with a modem I borrowed but when I type my address in the Vodafone checker "only ADSL is available".

When I enter the address of an adjoining property the follow appears "Sorry! We couldn’t confirm what services you can get at your address.Please give us a call on 0800 222 664 so we can double check what services might be available".

I rang Vodafone and spoke to a Ninja only to be told that ADSL is through "copper wires" while wireless is well wireless. Not particularly helpful or surprising.

I would like a better explanation. Is my inability to get a Vodafone Home Wireless Connection because off network capacity, of the tower itselfs or its backhaul limits or some economic reason i.e. pay Farmside ("Powered by Vodafone") for a service coming from the same tower but slower and more expensive.

Any additional information/help would be appreciated

Thanks

Jonnz

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#2475353 2-May-2020 14:12

Get in touch with these guys: https://www.ultimatebroadband.co.nz/ they do Vodafone RBI in the Christchurch and surrounding areas. They also have their own rural wireless network in some places too.

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konfusd

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#2475516 2-May-2020 21:16

Hey @jonnz, we have two different products for broadband over Fixed Wireless Access - these are marketed as Home Wireless Broadband and Rural Wireless Broadband (under the RBI programme). As RBI is regulated the areas where we can offer each product are mutually exclusive (i.e. we’re not allowed to provision HWB in a RBI area).

Have you checked the RBI service map at https://www.vodafone.co.nz/broadband/rural/?

I volunteer my time on here, and all opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

jonnz

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#2475778 3-May-2020 14:00

So for economic reason.

Vodafone, or more correctly its customers, paid a $12,855,066.62 contribution to the Telecommunications Development Levy in 2019,
Spark paid $17,417,451.57 and 2degrees $4,342,440.44. These three "jointly and equally own" the Rural Connectivity Group.

Of the initial $150m available under RBI2 the Rural Connectivity Group was awarded contracts for $115 million. I believe under RBI2 a total of $420m is available, $150m initially, later increased by an additional $250m.

If someone could provide me info on the location of the upgraded MBSF sites and RBI sites in Canterbury, Banks Peninsula it would
be appreciated as "all three established mobile operators – 2degrees, Spark and Vodafone – will be able to access the MBSF
sites all mobile customers will be able to share in the benefits of this improved coverage,regardless of their chosen provider".
If the site I connect to has been upgraded I would like to know why Vodafone is still the only network available.

"Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees would have no special requirement to wholesale the infrastructure subsidised through RBI2, with
any arrangements left to commercial negotiations". It appears to me that Vodafone has contracted with Farmside (100.00% owned by
VODAFONE NEW ZEALAND LIMITED) to provide Rural Broadband in my area at for example 120gb for $95.99/month while If I was in an
urban area I could receive a 600gb package for $83 and have a choice of providers and the options of Fibre or VDSL.

Its not as if the shareholders of these companies are funding the upgraded RBI and MBSF sites - the existing customers are,
topped up by the tax payer. So how can the major telcos justify the urban/rural price differences.

*Excuse my formatting

quickymart

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#2475868 3-May-2020 15:13

It probably costs more to deliver mobile technology in (usually sparsely-populated) rural areas as opposed to urban areas with a more dense population spread over a much smaller area, I think you'll find.

jonnz

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#2475896 3-May-2020 16:31

I think the rural or urban capital cost would be much the same assuming the same tower capacity. Rural locations may even be cheaper, initially + ongoing, less consent/plannnig objections etc and lower land rental. Upgraded rural capital equipment is paid for (or significantly subsidised) by the RBI, income may be less per rural tower but wasn't this why the RBI was created in the first place.

quickymart

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#2475919 3-May-2020 17:16

Backhaul getting to a rural site would be a hell of a lot more expensive (think fibre cables being laid to a cellsite in the middle of nowhere with no other infrastructure nearby), as opposed to in an urban area.

How do you figure it would be cheaper (apart from land rental costs)?

jonnz

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#2475927 3-May-2020 17:30

Fibre or wireless backhauls cover most of the country plus new or upgraded "rural capital equipment is paid for (or significantly subsidised) by the RBI ... this why the RBI was created in the first place" - that's the point.

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antonknee

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#2478351 7-May-2020 02:12

So you are implying rural pricing and service should be the same as urban?

It won’t happen. Rural life has its perks - but its downsides too. One of those will be poorer coverage and/or higher prices. Same reason you don’t have a metro train system running past your door.

Density makes services cheaper to provide as high fixed/upfront costs are spread over higher numbers or people.

Linux

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#2478363 7-May-2020 07:12

End users decide to live in a very rural location and then complain about paying more for getting a service delivered ' Rolls eyes '

quickymart

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#2478367 7-May-2020 07:39

Oh but John there's fibre backhaul everywhere! It should all be totally free! :D

ajw

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#2478453 7-May-2020 09:36

antonknee: So you are implying rural pricing and service should be the same as urban?

It won’t happen. Rural life has its perks - but its downsides too. One of those will be poorer coverage and/or higher prices. Same reason you don’t have a metro train system running past your door.

Density makes services cheaper to provide as high fixed/upfront costs are spread over higher numbers or people.

I feel the same rural people think it is there god given right to have fast internet and pay the same as city users. And have it subsidised by the government.

Aucklandjafa

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#2478520 7-May-2020 11:13

jonnz:
Fibre or wireless backhauls cover most of the country plus new or upgraded "rural capital equipment is paid for (or significantly subsidised) by the RBI ... this why the RBI was created in the first place" - that's the point.

It’s not even a backhaul issue. It’s the fact that RBI sites only use the 700mhz spectrum. Less people can be served at much slower speeds compared to urban centres that use anything up to 2.6 ghz

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#2478523 7-May-2020 11:27

Correct as above it's the amount of spectrum the carriers have access to

hio77

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#2478524 7-May-2020 11:30

jonnz:

I think the rural or urban capital cost would be much the same assuming the same tower capacity. Rural locations may even be cheaper, initially + ongoing, less consent/plannnig objections etc and lower land rental. Upgraded rural capital equipment is paid for (or significantly subsidised) by the RBI, income may be less per rural tower but wasn't this why the RBI was created in the first place.

they key thing is, Often many of the rural sites have limited backhaul or very expensive fibre runs to get connectivity to them.

Even after you get past that stage, Rural and Urban can't be directly compared at all (unless it's a Rural township) since you have so much more limited upgrade paths.

on a rural site, you generally can't go, oh It's capacity Constrained and needs another carrier.

700Mhz (B28) is generally the only realistically feasible band to utilize for rural coverage, and there is only so much of that..

as providers refarm 850mhz/900mhz (B5/B8) those do become options too, but there is alot more consideration that has to go into utilizing those bands eg, 3G Voice usage from neibouring towers.

so 1800Mhz (B3) becomes the next best option for a capacity augmentation.

In many rural sites though, 1800mhz simply doesn't punch through the hills and trees well enough to be worth while.

Through RCG RBI2 towers, they do have the possibility of using Multiple 700mhz (B28) bands, but that brings a while new kettle of fish potential issues and concerns to look at.

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hio77

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#2478525 7-May-2020 11:31

Aucklandjafa:
jonnz:

Fibre or wireless backhauls cover most of the country plus new or upgraded "rural capital equipment is paid for (or significantly subsidised) by the RBI ... this why the RBI was created in the first place" - that's the point.

It’s not even a backhaul issue. It’s the fact that RBI sites only use the 700mhz spectrum. Less people can be served at much slower speeds compared to urban centres that use anything up to 3.5ghz

Let's not forget VFNZ's use of 3.5ghz for 5G there ;)

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