Before I start - I know Farmside has an awful reputation but my options are limited to them, a local provider and ADSL. Farmside offered the best deal in comparison to the local provider for RBI (Primo Taranaki).

Been with Farmside for almost 2 months and have had nothing but problems from the get go. We started with a self install 4g modem setup. For the first week, speeds were acceptable ranging from 25-30 Mpbs down / 5 up. Then issues started appearing with speeds going as low as 1.5 Mbps down and nothing up. Peak times were the worst for this (4pm until closer to midnight) but wasn't really much higher than 6 down throughout the day.

I called up and was told I would need an antenna installed at a cost of $99 as they classed the signal I was getting on the standalone as a "failed install". There was already a directional antenna on the roof of my house from a previous tenant, all that was required to make compatible with the Huawei B818 provided by Farmside was an SMA to TS9 adaptor. I told them this on the phone but they insisted it wouldn't work and they'd need to install their own gear. That was fine and I agreed to have their antenna installed.

Fast forward to antenna being installed and whilst the speeds during both peak and off peak had improved (30/20), some odd traffic shaping patterns started to emerge during the peak hours. Speedtests were always showing 30/20 or very near to, but certain things like Facebook and the Google Play Store would not load at all. Yet we could watch Netflix all night without any issue whatsoever.

I phoned again and explained this to them and they came back with the connection apparently jumping between 2 towers. I argued this as I'd never seen the CID change from the 1 tower as I was checking regularly, especially when experiencing issues. They were adamant this was the case despite me explaining the clear traffic shaping type issues. They sent out a technician again to remedy the claimed antenna issues. Technician came and said he could not fault the installation and there was nothing he could do. He also agreed the issues I was facing weren't anything to do with the hardware installed.

Back on the phone again and they now finally decide to take on board my complaints of certain things being throttled to the point of being unusable whilst everything else was fine. I even explained my mobile is with Vodafone and I don't experience any of these issues there. The person I spoke to said he would get his superiors to ring me back today with a result or to discuss further. This was Friday just gone. I didn't receive a phonecall back from them today much to my frustration. Still here with the same issue.

I'm more than fed up with the whole ordeal as I've spent more than 2 hours on the phone to them to no avail. They've also made no attempt at contacting me back throughout this to see how it's going or remedy the issue further. I'm always the one making contact. Another issue I face is I'm locked into a 24 month contract with them, which I'm at the point of wanting to cease. Am I within my right to dispute the early termination fee as they haven't provided me with an acceptable service ever since I started with them? I also on my last call disputed paying my bill until this was resolved, which was met with a "we'll get back to you on that"

Just after some advice/opinions on the issues I'm facing as I've had enough of dealing with it. Cheers