Has anyone had success in petitioning for internet access?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Has anyone had success in petitioning for internet access?

MattoB

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#154872 11-Nov-2014 10:54

Hi

New to the country - had expected first-world conditions re internet access. Alas, Paradise Valley, Rotorua reminds of dark, unconnected Africa - and only 4.5 km from town as the crow flies. There are about 40-50 households affected, some including businesses and home schooling setups.

My question: Is it worthwhile getting together as a community and "demanding" connection? Has any other community in NZ been successful in getting connected through petitioning the local MP, picketing, filling in online expressions of interest, or otherwise?

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668 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1172698 11-Nov-2014 10:59

Read the first couple of pages of this thread - http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?topicid=147241

Oh, and welcome to Geekzone :)

sbiddle

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#1172702 11-Nov-2014 11:03

Before you jump 200 steps ahead it might may to explain your situation.

You'll need to answer the very first basic question - are you covered under RBI or RBI wireless?

Distance from a major city is about as relevant to this discussion as what you had for breakfast this morning - it means nothing. As for "demanding" internet access, it's not a right. Covering every part of NZ with fixed or wireless broadband is not possible, and as discussed on many other threads on here, many rural people are unwilling to pay a premium for their connection, despite significant costs in delivering them a service.

coffeebaron

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#1172872 11-Nov-2014 14:30

Paradise Valley road starts 6km out of town. 4-5km is the general limit for fixed line broadband. Paradise Valley road is a long road, approx. 13km. You would need 3x xDSL cabinets to cover the length of this road @ $400,000 each.

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johnr

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#1172906 11-Nov-2014 15:20

Demanding is not going to help you, Get the community together and pay for something

quickymart

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#1173059 11-Nov-2014 20:08

MattoB: Hi

New to the country - had expected first-world conditions re internet access. Alas, Paradise Valley, Rotorua reminds of dark, unconnected Africa - and only 4.5 km from town as the crow flies. There are about 40-50 households affected, some including businesses and home schooling setups.

My question: Is it worthwhile getting together as a community and "demanding" connection? Has any other community in NZ been successful in getting connected through petitioning the local MP, picketing, filling in online expressions of interest, or otherwise?

Honestly? No.
What is the issue with your connection anyway?

RunningMan

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#1173062 11-Nov-2014 20:17

Sticking Paradise Valley Road in to the Chorus and Vodafone public web sites it looks like there are some parts that have no xDSL, no RBI xDSL and no planned wireless RBI.

Sideface

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#1173063 11-Nov-2014 20:17

The OP's post is ambiguous, but implies that he has no internet connection at all.

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quickymart

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#1173235 11-Nov-2014 23:24

I dunno, I'm curious to know exactly what his issue is. No broadband service? Service, but slow? Service, but dropping? Service, but poor quality? Ambiguous is right.

hotrok

71 posts

Master Geek

#1173311 12-Nov-2014 09:02

Nope dont bother you wont get anywhere. You can try and get locals to chip in but I had a go and all I needed was 40k between 50 houses and 2 of us stumped up 10k. No joy!

MattoB

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1173682 12-Nov-2014 16:16

Thanks for all the responses. Much appreciated. Unlike Africa, I realise people don't go demanding things here - and I prefer it that way. Hence my use of apostrophes!

Our situation is that at present we have no standard internet access, i.e. via ADSL or RBI. Most have Farmside, we are one of the few that can pick up a Spark signal, and and have access to data when it does not rain or the wind does not blow. At the northern end of valley some families have ADSL from the Ngongotaha exchange, but the remaining 60 families down the valley don't.

I would be interested to hear comments about the following options:
1. Put up money for own exchange. (Exchange needed only or are new lines needed as well?)
2. Repeater for RBI (has this been done before, if possible at all?)
3. Try to find out how the National Party's extra $150 million will be spent and hopefully team up with a WISP to get us connection.

Also, following on from the replies above:

Do you build a new exchange at the limits of the previous one? What I mean to say is, if the valley is say 15 km long and the Ngongataha exchange provides access for say the first 5 km down the valley, then that means another 10 km needs to be serviced. Could one place an exchange halfway in the 10 km zone, and service 5km on either side, as opposed to placing one every 5km?

sbiddle

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#1173696 12-Nov-2014 16:40

5km is well beyond what Chorus would deem an acceptable limit for xDSL services. Even in your example it would require at least 10km of fibre and 2 x cabinets with ISAMs - with purely a ballpark figure that would probably be somewhere around the $500k - $750k mark to supply service, so quite simply will not happen.

As a community if you were to front up with that money Chorus certainly would talk to you. I don't know what WISPs are active in Rotorua these days but I'm sure if you were to maybe front up to what could be anything from $10k - $40k depending on what was required to cover your area then I'm sure somebody would speak to you.

grant_k

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#1173719 12-Nov-2014 17:16

sbiddle:...
I'm sure if you were to maybe front up to what could be anything from $10k - $40k depending on what was required to cover your area then I'm sure somebody would speak to you.

Maybe somebody like Lightwire.

They have installed community-sponsored networks in the Waikato where the big boys couldn't be bothered. One I heard about started as a result of just 10 families getting together to raise the cash. Definitely worth talking to them to see what they could offer.

Your next best option would be to approach Vodafone with a community-subsidised proposal as they have also installed cellsites on this basis. However, the cost would be far more than doing a WISP installation, such as those provided by Lightwire.

coffeebaron

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#1173806 12-Nov-2014 20:13

Feel free to flick me an email/message with your address. I can check coverage current + future for RBI or fixed mobile. That road is a bit of a hole for coverage though; as you could expect with "Valley" in its name :)

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plambrechtsen

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#1174860 13-Nov-2014 00:35

MattoB: ....we are one of the few that can pick up a Spark signal, and and have access to data when it does not rain or the wind does not blow....

So if you can get cellphone coverage why not get a fixed antenna installed with a 3G router from the folks at Cellutronics??

http://www.cellutronics.co.nz/3G_Router_Kits.php

I would say that would be your best bet to get reasonably stable broadband. Yes it may not be the largest datacap but it's probably cheaper than IP-Star/Farmside.

And with the AY-15 if you do a good job of the install you can replace the modem with a LTE 700Mhz one when that comes out.

MattoB

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Wannabe Geek

#1175299 13-Nov-2014 16:27

plambrechtsen:
MattoB: ....we are one of the few that can pick up a Spark signal, and and have access to data when it does not rain or the wind does not blow....

So if you can get cellphone coverage why not get a fixed antenna installed with a 3G router from the folks at Cellutronics??

http://www.cellutronics.co.nz/3G_Router_Kits.php

I would say that would be your best bet to get reasonably stable broadband. Yes it may not be the largest datacap but it's probably cheaper than IP-Star/Farmside.

And with the AY-15 if you do a good job of the install you can replace the modem with a LTE 700Mhz one when that comes out.

Indeed. $50 for 3 Gig Spark data is cheaper that satellite. Then I wonder why Cellphone data is more expensive than say wireless?

Just read about Kacific: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1312/S00330/kacific-satellite-to-provide-broadband-to-pacific-nations.htm Perhaps competition will bring down satellite prices!

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