Tuatahi say our church is a business - any cheap business UFB plans?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Tuatahi say our church is a business - any cheap business UFB plans?

deadlyllama

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#305715 30-May-2023 13:08

In Wellington, I got my small suburban church on UFB on a residential plan.

In Whanganui, Tuatahi's policy is that my small suburban church is a business and must have a business plan.

This is ridiculous, we're a charity running on a shoestring. Having said this, I can't see how I'd get them to change their minds, I've heard others complain about this years ago.

As we are running on a shoestring, what options are there around cheap but "business" plans? I can't find a broadbandcompare/etc equivalent showing business plans.

Unfortunately there's no 5G in that suburb yet, otherwise I'd just go to FWA. We tried FWA at the same church last time I lived here (~2016), on Skinny with the old B315 and it was awful, with unusable VoIP to boot.

dazzanz

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#3082384 30-May-2023 13:46

https://www.2degrees.nz/business/farmsource

This was mentioned on cheapies awhile ago, you need a farmsource card but apparently anyone can get one. I’m not sure if it’s cheaper than other options though.

timmmay

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#3082385 30-May-2023 13:47

Does it have 4G coverage? What is the church doing that 4G couldn't manage? Google suggests 4G can do between 100Mbps and 1Gbps.

Aucklandjafa

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#3082399 30-May-2023 13:48

That sounds like a yarn. Business and consumer UFB is the same product (an order is an order). But if they really want to be difficult, I’d sign up to a Spark open term business UFB plan then churn once connected. That aside, do you need fibre? Is unlimited wireless available? From a cost perspective anyway!

deadlyllama

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#3082424 30-May-2023 15:04

Maybe I'm overcomplicating this and we just buy Spark/One FWA with a landline, and I won't put them on a fancy VoIP setup. Which is less effort for me.

deadlyllama

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#3082425 30-May-2023 15:08

Aucklandjafa: That sounds like a yarn. Business and consumer UFB is the same product (an order is an order). But if they really want to be difficult, I’d sign up to a Spark open term business UFB plan then churn once connected. That aside, do you need fibre? Is unlimited wireless available? From a cost perspective anyway!

Yeah, but will Tuatahi/UFF deny the new connection with a residential plan?

Aucklandjafa

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#3082427 30-May-2023 15:12

deadlyllama:
Aucklandjafa: That sounds like a yarn. Business and consumer UFB is the same product (an order is an order). But if they really want to be difficult, I’d sign up to a Spark open term business UFB plan then churn once connected. That aside, do you need fibre? Is unlimited wireless available? From a cost perspective anyway!

Yeah, but will Tuatahi/UFF deny the new connection with a residential plan?

Doubt it. Once the fibre is installed and intact, it’s there to be used. I’ve never heard of an LSP turning down a connection because it’s not a business plan. Why would you want to deny a new rev stream?

Beccara

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#3082429 30-May-2023 15:24

Provisioning system wont let them once the address is flagged order a residential plan on a business address. There are differences between plans for biz/res and from memory used to be a financial difference in how it's handled between CFH and the LFC.

I'd say your Wellington connection is an anomaly or there's something difference like a residential dwelling with someone living onsite attached to the church

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PolicyGuy

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#3082430 30-May-2023 15:33

deadlyllama:

Maybe I'm overcomplicating this and we just buy Spark/One FWA with a landline, and I won't put them on a fancy VoIP setup. Which is less effort for me.

Seems like a reasonable plan, we did the same for a church in the Wellington suburbs that insisted they had to continue to have a phone "in case there was an emergency and nobody had a cell phone".

Make sure you buy a Sentry Lite or equivalent so the phone (and Internet) continues to work when the emergency they want to report is that the power has gone off. LOL

allan

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#3082437 30-May-2023 16:28

Beccara:

Provisioning system wont let them once the address is flagged order a residential plan on a business address. There are differences between plans for biz/res and from memory used to be a financial difference in how it's handled between CFH and the LFC.

I'd say your Wellington connection is an anomaly or there's something difference like a residential dwelling with someone living onsite attached to the church

Church I was involved with helping set up internet also had residential rates for its connection. Again Wellington though, so not Tuatahi.

MikeAqua

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#3082443 30-May-2023 16:38

Come on now, religion is the second oldest profession 😛!

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coffeebaron

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#3082569 30-May-2023 20:37

I think Chorus are more relaxed on whether you order business or residential at business addresses. UFF seem more strict.

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Wheelbarrow01

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#3082600 30-May-2023 22:57

coffeebaron: I think Chorus are more relaxed on whether you order business or residential at business addresses. UFF seem more strict.

Yes, but to a point. It's worth noting that residential premises have different installation allowances than non-residential premises in the UFB1 zone.

In UFB1 zones, the first 200 metres of cabling from boundary to building is free for a residential premise, but for non-residential I think the free allowance is 15 metres (from memory - don't quote me).

UBF2 zones are a lot simpler - the free distance allowance is 200 metres for any type of property.

I can think of one example where a motel in a UFB1 zone was trying to get a residential connection under a business account name for what was clearly a business premise - and it was over 15 metres from boundary to building. Initially they tried arguing it was for their own personal use in their living quarters but if that were the case, the account would not have been under the business name. In the end they had to pay for the cabling over and above 15 metres but once connected they were free to switch to a consumer plan if they wished - I don't know if they did. Moral of the story: Once an ONT is installed, Chorus don't mind whether a consumer or business plan is connected. And we'll also accept a residential order type so long as it's not motivated by getting around the shorter distance allowance of a business installation.

If I recall correctly, Enable categorises buildings as either residential or non-residential the same way UFF does, and their system limits residential offers to bona fide residential premises. When I worked at Spark I remember this causing problems at addresses where there was a commercial space on the ground floor but an interconnected living space on the first floor. Enable generally classed such properties as commercial. Given that Enable is a Chch Council entity, I suppose they may have had easy access to see whether commercial rates were being paid (but that's pure conjecture on my part).

If I go back a VERY long time to the late 1980's, I was in the choir at Christchurch Cathedral at the time, and we were suddenly told we had to start keeping outgoing calls from the choir room short. One of two things had happened that day - either Telecom had just introduced per minute charging for local business calls, or that was always the case and they had just decided that Christchurch Cathedral was in fact a "business" - my 12 year old self was never sure which...

Here's a tip: The OP may have a case for a residential connection if there is a vicarage onsite and the fibre/ONT is installed in there. I have seen that work before.

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

cddt

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#3082908 31-May-2023 16:14

The classification of properties was always a bit of a shot in the dark - it took many calls and several visits to convince Chorus my standalone 2-bedroom 1930s house wasn't a MDU.