Orcon ADSL or Fibre - Your opinion?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon ADSL or Fibre - Your opinion?

Legere

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#127453 10-Aug-2013 21:07

Hi All,

could I please get your feedback on this thread - especially if you have used Orcon's fibre service.

I am currently on the Orcon 200GB Genius for $99pm adsl service.

we use mostly all the data.. gaming, browsing, youtube, torrents.

The service usually works really well for us. youtube streams fine, low pings on games, torrents generally get expected speeds from ADSL2.

We are moving house in Sept. where Orcon Fibre is available. From the website, they have 30gb , 60gb and Unlimited plans for Orcon Genius Fibre.

On face value, we can go with the 30Mb fibre service, unlimited data for the same price - which seams like the obvious choice - but is it?

From orcons own emails, they throw all "unlimited" users into a pool of available data to share.

I would like to hear from people on Orcons fibre service:

* what speeds during peak times do you typically get from lets say, a well seeded torrent?
* can 720p youtube videos stream without lag all day / every day?
* what do you generally think about orcons fibre and how does it compare to a well connected ADSL2+ service?

And as a more general plan - do you guys think I am better staying with what I have, or should I move over to Fibre?

Cheers all, and thanks for reading!

A.

PeterReader

6019 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#875213 10-Aug-2013 21:07

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

- you have reset your modem and router

- your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing

- you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap

- your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing

- you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

- Your ISP and plan

- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)

- Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)

- Your general location (or street)

- If you are rural or urban

- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin

- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service

- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

- Is your premises phone wiring impacting your broadband performance? (very technical)

- Are you receiving a substandard ULL ADSL2+ connection from your ISP?

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

Kirdog

202 posts

Master Geek

#875223 10-Aug-2013 21:19

https://www.truenet.co.nz/articles/june-2013-broadband-report

Probably this can be helpful for you :)

From The report: seems UFB speeds are exellent on Orcon.

Sorry about my English guys :>

toaster

62 posts

Master Geek

#880948 19-Aug-2013 12:06

I've had Orcon UNlimited fibre since May1, 2013.

Yes, the fibre speeds are fantastic - until they cap your international connections to mere 1.5Mbps per connection (happened to me with 2 months since start of service).
Had to forget about non-NZ HDTV streaming and high-res gaming after that.

At least they won't bother you with fair use policy the second you hit 1TB+ per month, so far at least!

Zeon

3916 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#880963 19-Aug-2013 12:22

It should be fast for NZ based content all of the time...

Speedtest 2019-10-14

FireEngine

1223 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#880965 19-Aug-2013 12:31

toaster: I've had Orcon UNlimited fibre since May1, 2013.

Yes, the fibre speeds are fantastic - until they cap your international connections to mere 1.5Mbps per connection (happened to me with 2 months since start of service).
Had to forget about non-NZ HDTV streaming and high-res gaming after that.

At least they won't bother you with fair use policy the second you hit 1TB+ per month, so far at least!

Was that P2P connections? There is no blanket "international" traffic speed cap....

Regards FireEngine

mikenzb

371 posts

Ultimate Geek

#880968 19-Aug-2013 12:40

I used to be on the old Orcon ADSL plan back a few years and I was quite happy with them, altho now a days im with snap vdsl and I must say their are a heck better in customer service.

If you want more data I say Snap fibre is better for the same price Snap gives 150gb base plan while orcon only gives 30gb (Base plan of 110$). For an extra 10$ you can get 100gb more on snap plus that All you can eat nights (unlimited data) between 1-7am (only works if ya get an data-pack add on), Don't forget the All you can eat youtube for an extra 5$

If your gonna be torrenting all the time its always better to go with an Data-pack instead of unlimited because you wont ever be capped (unless you go over your limit). If you use lots of youtube the the all you can eat youtube addon sounds just right for you as you can watch as much youtube and it wont count to your data usage.

TL:DR Version: Snap Fibre sounds better for you plus Snap has better customer service.

toaster

62 posts

Master Geek

#881035 19-Aug-2013 14:52

FireEngine:
toaster: I've had Orcon UNlimited fibre since May1, 2013.

Yes, the fibre speeds are fantastic - until they cap your international connections to mere 1.5Mbps per connection (happened to me with 2 months since start of service).
Had to forget about non-NZ HDTV streaming and high-res gaming after that.

At least they won't bother you with fair use policy the second you hit 1TB+ per month, so far at least!

Was that P2P connections? There is no blanket "international" traffic speed cap....

No, I don't use P2P at all. All my traffic (HTML, FTP) is limited to 1.5Mbps (exactly) per connection. Has been like this for 2 months now. The only way to max the bandwidth is to use concurrent connections which is not practical or doable on html,ftp traffic.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

toaster

62 posts

Master Geek

#881037 19-Aug-2013 14:56

mikenzb: I used to be on the old Orcon ADSL plan back a few years and I was quite happy with them, altho now a days im with snap vdsl and I must say their are a heck better in customer service.

If you want more data I say Snap fibre is better for the same price Snap gives 150gb base plan while orcon only gives 30gb (Base plan of 110$). For an extra 10$ you can get 100gb more on snap plus that All you can eat nights (unlimited data) between 1-7am (only works if ya get an data-pack add on), Don't forget the All you can eat youtube for an extra 5$

If your gonna be torrenting all the time its always better to go with an Data-pack instead of unlimited because you wont ever be capped (unless you go over your limit). If you use lots of youtube the the all you can eat youtube addon sounds just right for you as you can watch as much youtube and it wont count to your data usage.

TL:DR Version: Snap Fibre sounds better for you plus Snap has better customer service.

Nah, Orcon Unlimited Fibre is truly unlimited, they promised not to bother me with Fair Use Policy even if I hit 1TB+ per month, which in my book is still the best value in NZ. If only my html and ftp connections weren't limited to 1.5Mbps.

Inphinity

2780 posts

Uber Geek

#881039 19-Aug-2013 14:57

toaster:
No, I don't use P2P at all. All my traffic (HTML, FTP) is limited to 1.5Mbps (exactly) per connection. Has been like this for 2 months now. The only way to max the bandwidth is to use concurrent connections which is not practical or doable on html,ftp traffic.

QoS on your router?

toaster

62 posts

Master Geek

#881053 19-Aug-2013 15:18

Inphinity:
toaster:
No, I don't use P2P at all. All my traffic (HTML, FTP) is limited to 1.5Mbps (exactly) per connection. Has been like this for 2 months now. The only way to max the bandwidth is to use concurrent connections which is not practical or doable on html,ftp traffic.

QoS on your router?

Any advice how to fix it (apart from going through the painful Orcon customer service)?

Though I don't see how can a router be a problem when the connection limits are isolated to international traffic.

Peppery

919 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#883984 24-Aug-2013 18:36

I use anywhere between 400-800GB per month on Orcon unlimited ADSL. Never had a fair use warning/anything. It's fantastic - except for the ongoing physical line issues but those are not an issue on UFB (which I would be on but it's not available here :) ).