Fibre installation times in Wellington CBD

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Fibre installation times in Wellington CBD

Scopey

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#171986 7-May-2015 19:51

I'm moving to a new apartment in Wellington CBD in a month and I'm pretty disappointed with what Spark have told me.

I'm moving from another address in the CBD that's not in a fibre area to an area that is so naturally I would like to get fibre in the new place. I've been informed that fibre is available in the building complex I'm moving into, but not specifically routed to my apartment. When I informed Spark of all of this I was informed that I'm looking at a 3 month wait. I was a little surprised at the 3 month waiting time but I was prepared to accept that. I was then told that I would have to switch to ADSL in the area as VDSL was not available. I'm okay with that.

So I asked to go ahead with the switch to ADSL on the day I move in and book fibre now so I can get it as soon as possible. I was then told that I could not book a fibre installation until after the ADSL switch had gone through. Something to do with not have concurrent orders or something? I was really surprised by this.

Has anyone else had experience with getting fibre in a place they are moving into? Can Spark be reasoned with here to try and either get the wait period down or at least book an installation time slot now so I don't have to wait another month before I can at least get the plans in motion? Is the 3 month wait normal for Wellington CBD?

Inphinity

2780 posts

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#1300133 7-May-2015 19:58

The installation delays are generally due to the LFC, not the ISP. I think it's WEL down there?

Scopey

11 posts

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#1300138 7-May-2015 20:06

Chorus do Wellington. Last time I dealt with Chorus they were pretty prompt although that was for a VDSL installation.

DarkShadow

1647 posts

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#1300154 7-May-2015 20:35

3 months isn't bad for UFB installs in apartments. I have a customer who has been waiting for 9 months now and still waiting.

quickymart

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#1300305 7-May-2015 23:43

I would go ahead and order ADSL for now, and just put fibre on the backburner for the moment, so you still have a connection. Once your ADSL is up and running you could revisit fibre then.

sbiddle

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#1300367 8-May-2015 08:25

3 months sounds pretty quick for a MDU.

Without knowing a lot more about the apartment and the setup it's simply not possible for anybody on here to give you any accurate advice or comments on timeframes. UFB installs can range from a week or so up to 12+ months.

Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#1300498 8-May-2015 10:14

Can the OP please PM me the address they are moving to? I will look at the building and advise the status. From the information supplied I suspect the building is in a UFB area, but the building is not already prewired to the network, meaning the order will have to go through the full consent/design/build process - which is where the 3 month fimeframe comes from (but please note that estimate has been plucked from thin air)

Once I have the address I can advise whether consent has been gained, is under action, or has not even been requested yet. This has a major bearing on the timescale - particularly with large apartment buildings.

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

cbrpilot

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Spark NZ

#1300520 8-May-2015 10:34

Yes it is completely normal for us not being able to order two services at the same location concurrently for the same phone number.

My views are my own, and may not necessarily represent those of my employer.

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Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#1300530 8-May-2015 10:57

cbrpilot: Yes it is completely normal for us not being able to order two services at the same location concurrently for the same phone number.

There is a way around this. You could request to move the phone service, while changing the existing fibre to ADSL as part of that move. Then make a second request for a separate Naked fibre installation for the new address at the same time (which would be a secondary order with it's own billing number). This means you can start the fibre provisioning process now before you move address.

Once the fibre is connected, you request the ADSL to be disconncted, and the fibre service 'clothed' back to the original phone line.

The only issue with doing this is that there will be a short period where you are being billed for both ADSL and naked fibre.

It's a little complex, but it is possible. Once I have the address details I can look into it further for you.

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

Scopey

11 posts

Geek

#1300655 8-May-2015 13:11

I'll be moving in to 9 chews lane. As I understand from the body corp, fibre is already in the building. I didn't realize that 3 months is quite normal. I've settled down a bit after I read some of the other stories on here!

I could be interested in paying a little extra to get the ball rolling now though.

BigPipeNZ

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BigPipe

#1300658 8-May-2015 13:17

Scopey: I'll be moving in to 9 chews lane. As I understand from the body corp, fibre is already in the building. I didn't realize that 3 months is quite normal. I've settled down a bit after I read some of the other stories on here!

I could be interested in paying a little extra to get the ball rolling now though.

depends what they mean by 'fibre is available' (means different things to different people)

building wired for UFB does not necessarily mean it is ready. it could just be that the building has nice ducting and cat6 cable, but still requires the actual install in the comms room.
likewise when someone says 'fibre is available' sometimes what they mean is that the fibre is running to the street outside the building, and s is available too be ordered.

However, if the build work has been done in the building then normally it won't take that long to get hooked up.

the 3 months normally quoted is for buildings where the whole process has to start from scratch - consent, design, build etc.

I've seen a few situations where the chorus database says 'consent required' for an MDU (and this is possibly why the spark rep told you three months) but the build work has actually already happened and it's the database that is out of date.

If you check with the building owner/manager whether any apartments have actually had UFB installed in them yet that will give you a good idea.

If so, then you should be able to hassle spark to escalate to chorus and get them to update the database a better install date.

(I just checked 9 chews lane - it definitely says 'consent required' which means Chorus thinks it hasn't been done yet - which may or may not be correct)

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Wheelbarrow01

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#1300664 8-May-2015 13:31

Scopey: I'll be moving in to 9 chews lane. As I understand from the body corp, fibre is already in the building. I didn't realize that 3 months is quite normal. I've settled down a bit after I read some of the other stories on here!

I could be interested in paying a little extra to get the ball rolling now though.

OK, so the building owner (Body Corporate in this case) has not yet given Chorus consent to install fibre in the building. It may be under action now, or the consent process may not have started at all - I can't tell. All I know is that as of right now there is no network consent in place.

If someone else in the building has requested a fibre connection from their ISP, it is likely the consent process has indeed begun, but if you are the first, your order will get the ball rolling on that.

My system indicates there are 107 separate dwellings or retail spaces in that building, therefore I would deem this to be a complex build. Once consent in principle is given by the Body Corporate, Chorus will need to set about designing how to get fibre to each individual unit. Once that design is created it will be sent to the Body Corporate for them to give final approval. At this point there may be a discussion regarding whether any financial contribution from the Body Corporate is required or not.

Once that issue is sorted out, the network build and civil work will commence, and due to the complexity of the site this is likely to take quite some time.

based on what I can see, 3 months is a VERY conservative estimate, and I would be surprised if the design alone was done within 3 months. Having said that, we don't know when the process started - if one of your neighbouring apartment owners applied for fibre service 6 months ago, Chorus will be well on the way, however as I can see that consent has not been given by the Body Corporate yet, this is unlikely.

It's going to be a waiting game with this one I am afraid.

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

Scopey

11 posts

Geek

#1300681 8-May-2015 13:47

I just got off the phone with the Body Corp and I've been told that there are a dozen apartments with fibre already, and the fibre connection itself is already coiled up in the ceiling space of the corridor on my floor right outside my door. So it seems like the Chorus information is definitely out of date!

Thanks for all the help guys, really. It's great to learn about the process of all of this.

I have decided to wait until I've moved in to get it sorted. It sounds to me like the 3 month guess is just that, a complete guess. The building manager has advised me that in his experience, Chorus can be a little difficult doing the installation for some reason, so I've decided it's best to get it going while I'm in the apartment as I'll have a better feel for what's going on and what I need.

Wheelbarrow01

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#1300709 8-May-2015 14:26

Scopey: I just got off the phone with the Body Corp and I've been told that there are a dozen apartments with fibre already, and the fibre connection itself is already coiled up in the ceiling space of the corridor on my floor right outside my door. So it seems like the Chorus information is definitely out of date!

Thanks for all the help guys, really. It's great to learn about the process of all of this.

I have decided to wait until I've moved in to get it sorted. It sounds to me like the 3 month guess is just that, a complete guess. The building manager has advised me that in his experience, Chorus can be a little difficult doing the installation for some reason, so I've decided it's best to get it going while I'm in the apartment as I'll have a better feel for what's going on and what I need.

That is positive news from the Body COrp. I'd proceed as you have stated above. Once the job is submitted to Chorus, they will no doubt see that other connections in the building are active, and the order 'should' jump direct to scope, or if you're really lucky, to install date confirmed.

Good luck!

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

sbiddle

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#1300839 8-May-2015 16:05

Chews Lane is a complex address and building - it's both residential and office space. It's UFB ready but still requires work in the building.