Spark website fail

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1024kb

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#239504 21-Jul-2018 09:50

I’m fielding enquiries from a few locals who are stuck on ADSL & hadn’t realized that they could get faster wireless broadband at a reasonable cost. Some had checked the Spark website for broadband availability at their address but that utility hasn’t been updated to include wireless so always defaults to Yes! You can have the same old sludge connection as you’ve already got. Of course they took that as meaning their location wasn’t suitable for wireless broadband.

So I went hunting through the Spark pages & found their dedicated wireless broadband location utility. Excellent, I thought, this won’t be shoving ADSL options back at me. Here’s the results:

*sigh*

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz

alasta

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#2059857 21-Jul-2018 11:21

Spark only offer wireless broadband in areas where they have sufficient capacity on their network.

If I enter my address into their system I only get ADSL and VDSL as options, but if I enter a range of different addresses around Wellington I sometimes see just ADSL/VDSL but sometimes wireless will pop up as an option. To check wireless availability you need to ensure you select 80Gb or 120Gb as your preferred plan - if you select unlimited then you will only ever get wired options.

tdgeek

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#2059863 21-Jul-2018 11:27

When I did a check, it checked the address first, before selecting a plan

Plus, an address may be no now, but yes later, if usage at the tower then allows it

Wheelbarrow01

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#2059873 21-Jul-2018 11:33

I suspect that this area is subject to a "stop sell" due to potential network congestion. What that means is that wireless service is available in the area, but likely a lot of local customers already have it. This means the network may be approaching capacity, so adding additional wireless customers could lower the speeds and general experience of all wireless customers in the area below expectations. When this is a possibility, Spark imposes a stop sell to prevent too many people from connecting and congesting the network.

If you PM your address to me, I can confirm if a stop sell situation exists in your area. If that is the case, all you can do is check back again from time to time as the number of wireless connections in any given area changes all the time.

I had the same problem at my holiday house. I couldn't get wireless broadband last summer, however the number of connections dropped in about March and I was then able to get connected.

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