Spark offers 4G Wireless Broadband, Skinny doesn't - possible to move at later date?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark offers 4G Wireless Broadband, Skinny doesn't - possible to move at later date?

sleemanj

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#284096 31-Mar-2021 00:54

So I'm thinking about going wireless broadband.

My first port of call was Skinny, but their site wouldn't offer my address wireless, fibre only.

So I thought Spark would be the same, but tried it anyway, and they have no problem.

I'm guessing that if I went with Spark for now open term with fully purchased modem (gateway, whatever you call it these days), that if/when Skinny opened up again that I could use the same B618S modem with Skinny (Wireless broadband sim), and stop the Spark plan?

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James Sleeman
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coffeebaron

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#2684437 31-Mar-2021 06:41

You would not be able to use Spark modem for Skinny. How urban are you? Skinny only cover urban with very good Spark coverage and capacity. Why are you not going to fibre?

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cyril7

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#2684443 31-Mar-2021 07:19

Hi, you'd have rocks in your head to choose 4G over fibre, even though you say you have simple needs (ie 100G/month etc) the variablilty of 4G and the superiour stablilty of fibre just dont compare. If its price then I think you will find there are some baseline fibre plans around not that much dearer than 4G.

Regardless IMHO saving a few dollars for an inferiour technology is not worth it.

Cyril

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#2684493 31-Mar-2021 09:05

Further to that - even if the 4G site that you’ll be attached to isn’t at capacity, you are at the mercy of their capacity planning to ensure that the site capacity isn’t oversold or that organic growth of existing customers doesn’t outpace the available bandwidth.

I have seen real world examples where a 50mbps Spark Wireless broadband connections regularly dropped (6-11pm daily) down to less than 1mbps during peak, with extremely high latency.

For me, this is a no brainer. Fibre first where possible.

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SomeoneSomewhere

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#2684555 31-Mar-2021 09:43

On top of that, the free fibre installs aren't expected to last forever. Get in while the going's good if you or any future owner might want fibre.

sleemanj

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#2684566 31-Mar-2021 09:58

coffeebaron: You would not be able to use Spark modem for Skinny. How urban are you? Skinny only cover urban with very good Spark coverage and capacity.

Christchurch urban.

5 houses down the street Skinny gives wireless options.

I'm a little shy of 1km from a tower line of sight.

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

sleemanj

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#2684657 31-Mar-2021 11:31

As for why not fibre, various reasons, it's complicated. 4G would be a lot less hassle if it could meet my needs.

1Mbps would be an issue though, I might grab a spark sim and try it in my phablet first over a few days.

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

alasta

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#2684686 31-Mar-2021 11:58

cokemaster: For me, this is a no brainer. Fibre first where possible.

People who bash fixed wireless tend to forget the "where possible" bit. I would always prefer fibre where it's available, but a lot of installations are complicated by fractious relationships with landlords or neighbours.

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quickymart

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#2685188 1-Apr-2021 08:32

I'd still at least put in a request for fibre, if it's available.

nztim

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#2685193 1-Apr-2021 08:50

If you can get Fibre (installed for free) you should get fibre.... period....

If you can't get Fibre or you can but it is not a free install then check your VDSL speeds before going to FWA

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ajw

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#2685202 1-Apr-2021 09:16

Have you also checked out Vodafones wireless pricing and coverage.

https://www.vodafone.co.nz/home-wireless-broadband/

And 2 degrees.

https://www.2degrees.nz/broadband/wireless-broadband

sleemanj

1490 posts

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#2686605 5-Apr-2021 11:35

Well, this is probably moot now.

When I posted this last week I had gone through the checkout stage at Spark right to the last moment where I was about to hit the final button, but before I finished thought "wait I'm being impulsive, I should be all sensible and do some testing first".

So I spent the last few days doing some moderately intensive testing - multiple speed tests, sucking down many gigs of torrent, lots of 1080p HD streaming and so forth during different times of day using a Skinny prepaid SIM with a few data binge periods (Skinny because I happened to have one unused in a drawer), speeds were all totally fine 10-30Mbps no worries at all any time, I was happy with that.

Toddle off to Spark today to pull the trigger... and.... no wireless broadband offered for my address now.

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

RunningMan

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#2686608 5-Apr-2021 11:45

Probably because the system sees your tower at capacity now because somebody local has been doing speedtests and sucking down gigs of torrents!

sleemanj

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#2686609 5-Apr-2021 11:46

RunningMan:

Probably because the system sees your tower at capacity now because somebody local has been doing speedtests and sucking down gigs of torrents!

The thought did cross my mind!

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

quickymart

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#2686700 5-Apr-2021 15:26

So, again, I'd place an order for fibre and just see what happens. No harm in trying. If you're moving as much data as you state fibre would suit you better anyway.