Spark poor reception

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globe

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Master Geek

#319799 3-Jun-2025 19:48

anyone here have any ideas of how to actually report an area of poor reception (urban) and get taken seriously. Every time i contact spark they give me the run around and the reception is so bad that cannot make calls along a stretch of road for several minutes in a couple of places - which is fine until your sat in traffic and have to hang up as the reception is so bad. Their messaging service is crap, they point you to a different message/feedback service which never is responded to. This is central Auckland I am referring to also not somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Do they not want to assist their customers?

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#3380265 3-Jun-2025 19:56

Where did you get your phone from? Is it a Spark-purchased one?

Do other Spark customers have the same signal issue in the area you're having it in?

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#3380279 3-Jun-2025 20:13

@globe Maybe it is just one of those locations in Auckland city that can't be fixed - As per Terms coverage is best effort and just cause you report it does not mean they are going to send crews of people out and popup a new site to cover that location better

I know of a location right in Auckland CBD my Spark work handset goes to ' emergency calls only ' as the handset is camping on 2degrees or OneNZ and my personal 2degrees handset has full 5G / NR coverage - Both handsets are Samsung S23

If you know coverage is bad in this location you speak of wait until you have passed thru it and then make your calls / SMS etc...

Or it is actually a fault and handovers are not setup correct... but trying to get this to the correct team in Spark will almost be impossible

Front line staff will say it is a SIM card fault even if you have a eSIM or some other lame excuse

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#3380282 3-Jun-2025 20:28

@gajan can you add any value here?

MaxineN

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#3380285 3-Jun-2025 20:41

Coverage faults are hard to properly diagnose, even harder to fix. Seen a good few hundred and yes Auckland has some issues and One NZ isn't perfect (so safe to say, nobody will get it 100% perfect)

Not as simple as turning up the power or pointing it in a better direction, and unfortunately I have the same complaint but with 2degrees and with Spark but in Christchurch where I work... The relevant party is aware at 2degrees however I jumped ship from Spark because of it (and then 2degrees' coverage shrunk just enough to put me back in the same miserable conditions, yes I really want my issue fixed, I do have a Spark eSIM and it's worse vs 2degrees, One NZ is superior).

It would be great to know the exact location or stretch of road but also what band(s) you're on.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

globe

65 posts

Master Geek

#3380288 3-Jun-2025 20:53

quickymart:

Where did you get your phone from? Is it a Spark-purchased one?

Do other Spark customers have the same signal issue in the area you're having it in?

iPhone. Bought from Noel Leeming, spark SIM card.

Yup

globe

65 posts

Master Geek

#3380289 3-Jun-2025 20:57

Linux:

@globe Maybe it is just one of those locations in Auckland city that can't be fixed - As per Terms coverage is best effort and just cause you report it does not mean they are going to send crews of people out and popup a new site to cover that location better

It has gotten worse over the last few years. I am assuming it is housing developments or something, or maybe the switch to 5G

Linux:

If you know coverage is bad in this location you speak of wait until you have passed thru it and then make your calls / SMS etc...

This doesn't help when I am on a call (almost daily and beyond my control) when I am in the area.

This road is one of the busiest roads on the north shore, it carries thousands of people a day. That in my opinion should be enough to warrant it being looked at....but trying to get someone to even assist and ask me where this problem exists is a mission in itself!!

globe

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Master Geek

#3380290 3-Jun-2025 20:59

MaxineN:

Coverage faults are hard to properly diagnose, even harder to fix. Seen a good few hundred and yes Auckland has some issues and One NZ isn't perfect (so safe to say, nobody will get it 100% perfect)

Not as simple as turning up the power or pointing it in a better direction, and unfortunately I have the same complaint but with 2degrees and with Spark but in Christchurch where I work... The relevant party is aware at 2degrees however I jumped ship from Spark because of it (and then 2degrees' coverage shrunk just enough to put me back in the same miserable conditions, yes I really want my issue fixed, I do have a Spark eSIM and it's worse vs 2degrees, One NZ is superior).

It would be great to know the exact location or stretch of road but also what band(s) you're on.

Onewa road - just west of the lake road intersection, and then further up on Rangitira near Verrans Coner (just along from)

Band? DO you mean 3G, etc or something else?

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insane

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#3380291 3-Jun-2025 21:01

If it's a location that many calls are dropping across multiple users they will already know, so calling them to tell them won't help much. You could try asking if there's a problem ticket that you could be added to.

The exception being if your connection is part of a corporate account, in which case your account manager or service delivery manager (or Spark equivalents) would be your way in.

But for quick relief, your best bet is to try another device or operator if it's such a problem.

MaxineN

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#3380292 3-Jun-2025 21:06

globe:

MaxineN:

Coverage faults are hard to properly diagnose, even harder to fix. Seen a good few hundred and yes Auckland has some issues and One NZ isn't perfect (so safe to say, nobody will get it 100% perfect)

Not as simple as turning up the power or pointing it in a better direction, and unfortunately I have the same complaint but with 2degrees and with Spark but in Christchurch where I work... The relevant party is aware at 2degrees however I jumped ship from Spark because of it (and then 2degrees' coverage shrunk just enough to put me back in the same miserable conditions, yes I really want my issue fixed, I do have a Spark eSIM and it's worse vs 2degrees, One NZ is superior).

It would be great to know the exact location or stretch of road but also what band(s) you're on.

Onewa road - just west of the lake road intersection, and then further up on Rangitira near Verrans Coner (just along from)

Band? DO you mean 3G, etc or something else?

Network bands such as what layer of 4G were on. Hard to do on an iPhone unfortunately.

But yep, onewa road is full of one NZ sites but 0 spark and 0 2degrees

Compared to

Your fault is likely there is no cell site or license present in the area. Grain of salt, gis geek may not have pulled the latest or Spark may have something in the works already.

Gajan may or may not be able to say what's going on in this area.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

Linux

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#3380293 3-Jun-2025 21:07

globe:

This road is one of the busiest roads on the north shore, it carries thousands of people a day. That in my opinion should be enough to warrant it being looked at....but trying to get someone to even assist and ask me where this problem exists is a mission in itself!!

@globe 90% of roads in Auckland have thousands of people on them everyday!

~~What road is it on the North Shore?~~

Edit: Oh Onewa Road I see

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#3380294 3-Jun-2025 21:08

@globe When the 3G / WCDMA shutdown is down at the end of 2025 90% of these poor hand over locations will greatly improve

globe

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Master Geek

#3380295 3-Jun-2025 21:09

insane:

If it's a location that many calls are dropping across multiple users they will already know, so calling them to tell them won't help much. You could try asking if there's a problem ticket that you could be added to.

The exception being if your connection is part of a corporate account, in which case your account manager or service delivery manager (or Spark equivalents) would be your way in.

But for quick relief, your best bet is to try another device or operator if it's such a problem.

Calls aren't dropping as in call fails, they become very patchy so the call is a constant exchange of "pardon" "sorry i cant hear you" "can you repeat that", 9/10 the call is abandoned by either myself or the other person.

globe

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Master Geek

#3380296 3-Jun-2025 21:11

Linux Oh Onewa Road I see

so the purple dots are spark and the other colours other providers? am i reading this correctly?

you couldnt do one for verrans corner and a few kms to the west also could you? it is as patchy af there too (around island bay round, neat the school), thanks

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#3380297 3-Jun-2025 21:13

@globe OneNZ has a number of Cells coming down on Onewa Road I remember these sites getting built and then upgraded with 5G

SparkNZ do not have any cells on Onewa Road as I understand so no dominant coverage

Spark would have to put a number of cells down that road to have perfect handover coming down - I calling it working as designed

MaxineN

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#3380298 3-Jun-2025 21:15

globe:

Linux Oh Onewa Road I see

so the purple dots are spark and the other colours other providers? am i reading this correctly?

Correct.

Each dot on the gis geek map is a license and an approx location.

One NZ is practically blanketing the area.

Spark looks like it does not cover the road itself and if it does it's barely there.

Unfortunately Spark's coverage map themselves are over estimating (maps looks like they do cover the area) so that's something that can be pushed as feedback because that doesn't seem representative. Drive tester required here.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

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