Skinny launches 4G home Broadband

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Skinny launches 4G home Broadband

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#1472536 16-Jan-2016 12:03

Still would be the same tower so not much impact on capacity, really.

A couple of people on Twitter commented (almost feel the snark) "Why I want this is I can get [|VDSLfibre] for $89 unlimited?"

Well, some people don't want to pay a lot more for fibre if they don't need the speed. Or some people don't have VDSL or fibre available.

Amuses me how people think their reasoning is the only reasoning and options are unnecessary...

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#1472541 16-Jan-2016 12:09

jmh: Except, as I understand it, it's not very mobile because you can't take it from place to place.

My primary concern was a solution for home. >99% of people take their home broadband for granted and they offer "why don't you just..." advice that just isn't practical or affordable.

Initially while studying, in 2006, I was paying $55 for 1GB of data. I couldn't watch any videos with that little data. I'm fairly sure somewhere along the line it became 2GB for same price, but I wasn't much better off as the net became more graphically intensive by that time.

It has been quite the struggle, with the only saviours along the line being the absolutely staggering amount of data I could get through "Fantastic Fridays" on Vodafone "Prepay Freebees", I was getting 20GB for $13, but it would only last 7 days. At least finally I could watch videos and listen to music online.

Also Skinny had promos over the years which offered data at a better rate than competitors so I took them while they were on offer. This would often mean I'd have 3 to 5 "live" phones at a time just to make ends meet with data.

Now I can have a heap of data without all the mucking around I used to have to do to keep it affordable.

jmh

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#1472545 16-Jan-2016 12:12

coffeebaron: If your batch is also in coverage, then you just change address for the week.

Yes, it is covered - I checked their website. I only go over 3 or 4 times a year, so I could change it just for those times and then when I get home?

freitasm

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#1472548 16-Jan-2016 12:14

Correct, just change the address - if it's not that frequent I don't think it will be a problem (but might have to get @LivingSkinny to confirm).

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kaihoka

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#1472597 16-Jan-2016 13:43

if the service is geo locked to a single tower you should be able to move the modem around within that towers range with out causing issues to skinny i would have thought

jjnz1

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#1472715 16-Jan-2016 17:16

freitasm: Correct, just change the address - if it's not that frequent I don't think it will be a problem (but might have to get @LivingSkinny to confirm).

You mentioned you would get a friendly call if you moved the location without approval first, but it would still work - what I wonder would happen if you moved it to a location not within their advertised coverage?

Obviously you would get a call, but would they stop it even if it had connected successfully to a Spark 4G tower? Or would they just let it fly?

The reason I ask, is because I have Skinny coverage at home, but not at the batch in Taupo. I do have Spark 700MHz in Taupo though...

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#1472742 16-Jan-2016 17:36

l43a2: in a town like where i live that only has 1 tower, it could easily be abused like take ur modem to work etc

Lol, if you move that little it wouldnt care anyway, and if used for work you're only breaking t&c same argument for home office?

They really just looking to leverage 'spare' capacity on low use towers, so where tou use it on theat tower is irrelevant really as you're still only using it on the same tower, they wont care!

quickymart

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#1472772 16-Jan-2016 18:33

Skinny is prepaid only, right? This can't be added to a Spark account and paid for that way (asking for a friend).

ajw

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#1472773 16-Jan-2016 18:35

quickymart: Skinny is prepaid only, right? This can't be added to a Spark account and paid for that way (asking for a friend).

No.

matisyahu

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#1472778 16-Jan-2016 18:40

PhantomNVD:
l43a2: in a town like where i live that only has 1 tower, it could easily be abused like take ur modem to work etc

Lol, if you move that little it wouldnt care anyway, and if used for work you're only breaking t&c same argument for home office?

They really just looking to leverage 'spare' capacity on low use towers, so where tou use it on theat tower is irrelevant really as you're still only using it on the same tower, they wont care!

I also think there is the fact that so many businesses these days offer free wifi - McDonalds, Burger King, ASB Bank then add on top of that the Wifi from Spark with their telephone booths etc. I'm wondering whether that has opened up a lot of capacity on the network that would give Spark the ability to move their light users off *DSL and Fibre onto their cellular network which would mean bypassing Chorus and Spark would save $40 per month where the customer would get a cheaper connection and Spark will have better margins - a win/win for all concerned. It'll be interesting to also see what will happen if Spark decide to upgrade more towers to 700MHz so then it would be possible to juggle users around between the different bits of spectrum they own and maybe also redeploy 2100MHz to provide LTE as well.

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LivingSkinny

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#1472904 16-Jan-2016 22:43

freitasm:
A couple of people on Twitter commented (almost feel the snark) "Why I want this is I can get [|VDSLfibre] for $89 unlimited?"

Well, some people don't want to pay a lot more for fibre if they don't need the speed. Or some people don't have VDSL or fibre available.

Amuses me how people think their reasoning is the only reasoning and options are unnecessary...

Exactly. If you have an unlimited fibre plan then this is probably not for you. If you live on a boat in a marina sharing a poor wifi connection from the office, like some of our customers, then you will probably be very happy. Two ends of the spectrum with plenty of variety of connection in between. This is not intended to be a solution to meet every need, but rather one more option that is suitable for some situations.

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Yabanize

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#1473115 17-Jan-2016 12:52

LivingSkinny:
freitasm:
A couple of people on Twitter commented (almost feel the snark) "Why I want this is I can get [|VDSLfibre] for $89 unlimited?"

Well, some people don't want to pay a lot more for fibre if they don't need the speed. Or some people don't have VDSL or fibre available.

Amuses me how people think their reasoning is the only reasoning and options are unnecessary...

Exactly. If you have an unlimited fibre plan then this is probably not for you. If you live on a boat in a marina sharing a poor wifi connection from the office, like some of our customers, then you will probably be very happy. Two ends of the spectrum with plenty of variety of connection in between. This is not intended to be a solution to meet every need, but rather one more option that is suitable for some situations.

I would like to see a Skinny/Bigpipe combo/discount for people who Skinny broadband isn't suitable for like myself :P

1eStar

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#1473672 18-Jan-2016 12:09

The address checker seems rather random. I'm checking an address; not available, however the neighbour behind (different street) is available (it will definitely be accessing the same tower). I wonder if entering an address in gives any heightened likelihood of it being added in the future?

LivingSkinny

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#1473832 18-Jan-2016 14:19

1eStar: The address checker seems rather random. I'm checking an address; not available, however the neighbour behind (different street) is available (it will definitely be accessing the same tower). I wonder if entering an address in gives any heightened likelihood of it being added in the future?

Can you please give our team a call and they can check your address.

Customer Care: 0800 4754669 (08004SKINNY)

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 8am - 8pm; Sat & Sun and all Public Holidays 9am - 5:30pm.

LivingSkinny

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#1474402 19-Jan-2016 10:51

freitasm: Correct, just change the address - if it's not that frequent I don't think it will be a problem (but might have to get @LivingSkinny to confirm).

Skinny Broadband is a fixed broadband solution for residential homes and should only be used at the address you entered when you purchased it - ie your home address. This is because we need to closely monitor our cell site capacity and ensure our customers continue to get a great experience. If customers moved their modems around continuously, then it becomes difficult for us to guarantee a solid connection for others, and may cause overloading. Skinny Broadband is not a mobile broadband product. We do of course allow for change of addresses when you move house, but not if you are using it as a mobile solution eg taking it to another location or town. As Mauricio mentioned, we will call you if we see you are using it at a location other than your home and if you continue to use it at that location (which is against our terms) we then suspend your service. If your service gets suspended you can reactivate it when you return home by calling our helpdesk. We'll then check you can connect back to your local cell site.

Also heads up that this is a new product and we are always asking for feedback, so we'll note all the conversations about moving the modem and discuss in a future product review. Plus because Spark can optimise cell towers to improve coverage, the possibility of overloading will become less of an issue.

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