Spark - 5G Coverage + data instability (Wellington & parts of Auckland)

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark - 5G Coverage + data instability (Wellington & parts of Auckland)

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#3490084 12-May-2026 10:49

boosacnoodle:

So have you tried disabling 5G to troubleshoot the issue and see if it still happens? This is the first question Spark will ask you.

Car has no 5g, its a LTE only modem. There is also no options for configuring the cellular data available to me. I am not a direct customer of spark for the premium connectivity from tesla so cant complain directly to them.

When I was trying a skinny sim it was in my 4G only phone and sucked in the same places. No 5G to disable on it. I asked the person at the mall spark store what was going on and if anyone else had problems and they were clearly avoiding a direct answer.

There is also no 5G available in these areas even their map shows the sad pathetic state of their network on the shore.

One

2deg

Richard rich.ms

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#3490095 12-May-2026 11:16

Looks like much of Spark's network hasn't been touched since around 2022 in that area, so I'd say it's just overloaded.

idanoo:

Looping back to the original topic. The only real area I notice Spark data stop working is around here (North Shore, AKL):

This area is similarly on a stop sell for WBB, so I'd say Spark knows about both being problematic. Why it's taken four years to do nothing is beyond me.

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#3490098 12-May-2026 11:19

Could be worthwhile taking an Android phone with CellMapper running on it next time you go past. This will tell us if the gear is still Huawei. As far as I can tell, these mostly (maybe always?) don’t support 5G and appear to need to be ripped and replaced (even with Samsung) to get any sort of upgrades into them.

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#3490156 12-May-2026 16:01

Did someone forget to switch on Euston Street?

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#3490160 12-May-2026 16:03

Finally last week after many months (since last year) the 5G panels were installed on the Kaiwaka site

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#3490377 13-May-2026 09:50

Linux:

Finally last week after many months (since last year) the 5G panels were installed on the Kaiwaka site

Did you notice if it was live yet? Last time I went past a few months ago the enb 2077 from the exchange COW was still live.

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#3490378 13-May-2026 09:52

KiwiSurfer:

Linux:

Finally last week after many months (since last year) the 5G panels were installed on the Kaiwaka site

Did you notice if it was live yet? Last time I went past a few months ago the enb 2077 from the exchange COW was still live.

@KiwiSurfer Did not notice sorry as was driving but driving past it tomorrow so will check and let you know

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#3491260 15-May-2026 15:34

boosacnoodle:

Did someone forget to switch on Euston Street?

Yep. Just went out there earlier and all roads work are done with electricity meter installed - but RCD's are still switched off.

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#3491327 16-May-2026 08:04

@KiwiSurfer Yes Kaiwaka 5G is live

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#3491605 16-May-2026 19:07

I think Seymour Street, Hornby, may now be active but will need to go back and check to be sure. Appears to be fitted with Nokia gear, which is very welcomed.

It is unusual an unusual site as they have removed the (tiny) 2degrees tower that was previously there and co-lo'd with 2degrees on a colossal tower. I'm not aware of any other sites nearby that the two share like this.

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#3491608 16-May-2026 19:30

boosacnoodle:

It is unusual an unusual site as they have removed the (tiny) 2degrees tower that was previously there and co-lo'd with 2degrees on a colossal tower. I'm not aware of any other sites nearby that the two share like this.

Both 2degrees and Spark sold their tower assets to Connexa some time ago so 2deg/Spark co-locations managed by Connexa are popping up all over the place. I know of several sites in Auckland and a couple up north where Spark/2deg have either built new sites with 2deg/Spark co-located from day 1, co-locations where Spark/2degrees have built out new coverage/capacity by colocating, or deduplications where they've moved one or the other onto the other where Connexa had two tower assets close by. Great to see as 2deg has heaps of sites in areas where Spark needs more infill. I suspect as both networks progress their 5G build we'll see more new builds and deduplications.

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#3491615 16-May-2026 21:10

KiwiSurfer:

boosacnoodle:

It is unusual an unusual site as they have removed the (tiny) 2degrees tower that was previously there and co-lo'd with 2degrees on a colossal tower. I'm not aware of any other sites nearby that the two share like this.

Both 2degrees and Spark sold their tower assets to Connexa some time ago so 2deg/Spark co-locations managed by Connexa are popping up all over the place. I know of several sites in Auckland and a couple up north where Spark/2deg have either built new sites with 2deg/Spark co-located from day 1, co-locations where Spark/2degrees have built out new coverage/capacity by colocating, or deduplications where they've moved one or the other onto the other where Connexa had two tower assets close by. Great to see as 2deg has heaps of sites in areas where Spark needs more infill. I suspect as both networks progress their 5G build we'll see more new builds and deduplications.

True. The coverage that 2degrees’s has via One’s MoRAN agreement where Spark lacks, thinking Northland and East Cape, will probably see eventual see new sites built out by the two. In the last year I have seen Spark’s Martinborough and South Greytown site rebuild/take on 2degrees equipment as well as 2degrees’s Maoribank site rebuild with Spark. Great for their respective customers at the end of the day.

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#3491619 16-May-2026 22:13

Seymour/Shands is indeed active and the coverage issues within the mall, particularly PAKnSAVE, are now resolved. 5G can now even be obtained in some parts of the mall, which is surprising given that they had literally none before. This has been an issue for probably 10 years or more. It is very pleasing to see this finally solved.

KiwiSurfer:

Both 2degrees and Spark sold their tower assets to Connexa some time ago so 2deg/Spark co-locations managed by Connexa are popping up all over the place. I know of several sites in Auckland and a couple up north where Spark/2deg have either built new sites with 2deg/Spark co-located from day 1, co-locations where Spark/2degrees have built out new coverage/capacity by colocating, or deduplications where they've moved one or the other onto the other where Connexa had two tower assets close by. Great to see as 2deg has heaps of sites in areas where Spark needs more infill. I suspect as both networks progress their 5G build we'll see more new builds and deduplications.

I completely forgot about this arrangement. To some extent, this just goes to show what a farce capitalism is. The only reason the three carriers exist is because they hold a monopoly on access to spectrum. Having them now not even owning their own towers, let alone just simply moving to a model where they all co-locate on the same towers, leaves me to wondering what the point of any of it really is at the end of the day. Spectrum footprints should, with time, move to become more or less identical. With both One NZ and, increasingly, Spark now using Nokia radios, there's little left to actually distinguish the service given that domestic peering is - for most practical purposes (think Facebook, Netflix, Stuff.co.nz) - very similar. All that's really left then is price.

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#3491690 17-May-2026 09:37

@boosacnoodle

This is normal practice in some countries including the United States.

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#3493410 18-May-2026 14:16

Euston Street, Riccarton, now live.

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