wireless broadband-quality?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › wireless broadband-quality?

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457 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1542190 26-Apr-2016 13:56

venomio:

Noig:

We have a tower with the distance mentioned above and I believe it is a Spark 4G700 service, according friends of us who subscribed to it lately. So anything which is better than what we have now would be good.

Fibre is 300m away from the property though we would have to pay all the costs to the gate and after the gate.

Below is our existing speed and the coverage of the 4G700. It does not seem to be such a good reliable broadband if I can read that the holiday time slowdown kicks in.

Where are you on that map? (I have a little bit of experience in the Motueka/Kaiteriteri area).

hi venomio

We are situated in the Ngatimoti area

venomio

178 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 33

#1542198 26-Apr-2016 14:06

Ngatimoti should be close enough to Mot that you should be okay with Spark 4G. Depends how far south of the Motueka Valley you are, but generally should be okay.

Noig

457 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1542203 26-Apr-2016 14:21

venomio:

Ngatimoti should be close enough to Mot that you should be okay with Spark 4G. Depends how far south of the Motueka Valley you are, but generally should be okay.

I assume it is the MtCampbell communications tower "supplying" us?

Just that I'm concerned now regarding the comment of holiday time slowdown.

jjnz1

1371 posts

Uber Geek
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#1542222 26-Apr-2016 14:30

Our Vodafone Wireless RBI is around 3-5Mbps down during the normal period. Every public holiday time speeds drop to around 0.2Mbps down 0.05Mbps up.

And every time during the holidays we ring Vodafone and complain. Only on 3G as no 4G 700 exists yet. (Taupo area).

Just looking into the Spark RBI thing now... May switch and fight with VF to make sure they don't charge any ETFs etc. It did cost me $149 to get installed which I am thinking about trying to get a credit for as well...

Very disappointed with the VF 3G RBI service.

My signal is -79 with full bars on the B315 router.

quickymart

14940 posts

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#1542274 26-Apr-2016 15:40

Where exactly is "Taupo area"? I have some friends in Kinloch using it (on 4G) and they say it works really well.

Noig

457 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1542322 26-Apr-2016 16:28

How can I test 4G700 with my phone as the only available option I see atm is 3G?

Would be good to "test before buy".

Below the mobile 3g speeds

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jjnz1

1371 posts

Uber Geek
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#1542336 26-Apr-2016 16:47

quickymart:
Where exactly is "Taupo area"? I have some friends in Kinloch using it (on 4G) and they say it works really well.

Hatepe. The 1800Mhz site is to far away and through too many trees for us. Only leaves 900mhz option.

jjnz1

1371 posts

Uber Geek
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#1542338 26-Apr-2016 16:48

Noig:
How can I test 4G700 with my phone as the only available option I see atm is 3G?

Would be good to "test before buy".

Below the mobile 3g speeds

Any 4G will do. Does your phone normally connect to 4G?

Yabanize

2351 posts

Uber Geek
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#1542341 26-Apr-2016 16:57

Skinny have a 30 day money back guarantee

Noig

457 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1542350 26-Apr-2016 17:21

Yabanize:

Skinny have a 30 day money back guarantee

Not available in our area!

Jase2985

13730 posts

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#1542358 26-Apr-2016 17:44

testing with your phone doesnt mean much as a proper install will include an external aerial and that will net you a tonne more signal and your phone can pickup.

HP

Shop now for HP laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

tangerz

662 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 199

#1542392 26-Apr-2016 19:29

jjnz1:

Our Vodafone Wireless RBI is around 3-5Mbps down during the normal period. Every public holiday time speeds drop to around 0.2Mbps down 0.05Mbps up.

And every time during the holidays we ring Vodafone and complain. Only on 3G as no 4G 700 exists yet. (Taupo area).

Just looking into the Spark RBI thing now... May switch and fight with VF to make sure they don't charge any ETFs etc. It did cost me $149 to get installed which I am thinking about trying to get a credit for as well...

Very disappointed with the VF 3G RBI service.

My signal is -79 with full bars on the B315 router.

Sounds like the tower you're on hasn't had the RBI upgrades yet and with the large influx of visitors to Taupo in holiday periods the system is being overloaded.

Given that Vodafone only appear to have upgraded one tower in the area to 4G 700MHz, you'll almost certainly be better off with Spark. They seem to have upgraded all their 'rural' towers around Taupo to 4G 700MHz, (4 of which you should have a decent chance of seeing from Hatepe!)

jjnz1

1371 posts

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#1542785 27-Apr-2016 13:56

tangerz:

Sounds like the tower you're on hasn't had the RBI upgrades yet and with the large influx of visitors to Taupo in holiday periods the system is being overloaded.

Given that Vodafone only appear to have upgraded one tower in the area to 4G 700MHz, you'll almost certainly be better off with Spark. They seem to have upgraded all their 'rural' towers around Taupo to 4G 700MHz, (4 of which you should have a decent chance of seeing from Hatepe!)

You're right. The tower hasn't been upgraded, and the VF engineer said their were no immediate plans as part of the RBI programme to upgrade any more Taupo towers with 700Mhz.

What 700MHz towers are you talking about?

I can see Omori, Taupo West(Karangahape Rd) and Tuhingamata. I am currently connected to Taupo West, but was connected to Tuhungamata for a while to see if things improved, which they didn't by much.

tangerz

662 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 199

#1542810 27-Apr-2016 14:33

jjnz1:

You're right. The tower hasn't been upgraded, and the VF engineer said their were no immediate plans as part of the RBI programme to upgrade any more Taupo towers with 700Mhz.

What 700MHz towers are you talking about?

I can see Omori, Taupo West(Karangahape Rd) and Tuhingamata. I am currently connected to Taupo West, but was connected to Tuhungamata for a while to see if things improved, which they didn't by much.

Disappointing if Vodafone won't be upgrading those towers to 700MHz. Surely the whole point of 700MHz was the extended reach, especially for rural areas. :-(

Anyway, Spark have upgraded near you to 4G 700MHz. The Spark towers I thought you may be able to see are at Omori and Tuhingamata (which you confirmed) but also Kinloch and Taupo Airport. Take a look here:

https://gis.geek.nz/celltowers#chorus_cabinets

Pretty sure you'll get much better speeds off any one of those towers! :-)

jjnz1

1371 posts

Uber Geek
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#1543006 27-Apr-2016 19:45

Thanks for that.

I have been using it already, although as an FYI, it hasn't been updating correctly for the past few months. You are best to use the RSM website to confirm exact capabilities for each site.

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