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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#1507296 7-Mar-2016 10:14

What I am saying is that there are lots of things in play, so the less variables the better. WiFi works differently depending on which device is connected, local interference, etc. A smartphone might give a better or worse result - for example I have a HTC M9 that connects at 400 Mbps to my 5GHz AP, while an older laptop connects at 140Mbps. A newer laptop connects at 400Mbps.

If you get to test a gigabit connection (like the one I have at home) using the older laptop , one could wrongly assume the ISP is limiting speeds, when in reality is not. Ethernet removes these variables immediately.

Also you already conceded you're in a fringe coverage area. This mobile technology will be affected by distance to the site and by the number of people connected to it. The more people connected, the smaller the coverage area is, which means that at some times users in fringe areas will see a loss or reduction of service.

LivingSkinny

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#1507375 7-Mar-2016 11:33

PhantomNVD:

Opposite direction but this post would indicate the need for changing the APN if switching between the two...

http://support.skinny.co.nz/app/answers/detail/a_id/334/~/how-do-i-use-a-spark-t-stick-with-a-skinny-sim%3F

I still don't understand your distinguishing "if Skinny doesn't work use with Spark" they use the SAME towers and thus have the SAME network signal etc...

BUT only the 'budget' minded Skinny brand offers the $55/60gb contract-less plan... if the speeds "don't work" neither will "Spark" do any better, so you may as well return the modem with your 30 guarantee and skip buying "Spark's" one too?

unless you're trying to use it in an area that Skinny don't cover/allow in their plan... in which case your question is moot as they wont sell it to you anyway?

Did I get that right @livingskinny ?

Skinny Broadband uses Spark's 700MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz frequencies.

To make sure our Skinny Broadband customers get the best speed possible, you can only get Skinny Broadband in certain coverage areas. These areas are sometimes different from regular mobile 4G areas. To check to see if you can get it at your place, head to skinny.co.nz/broadband and use the address checker.

SiliconAudio

97 posts

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#1507381 7-Mar-2016 11:42

LivingSkinny:

Skinny Broadband uses Spark's 700MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz frequencies.

To make sure our Skinny Broadband customers get the best speed possible, you can only get Skinny Broadband in certain coverage areas. These areas are sometimes different from regular mobile 4G areas. To check to see if you can get it at your place, head to skinny.co.nz/broadband and use the address checker.

Why do you not offer Skinny anywhere in Northland except the Whangarei CBD? Northland is a low socio-ecnomic zone with lots of rural areas that do have 4G 700 MHz towers that would benefit greatly from your service.

kaihoka

164 posts

Master Geek

#1507465 7-Mar-2016 13:53

SiliconAudio:

LivingSkinny:

Skinny Broadband uses Spark's 700MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz frequencies.

To make sure our Skinny Broadband customers get the best speed possible, you can only get Skinny Broadband in certain coverage areas. These areas are sometimes different from regular mobile 4G areas. To check to see if you can get it at your place, head to skinny.co.nz/broadband and use the address checker.

Why do you not offer Skinny anywhere in Northland except the Whangarei CBD? Northland is a low socio-ecnomic zone with lots of rural areas that do have 4G 700 MHz towers that would benefit greatly from your service.

yes why dont you offer your service in rural areas with 4G 700mhz coverage.

a lot of these areas are desperate for broad band and can get spark but not vodafone.

also they are not big users , having lived with mobile data for years, and do not necessarily want a spark RBI commitment.

and i am talking about under populated areas without congested towers

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#1507548 7-Mar-2016 15:46

kaihoka:

yes why dont you offer your service in rural areas with 4G 700mhz coverage.

a lot of these areas are desperate for broad band and can get spark but not vodafone.

also they are not big users , having lived with mobile data for years, and do not necessarily want a spark RBI commitment.

and i am talking about under populated areas without congested towers

Preach it, brother. Rural NZ, and particularly Northland, are punished for being out of the big centres. Yet we are the people that need an affordable service like Skinny broadband the most.

The way I see it is that Spark wants to charge for premium priced services from the very people that can least afford it. I get it that Spark wants a return on its 700 MHz investment - goodness knows the spectrum alone cost them an arm and a leg. But there is also a social issue here that needs the attention of more than just the company bean counters.

I'm just a 15 mins from the CBD and I have painfully slow internet over copper. There's no fibre, and Skinny is a financially good fit for me that neither Spark or Vodafone branded solutions offer.

PhantomNVD

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#1507721 7-Mar-2016 20:15

freitasm:
What I am saying is that there are lots of things in play, so the less variables the better. WiFi works differently depending on which device is connected, local interference, etc. A smartphone might give a better or worse result - for example I have a HTC M9 that connects at 400 Mbps to my 5GHz AP, while an older laptop connects at 140Mbps. A newer laptop connects at 400Mbps.

If you get to test a gigabit connection (like the one I have at home) using the older laptop , one could wrongly assume the ISP is limiting speeds, when in reality is not. Ethernet removes these variables immediately.

Also you already conceded you're in a fringe coverage area. This mobile technology will be affected by distance to the site and by the number of people connected to it. The more people connected, the smaller the coverage area is, which means that at some times users in fringe areas will see a loss or reduction of service.

So the best test results EVER achieved on my connection (at 8pm too!), but desktop Ethernet actually was a smidgen slower (statistically negligible I know) and still a huge disparity in speeds...

JonathonDD

38 posts

Geek

#1507736 7-Mar-2016 20:41

hey guy one quick question for anyone else on skinny broadband do you find that a large percentage of the time when browsing the internet it will sit on connecting for ages and then either work after a while or other times i have to refresh it multiple times to get the page to load

this seems to be happening more and more to me the funny thing is once i have a connection active it is fine ie csgo is nice and stable and skype etc

but if i try to browse the web it get stuck on connecting a huge chunk of the time i have 4/5 bars signal on the modem and a speed of 50 down and 25 up so i dont think it is due to signal

and also because if i have csgo open and use my 2nd monitor for web browsing csgo if fine but the browsing still does not work

im starting to think i may have a bad modem

Thanks

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

PhantomNVD

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#1507740 7-Mar-2016 20:46

Mine is quick enough when the request goes up, uploading even screenshots like the one above can take 30s or more though...

Normal browsing on here is fine, but searches on trade me and Facebook lag badly... Presumeably due to my slow upload speed though. I've tested is as low as 0.05mb/s at times (!)

JonathonDD

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Geek

#1507745 7-Mar-2016 20:51

PhantomNVD: Mine is quick enough when the request goes up, uploading even screenshots like the one above can take 30s or more though...

Normal browsing on here is fine, but searches on trade me and Facebook lag badly... Presumeably due to my slow upload speed though. I've tested is as low as 0.05mb/s at times (!)

thanks there must be something wrong on my end because i just tried to load 5 web pages on 5 tabs and all of them started to load then got stuck on connecting and none of them finished loading completely

so then i tried the same test with 5 sites on 5 tabs connected via a vpn in Sydney and all tabs loaded correctly and faster than i could get the next tab open

without the vpn all 5 tabs where still trying to load and all failed

JonathonDD

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#1507748 7-Mar-2016 21:07

just emailed skinny support hopefully it is just my modem

amiga500

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#1508121 8-Mar-2016 14:20

Wonder if I am the very only person on Geekzone who assumed that Skinny Broadband was just Spark ADSL over copper! Laugh if you like...

JonathonDD

38 posts

Geek

#1508131 8-Mar-2016 14:36

Your not the only one I also assumed it was just skinny reselling broadband over copper
Until someone asked me if it would suit them so I had a look at it
Get re that I think I had seen it advertised a fair bit but didn't look because I didn't think it was anything different

trig42

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#1508255 8-Mar-2016 16:01

JonathonDD:

PhantomNVD: Mine is quick enough when the request goes up, uploading even screenshots like the one above can take 30s or more though...

Normal browsing on here is fine, but searches on trade me and Facebook lag badly... Presumeably due to my slow upload speed though. I've tested is as low as 0.05mb/s at times (!)

thanks there must be something wrong on my end because i just tried to load 5 web pages on 5 tabs and all of them started to load then got stuck on connecting and none of them finished loading completely

so then i tried the same test with 5 sites on 5 tabs connected via a vpn in Sydney and all tabs loaded correctly and faster than i could get the next tab open

without the vpn all 5 tabs where still trying to load and all failed

I actually sounds like more of a problem with your PC.

You haven't got any DNS services/redirectors installed have you?

Is it a laptop? Can you take it to another place and test it there? Have you tried a different browser?

SparkNZ

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#1508266 8-Mar-2016 16:07

Hi all,

Thought it might be helpful to give a little more information on the availability of the different products.

The Spark Rural Wireless Broadband and Skinny Broadband products are both very new, and we have to take a cautious approach to the roll out of both. In rural areas we have fewer spectrum overlay options and fewer towers so if we run out of capacity it’s extremely difficult to bring additional capacity in, especially compared to urban areas. We don’t want to risk overloading the network and degrading experience for not only wireless broadband customers but mobile customers too, because that serves nobody.

We’ll take your feedback on board, but from our point of view, we want to make sure we get both products 100% right and not rush either of them.

Hope this helps

Sam

We are Spark. We're about delivering what our customers want: Mobility, data, music, internet TV, cloud services, and much more.

Web: spark.co.nz | sparknz.co.nz
Facebook: fb.com/spark4nz
Twitter: @sparknz | @sparknzltd
Broadband: 0800 22 55 98
Mobile: 0800 800 163 | *123
General: 0800 800 123 | 123
Media enquiries: 0800 222 412

JonathonDD

38 posts

Geek

#1508270 8-Mar-2016 16:09

Hi
The thought had crossed my mind but have done plenty of testing to be sure

It is definitely not my computer I have tried it on my desktop and 2 laptops aswell both tested on cable and on. Wireless
And on.my phone (wireless) just to be sure

There are no DNS redirects in place all computers are currently getting IP and DNS from dhcp on the skinny modem and I also tried using Google DNS on my computer without any change

Skinny have answered my email and require more info such as time stamps etc so will sort that out tonight hopefully

Thanks

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