Rural broadband 4g 700mhz

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Rural broadband 4g 700mhz

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9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1355414 30-Jul-2015 17:20

I think I might be somewhere along the track of confirming firefuse's theory that the spark online availability checker won't say you can have the rural 4g 700 service if it thinks you can get decent wired internet. I am comparing our property and another one further up our rural road in the bay of plenty. Both are in a good 4g 700 zone according to spark's mobile coverage map which shows 4g 700 coverage (not the 4g 700 rural checker but spark's normal mobile coverage map). Our property has wired VDSL available according to the spark website (but in reality doesn't as that checker has it wrong). The other property doesn't have fast ADSL or VDSL according to the spark wired internet availability checker, just basic DSL.

The rural 4g 700 availability checker shows them as being able to have the service but us not, but on Spark's mobile coverage map we are both in the same good part of the same 4g 700 zone.

I spoke just now using online chat to a person at Spark and put that scenario to him and and he wouldn't deny that is what the 4g 700 checker is doing, but he wouldn't quite confirm it either. He just said "Well you could be right with that idea".

I suggested to him that if a wired and a wireless fast rural service are both technically available here it is mad that we aren't given the choice between them. He seemed to agree that with the idea of that and said I might be able to sort out the exact service I want by talking on the phone with someone rather than just using the online availability tools. I got the impression he was hinting there might actually be flexibility if I can talk to someone about it.

Cheers

sbiddle

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#1355436 30-Jul-2015 18:14

It makes complete sense for Spark to not allow the service in all areas.

Stan

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Ultimate Geek
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#1355487 30-Jul-2015 19:44

sbiddle: It makes complete sense for Spark to not allow the service in all areas.

I would be interested to know the reasoning for not connecting someone up who is on a conklin with full reception to there new 700mhz cell tower.

Back hall to there cell tower?

sbiddle

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#1355491 30-Jul-2015 19:57

Stan:
sbiddle: It makes complete sense for Spark to not allow the service in all areas.

I would be interested to know the reasoning for not connecting someone up who is on a conklin with full reception to there new 700mhz cell tower. Back hall to there cell tower?

In that instance it's stupid - but not allowing it in all areas makes sense as wireless is ultimately a finite resource.

There is always the RBI if Spark won't connect you. With Vodafone's DC network performance is potentially better anyway.

JoeJoe

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1355592 30-Jul-2015 22:34

sbiddle: It makes complete sense for Spark to not allow the service in all areas.

That may be so, but interestingly Vodafone are perfectly happy on their website to offer us the choice of either their wireless rural broadband or the wired VDSL, which it seems Spark won't offer if both are technically available. This is on a rural road.

I have other reasons for wanting to remain with Spark if we can (It's a business connection).

Cheers

firefuze

510 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1356171 31-Jul-2015 16:47

Well got it all up and running today, some quick speedtest results:

Current ADSL:

Spark LTE Rural Broadband

ADSL is still connected for 10 days to ensure I'm happy with the BoLTE service incase I want to revert.

staticnz

151 posts

Master Geek

#1356213 31-Jul-2015 17:48

wow thats a massive improvement!

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

cokeman2

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#1356234 31-Jul-2015 18:08

currently on a good 3g plan ,but want bigger data plans if i was to switch to 4G that's not going to happen any-time soon i say

Social Bitcoin meetup every 2 weeks in Hamilton PM me for details

ablears

13 posts

Geek

#1356645 1-Aug-2015 15:16

grant_k:
firefuze: ...
Part of the criteria of getting the service is you cannot have a fixed connection of 5Mbps or greater available at your address (i.e ADSL). If so, you are not eligible for the product.
...

That's a stupid requirement! Almost as if Spark are still part of the old Telecom and don't want to compete with Chorus.

Several friends in our area whom I have helped get connected to Ultimate Broadband (and hence Vodafone RBI) all have ADSL of '5Mbps or better' in theory ... but as we all know, during peak times their service slows to a crawl, typically less than 0.5Mbps.

All of them are now happy as pigs in mud, revelling in 20+ Mbps speeds at any time of day or night. One has recently upgraded to 4G and is experiencing speeds of 70Mbps+. Yet if Spark was the only game in town, none of these people would be eligible for RBI wireless! It beggars belief really how Spark are expecting to get any traction with this product when it is so hamstrung by ridiculous constraints.

I am 20k south of Kaitaia. Spark's map shows we have good 4G reception but the address checker says we're not eligible. Their standard internet checkers says we can get fast ADSL but we cannot get any fixed line service at all. Chorus tried and failed to hook us up 2 years ago saying they would need to install a temporary fix involving 400m of new cabling, eventually they gave up and we found Ubernet. So we have no dsl at all and yet can't sign up. Duh.

hotrok

71 posts

Master Geek

#1356661 1-Aug-2015 16:01

Firefuze thats a fantastic result. Could you tell me if that ping is stable or does it fluctuate much. I am asking as want to see if it is stable enough for gaming etc. Cheers

Also out of interest are you using an exterior antenna or just the one on the modem etc. Thanks

sbiddle

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#1356712 1-Aug-2015 17:30

JoeJoe:
sbiddle: It makes complete sense for Spark to not allow the service in all areas.

That may be so, but interestingly Vodafone are perfectly happy on their website to offer us the choice of either their wireless rural broadband or the wired VDSL, which it seems Spark won't offer if both are technically available. This is on a rural road.

I have other reasons for wanting to remain with Spark if we can (It's a business connection).

Cheers

RBI is a Government regulated offering and is designed as the copper replacement for many rural users who are stuck on BUBA. That's very different from what Spark are offering.

firefuze

510 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1356715 1-Aug-2015 17:32

Ping seems to be pretty stable but haven’t been watching it too closely. Will check again and report back.. was getting up to 102Mbps down last night (woop)

Using the internal Ariel but have picked a external one from a Spark store today, It shows full signal strength without it but seeing as I want to use it as a fixed line replacement I want the best connection possible in terms of speed, signal strength etc. So makes sense to buy one, seeing as its only $49.

I have found I can no longer access my Philips Hue bulbs anymore outside the LAN, nor can I access Plex on my home server outside the LAN so need to look at that, plus torrents either don’t download or have very sporadic speed fluctuations, modem doesn’t offer DHCP reservations either which is rather annoying!

I do like the Huawei HiLink app, I can easily see how much data I’ve used for the month, restart the modem, see stats etc from my iPhone easily.

A lot of the firmware is locked down, such as I can’t change network mode from 4G despite the modem supporting 3G, Data plan allowance is pre-set in the modem and SIM is hard bundled with a warranty void sticker over the SIM slot.

grant_k

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#1356862 1-Aug-2015 22:39

firefuze: Ping seems to be pretty stable but haven’t been watching it too closely. Will check again and report back.. was getting up to 102Mbps down last night (woop)

I received my new B315s router from Ultimate yesterday and they sent me a new SIM with it. I've been out driving around the Bay of Islands today and measuring the performance at various places, using 700MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz. Speeds on 2600 were marginally faster than the others at 67Mbps down and 30Mbps up.

firefuze: Using the internal Ariel but have picked a external one from a Spark store today, It shows full signal strength without it but seeing as I want to use it as a fixed line replacement I want the best connection possible in terms of speed, signal strength etc. So makes sense to buy one, seeing as its only $49.

I've been using the internal aerial too for my tests today around the bay. However, at home here I have two wideband outdoor aerials connected, and have a choice of 700MHz 4G (weaker) or 900MHz 3G (stronger). With the speeds you are getting, it looks like you must be very close to the cellsite, so I don't expect an external aerial to make much difference, if any. If you make a note of the signal levels on the home page, with and without the external aerial, it will show you whether there is any benefit.

firefuze: A lot of the firmware is locked down, such as I can’t change network mode from 4G despite the modem supporting 3G, Data plan allowance is pre-set in the modem and SIM is hard bundled with a warranty void sticker over the SIM slot.

Very interesting to know that. My router was supplied with Ultimate's firmware, and it's not locked down at all, so far as I can see. I have the choice of 3G or 4G and using 'Manual' mode, can select 4G on 700MHz, even though it's many dB weaker than 3G. Download speed is also a few Mbps slower, but Ping is much lower and the call quality for VoIP phone calls, or Skype calls is much better, with less delay and no dropouts like I've frequently suffered on 3G.

All things considered, I'm very happy with the B315s and have just replaced the earlier model B593 that I've been using until now.

hotrok

71 posts

Master Geek

#1356971 2-Aug-2015 09:27

What are the costs for data packages over the allocated 80gb. I couldn't see any thing on their website. Cheers

Jase2985

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#1356981 2-Aug-2015 09:48

ultimate broadband : http://www.ultimatebroadband.co.nz/rbi-wireless.html half way down on the right

Vodafone: http://www.vodafone.co.nz/broadband/rural/ its under the offer summary just above the price

Spark: http://www.spark.co.nz/shop/internet/rural/ down the bottom under "what else you should know"

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