Skinny launches 4G home Broadband

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

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4017 posts

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#1439628 3-Dec-2015 00:19

coffeebaron:
LivingSkinny:
coffeebaron: Can you run VoIP? CG-NAT or public IP?

Sorry you can't do 'Voice over IP' with Skinny Broadband. But of course you can use apps like Skype or Viber to make and receive calls if you want to.

It is behind CG-NAT.

and if you want to make cheap calls then you could always join Skinny Mobile...

I did mean primarily VoIP through another provider, but with CG-NAT, then I guess the answer is no.

I believe an IAX trunk works behind a general NAT connection- probably CG-NAT too
And you can get no-name brand ATA's that do IAX in addition to SIP

Ray Taylor

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deadlyllama

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#1439842 3-Dec-2015 12:13

raytaylor:
coffeebaron:
LivingSkinny:
coffeebaron: Can you run VoIP? CG-NAT or public IP?

Sorry you can't do 'Voice over IP' with Skinny Broadband. But of course you can use apps like Skype or Viber to make and receive calls if you want to.

It is behind CG-NAT.

and if you want to make cheap calls then you could always join Skinny Mobile...

I did mean primarily VoIP through another provider, but with CG-NAT, then I guess the answer is no.

I believe an IAX trunk works behind a general NAT connection- probably CG-NAT too
And you can get no-name brand ATA's that do IAX in addition to SIP

That sounds interesting. Where can I get no-name IAX ATAs?

mdav056

609 posts

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#1441493 6-Dec-2015 19:32

Hmmm, not so fast. Ran speedtest a number of times on my phone on the 4g connection, and the speeds are all over the place (I don't think buildings or walls moved), some much better than my VDSL, some worse even. Assuming the phone spark 4g data connection speed will be a decent measure of skinny broadband speeds (yes?), I don't think I'll be doing this.

gml

raytaylor

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#1441501 6-Dec-2015 20:08

deadlyllama:
raytaylor:
coffeebaron:
LivingSkinny:
coffeebaron: Can you run VoIP? CG-NAT or public IP?

Sorry you can't do 'Voice over IP' with Skinny Broadband. But of course you can use apps like Skype or Viber to make and receive calls if you want to.

It is behind CG-NAT.

and if you want to make cheap calls then you could always join Skinny Mobile...

I did mean primarily VoIP through another provider, but with CG-NAT, then I guess the answer is no.

I believe an IAX trunk works behind a general NAT connection- probably CG-NAT too
And you can get no-name brand ATA's that do IAX in addition to SIP

That sounds interesting. Where can I get no-name IAX ATAs?

I bought some off trademe about 5 years ago.

IAX is a trunking system for asterisk-to-asterisk PBX's
http://blog.2talk.co.nz/iax2.html

I remember the brand I used to use - ATCOM someone was importing and selling them on trademe.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/ATCOM-AG198-1-FXS-port-SIP-IAX2-ATA-w-built-in-lifeline-router/32312867250.html
Stopped using them because I couldnt get the LAN and WAN ports to bridge and I was looking to standardise on an ATA that allowed that at the time. In a home install you would just connect the WAN port to your router and configure it like a standard ATA using the IAX function.

Ray Taylor

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raytaylor

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#1441577 6-Dec-2015 21:47

mdav056: Hmmm, not so fast. Ran speedtest a number of times on my phone on the 4g connection, and the speeds are all over the place (I don't think buildings or walls moved), some much better than my VDSL, some worse even. Assuming the phone spark 4g data connection speed will be a decent measure of skinny broadband speeds (yes?), I don't think I'll be doing this.

Its probably your TDMA time slot allocation changing based on the bandwidth your putting through.
If you start transferring data, the controller allocates you more time slots to send and receive the data.
Its seen as a "moderate ramping up" of speed.
If you perform a speed test it will be slow-moderate, instantly perform another one it should be fast. Wait a few seconds and it will be slow again.

Ray Taylor

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kaihoka

164 posts

Master Geek

#1441624 6-Dec-2015 22:57

this new skinny plan sounds great but they have scrapped the old data deals they had that my friends were using.
i had better tell them to make sure they are all on auto top up.
even though spark has upgraded our spark tower to 4G, skinny does not offer its new data plans on any of the address in this towers coverage area. even with 4 bars.
whats with this all the cheap data only on 4G.
4G signal is really flakey compared with a more robust 3G and us rural consumers can often only get decent 3G.
if you can get vodafone all well and good but if you can only get spark, and only a strong 3G signal you are pretty screwed really.
to qualify for any 4G cheap data you have to be in the maximum signal zone.
in our communities case all the strong signal is beamed into the populated areas which have adsl anyway.
the signal for the rest of us who are all at least 20klms away from the end of an adsl line is too weak to be eligible for cheap 4G data plans.
we could all use antennas to boost our signal but having to do that invalidates our ability to buy cheap skinny data or spark RBI

deadlyllama

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#1441870 7-Dec-2015 10:48

raytaylor:I remember the brand I used to use - ATCOM someone was importing and selling them on trademe.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/ATCOM-AG198-1-FXS-port-SIP-IAX2-ATA-w-built-in-lifeline-router/32312867250.html
Stopped using them because I couldnt get the LAN and WAN ports to bridge and I was looking to standardise on an ATA that allowed that at the time. In a home install you would just connect the WAN port to your router and configure it like a standard ATA using the IAX function.

ATCOM aren't that no-name, they build all of David Rowe's hardware.

I didn't realise 2talk supported IAX. I last played with Asterisk, er, 10 or so years ago. I may have to teach myself the new config file format. And get my "dial up and play colossal cave" app running again.

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AidanS

458 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1451743 16-Dec-2015 17:23

If there's a way to circumvent the geo lock, this would make for a great in-car hotspot service.

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#1451858 16-Dec-2015 19:37

I am shown on both Spark's and Vodafone's 4G-700 MHz maps as being in a good coverage area, yet the Skinny address checker tells me "no". In fact, I have tried various addresses in my area all with good coverage, and they all fail on the address checker.

If they actually want to sell this service to anyone, they seem to be falling at the first hurdle. It's actually hard to find an address anywhere that passes. Not impressed.

EDIT: The Spark rural 4G-700 MHz address checker tells me I'm good to go. So if Skinny are using the same network, it's difficult to understand the discrepancy.

Bill.

mdav056

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#1451871 16-Dec-2015 20:19

@raytaylor -- thanks for that information, I'll check it out -- but how would this mode of operation translate into pretty standard usage -- like surfing the internet, and in particular, reading and writing data to the cloud?

gml

whitecd

40 posts

Geek

#1451940 16-Dec-2015 22:02

SiliconAudio: I am shown on both Spark's and Vodafone's 4G-700 MHz maps as being in a good coverage area, yet the Skinny address checker tells me "no". In fact, I have tried various addresses in my area all with good coverage, and they all fail on the address checker.

If they actually want to sell this service to anyone, they seem to be falling at the first hurdle. It's actually hard to find an address anywhere that passes. Not impressed.

EDIT: The Spark rural 4G-700 MHz address checker tells me I'm good to go. So if Skinny are using the same network, it's difficult to understand the discrepancy.

Bill.

Even though its a prerequisite, Availability isn't determined by 4G access.

The service is designed as a rural broadband option where no copper or fibre services exist. The service can absolutely be used in more populated areas however there is a limited number of these that can go on a single tower. This is taken into consideration in the address search. With over 2000 of these already deployed there is a lot of areas that have hit there quota.

With further infrastructure roll outs, I presume capacity is increasing.

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#1451985 17-Dec-2015 03:34

whitecd:
Even though its a prerequisite, Availability isn't determined by 4G access.

The service is designed as a rural broadband option where no copper or fibre services exist. The service can absolutely be used in more populated areas however there is a limited number of these that can go on a single tower. This is taken into consideration in the address search. With over 2000 of these already deployed there is a lot of areas that have hit there quota.

With further infrastructure roll outs, I presume capacity is increasing.

Oh, there is copper available to me - I'm on ADSL, but I max out at 5 Mbps down and about 500 Kbps up. I find it pretty unlikely that the local tower is saturated, as I live in a pretty low population-density area. If the tower is full, it certainly doesn't prevent Spark from offering me 4G, so I just don't buy this story.

noroad

953 posts

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#1452064 17-Dec-2015 08:42

The service is designed as a rural broadband option where no copper or fibre services exist. The service can absolutely be used in more populated areas however there is a limited number of these that can go on a single tower. This is taken into consideration in the address search. With over 2000 of these already deployed there is a lot of areas that have hit there quota.

Where did you get the idea this is an RBI targeted service ? Currently the address checker shows 100 Queen St Auckland is OK but 200 Queen St is not. If 100 Queen St in central Auckland is Rural, well the whole country qualifies as rural I would say.

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#1452387 17-Dec-2015 16:31

So, I got a reply back from Skinny. They aren't using the 700 MHz spectrum at all:

Unfortunately our Skinny Broadband doesnt use 700MHZ 4G network ( Rural) we use Sparks 4G network HSDPA 850MHZ and UMTS 2100MHZ

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#1452388 17-Dec-2015 16:35

Worth noting that since skinny broadband doesn't use copper, it should not be affected by the commerce commission and subsequent chorus price increases.

Makes one wonder if spark are go to start doing more stuff like this.

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