Spark Fibre 200 with Landline (Voip)

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark Fibre 200 with Landline (Voip) - New Plans

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#1298891 6-May-2015 10:40

Additional question. If I do nothing as my fiber was installed 2 weeks ago will it automatically get swapped to a fiber landline??

Regards,

Old3eyes

GregV

928 posts

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#1298903 6-May-2015 10:51

old3eyes: Additional question. If I do nothing as my fiber was installed 2 weeks ago will it automatically get swapped to a fiber landline??

That looks to be the case

Over the next few months existing Ultra Fibre customers will also be migrated over to one of Spark’s new Ultra Fibre plans and (if they require a landline service) to Fibre Landline. If they don’t require a landline, they can choose one of Spark’s new Naked Broadband plans. It will also be possible for customers to keep a copper landline if they wish to but this will come at an additional charge.

http://www.sparknz.co.nz/news/ultra-fibre-new

old3eyes

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#1298922 6-May-2015 11:17

GregV:
old3eyes: Additional question. If I do nothing as my fiber was installed 2 weeks ago will it automatically get swapped to a fiber landline??

That looks to be the case
Over the next few months existing Ultra Fibre customers will also be migrated over to one of Spark’s new Ultra Fibre plans and (if they require a landline service) to Fibre Landline. If they don’t require a landline, they can choose one of Spark’s new Naked Broadband plans. It will also be possible for customers to keep a copper landline if they wish to but this will come at an additional charge.

http://www.sparknz.co.nz/news/ultra-fibre-new

Thanx for that . Now will that allow moving the phone number within the region rather than having to get a new number when you move house i.e. From say Auckland north shore to south Auckland??

Regards,

Old3eyes

cbrpilot

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#1298935 6-May-2015 11:33

@old3eyes My understanding is that for existing customers you will basically have two options - 1/ you can initiate the change yourself via the Spark website (which will take you to the Downers site to organise a site visit if required), or 2/ If you don't initiate it yourself, we will get in contact with you over the coming months (there are a lot of customers to contact, so it's not all going to be done in a single week - it could be many months before the last customers are contacted) to advise on your options.

Ultimately the existing packages with copper landline + Ultra Fibre BB (as a package) will cease to exist, and no-one will be left on them. After these migrations are complete, those wanting to retain a copper landline, will be buying a copper landline and a naked Ultra Fibre BB connection. The combination of those two services will be more expensive than the existing copper landline + Ultra Fibre BB packages. I don't imagine that this will be too common - most people will transition across to the new Fibre landline + Ultra Fibre BB connections.

My views are my own, and may not necessarily represent those of my employer.

old3eyes

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#1298940 6-May-2015 11:44

cbrpilot: @old3eyes My understanding is that for existing customers you will basically have two options - 1/ you can initiate the change yourself via the Spark website (which will take you to the Downers site to organise a site visit if required), or 2/ If you don't initiate it yourself, we will get in contact with you over the coming months (there are a lot of customers to contact, so it's not all going to be done in a single week - it could be many months before the last customers are contacted) to advise on your options.

Ultimately the existing packages with copper landline + Ultra Fibre BB (as a package) will cease to exist, and no-one will be left on them. After these migrations are complete, those wanting to retain a copper landline, will be buying a copper landline and a naked Ultra Fibre BB connection. The combination of those two services will be more expensive than the existing copper landline + Ultra Fibre BB packages. I don't imagine that this will be too common - most people will transition across to the new Fibre landline + Ultra Fibre BB connections.

Than for the info. I'll just leave it as wait to be contacted..

Regards,

Old3eyes

Inphinity

2780 posts

Uber Geek

#1298944 6-May-2015 11:59

cbrpilot: @old3eyes My understanding is that for existing customers you will basically have two options - 1/ you can initiate the change yourself via the Spark website (which will take you to the Downers site to organise a site visit if required), or 2/ If you don't initiate it yourself, we will get in contact with you over the coming months (there are a lot of customers to contact, so it's not all going to be done in a single week - it could be many months before the last customers are contacted) to advise on your options.

Ultimately the existing packages with copper landline + Ultra Fibre BB (as a package) will cease to exist, and no-one will be left on them. After these migrations are complete, those wanting to retain a copper landline, will be buying a copper landline and a naked Ultra Fibre BB connection. The combination of those two services will be more expensive than the existing copper landline + Ultra Fibre BB packages. I don't imagine that this will be too common - most people will transition across to the new Fibre landline + Ultra Fibre BB connections.

Does this also mean those of us currently on the 100/50 plan will be forced to move to a new, lower-upstream plan?

theUtmost

50 posts

Geek

#1298981 6-May-2015 12:22

@Wheelbarrow01 - thanks for confirming the wiring setup of phones into the ONT.
I know it's all new to Spark still, but this is the kind of info that people (not just geeks like us!) want to know.
It affects placement decisions massively around where the ONT and where the router goes etc.
For some people, this will actually become the prime consideration and determine their ultimate satisfaction of the product ie win or lose for the product in the market place.
You might have the best product in the universe (featureset and pricing), but if an end-user is elderly and has just one phone stuck in the garage, simply because they didn't ask the right questions at install time, and the call centre staff assumed it didn't matter, they are gonna be unhappy, whinge to their elderly friends about the useless service and want to cancel...
So, whilst I might be happy cutting into the old copper phoneline as it runs through the garage, and making an adapter cable to plug into the relevant bit of hardware and understand the pros & cons of various approaches - that's not for everyone.

I've another question about the new plans & setup.
WRT the press release:

Spark Fibre Landline works differently from most other voice-over-fibre products because it provides customers with a dedicated ‘lane of traffic’ for their landline service and another for their data service, all over one fibre connection.

I infer from that, the SIP is being delivered via a separate WAN-based VLAN.
Can you please confirm?

I had thought that most other UFB arrangements also used the same VoIP setup?
But then I'm only actually familiar with Snap via Enable UFB. The SIP VLAN actually terminates on the gateway/router (at least in my setup), rather than the ONT.
I spent a lot of time asking tech questions of the Enable guys putting in my fibre connection and they alluded to the fact that future implementations may involve house wiring/phone integration at the ONT rather than at the router.
This was nearly 3years ago, so things may have changed.

Cheers,
tU

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

tdgeek

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#1299000 6-May-2015 12:47

stevenz: Spoke to a nice lady at Spark, got my upgrade sorted out in <10mins after logging into the website, got a callback from them virtually instantly as the Downer page was crashing on me.

No mention of a free DECT phone so will be interesting to see if one turns up. Presumably I'll be emailed the instructions about unplugging the loopback wire from the phone splitter and plugging it into the ONT instead for the VoIP :)

Going from 100/50 500GB to 200/20 Unlimited is now costing me $10 _less_, the only downside being I lose my static IP which is a bummer, but I'll just have to work around it with DynDNS.

I don't _need_ 200mbps, but more for less is a no brainer.

Lose the static? You mean lose a free static?

stevenz

2802 posts

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#1299106 6-May-2015 14:12

tdgeek:
stevenz: Spoke to a nice lady at Spark, got my upgrade sorted out in <10mins after logging into the website, got a callback from them virtually instantly as the Downer page was crashing on me.

No mention of a free DECT phone so will be interesting to see if one turns up. Presumably I'll be emailed the instructions about unplugging the loopback wire from the phone splitter and plugging it into the ONT instead for the VoIP :)

Going from 100/50 500GB to 200/20 Unlimited is now costing me $10 _less_, the only downside being I lose my static IP which is a bummer, but I'll just have to work around it with DynDNS.

I don't _need_ 200mbps, but more for less is a no brainer.

Lose the static? You mean lose a free static?

Correct. Supposedly the 500GB plan is the last (no longer available) consumer level plan where they would let you have a static IP, which is the sole reason I'd stuck with that plan for as long as I had.

This is what I've been told by at least 2 individual CS reps anyway.

@KnightNZ

cbrpilot

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#1299116 6-May-2015 14:25

Inphinity:
cbrpilot: @old3eyes My understanding is that for existing customers you will basically have two options - 1/ you can initiate the change yourself via the Spark website (which will take you to the Downers site to organise a site visit if required), or 2/ If you don't initiate it yourself, we will get in contact with you over the coming months (there are a lot of customers to contact, so it's not all going to be done in a single week - it could be many months before the last customers are contacted) to advise on your options.

Ultimately the existing packages with copper landline + Ultra Fibre BB (as a package) will cease to exist, and no-one will be left on them. After these migrations are complete, those wanting to retain a copper landline, will be buying a copper landline and a naked Ultra Fibre BB connection. The combination of those two services will be more expensive than the existing copper landline + Ultra Fibre BB packages. I don't imagine that this will be too common - most people will transition across to the new Fibre landline + Ultra Fibre BB connections.

Does this also mean those of us currently on the 100/50 plan will be forced to move to a new, lower-upstream plan?

That is a very astute question. To be honest I'm not 100% sure on the answer to that. I know that the migration of customers from the 100/50 plan has been a topic of discussion, but I'm not sure if there are any decisions that are finalised (and I'm probably not privy to them at this point in time either).

I think what I can say is that we honestly do not like upsetting our customers, and should there be a decision made to force-migrate customers off that particular plan, it is highly likely that we would alternate options that may satisfy that speed requirement.

My views are my own, and may not necessarily represent those of my employer.

maxeon

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#1299122 6-May-2015 14:32

Note on the Modem : 200/20 plans come with a Gigabit modem free for 12 month contract.

I got my 100/50 order deployed yesterday (externally) and I am assuming the internal ONT will be done sometime next week. In the mean time I have requested the support to send me the HG659b modem model (which has the Gigabit ports) replacing the current one they sent me.

They have agreed to do that with a 50 dollar difference (199 - 149).

Asked a question if it is possible to get the 50 dollar difference back when I move to 200/20 plan after I get setup - waiting on a reply :)

Inphinity

2780 posts

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#1299123 6-May-2015 14:35

cbrpilot:
Inphinity:
Does this also mean those of us currently on the 100/50 plan will be forced to move to a new, lower-upstream plan?

That is a very astute question. To be honest I'm not 100% sure on the answer to that. I know that the migration of customers from the 100/50 plan has been a topic of discussion, but I'm not sure if there are any decisions that are finalised (and I'm probably not privy to them at this point in time either).

I think what I can say is that we honestly do not like upsetting our customers, and should there be a decision made to force-migrate customers off that particular plan, it is highly likely that we would alternate options that may satisfy that speed requirement.

Thanks, I hope that is indeed the case :)

ps2jak2

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#1299374 6-May-2015 19:50

Hi all, apologies if this isn't the right place, but my parents are currently Spark UFB customers with a copper landline and they have a monitored alarm from years ago which relies on this to connect back to the monitoring company. I know Spark is doing it different to other ISP's and offering the phone line via the fibre instead of the internet so will the alarm be able to continue to work after the change or do we need to get it upgraded to an IP model? Thanks in advance.

Jase2985

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#1299376 6-May-2015 19:54

probably not but thats something to ask your alarm/monitoring company, you may need an IP adapter for your alarm

kornflake

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#1299418 6-May-2015 20:26

good point re the alarm, the alarm monitoring still worked over copper in a power cut, wonder if this will change the policy pricing as fibre is dead in the water in the situation, do road side cabinets have ups in them?

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