Spark 4G fixed wireless bb - dropouts / spikes / ... ?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark 4G fixed wireless bb - dropouts / spikes / ... ?

DS248

1697 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#302863 29-Dec-2022 15:13

We have been on Spark Wireless (Everyday Wireless plan) for around 6 days.

We have clear line of sight from upstairs to a Spark tower 500m away across a valley, in a semi-rural area (view from upstairs window in photo below. with tower circled). Not using an external antenna. Currently modem is downstairs (to hook into house network switches, etc). In the downstairs location, the modem is behind a window and there are several trees blocking the view of the tower.

Average around 50-60Mbps up and down, though down is highly variable. Only once saw > 100Mbps (at midnight). Speed tests done over ethernet.

We have a few internet connectivity issues. Sometimes the internet cuts out for 5 to 10 minutes, seemingly randomly.

It also frequently cuts out for 10 or so seconds at random. E.g. at the circled point below, it froze for about 10 seconds and then resumed later, at a lower speed. Then the upload test failed ("0.00" Mbps).

Speed tests also sometimes completely fail part way through (I guess if the cut out lasts a bit longer), e.g:

We did not have these issues with the (marginal) VDSL we switched from.

Is this typical for Spark Wireless (seems unlikely), or could there be an issue with the modem?

==
Could we expect an increase in speed and/or stability by using a directional external antenna located high up with clear view of the Spark tower?

At time of ordering, Spark rated our location as 'Excellent' for fixed wireless.

This is a filtered page: currently showing replies marked as answers. Click here to see full discussion.

DS248

1697 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3171951 15-Dec-2023 10:49

Now better clarification re the issue.

Field tech reported a "PIM fault on sector 2 L700 antenna". Permanent fix requires replacing the faulty antenna. Will hopefully be done in Q1/24 when site is upgraded 🤞. L2 is the one directed at us.

Workaround in meantime has been to disable L700 sector 2 so now getting feed from the antenna main leg, which likely accounts for the more stable but lower DL speed we are now seeing.

DS248

1697 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3173120 18-Dec-2023 16:29

@RunningMan:

DS248:[snip]

Ultimately it took an approach directly to much higher up the food chain to get action. Should not have required that but repeated attempts to escalate the issue beyond frontline staff got nowhere.

Would be interested to hear the (non-techincal) response from Spark to this issue as well. It's good to know what the exact issue was, and it is a little obscure, but a year is too long to get the issue escalated, especially since you had to bypass support channels to get any traction.

Ironic you should post this today.

This morning, little more than an hour before your post, I received an email from the person who followed up with me less than 20 mins after I had cc'd in several at the top of the food chain at the end of Oct (person who assigned the CSS I have since been working with). This morning's email contained an apology (for the intermittent disconnections) and advised that a credit of half our wireless broadband fee for the last 12 months has been applied to our Spark account.

Appreciated but it wasn't really about the money. Not expecting/wanting anything more on that front. Mainly, just want decent internet ... sooner rather than later! No way they could compensate the full cost of the time spent on this issue, let alone the frustration with the service and with getting nowhere for so long. Or keeping the old VDSL live for 12 months as a back up and to provide the stability needed for our security alarm monitoring.

Very much hoping the planned Q1 2024 upgrade of the cell tower is done on schedule and the faulty antennae replaced as part of the upgrade. And at last we have decent internet!