Thought i would get in a day or two on the mountain, been too busy (have always prefered spring conditions) and tbh hate the drive. Anyway since ive been here my signal level has been one or two bars at best, has anyone noticed poor preformance of sparks mobile coverage up the hill or in Ohakune? cant recall it been this bad last season.
Was there earlier this season. On the mountain reception was good unless I was in a valley where it could be hit or miss. But overall very good. Lower down - not so flash. Didnt get much above a couple of bars. Internet usage was a bit painful but since I was hanging with the family it didnt matter. Didnt use the phone much anyway, mostly the odd text or phone call (on the mountain) asking where people were for catching up with.
Found reception at Whakapapa (and generally that side of the mountain) to be much better FWIW.
Can't say I had any issues on the mountain on Spark, I worked there for 4 seasons and how to move off Vodafone as they had not coverage in the base area.
Telecom's tower is in the black box on top of the Alpine Cafe and Vodafone's is on the Giant Cafe (Antenna's are to your left and right as you arrive on the chair), Vodafone had a temporary tower in the base area this season at both Turoa and Whakapapa what solved the coverage issue in the base area. For the last two seasons Telecom has had a temporary tower at the Junction that has covered the black spot at most bars due to a ridge blocking both companies signals at that end of town, they took it town at the start of October. They have 4G/LTE in town and it only has 1-2 bars on my phone (note3) so if you fall back to 3G you should get a full signal.
At Whakapapa Telecom's tower is in the cafe roof (pointy area above the roller door) and there is a repeater at Hut Flat, Vodafone have one lower down the mountain in the Hut's somewhere and at Knoll Ridge.
Logged a fault with them several years ago while working for Telecom mobile (through the front channels) and got a smug git who told me they check the usage reports and will provide better capacity the next year, my call was not required...
I haven't been this season, but the last few year without fail the network would get congested every weekend 5 PM onwards until midnight. No data or voice. Thankfully the motel gave us free wifi vouchers.
Morning / afternoon times were fine, just peak evening overload that hasn't been addressed properly for 5 years.
This was halfway between the Junction and town centre, 101 Goldfinch Street.
I get 4G in ohakune except inside buildings, in many places if you're not on the south-west side of the building, theres enough to block it and have it drop back. Other than that its fine. I did find the 3G was a bit overloaded and poor performance during busy times, but nowhere near as bad as when i tried to use their 3G in National Park a couple of months back - 10,000-20,000 ping to auckland with 20% loss. Was extremely disappointed because i had bought a $30 data pack on my sim just for that trip.
Up the mountain both networks are fine, though you get dead spots in valleys and for a bit of the drive on the way up.
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