500plan to unlimited

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › 500plan to unlimited

MrJonathanNZ

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#160358 3-Jan-2015 22:06

If I go from the 500GB plan to the unlimited plan am I going to notice a decrease in speeds or streaming ability?
I know I'm asking a very general question as it will no doubt involve technical details that I am unaware of, I am just concerned that my current subscription has trouble watching streaming on a pc and iPad with a phone browsing facebook at the moment.
I'd hate to move for the unlimited and end up being limited not by data but an inability to watch streams (twitch, youtube etc.)

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#1207850 3-Jan-2015 22:06

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

- you have reset your modem and router

- your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing

- you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap

- your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing

- you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

- Your ISP and plan

- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)

- Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)

- Your general location (or street)

- If you are rural or urban

- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin

- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service

- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

- Is your premises phone wiring impacting your broadband performance? (very technical)

- Are you receiving a substandard ULL ADSL2+ connection from your ISP?

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corksta

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#1207862 3-Jan-2015 22:10

So at the moment you are having trouble streaming things to a PC and iPad?

A change to an unlimited plan won't fix that.

Have a look at PeterReader's post and supply some more more info and see if we can troubleshoot a bit more for you.

quickymart

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#1207863 3-Jan-2015 22:10

Changing plans probably would not make any difference, it sounds more like an issue on your home network, IMO.

michaelmurfy

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#1207877 3-Jan-2015 23:22

Spark don't treat data any differently on their Unlimited plan so no, changing plans won't help your streaming ability - it'll however give you unlimited traffic.

Please answer PeterReader - he is a helpful.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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MrJonathanNZ

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#1207913 4-Jan-2015 06:07

Sorry guys, I didn't mean this to be a "my internet is broken" thread.
It's more a "I'm fine with how my internet is, I just don't want another plan to change that".

That being said lets give trouble shooting a go and see if I am just poorly setup or need to check my house wires (rental) etc.

- Your ISP and plan......Spark 500gb plam
- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL).......ADSL2+ ( ADSL2 wouldn't work in my router settings but 2+ did so I'll assume this)
- Your modem DSL stats....
Modulation : ADSL2+
Annex Mode : Annex A/L
Line State : up
Lan Tx : 206065614
Lan Rx : 110708465
ADSL Tx : 1003
ADSL Rx : 1019
CRC Down : 0
CRC Up : 0
FEC Down : 0
FEC Up : 0
HEC Down : 0
HEC Up : 0
SNR Up : 12.5
SNR Down : 12.4
Line Attenuation Up : 15.0
Line Attenuation Down : 26.5
Data Rate Up : 920
Data Rate Down : 11654

- Your general location (or street) .....Matamata
- If you are rural or urban .....urban
- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin .....not sure
- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service .....not sure
- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above ......unaware of how to

Jase2985

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#1207947 4-Jan-2015 09:08

no its not going to change anything except you wont have a data cap

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matisyahu

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#1208076 4-Jan-2015 17:36

MrJonathanNZ: Sorry guys, I didn't mean this to be a "my internet is broken" thread.
It's more a "I'm fine with how my internet is, I just don't want another plan to change that".

That being said lets give trouble shooting a go and see if I am just poorly setup or need to check my house wires (rental) etc.

- Your ISP and plan......Spark 500gb plam
- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL).......ADSL2+ ( ADSL2 wouldn't work in my router settings but 2+ did so I'll assume this)
- Your modem DSL stats....
Modulation : ADSL2+
Annex Mode : Annex A/L
Line State : up
Lan Tx : 206065614
Lan Rx : 110708465
ADSL Tx : 1003
ADSL Rx : 1019
CRC Down : 0
CRC Up : 0
FEC Down : 0
FEC Up : 0
HEC Down : 0
HEC Up : 0
SNR Up : 12.5
SNR Down : 12.4
Line Attenuation Up : 15.0
Line Attenuation Down : 26.5
Data Rate Up : 920
Data Rate Down : 11654

- Your general location (or street) .....Matamata
- If you are rural or urban .....urban
- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin .....not sure
- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service .....not sure
- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above ......unaware of how to

I assume you're on wireless 802.11n 2.4Ghz, how many other networks are close by? have you tried getting a router with support for 5Ghz and see whether that improves things?

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

MrJonathanNZ

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#1208100 4-Jan-2015 18:27

I have a Asus DSL-N55U which accepts 5ghz.
The iPad is on 5hz, but how would a 5ghz wifi connection effect my ethernet network or could it be as simple as other people somehow picking up my wifi?

plambrechtsen

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#1208123 4-Jan-2015 19:02

There has been a number of public statements saying that spark doesn't plan to shape the unlimited plans.

I think that term was taken out of the unlimited plan.

So I would say moving to unlimited you would notice no differences as there isn't anything enabled on the network to do traffic management.

If you want me to run a line test email me "pl at spark.co.nz" with your home line number and I can kick off a test.

redmouse

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#1208207 4-Jan-2015 22:49

We made that exact change, the only difference was that we lost our static IP address. I think it was $10 cheaper as well but I could be making that up.

Ragnor

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#1208259 5-Jan-2015 01:36

Swapped from 500GB to un-metered (refuse to call it unlimited) ages ago... no noticeable change in download speeds, streaming or gaming.

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matisyahu

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#1208269 5-Jan-2015 03:01

MrJonathanNZ: I have a Asus DSL-N55U which accepts 5ghz.
The iPad is on 5hz, but how would a 5ghz wifi connection effect my ethernet network or could it be as simple as other people somehow picking up my wifi?

I checked your original post and nothing was mentioned that you were using ethernet (unless I missed it) hence I assumed you were using wireless for both. Have you installed the latest firmware update for your modem router?

http://www.asus.com/Networking/DSLN55U_Annex_A/HelpDesk_Download/

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

plambrechtsen

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#1208275 5-Jan-2015 06:45

redmouse: We made that exact change, the only difference was that we lost our static IP address. I think it was $10 cheaper as well but I could be making that up.

Sorry that is correct that static ip isn't offered with unlimited.

Previously everyone had a sticky ip so it never changed anyway but that is all changing and over 50% of our customer base is already on the new system I built which will give you a true dynamic each time you reconnect you ppp session or restart your modem.
if you were sticky and you thought that ment static and haven't been moved across to the new stack in the next few months you will be.

Static on unlimited is something I am pushing for. But it sometimes takes time for product managers to come around.

MrJonathanNZ

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#1208288 5-Jan-2015 07:51

I haven't tried a firmware update on the router but will tonight.
My bad too, I just assumed that everyone ran a PC on ethernet. I should also add then that I use unotelly.

redmouse

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#1208460 5-Jan-2015 12:25

Static on unlimited is something I am pushing for. But it sometimes takes time for product managers to come around.

That would be great, but it wasn't a big deal for us and it was well advertised in advance. When I get round to it I'll sort out automated IP updates for Unotelly, which will take care of the "Netflix has broken" support calls from the kids :)

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