Frustration - our attempt to have UFB fibre hooked up for our business

Forums › Spark New Zealand › Frustration - our attempt to have UFB fibre hooked up for our business

LambdaPanda

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# 175454 30-Jun-2015 14:26

We have been getting increasingly frustrated trying to have Fibre installed at our new office through Spark.
It seems that it is utterly impossible to get a straight answer, a reasonable estimate or any follow up/customer service. Emails go unanswered, phone calls only have a 50% success rate when wanting to talk to someone (leaving messages never gets a call-back). When we do get any word, we're given false promises and no follow-up as promised.

Does anyone here know where I can go for help? It seems there's a lack of anyone to talk to except for the business hub people.

Our timeline:
Thursday May 7th:
Initial call with Spark
They seemed pretty keen
Gave us a timeframe of approximately 3 weeks for up and running

Friday May 8th:
Recieved sign-up forms
Filled in paperwork, and sent back to Spark contact

Thursday May 14th:
Got confirmation back that our application was 'in process'

Thursday May 21st:
Spoke to Spark guy on the phone. I was told that our application was with the 'Fibre Team', and that he had no additional info, other that our application was in the design phase. I asked if Chorus had done their initial site inspection (since I had no knowledge of them being on site), and was told that this had already been performed and our application was close to being past most of the hurdles.

Tuesday June 2:
Requested an update to the status of our connection - No reply

Wednesday June 3:
Managed to speak on the phone to Spark contact
He mentioned that the process was being held up by the consent process

Called our building manager - they had no recieved any contact from Spark or Chorus.
She reported that she was all too happy to sign anything and send it back immedately with no fuss.
Had her fill out an additional consent from based on an old one and sent it to our Spark contact in hopes of speeding things up.

Thursday June 11:
Sent an email to Spark contact hoping to get an update - No reply

Thursday June 18:
Emailed requesting an update - No reply

Monday June 22:
Chorus guy onsite at our new premises
He claims to be doing a site inspection for the floor above our office
Since he was there, we get him to inspect our floor too
We give him another copy of the consent form proactively

Tuesday June 23:
I managed to get Spark contact on the phone.
He reports having Chorus onsite is positive and says he will follow up in the morning and email me back

Wednesday June 24:
No email or contact back from Spark contact
Sent another email to Spark contact, but did not recieve any reply.

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# 1334165 30-Jun-2015 14:46

I understand your frustration I have 3 clients who waited over 18 months for their MDU to be hooked up to UFB, another who had it done inside of 2 months, and one who has been waiting on traffic management for a 1 way busy street in Auckland for 6 MONTHS!

lxsw20

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# 1334172 30-Jun-2015 14:50

We moved into our High Street, Auckland CBD address August last year, we have just in the last week had UFB installed. It took about 6 weeks to get a business fiber connection in. Just the way it seems to be.

timmmay

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# 1334174 30-Jun-2015 14:57

UFB can take months to get installed - my residential install took 8 months after I applied, which was a couple of months after it was available. You just have to keep on them, and posting on social media like here and Twitter may help. Problems are to be expected with a massive national rollout.

It's just an internet connection. If you already have one that works, great, don't great rid of it. Fiber is better, faster, more reliable, but it's still just a bit pipe.

SparkNZ

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# 1334177 30-Jun-2015 14:59

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Hey OP,

That sounds pretty rubbish :( do you want to pop us a PM with your account or reference number so we can see what's going on?

Fibre installs are a definite concern for the industry right now -- we've been pretty unhappy about aspects of it for some time, but we're all working together to try and make things function better.

Sorry for the hassle

Cheers! ^Sam

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networkn

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# 1334178 30-Jun-2015 15:01

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SparkNZ: Hey OP,
That sounds pretty rubbish :( do you want to pop us a PM with your account or reference number so we can see what's going on?

Fibre installs are a definite concern for the industry right now -- we've been pretty unhappy about aspects of it for some time, but we're all working together to try and make things function better. Sorry for the hassle

Cheers! ^Sam

Great Response! It's nice to see a problem acknowledged and being worked on. Great job!

LambdaPanda

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 1334212 30-Jun-2015 15:35

SparkNZ: Hey OP,
That sounds pretty rubbish :( do you want to pop us a PM with your account or reference number so we can see what's going on?

Fibre installs are a definite concern for the industry right now -- we've been pretty unhappy about aspects of it for some time, but we're all working together to try and make things function better. Sorry for the hassle

Cheers! ^Sam

PM Sent. Cheers.

richms

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# 1334273 30-Jun-2015 16:13

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Fiber installs need to be like power upgrades are.

Vector send the property owner a letter saying that they would be replacing the poles. They attached the relevant legislation that says they have legal rights to access to do the work.

They did a letterbox drop a week before it saying that they would have to block the driveway up on a certain day to get machinery in to replace the pole, and to move the car out to the street in the morning before they arrived. And another card to say that the power would need to be turned off on that day, and if the meter-board was inaccessible or inside they would not be able to turn it back on till they had access to it.

They turned up, did the work, and left. No consent needed. No opportunity to hold the process up.

Richard rich.ms

Tockly

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# 1334314 30-Jun-2015 16:45

richms: Fiber installs need to be like power upgrades are.

Vector send the property owner a letter saying that they would be replacing the poles. They attached the relevant legislation that says they have legal rights to access to do the work.

They did a letterbox drop a week before it saying that they would have to block the driveway up on a certain day to get machinery in to replace the pole, and to move the car out to the street in the morning before they arrived. And another card to say that the power would need to be turned off on that day, and if the meter-board was inaccessible or inside they would not be able to turn it back on till they had access to it.

They turned up, did the work, and left. No consent needed. No opportunity to hold the process up.

Where do I sign to make this happen for Fibre?? The current install process is a joke. I am about to hit month 4 for my install, it just shouldn't take this long.

ghettomaster

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# 1334321 30-Jun-2015 16:53

Tockly:
richms: Fiber installs need to be like power upgrades are.

Vector send the property owner a letter saying that they would be replacing the poles. They attached the relevant legislation that says they have legal rights to access to do the work.

They did a letterbox drop a week before it saying that they would have to block the driveway up on a certain day to get machinery in to replace the pole, and to move the car out to the street in the morning before they arrived. And another card to say that the power would need to be turned off on that day, and if the meter-board was inaccessible or inside they would not be able to turn it back on till they had access to it.

They turned up, did the work, and left. No consent needed. No opportunity to hold the process up.

Where do I sign to make this happen for Fibre?? The current install process is a joke. I am about to hit month 4 for my install, it just shouldn't take this long.

This comes back to the "critical infrastructure" argument though, and while internet access is now a basic human right, FASTER internet isn't. So long as something that can get you online is coming into the house, even over the airwaves, your basic human right is covered.

sbiddle

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# 1334329 30-Jun-2015 17:02

People complaining about 3-4 months with no install have a right to complain, but the very real world reality is that these sorts of timeframes are perfectly normal. I'd go as far as suggesting to anybody who wants UFB that any expectation of an install in anything but a residential SDU (with no ROW issues) in under 6 months should make them happy.

SDUs are very simple - my home for example would have been scoped and completed within 10 days in May (had it not been for my being away) and these sorts of timeframes are what is happening every day for many installs. Start to involve a MDU of any sort and things just get blown way out for various reasons.

networkn

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# 1334381 30-Jun-2015 18:40

ghettomaster:
Tockly:
richms: Fiber installs need to be like power upgrades are.

Vector send the property owner a letter saying that they would be replacing the poles. They attached the relevant legislation that says they have legal rights to access to do the work.

They did a letterbox drop a week before it saying that they would have to block the driveway up on a certain day to get machinery in to replace the pole, and to move the car out to the street in the morning before they arrived. And another card to say that the power would need to be turned off on that day, and if the meter-board was inaccessible or inside they would not be able to turn it back on till they had access to it.

They turned up, did the work, and left. No consent needed. No opportunity to hold the process up.

Where do I sign to make this happen for Fibre?? The current install process is a joke. I am about to hit month 4 for my install, it just shouldn't take this long.

This comes back to the "critical infrastructure" argument though, and while internet access is now a basic human right, FASTER internet isn't. So long as something that can get you online is coming into the house, even over the airwaves, your basic human right is covered.

I'm sorry what now?! Human Right? Internet? Are you kidding?

DarkShadow

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# 1334382 30-Jun-2015 18:47

Tockly:
richms: Fiber installs need to be like power upgrades are.

Vector send the property owner a letter saying that they would be replacing the poles. They attached the relevant legislation that says they have legal rights to access to do the work.

They did a letterbox drop a week before it saying that they would have to block the driveway up on a certain day to get machinery in to replace the pole, and to move the car out to the street in the morning before they arrived. And another card to say that the power would need to be turned off on that day, and if the meter-board was inaccessible or inside they would not be able to turn it back on till they had access to it.

They turned up, did the work, and left. No consent needed. No opportunity to hold the process up.

Where do I sign to make this happen for Fibre?? The current install process is a joke. I am about to hit month 4 for my install, it just shouldn't take this long.

Tell the government here. Submissions close 24 July.

http://www.med.govt.nz/sectors-industries/technology-communication/communications/broadband-policy/telecommunications-infrastructure-deployment/land-access-for-telecommunications-consultation

Cbfd

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# 1334417 30-Jun-2015 19:30

As a designer for a UFB area mdu/mucs and ROWs take the longest due to consent process - and i dot think the new bill will change that much to make things faster imo

mdf

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# 1334458 30-Jun-2015 21:08

sbiddle: People complaining about 3-4 months with no install have a right to complain, but the very real world reality is that these sorts of timeframes are perfectly normal. I'd go as far as suggesting to anybody who wants UFB that any expectation of an install in anything but a residential SDU (with no ROW issues) in under 6 months should make them happy.

SDUs are very simple - my home for example would have been scoped and completed within 10 days in May (had it not been for my being away) and these sorts of timeframes are what is happening every day for many installs. Start to involve a MDU of any sort and things just get blown way out for various reasons.

I'm still waiting for my scoping visit 5 weeks after lodging the initial request. Plain residential install. My ISP did say it would be 4-6 weeks so I haven't chased them as yet. But if it should be done in 10 days, should I be harassing them?

Aredwood

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# 1334510 30-Jun-2015 22:28

sbiddle: People complaining about 3-4 months with no install have a right to complain, but the very real world reality is that these sorts of timeframes are perfectly normal. I'd go as far as suggesting to anybody who wants UFB that any expectation of an install in anything but a residential SDU (with no ROW issues) in under 6 months should make them happy.

SDUs are very simple - my home for example would have been scoped and completed within 10 days in May (had it not been for my being away) and these sorts of timeframes are what is happening every day for many installs. Start to involve a MDU of any sort and things just get blown way out for various reasons.

My connection was completed in exactly 1 week. From placing order via Snap website, to having working internet via fibre.

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