Spark Rural 4G Wireless

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jdmatt

28 posts

Geek

#195527 22-Apr-2016 20:23

Wondering if anyone knows how the Spark 4G address finder works, I have previously been in contact with spark regarding getting this service due to my sub par ADSL connection have not had any luck, with them saying that I am not within the area for it. But I have neighbors who are just down the road who can sign up to it if they want, also some of these neighbors who can sign up are in areas of limited coverage whereas I am in Fair boarding on Good coverage going on the coverage map on the spark website for 4G 700mhz.

PhantomNVD

2611 posts

Uber Geek

#1538436 22-Apr-2016 21:31

What 'zone' are you in (vs 'just down the street' neighbours?)

Strangely, I'm rural but the neighbours across the road are urban, and since RBI is based on 'rural' I imagine the subsidies are based on zoning?

Have you tried the skinny broadband map? This isn't subsidised RBI, but really good value for money and based on 'spare' capacity rather than government incentives...

jdmatt

28 posts

Geek

#1538448 22-Apr-2016 22:10

PhantomNVD: What 'zone' are you in (vs 'just down the street' neighbours?)

Strangely, I'm rural but the neighbours across the road are urban, and since RBI is based on 'rural' I imagine the subsidies are based on zoning?

Have you tried the skinny broadband map? This isn't subsidised RBI, but really good value for money and based on 'spare' capacity rather than government incentives...

We are all very rural here sheep and cropping farms, closest town Rakaia is 10km away. Yes I have looked into the Skinny Broadband and would prefer it over the RBI options as it is a lot cheaper but unfortunately not available as well or for anyone within the Rakaia Cell Tower area. It seems I am in a dead spot for decent internet, I am also just out of the coverage area for ultimate broadband wireless. It is starting to be a issue for me as a lot of the farm management is being down in the cloud and when uploading files it can sometimes take 7-8hours.

grant_k

3539 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1538463 22-Apr-2016 22:49

Have you looked at the Vodafone RBI coverage map:

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/network/coverage/

The area around Rakaia seems pretty well covered by 4G Extended (700MHz). Ultimate can connect you via RBI as an alternative to their own network, depending on which provides the best coverage at your location.

jdmatt

28 posts

Geek

#1540619 23-Apr-2016 12:38

grant_k:

Have you looked at the Vodafone RBI coverage map:

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/network/coverage/

The area around Rakaia seems pretty well covered by 4G Extended (700MHz). Ultimate can connect you via RBI as an alternative to their own network, depending on which provides the best coverage at your location.

Yes I have looked at RBI options from vodafone and onsellers and the quotes are laughable one was as high as $800 dollars, when compared to the likes of skinny where very much the same hardware is used the B315 modem excluding external antenna. Spark is still higher priced for the modem but no where near vodafone RBI who are pretty much extortionists in my opinion.

Anyway looks like I have made some headway with spark this morning and they are looking into it and will get back to me after the long weekend.

Jase2985

9795 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1540626 23-Apr-2016 13:00

pretty reasonable if you ask me

http://www.ultimatebroadband.co.nz/rbi-wireless.html

router/instillation from $229

jdmatt

28 posts

Geek

#1540628 23-Apr-2016 13:02

Jase2985:

pretty reasonable if you ask me

http://www.ultimatebroadband.co.nz/rbi-wireless.html

router/instillation from $229

That is lease of router only to own it its $329

Jase2985

9795 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1540635 23-Apr-2016 13:07

i did say FROM and it all depends on how you want to do it and how stable to want your signal if you want the extra antenna's etc.

grant_k

3539 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1540665 23-Apr-2016 15:08

IMO, it's ridiculous selling a rural wireless solution which doesn't include one or more external antennas, unless you can look right out your window and see the celltower less than 5km away.

jdmatt

28 posts

Geek

#1540725 23-Apr-2016 16:24

grant_k:

IMO, it's ridiculous selling a rural wireless solution which doesn't include one or more external antennas, unless you can look right out your window and see the celltower less than 5km away.

Yes I fully agree, if I can get the go ahead I will be adding external antennas to achieve the best possible signal.

I guess the whole point of this post was to find out why some people are excluded when they are in coverage area and other people are included. From my house towards the tower there is around only 15 - 20max houses in this area and I know most of the people. When I check their address around half can get coverage the other half cannot and there doesn't seem to be any real system to it. In theory they should be allocating everyone who is in the coverage area a chance to get it and not cherry pick a few or so houses. If its a capacity issue then it should be dealt with on a first come first serve basis with a waiting list like we see with some areas on oversubscribe adsl connections.

If they were allocating it to people who cannot received adsl broadband I would understand, but since most of these houses are closer to the exchange than I am it sort of cancels that theory out.

jdmatt

28 posts

Geek

#1544518 30-Apr-2016 15:32

Update:

Still no word from spark about being able to be connected to there network but managed to borrow a B315 modem and put in my spark mobile sim card to see if I could get a signal, managed 4 bars and wow the speeds are amazing have never hit the double digits in a speedtest before.

PhantomNVD

2611 posts

Uber Geek

#1544565 30-Apr-2016 17:41

Great one! Now go make friends with one of your 'neighbours' who IS on their website and have your plan/modem delivered there?

tangerz

538 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1544579 30-Apr-2016 19:16

PhantomNVD: Great one! Now go make friends with one of your 'neighbours' who IS on their website and have your plan/modem delivered there?

Yep just do this. Saves any hassles trying to convince Spark your coverage is OK. If it's all coming off the same tower I don't see why they'd have issue with it.

jdmatt

28 posts

Geek

#1548428 8-May-2016 23:28

So with some awesome help from a couple of the guys at Spark who added my address to the list I have been all connected up to the spark network. The speeds with dual external antennas is amazing and very close to fiber, latency isn't as bad as what I thought it would be, so im very impressed by the 4g network. Looks like I will have to keep my copper connection as well for the while and hope in the future bigger data caps will become available.