Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

#198233 1-Jul-2016 13:38
Send private message

Just received:

 

 

Thousands of Spark customers suffer as weather damage hits Chorus copper network 

 

The severe wet weather sweeping the country has caused a sharp spike in broadband and landline faults experienced by Spark customers who rely on the Chorus copper line network for their services.

 

Fault related calls into Spark have reached over 6000 per day this week – 30% higher than a few weeks ago. Only weeks into the winter season, the number of faults that have required a visit by a Chorus technician has almost reached the volume for the entire 2015/2016 summer. The spike in faults has put even more pressure on Spark’s call centres, hampering initiatives already underway to reduce customer wait times. 

 

General Manager of Spark Care, Bridgette Dalzell says: “The impact on our customers has been severe and widespread. 

 

“The sad reality for our customers whose broadband (ADSL and VDSL) or landline services are delivered via copper, is that the Chorus network is many decades old and highly vulnerable to wet weather. When copper lines get wet or damp, they either stop working or their performance deteriorates badly.” 

 

She says Chorus has warned Spark and other service providers that customers might have to wait for up to two weeks to get faults fixed over the current winter. 

 

“Many of our customers find it unacceptable that they have to wait many days or even weeks in today’s connected world to get their services back up and running. We agree with them and we’re urging Chorus to bring on more technicians. 

 

“While we understand the rollout of fibre across the country is a key focus for Chorus, no one should forget that millions of New Zealanders still rely on the old copper network and they deserve a better service.” 

 

The surge in weather-related faults has put more pressure on Spark’s call centres, with wait times getting even longer in recent days.

 

“We know this is unacceptable and we’re sorry to all our customers who are experiencing frustratingly long wait times. We’ve been throwing all our available resources into helping customers as quickly as we can.” 

 

Spark uses weather forecasts as a factor to determine the number of care agents it needs to roster on to help customers, showing the huge impact that weather issues have on Spark’s customer care channels, Ms Dalzell says. 

 

While the weather problems have made call centre wait times particularly bad recently, Ms Dalzell acknowledges that high wait times have been a challenging issue for a number of months. 

 

“We know we have lots of customers who end up waiting on the phone for too long, and we’re determined to fix things. We’re hiring more customer care agents, improving our digital channels and stepping up efforts to better inform customers about online tools so customers can get help, faster.” 

 

Just this week Spark began hiring a further 130 customer care agents – but it will take some time to get them on board and fully trained. This is on top of 200 new agents who were hired late last year. 

 

Over time, Spark believes the biggest inroads into call centres volumes will be made by helping more customers get the support they need through digital channels. 

 

“There’s an enormous effort underway within Spark to build new and improved digital service channels, enabling our customers to do much more via tools like the Spark app and MySpark online. While we are committed to hiring more call centre staff today, our longer term focus has to be digitally-based.” 

 

As part of the digital initiatives, Spark is trialling a new system where it will proactively contact customers via text or email to advise them of any faults or maintenance taking place in their area, avoiding the need to call, Ms Dalzell says.

 





Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSyncBackblaze backup


Filter this topic showing only the reply marked as answer View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic
 1 | 2
kornflake
409 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #1584060 1-Jul-2016 14:04
Send private message

Spark (telecom) only have themselves to blame, if only they had maintianed their network "much" better than they did half the faults wouldn't occur today.



DarthKermit
5346 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #1584068 1-Jul-2016 14:27
Send private message

That's one definite advantage of fibre over copper: it's not bothered by moisture.


openmedia
3324 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #1584075 1-Jul-2016 14:36
Send private message

I had Chorus out recently as my line was showing issues and a drop in power.

 

I was impressed that this was pre-emptive work as I hasn't rung them myself.

 

The main issue was water had got into the connection at the junction box, so they'd had to bump up the power from the exchange side.





Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.




Groucho
524 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #1584093 1-Jul-2016 14:47
Send private message

kornflake: Spark (telecom) only have themselves to blame, if only they had maintianed their network "much" better than they did half the faults wouldn't occur today.

 

There's also the fact that they got rid of a heap of technicians when Telecom was split up years ago.  Sure many of them went into subcontracting and setting up their own businesses etc... but I'm guessing only Chorus technicians are able to touch core network infrastructure which is where much of the problem is?  And of those Chorus technicians many of them are running around trying to work through the backlog of fibre connections and the red tape that goes with it.


Groucho
524 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #1584102 1-Jul-2016 15:03
Send private message

openmedia:

 

I had Chorus out recently as my line was showing issues and a drop in power.

 

I was impressed that this was pre-emptive work as I hasn't rung them myself.

 

The main issue was water had got into the connection at the junction box, so they'd had to bump up the power from the exchange side.

 

 

I must say with my two faults over the years the technicians have been on the ball and were able to sort it out pretty quickly.


old3eyes
9119 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

  #1584175 1-Jul-2016 16:10
Send private message

kornflake: Spark (telecom) only have themselves to blame, if only they had maintianed their network "much" better than they did half the faults wouldn't occur today.

 

I don't follow your logic.   It's now a Chorus network and has been fore some years.  How could they have maintained their network better prior to Chorus taking it over??

 

 





Regards,

Old3eyes


mxpress
376 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #1584218 1-Jul-2016 17:00
Send private message

kornflake: Spark (telecom) only have themselves to blame, if only they had maintianed their network "much" better than they did half the faults wouldn't occur today.

 

 

 

 

 

Except that it is not their network.  It is owned and maintained by Chorus.





mxpress

 
 
 

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.
radomatic
93 posts

Master Geek


  #1584305 1-Jul-2016 18:17
Send private message

mxpress:

 

kornflake: Spark (telecom) only have themselves to blame, if only they had maintianed their network "much" better than they did half the faults wouldn't occur today.

 

 

 

 

 

Except that it is not their network.  It is owned and maintained by Chorus.

 

 

 

 

I get the feeling kornflake is implying if Telecom had maintained the network better and invested more in it when it belonged to them (ie before the breakup), then modern day Spark and Chorus wouldn't be in this situation.


richms
28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1584322 1-Jul-2016 18:56
Send private message

Back pre-breakup they were all doing pair swaps to get around damaged pairs and other workarounds rather than replace cables etc.

 

I suspect that this "news" from spark is just to get people feeling sorry for them having to deal with chorus;s brokendown old network and get fewer people yelling at them.





Richard rich.ms

chevrolux
4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user


  #1584329 1-Jul-2016 19:13
Send private message

This is not news. It has been a well known fact for many years that faults go way up when there is bad weather.

It's copper. It doesn't work well with water.

And Chorus have had a policy for quite some time that swapping pairs is the last option for fault man unless it is uneconomical to fix (ie there a plenty of good spares left).

hyperman
418 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #1584362 1-Jul-2016 19:37
Send private message

richms:

 

Back pre-breakup they were all doing pair swaps to get around damaged pairs and other workarounds rather than replace cables etc.

 

I suspect that this "news" from spark is just to get people feeling sorry for them having to deal with chorus;s brokendown old network and get fewer people yelling at them.

 

 

 

 

I get the same feeling as the issues with the copper network will effect all ISP's equally. it's a boohoo look at me moment





 The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer


richms
28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1584372 1-Jul-2016 20:04
Send private message

Well other ISPs do not have ignorant people thinking they are the same company as chorus.




Richard rich.ms

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

  #1584376 1-Jul-2016 20:16
Send private message

openmedia:

 

I had Chorus out recently as my line was showing issues and a drop in power.

 

I was impressed that this was pre-emptive work as I hasn't rung them myself.

 

The main issue was water had got into the connection at the junction box, so they'd had to bump up the power from the exchange side.

 

 

Nah, that was the CIA jumper getting rusted and they sent one of their teams to change it and keep monitoring your connection...

 

/tinfoil hat





Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSyncBackblaze backup


bales
116 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

  #1584388 1-Jul-2016 20:45
Send private message

THE OLD DOUBLE JUMPER TRICK

 


old3eyes
9119 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

  #1584504 2-Jul-2016 09:26
Send private message

openmedia:

 

I had Chorus out recently as my line was showing issues and a drop in power.

 

I was impressed that this was pre-emptive work as I hasn't rung them myself.

 

The main issue was water had got into the connection at the junction box, so they'd had to bump up the power from the exchange side.

 

 

When I was with Telecom copper cables were pressurized from the Exchange side to keep water out.  Not sure what happen to the last mile after the cabinets went in..





Regards,

Old3eyes


 1 | 2
Filter this topic showing only the reply marked as answer View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.