Spark trials portable wireless broadband as it hits 100,000 customers

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freitasm

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#225936 12-Dec-2017 09:09

Just received:

Clive Ormerod, GM of Customer and Marketing for Spark Home Mobile and Business said Spark had been amazed by the success of wireless broadband with “15% of Spark and Skinny broadband customers now on wireless broadband in just over a year – an awesome growth story for a newcomer product”.

Spark is the first major New Zealand telecommunications provider to trial portable wireless broadband. Ormerod said the trial, with 100 existing wireless broadband customers nationwide, would help assess demand for a portable product that could be used in more than one location in the future.

Although wireless broadband runs off the mobile network, a wireless broadband modem is ‘geo-locked’ so that it only provides service at one location. However, Ormerod says that, right from launch, customers and commentators asked if Spark would unlock modems to make wireless broadband portable.

“What we’ve already seen is that there is a significant appetite for this service. We had many more applications from customers wanting to be on the trial than we expected.”

Over the peak summer period, thousands of Kiwis leave the major cities and towns to enjoy time off at a rental, a bach or a campground. For instance, last summer, Spark network data showed that nearly a quarter (23%) of Aucklanders left the city in the days following Christmas.

For wireless broadband customers Toni and Paul Cooney, being on the trial means they can search recipes, read the paper, check the bank balance and Skype their daughter overseas from their Orewa beach house using their wireless broadband from home instead of phone data.

“We just packed it up in Auckland and plugged it in here and we were online within a couple of minutes. We haven’t had broadband at the beach before and we’ve always felt disconnected or worried about using too much data on our phones,” said Toni Cooney.

The couple say they wanted to be on the trial because they’ve been thinking about the best way to stay online when they’re at their holiday home on the weekends.

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#1917163 12-Dec-2017 09:38

And the point of this PR is what?,

To pi$$ off the 99.9% of customers whose modems remained geolocked and are unable to

'take their modem to their beach house to skype their overseas daughter'?!?

I mean, they could just upgrade one of the mobile subscriptions to unlimited and get a similar outcome.....

robjg63

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#1917269 12-Dec-2017 11:22

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I understand the geo-locking is to make sure they keep a lid on their mobile data network and dont start swamping it.

Also - to be able to give users a stable user experience.

While it might be nice to wander around the country with your own wifi router, it will soon start annoying phone and router users if the data grinds to a halt.

Imagine how bad it could get in some areas over holiday periods if they open this up!

Hope they are throwing a lot of extra resource at their mobile network.

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Wheelbarrow01

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#1917325 12-Dec-2017 12:26

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robjg63:

I understand the geo-locking is to make sure they keep a lid on their mobile data network and dont start swamping it.

Also - to be able to give users a stable user experience.

While it might be nice to wander around the country with your own wifi router, it will soon start annoying phone and router users if the data grinds to a halt.

Imagine how bad it could get in some areas over holiday periods if they open this up!

Hope they are throwing a lot of extra resource at their mobile network.

Spark (and other providers) already boost cellular network capacity at many popular holiday spots in the form of C.O.Ws (cellsites on wheels), and given the small scope of this phase of the trial (100 participants), any effect of the trial on the general user experience in these locations is likely to be insignificant.

As the article has alluded to, this is a trial to determine the practicability of opening up the service to not being geo-locked in future (or perhaps to be less geo-locked - ie "choose your two favourite locations"), and quantifying any associated network risks. It's a safe bet that nothing will change unless the network engineers are satisfied that there will be no adverse effects to general network performance.

A previous poster seemed to suggest that the article may alienate the 99.9% of customers not on the trial. If anything, I would have thought it shows that Spark is listening to customer feedback and seeking to adapt the service so that it aligns more closely to what our customers want it to be. Do our 4G customers feel alienated by Spark offering 4.5G only in selected areas? I wouldn't have thought so. It just shows that Spark is continuing to evolve its digital offerings.

Please note these are my personal thoughts - I am not involved in this trial, and apart from what I have read on this thread I have no real knowledge on the subject at all (and certainly no inside knowledge).

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

johny99

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#1919226 13-Dec-2017 18:18

Orewa.... really, I would be concerned if the network in Orewa wasn’t up to it. Could they not highlight a more remote holiday location, I don’t know say somewhere in the upper coromandel area.

hio77

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#1919260 13-Dec-2017 19:32

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johny99: Orewa.... really, I would be concerned if the network in Orewa wasn’t up to it. Could they not highlight a more remote holiday location, I don’t know say somewhere in the upper coromandel area.

could have picked far better places, silverdale eh?

to be totally honest, this was just one example that were willing to share a story and such

overall yeah its going to throw some off... idea is pretty sound though. i expect this to be a game changer. Also willing to be somewhere along the way it will be abused; give and take as with anything else :)

i would like to see us do more things in this style really, open to customers.. within reason ofcourse.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

tdgeek

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#1919265 13-Dec-2017 19:42

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Cell tower is a finite resource, data wise. You may live next to a cell tower and ask to get WBB (Wireless Broadband ) and get declined, as the capacity is becoming full. The idea is to allow wireless, but not to the extent of cramping the finite resource for the existing customers. To look at expanding this to un geo-locked is a bold move, and a good move. Maybe certain areas may get extra holiday data capability I am unsure how that works. If nothing else, its innovative and should be applauded.

Yes, I work for Spark, but not in that area.

PhantomNVD

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#1919348 14-Dec-2017 01:25

Wireless nation and Netspeed already resell VF wireless (cellular) modem connections to the Motorhome community... so spark saying they’re the first to try this is a bit of a laugh... as VF BRAND may not be doing so, but the VF NETWORK certainly has been supplying this service for at least a year now...

E.g.
http://www.nzmotorhome.co.nz/NZMotorhomeForum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=14363&hilit=Netspeed

Bung

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#1919350 14-Dec-2017 06:24

Was this by design or a result of no geo blocking on a wireless RBI product?

sbiddle

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#1919370 14-Dec-2017 07:33

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To say they are the first provider to "trial portable wireless broadband" really is stretching the truth. Are existing portable wireless broadband devices used by thousands of people each day not really portable wireless broadband devices?

What they really mean to say is they're the first provider to trial portable fixed wireless broadband.

kornflake

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#1919380 14-Dec-2017 08:33

Maybe this is why @JasonParis is leaving Spark too many miss truths, can't change your spots Spark

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#1919419 14-Dec-2017 09:23

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kornflake: Maybe this is why @JasonParis is leaving Spark too many miss truths, can't change your spots Spark

No, but wrong, stupid, baseless accusations like that far less frequent today than they were a few years ago. Your prejudice is showing!

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

tdgeek

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#1919433 14-Dec-2017 09:45

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sbiddle:

To say they are the first provider to "trial portable wireless broadband" really is stretching the truth. Are existing portable wireless broadband devices used by thousands of people each day not really portable wireless broadband devices?

What they really mean to say is they're the first provider to trial portable fixed wireless broadband.

The terminology at Spark is Mobile Broadband = Tablets etc, Wireless Broadband is the fixed Huawei B315 solution

PhantomNVD

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#1919512 14-Dec-2017 12:36

tdgeek:

sbiddle:

To say they are the first provider to "trial portable wireless broadband" really is stretching the truth. Are existing portable wireless broadband devices used by thousands of people each day not really portable wireless broadband devices?

What they really mean to say is they're the first provider to trial portable fixed wireless broadband.

The terminology at Spark is Mobile Broadband = Tablets etc, Wireless Broadband is the fixed Huawei B315 solution

and that's exactly what Wireless Nation and NetSpeed have been doing for over a year now using the VF network and their own version(s) of the Huwai modem(s)... so how can Spark say they are "First to trial" this technology??

hio77

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#1919514 14-Dec-2017 12:39

PhantomNVD:
tdgeek:

sbiddle:

To say they are the first provider to "trial portable wireless broadband" really is stretching the truth. Are existing portable wireless broadband devices used by thousands of people each day not really portable wireless broadband devices?

What they really mean to say is they're the first provider to trial portable fixed wireless broadband.

The terminology at Spark is Mobile Broadband = Tablets etc, Wireless Broadband is the fixed Huawei B315 solution

and that's exactly what Wireless Nation and NetSpeed have been doing for over a year now using the VF network and their own version(s) of the Huwai modem(s)... so how can Spark say they are "First to trial" this technology??

Im sure if you look hard enough for any large company to be first to the market they have been bet by someone small.

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quickymart

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#1919767 14-Dec-2017 18:15

Jason Paris is leaving? Where's he off to?

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