Wireless Broadband Speed

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Wireless Broadband Speed

kinginvercargill

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#270347 5-May-2020 15:09

Hi Folks

I have a sister who has just recently moved houses. Originally she was meant to get Fibre installed in the first week of the Lockdown Period however this got delayed to the end of May due to how she didn't have ownership of the house at that time.

Recently she has moved in, with Spark setting her up on a Spark Wireless Internet Connection. Plugged in via an Ethernet Cable to the Modem, and she's only getting speeds of 13.44 Mbps Download with speeds of 4.82Mbps Upload with a Ping of 41ms.

This isn't ideal speeds due to how she is working remotely currently and has to use Citrix to log into the work system, and is finding that videos are also buffering at night when watching Netflix etc.

Are these the speeds that she should be getting on 4G Unplan Spark? If not is there anything that can be done to improve them (or anyway that the Fibre installation can be moved up?)

Contacting the Spark 0800 number she was told that the speeds are shat they should be and that if she wants to have faster internet she should work between 3am-7am which can't happen due to how she works with clients).

We have tried moving the modem to other windows in the house but don't get any increase in speeds.

Linux

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#2477067 5-May-2020 15:25

Fibre installs have to be done in order they are logged (unless life & death) and speed of Wireless will depend on the load / capacity of the serving cell

hio77

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#2477072 5-May-2020 15:27

Spark (and all other RSP's) are limited to the same timeslots as offered for all providers. as part of COVID 19 for example, Chorus removed all installation appointments up till may.

so unlikely much can be done to move it forward, Happy to give it a once over though to ensure the fibre order is in progress correctly.

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kinginvercargill

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#2477082 5-May-2020 15:39

hio77:

Spark (and all other RSP's) are limited to the same timeslots as offered for all providers. as part of COVID 19 for example, Chorus removed all installation appointments up till may.

so unlikely much can be done to move it forward, Happy to give it a once over though to ensure the fibre order is in progress correctly.

Looks like that may be one of the cell sites that are seeing a large amount of utilization right now though, teams are working hard to illevating any of these issues on the LTE Network.

Thanks @Hio I'll flick u a PM shortly with the details. She was meant to have it installed the first week of lockdown but couldn't travel to the house for the technician obviously, then it was meant to be rescheduled to the start of May but Spark changed it to the 25th. Anything that can be done to increase the speed or installation date will be appreciated. I do understand the situation with Spark (and other ISPs), but after me contacting one of the Reps on the 0800 number who then said she would give my sister a call to possibly reschedule the installation date, who told her that basically "tough SH## nothing we can do" is not what we had hoped the outcome would be.

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#2477090 5-May-2020 15:52

Chorus would of changed the dates and advised Spark and then the retail customer gets advised

Scott3

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#2477091 5-May-2020 15:54

Those speeds are consistent with 4G (LTE) with poor reception, or a moderate to heavily loaded network (or a combination)

Just ran a speed test on 4G LTE with a current generation flagship phone at my location.

16.4 mbps down / 2.3mbps up, 23ms ping. This is pretty similar to your result, and I don't think many would consider these speeds to be a fault on cellular. (even though I have seen 40+ mbps test results in this location in the past).

Those sorts of speeds aren't great, but aren't really terrible either.

In terms of options you could consider to improve the situation:

Check signal strength the router is getting (log onto its interface page, details are normally on a sticker on the bottom), and see if you can relocate it for better reception.
Try other LTE providers (may be tricky due to contract terms etc). If you have smartphones in the house with different providers run speed tests on them to compare.
Try and get xDSL instead of cellular as an solution until your fiber gets connected. Perhaps ask spark if this is an option.

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#2477092 5-May-2020 15:55

Get your sister to test the speed at 4am and see how it is

SATTV

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#2477096 5-May-2020 16:06

The speeds as others have said are consistent with a congested system or poor signal.

What i found best was relocating mine to a different part of the house and I got a three fold improvement. The best place will most likely be the most inconvenient :-)

Fingers crossed UFB comes soon.

John

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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.

hio77

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#2477097 5-May-2020 16:07

Linux:

Chorus would of changed the dates and advised Spark and then the retail customer gets advised

Yup, we also added some specific content in the notifications to explain this. but given the time it's totally understandable to get confused.

I've drilled into this customer and given some more specific advice but it's really a rock in a hard place situation, Chorus are already offering a far better date than if i was to change it :)

I've also updated my post above to correct a point that i assumed, It's more that it's edge coverage for wireless.

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Linux

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#2477102 5-May-2020 16:13

Just be pleased she is not on some congested Conklin cabinet

kinginvercargill

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#2477169 5-May-2020 17:09

Thank you, everyone for your replies, nothing too unexpected from anyone (I had a feeling she would be getting the best she probably could on Wireless Broadband).

Will have a try moving her modem to a few more different places when I'm visiting in the weekend (shes my extended bubble).

Hopefully we don't get put into Level 4 again before her Fibre Installation Date, causing it to be Postponed again (Hopefully I haven't jinxed it now).

Any way many thanks for the replies, and especially to @hio77 for having a look

kinginvercargill

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#2484596 15-May-2020 17:23

Just an update regarding this. My sister got called by the Chorus Technician yesterday morning (who was the technician who called her the day before lockdown but she couldn't go down to get it installed), and yesterday afternoon the technician was onsite and installing Fibre at her house (earlier then she was meant to get fibre installed). All installed and working now, and she's a lot happier with her speeds.

Once again thank you to those on here who provided advice/help while she was on Wireless Internet.

hio77

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#2484627 15-May-2020 19:23

Woo, from memory that's ahead of schedule too :)

#include <std_disclaimer>

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