Terrible reception - Johnsonville Wellington

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Terrible reception - Johnsonville Wellington

BrettOnTheNet

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#282618 1-Mar-2021 21:41

Hi there

We just moved to a house in Cortina Ave, Johnsonville, Wellington. Spark mobile reception there is TERRIBLE. One bar if you’re lucky and 3G which does not even seem to connect at all. I tried making a phone call and while it did connect the other person missed parts of what I was saying.

I looked at Spark’s coverage map which indicates we should probably be able to get 4G signal. But we just can’t. I also looked at their outages and could not see anything.

Is there a map anywhere of Spark’s towers so I can see if we are close to any or in sight of any.

Also does anyone know of any (legal) way to boost a mobile signal in a small location such as a home?

Thank you
Brett

Spyware

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#2666525 1-Mar-2021 21:49

https://gis.geek.nz/map/celltowers/@-41.2217429,174.7972382,17z

Spark Max Fibre using Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+, CRS125-24G-1S, Unifi UAP, U6-Pro, UAP-AC-M-Pro, Apple TV 4K (2022), Apple TV 4K (2017), iPad Air 1st gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 13, SkyNZ3151 (the white box). If it doesn't move then it's data cabled.

BrettOnTheNet

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#2666527 1-Mar-2021 22:07

Thank you. That confirms that Spark does not seem to be much interested in covering this area. But it does help me identify that 2degrees might be a better option.

kinginvercargill

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#2666528 1-Mar-2021 22:09

You can buy a Cel-Fi which will help to improve the signal, but they are expensive and can be fiddly.

Or there is the option to move to 2Degrees, which provides Wi-Fi Calling. This means that you can receive calls and texts via a Wi-Fi network.

For me, 2Degrees was the best option.

BrettOnTheNet

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#2666530 1-Mar-2021 22:11

Thank you. I will look into both of those options.

nztim

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#2666537 1-Mar-2021 22:52

There will always be small pockets where providers have limited service due to the terrain, hills etc.

It is uneconomical to fill each of these small pockets.

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

BrettOnTheNet

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#2666547 1-Mar-2021 23:56

Yep totally understand that. I guess we were just not expecting this in a well established street in Wellington.

Does anyone know if there is any publicly available information on PLANNED towers?

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nztim

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#2666550 2-Mar-2021 06:09

BrettOnTheNet: Yep totally understand that. I guess we were just not expecting this in a well established street in Wellington.

Does anyone know if there is any publicly available information on PLANNED towers?

Wellington is one of the most hilly city in the country, I wouldn’t expect it in across the Waikato where its flat as a pancake

To be fair I think the mobile operators have done a fantastic job of getting coverage in Wellington as good as it is

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

quickymart

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#2666571 2-Mar-2021 07:46

BrettOnTheNet: Yep totally understand that. I guess we were just not expecting this in a well established street in Wellington.

A mobile signal doesn't care if there are 100 houses on the street or 10, it cares about the surrounding geography. Having said that, I know there were even flat parts of Newtown that used to get really poor coverage.

Probably something like wifi calling will be your best bet - I imagine you probably have cable and most likely fibre available, so it should work well.

BrettOnTheNet

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#2666964 2-Mar-2021 21:18

> A mobile signal doesn't care if there are 100 houses on the street or 10

Yep totally get that. And can understand how the providers need to put their towers where they make the most sense.

Linux

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#2666968 2-Mar-2021 21:22

WiFi calling works awesome

hio77

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#2667021 2-Mar-2021 22:22

BrettOnTheNet: Yep totally understand that. I guess we were just not expecting this in a well established street in Wellington.

Does anyone know if there is any publicly available information on PLANNED towers?

May as well just be a list for planned 5g rallys.

There is also a fair bit of commucial sensitivity to deployments, particularly when your talking urban areas where the ROI would likely be calculated on a conversion to FWA in the area...

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BrettOnTheNet

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#2667023 2-Mar-2021 22:30

Thank you everyone for your input. I have trialled a 2degrees sim and reception here is great. The tower map linked to in this thread helped me identify the nearest tower as a 2degrees tower and it seems to work perfectly.

michaelmurfy

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#2667026 2-Mar-2021 22:43

Just another thing - I personally find 2degrees coverage around Wellington great! I’ve got both 2degrees and Spark service on my phone and find that I actually get more periods of weak Spark coverage than 2degrees coverage.

2degrees have really done a whole lot of work with their network in recent years. You’ll find them great.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.