Spark 4G Wireless Broadband Download Speed Choked.

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark 4G Wireless Broadband Download Speed Choked.

Rizzrack

11 posts

Geek

#311626 2-Feb-2024 00:46

Hi All, recently joined Spark's 4G wireless broadband at a rural property.

The place has line of sight to a spark cell tower around 500m away and connection quality is always good.

However download speeds seem to be way lower than performance indicates.

I am expecting around 80-100mbps down however at times I am only getting around 2-3mbps down.

Upload is very quick and hovers around 50-60 mbps with minimal change.

Could it be a network/modem setting im not getting right?

What are usually the causes for problems like this?

Thanks in advance :)

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#3189522 2-Feb-2024 06:28

I would hazard a guess this may be overloading or congestion at the tower you're connected to? What area is this in?

Aucklandjafa

395 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3189523 2-Feb-2024 06:37

Are you getting the same performance on a Spark mobile? If so, definitely be congestion - especially at peak times

Linux

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#3189525 2-Feb-2024 06:55

congestion on the serving cell is most likely the issue no setting on the modem can help with that

gajan

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Spark NZ

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#3189528 2-Feb-2024 07:34

DM me your details - will take a look.

My comments and remarks are not necessarily of my employer.

Rizzrack

11 posts

Geek

#3189564 2-Feb-2024 09:10

Ahh that sucks if congestion is the cause. Spark really sold me the dream in the store telling me my connection will be execellent 😅.

Sometimes the speed test starts of really well going to 100+ mbps down then staggers as the speed slows down.

The speed that was posted before was at around 12:30am.

This is in North West Auckland, Taupaki/Redhill Area

Rizzrack

11 posts

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#3189565 2-Feb-2024 09:12

gajan: DM me your details - will take a look.

Thanks mate, sent you a message :)

Linux

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#3189576 2-Feb-2024 09:41

@Rizzrack Any chance you can connect to Fibre?

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Rizzrack

11 posts

Geek

#3189577 2-Feb-2024 09:47

Linux:

@Rizzrack Any chance you can connect to Fibre?

That's a dream haha. We moved here recently and are out of the coverage zone, last time I got in touch with the Chorus development guys I was quoted around $200,000? 🙃.

I can easily live with the usual 80-100mbps down but 2mbps not so much...

I was the first to get fibre at my old place from anyone i know... Have definitely been spoiled with gigabit for over 10 years so this is quote a shock.

quickymart

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#3189612 2-Feb-2024 11:55

Maybe a local WISP then? I imagine there would be someone in that area.

https://broadbandmap.nz/availability/-36.819981444226336/174.55585000633852?address=Taupaki%2C%20Auckland

I see a couple there do 100 Mb/s plans as well.

Rizzrack

11 posts

Geek

#3189614 2-Feb-2024 12:02

quickymart:

Maybe a local WISP then? I imagine there would be someone in that area.

https://broadbandmap.nz/availability/-36.819981444226336/174.55585000633852?address=Taupaki%2C%20Auckland

I see a couple there do 100 Mb/s plans as well.

I did go through the list on broadbandmap a while ago and it seems wireless providers I contacted seem to all be running through the local 4G network anyway (maybe different carrier/cell tower though) so i think there is no real advantage there (and almost 4 times the cost of the spark wbb plan with their tower being 500m LoS).

There was an awesome local WISP guy I think his name was James who sets up a network that mainly services Bethells Beach, we did want to go with him but turns out we are slightly out of his coverage area.

Linux

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#3189620 2-Feb-2024 12:39

James Comer?

Rizzrack

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#3189624 2-Feb-2024 12:50

Linux: James Comer?

Not sure sorry, only know his name was James. He was recommended to us by a neighbour who used them. i think airfibre.kiwi is their site.

DS248

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#3189733 2-Feb-2024 20:51

Rizzrack:

Hi All, recently joined Spark's 4G wireless broadband at a rural property.

The place has line of sight to a spark cell tower around 500m away and connection quality is always good.

However download speeds seem to be way lower than performance indicates.

I am expecting around 80-100mbps down however at times I am only getting around 2-3mbps down.

Upload is very quick and hovers around 50-60 mbps with minimal change.

Could it be a network/modem setting im not getting right?

What are usually the causes for problems like this?

...

Thanks in advance :)

Hi @Rizzrack (cc. @gajan)

This sounds *very* similar to problems we had/have with our Spark 4G wireless broadband.

Right down to the:

500m
Line of sight to a spark cell tower
(was) generally steady 50-60 Mbps up (I am assuming your 'mbps' is actually 'Mbps'?)
(could) get 80-100 Mbps down but very unstable with speed test results at times lower than 1 Mbps

See this thread Spark 4G fixed wireless bb - dropouts / spikes / ... ?

That started over a year ago, and though some progress has been made (most notably the cause now identified) we still have an unsatisfactory service.

At least in our case

It had (has) nothing to do with overloading or congestion at the tower
Has been confirmed to be a hardware fault at the tower (faulty antenna sector - now disabled as a temporary workaround).

See last page of above linked thread re confirmation of fault. But worth reading the whole thread as you may have similar issues; ie. until Dec last year, our big issue was havoc caused by frequent dropouts of the signal (which is why some speed test results show very low DL speeds).

Per the thread, since mid-Dec we have been waiting on the antenna to be replaced when the tower equipment is upgraded which we have been told is scheduled for Q1 2024 (ie. now within the next two months ...!?). A crane is required on site for both jobs, which is why they have held up replacing the antenna until the equipment upgrade is done.

Disappointingly, got almost zero response from any Spark reps on this site :(.

It took a massive documentation and follow up effort to get action. Or so it seemed, action ...

Ironically, this evening (the same day you posted this) I received a text as below. No, nothing has changed here over the last six weeks. Smells like an auto dumping because there has been no communication about the issue over the last 6 weeks (which is so as we have been waiting on the hardware to be fixed). Now back to following up with Spark to make sure this is still on track to be fixed properly. Not happy at all.

Still getting an unsatisfactory service with daily average DL speeds (SamKnows) typically ranging from 12 - 25 Mbps over the last month. At least the frequent dropouts have been 'resolved' with SamKnows recording more than 1 per day only 10 times in the last month (up to 14 dropouts on those days). Only 3 days with no dropouts. SamKnows only samples though. We are certainly getting more than that.

Spark txt this evening:

=============

"FROM SPARK: Good news. Your issue for case 10000113xxxx is now fixed so everything should be working as normal. If you're still experiencing problems, chat with us to re-open your case www.spark.co.nz/secure/myspark/trouble ticket tracker"

Two tests done a few seconds ago - fixed? Yeah, right.