Spark 5G - Poor Upload Speeds

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boosacnoodle

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#323089 24-Oct-2025 13:23

Consistently seeing 0.15 Mbps (or lower) uploads on 5G in Christchurch in multiple places. Tried different devices (iPhone 16 Pro / 17 Pro) and different SIMs, but still the same across months.

Any ideas? When it's this slow, a lot of things slow down so much that they become unusable.

KiwiSurfer

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#3427739 24-Oct-2025 15:00

A good troubleshooting step would be to try on 4G only just to rule in or out 5G as the cluprit.

FYI, 5G networks in NZ still rely on 4G for upload (using 5G only for download). On 2degrees/One this is normally not too bad as they allow phones to use all availiable 4G carriers for upload so normally there is enough capacity. Spark however has configured their 5G network in some places to only use a single 4G carrier for upload -- so if that single 4G carrier get overloaded then upload speeds will be poor for everyone attached to that carrier.

The long term plan is to move to 5G SA (Stand Alone) which will enabe 5G speeds in both directions. No carrier in NZ has this yet however.

If you need good upload speeds, short term you may want to look into 2deg/One or locking your Spark phone to 4G only so Spark steers you onto their other 4G carriers (including carrier aggregation where they allow your device to attach to up to 5 carriers at once for more capacity).

nztim

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#3427740 24-Oct-2025 15:00

I have the same thing on OneNZ in Porirua, over subscribed 5G fixed wireless maybe?

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

tripper1000

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#3427742 24-Oct-2025 15:03

I wonder if the weather related power outages have forced lots of users from fibre/WiFi and onto the cellular network, resulting in congestion?

I bet there is also higher than usual volumes of video and voice calls on the cell networks at the moment.

Edit: I bet that due to the weather there is also higher than usual numbers working from home today and putting additional load on the cell network.

KiwiSurfer

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#3427747 24-Oct-2025 15:14

tripper1000:

I wonder if the weather related power outages have forced lots of users from fibre/WiFi and onto the cellular network, resulting in congestion?

I bet there is also higher than usual volumes of video and voice calls on the cell networks at the moment.

OP notes they have observed this over months.

Also matches my own observaitons of Spark 5G in areas where they push 5G devices to use L2100 4G as its only upload carrier. Spark I understand has a good technical reason why they do this -- I note at many sites they kept old Huawei gear for all 4G bands except 2100Mhz, and new equipment for 4G 2100MHz and 5G 3500MHz (using the 4G 2100 MHz as the uplink band). But not very ideal given it means in some areas 4G can be faster than 5G depending on capacity/traffic/etc.

Linux

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#3427753 24-Oct-2025 15:19

I have noticed slow upload speed on Spark 5G as well when my personal handset on another carrier 100Mbps+

tripper1000

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#3427754 24-Oct-2025 15:21

KiwiSurfer: OP notes they have observed this over months.

Whoops - I now see that.

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boosacnoodle

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#3427768 24-Oct-2025 15:42

tripper1000:

I wonder if the weather related power outages have forced lots of users from fibre/WiFi and onto the cellular network, resulting in congestion?

I bet there is also higher than usual volumes of video and voice calls on the cell networks at the moment.

Edit: I bet that due to the weather there is also higher than usual numbers working from home today and putting additional load on the cell network.

Nope - this has been an issue for me and my partner both ever since we moved to Spark from One NZ back in August. Nothing related to the recent weather events. Happens every day and has done for months. In some areas it's fine, other's its not.

She sent me two screenshots earlier - 60 centimetres apart, she says. The first is 416/5.53, the other 50.5/0.15. Another speedtest - this time on 4G - yielded 25.7/0.55, which suggests that the issue is indeed something in-between being 4G congestion but also limited 5G coverage.

boosacnoodle

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#3427771 24-Oct-2025 15:52

Both of us are seeing n78 / 100 MHz.

However, while I get b40 / 20 MHz at home close to the tower, she is seeing b3 / 100 MHz.

I'd have thought that her having 100 MHz on both 4G & 5G that she'd have a better experience than me with just 20 MHz on 4G, but it seems to be the opposite.

boosacnoodle

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#3427913 25-Oct-2025 13:41

Any further thoughts?

gajan

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#3427916 25-Oct-2025 13:49

DM me some details and will take a look at it with the right folks at Spark.

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