BigPipe: Fibre / PPPoE outage? [FIXED]

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › BigPipe: Fibre / PPPoE outage? [FIXED]

meowsqueak

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#324203 12-Mar-2026 09:29

Around 8:30am I started getting PPPoE protocol timeouts and am unable to get a PPP session up.

I contacted BigPipe and they got back to me quickly but are treating it as a "me" problem - reboot your router, buy a new router, etc.

I have rebooted all my gear, fibre link is up, it's just PPPoE won't connect.

"Timeout waiting for PAD0 packets".

I know of two other BigPipe customers who have the same issue this morning, so it's not just me, but I don't know how wide the issue is. Based on BigPipe's reply, and almost completely stale Social Media presence (last update in 2019 for x.com, 2020 for FB), I don't know how to find out if there's a known outage. Couldn't find anything on the Chorus issue map either.

meowsqueak

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#3469274 12-Mar-2026 09:32

Ok, update, BigPipe have now acknowledged they are receiving additional reports, likely to be a Chorus outage, but no word from them yet, and it's not showing on the Chorus outage map.

Interestingly there's no way to report an outage directly to Chorus, needs to be via ISP, but ISP says they are waiting to be informed of an outage by Chorus... so who makes the first move?

cbrpilot

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Spark NZ

#3469277 12-Mar-2026 09:38

Hi Meowsqueak, I don't see any large session drops across our network anywhere.

If there is a Chorus issue it must be extremely localized. Or it's just you.

If you PM me your details I can have a look at it if you'd like.

My views are my own, and may not necessarily represent those of my employer.

meowsqueak

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#3469278 12-Mar-2026 09:40

I know of two other BigPipe customers who have the same issue, right now.

Thanks, I will private-message you.

meowsqueak

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#3469280 12-Mar-2026 09:44

Actually, it's back up now, I didn't notice exactly when, might have been minutes ago.

EDIT: within the last 5 mins probably, the other two customers just contacted me to say they are OK now too.

quickymart

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#3469307 12-Mar-2026 10:39

meowsqueak:

Interestingly there's no way to report an outage directly to Chorus, needs to be via ISP, but ISP says they are waiting to be informed of an outage by Chorus... so who makes the first move?

Because Chorus is the wholesaler; Bigpipe purchases the line from them, but you pay Bigpipe, so faults need to be logged with them.

meowsqueak

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#3469328 12-Mar-2026 11:02

quickymart:

meowsqueak:

Interestingly there's no way to report an outage directly to Chorus, needs to be via ISP, but ISP says they are waiting to be informed of an outage by Chorus... so who makes the first move?

Because Chorus is the wholesaler; Bigpipe purchases the line from them, but you pay Bigpipe, so faults need to be logged with them.

Yes, of course, I'm just observing that BigPipe told me they were waiting for Chorus to notify them, and seemingly made no offer to report it themselves, or at least tell me they would. They automatically assumed I'm stupid and needed to reboot my router or something. Perhaps they notified Chorus, anyway.

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michaelmurfy

meow
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#3469339 12-Mar-2026 11:22

meowsqueak: They automatically assumed I'm stupid and needed to reboot my router or something. Perhaps they notified Chorus, anyway.

Erm I just want to correct you here.

No, they did not "assume" anything. They need you to reboot your router and ONT as part of troubleshooting. There is also a chance it wasn't anything to do with Chorus.

You also have not stated what kind of router you're running but there are cases where having both a DHCP client and PPPoE on the same interface will block PPPoE from working as per this thread: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=314911

This is common with Asus routers and even Mikrotik when you've got "Detect Internet" enabled.

There are other ISP's like Quic for example who are more aimed at a technical user base but even with these ISP's you'll still need to go through normal troubleshooting with rebooting your router or confirming you don't have an unsupported configuration.

As per your point of BigPipe support they fall under the Skinny umbrella and unfortunately it appears job cuts have hit the Skinny side of Spark meaning support has gone noticeably downhill as per multiple threads on here now. It is in my opinion that BigPipe has been pretty much forgotten about by Spark these days.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

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Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

meowsqueak

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#3469357 12-Mar-2026 11:34

Ok, sure, I know they were following a script. I'd already done my own site troubleshooting, including cycling everything. I could see that the PPPoE link was failing. It's worked fine for years, nothing has changed on my side (recently at least). I had multiple reports, and seemingly they didn't, not at the time, but they did a bit later.

I have a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter.