They'll keep cable going for as long as they deem it profitable.

Wonder if at some stage they start to extend the fiber part of the HFC network to even closer to houses - perhaps even into them inorder to remain competitive with the UFB network.

Jase2985:

 

also compare the upload speeds in your comparison, fibre offers greater upload than cable

 

According to Vodafone, with their Fibre Max plan, it says that "In really good conditions, we expect you'll get max download speeds of 700 - 900 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 400-450 Mbps."

On Bigpipe's site, for "Elite UFB", the same upload and download Mbps are quoted.

So, does fibre really offer much greater upload speeds than cable?

As to price, the Elite UFB offered by Bigpipe costs $129 per month, but as an existing "off-contract" Vodafone customer, I can get the Fibre Max plan for just $90 per month, so why would I want to pay an extra $39 per month to Bigpipe for the same speeds? Are the various so-called "advantages" of real fibre (compared with cable) as mentioned by some posters in this thread really worth paying so much more for?

Incidentally, what's the best price you can get the fastest UFB ("real fibre") for? Is the Bigpipe price the best around?

Fred

richms:

 

Wonder if at some stage they start to extend the fiber part of the HFC network to even closer to houses - perhaps even into them inorder to remain competitive with the UFB network.

 

Can't see VF investing more when it only serves a couple of cities.

frednz:

 

Jase2985:

 

also compare the upload speeds in your comparison, fibre offers greater upload than cable

 

 

According to Vodafone, with their Fibre Max plan, it says that "In really good conditions, we expect you'll get max download speeds of 700 - 900 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 400-450 Mbps."

 

On Bigpipe's site, for "Elite UFB", the same upload and download Mbps are quoted.

 

So, does fibre really offer much greater upload speeds than cable?

 

You're on the wrong page. You want "FibreX" (ie cable), not "Fibre" (ie real fibre). Vodafone really shouldn't name these two products so similarly.

no matter what provider (pretty much) with fibre you will be able to get speeds up to about 950mbps down and about 550mbps up, as long as your gear can handle it (which isnt always the case

HFC (hybrid fibre coaxial) states this:

In really good conditions, we expect you’ll get download speeds of up to 700-900 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 90-95 Mbps.

@frednz you are getting vodafones fibre and cable plans confused (not surprising give they have named them both fibre which is a little misleading given there is no fibre in the users premisis for HFC)

FibreX Max = Cable (HFC) google it if you dont know what it is
Fibre Max = Fibre, which is what every other provider offers as thats what the UFB/UFB2 rollout is

Jase2985:

 

no matter what provider (pretty much) with fibre you will be able to get speeds up to about 950mbps down and about 550mbps up, as long as your gear can handle it (which isnt always the case

 

HFC (hybrid fibre coaxial) states this:

 

What speed will I get?

 

In really good conditions, we expect you’ll get download speeds of up to 700-900 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 90-95 Mbps.

 

@frednz you are getting vodafones fibre and cable plans confused (not surprising give they have named them both fibre which is a little misleading given there is no fibre in the users premisis for HFC)

 

FibreX Max = Cable (HFC) google it if you dont know what it is
Fibre Max = Fibre, which is what every other provider offers as thats what the UFB/UFB2 rollout is

 

OK thanks a lot for that, yes Vodafone has a Fibre Max plan and also a Fibre X Max plan (I think these names really are too similar!)

Both of these plans offer 700-900 Mbps download speeds, but it's quite surprising that the max upload speed of Fibre Max is 400-450 Mbps compared with 90-95 Mbps for Fibre X Max. I wonder why that would be?

I'm not sure whether 500 Mbps up is all that important unless you are regularly uploading video to YouTube etc and even then the receiving site may not be able to handle that speed?

Also, do you know whether Vodafone customers can go on the Fibre Max plan if cable is available? I was under the impression that Vodafone will only connect you to "real fibre" when you can't connect to their cable.

Thanks

Fred

yitz: From what I have read they will let you switch to "real fibre" only if you already have it installed (switching from another ISP).

pretty much this

and the difference in upload speed is down to the difference in technology

Pumpedd:

 

richms:

 

Wonder if at some stage they start to extend the fiber part of the HFC network to even closer to houses - perhaps even into them inorder to remain competitive with the UFB network.

 

 

 

 

Can't see VF investing more when it only serves a couple of cities.

 

I can, their HFC network competes with Chorus fibre, they have recently spent $22 million upgrading there network to Docsis 3.1 and this technology still has a huge upgrade potential.

is it competing when they have just upgraded it and its still having congestion issues?

Jase2985:

 

is it competing when they have just upgraded it and its still having congestion issues?

 

Yes, all networks whether fixed or mobile have issues. Doing a basic Google search gives numerous examples of outages on the Chorus fibre network.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/81611746/Problems-linger-with-Chorus-ultra-fast-broadband-rollout

Those are "outages" though. Most cable customers (on here, anyway) have experienced long-term sustained slow speed for many months - we're not talking about a 3-minute outage where their service has dropped off.

ajw:

 

Jase2985:

 

is it competing when they have just upgraded it and its still having congestion issues?

 

 

 

 

Yes, all networks whether fixed or mobile have issues. Doing a basic Google search gives numerous examples of outages on the Chorus fibre network.

 

 

 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/81611746/Problems-linger-with-Chorus-ultra-fast-broadband-rollout

 

outage is different to conjestion.

but then again look at how many cable customers are experiancing micro outages 30 seconds to a minute, and even lengthy outages 30+ minutes at a time.

those things are happening way more often than what you have posted with relation to the UFB network.

Jase2985:

 

ajw:

 

Jase2985:

 

is it competing when they have just upgraded it and its still having congestion issues?

 

 

 

 

Yes, all networks whether fixed or mobile have issues. Doing a basic Google search gives numerous examples of outages on the Chorus fibre network.

 

 

 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/81611746/Problems-linger-with-Chorus-ultra-fast-broadband-rollout

 

 

outage is different to conjestion.

 

but then again look at how many cable customers are experiancing micro outages 30 seconds to a minute, and even lengthy outages 30+ minutes at a time.

 

those things are happening way more often than what you have posted with relation to the UFB network.

 

Easy solution as a broadband consumer not happy with your existing ISP take your business elsewhere. No shortage of ISP's offering copper, UFB, wireless, etc.