Fibre Install Grief in Albany

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pdh

338 posts

Ultimate Geek

#152078 15-Sep-2014 13:47

Don’t know if any Vodafone people on this Forum can expedite an inquiry…

I’ve just moved to 9-R Lovell Court, Rosedale/Albany, (N Auckland) and am now without Internet !

I’m ‘so near and yet so far’ with my VF fibre install. The Chorus Install Team showed up last Wednesday, (2014-09-10) as scheduled and checked out the ducts between the unit and the road.

It is all ducted, with big metal access plates in the carpark – one in front of each of the six units. Ducts run into each unit and up the walls near the doorway. Siting the ONT was going to be easy.

Total length (from the road) is 60m – with 6 metal access covers along the way (one for each unit). All is completely clear except for one stretch of only 1.8m, where a bit of clay has washed into the big green duct. As 4 other operational fibre lines run through this duct, there can’t be much wrong.

The installers gave up after 4 hours of trying to push rods through this blockage. They seemed pretty happy to take off at the end of the afternoon – saying that another team would pick up the problem.

That was 5 days ago and I’ve heard nothing from VF. This morning I rang the 0800 # and asked for a status report. After a 5 minute offline consultation, the CSR said she’d have to ring me back as there wasn’t any info in the VF system.

At the moment, I’m using my 1GB of mobile data from my VF phone – but it’s running out fast.

Any advice on how to move this forward ?

Best Regards
Paul

Additional Background
The Units are 6 years old and this one had a working copper connection until March 2014 – been empty since then.

Coil

6614 posts

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#1129035 15-Sep-2014 14:10

I wouldnt suggest having your address there!
Did you call the 0800 806106?

pdh

338 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1129063 15-Sep-2014 14:32

Did think about putting the address there - but couldn't really see the downside...

Yes, as I said in the first post - I rang the 0800 this morning (4 hours ago).
CSR said she found no status info on my file and she would get back to me.
Within 1 hour, I did get an email request to fill in a VF CS satisfaction survey - but, as yet, no really useful follow-up.

Coil

6614 posts

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#1129065 15-Sep-2014 14:36

Posting an address online, not a good idea. Say you annoy me, I could pay you a visit in the BMW and leave some rubber strips up the driveway or worse.

In terms of your install, Sounds like every other complex MDU install i have seen.

l43a2

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#1129069 15-Sep-2014 14:42

TimA has an important point, be cyber smart remove your address.

Jaxar

383 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1129085 15-Sep-2014 15:06

Hi,

I used to regularly deal with VF Biz fibre installs and still do occasionally. I can provide some general info and makes some guesses about the progress of your install. First off it is a really good idea to have an alternative connection you are content to use in the meantime. Fibre installs can vary from a few days to a few months depending on various variables. While your job sounds straight forward and some of the hurdles have already been overcome you may still have a bit of a wait before you can get service.

While a service provider can request an update from Chorus they can't do anything to hurry the process along. VF can help if something has gone wrong eith the process however from your description it sounds like the guys who went out were just doing scope which basically means they work out what work needs to be done and then pass it back to Chorus who then get the appropriate team and sometimes teams of people booked to do the build work. The delay may be down to availability of appropriate resources or something else. As TimA said 0800 806106 will get you through the residential team (0800 400888 for Biz) with access to this info but even they might not have an immediate answer as they may need to request an update from Chorus.
Once your build is complete then a tech will be booked to go out and install the ONT and get you connected. Last I herd however there was a delay in the Auckland area for this stage of a fibre install so it might be best not to have an expectation that an install tech will be out immediately after the build is complete.
This is as much general info (with a few assumptions) I can give without seeing the specfic case but hopefully it sheds some light on the process for you.

Please note: I have a professional bias towards Vodafone.

NikT

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#1129123 15-Sep-2014 15:28

This has been raised to Chorus, waiting on a response from the service company now - we've not been sent any info since your original install date, sorry. :(

Product Manager @ PB Tech

Smartphones @ PB Tech | Headphones @ PB Tech

pdh

338 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1129195 15-Sep-2014 16:22

Thanks guys - appreciate all the responses.

The team who came out were not just scoping... they were all ready to finish it in a couple of hours.

Given that I'm 4th of 6 identical units to have the fibre connected - it should be well mapped in Chorus's database (if they have a database ;-)

Last Wednesday afternoon, the install crew & I agreed on a posi for the ONT & worked out how they would power & connect it to my patch panel. They knocked a couple of holes in the walls - to locate the duct out to the parking lot. That was after we'd looked at the fibre installation two doors down (exact duplicate - one of 6 units). Then they ran the fibre down the inside duct (from the proposed ONT location) and out to the manhole sump in the parking lot - all was going well. Then they continued feeding the fibre through green duct between manholes 2,3,4 & 5 - it was at 6 that they hit a blockage. Then they took 5 minutes to check that the long stretch from manhole 7 out to the street was also clear.

They just couldn't clear from 6 to 7 - a distance of 1.8m !

It's a 90mm green duct - with only four 6mm black fibres running through - so it's not exactly choked with cables. But a small amount of clay has dribbled into the bottom of sump 6 - and clearly has flowed down the duct towards sump 7, leaving the duct unable to accept more cables.

It all looks pretty standard stuff - all the castings have 'Telecom' cast into them. Doesn't look like a slipshod install. Good paving around the manhole covers, Old farmland, all flat, no trees for 250m.

Just surprised that the install crews don't have more training or more 'can do' attitude to overcome this sort of minor hurdle. I reckon my old sparkie mate John would've sorted it in about 5 minutes... but unfortunately a can-do attitude doesn't always beat cancer ;-(

Will wait on some word back from Chorus through VF.

Equinox IT

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Jaxar

383 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1129232 15-Sep-2014 17:01

Right with those specifics I can certainly see how anybody would be frustrated. After getting that far in the process to be stymied by 1.8 meters and some clay is pretty rough. My guess is that the onsite team didn't suffer from training but more likely equipment to clear the blockage.
You are probably right that the old number 8 wire fix would do the job however from what I've seen thats can be a bad approach for Chorus techs to take in general. I've been across complaints where a tech has tried a creative solution and it has backfired with them with the customer complaining. I can't say I would be taking that kind of risk if it were me. Nothing for the tech to gain and potential to loose.

The good news in all this is that you really are very far along the process. Knock out that last 1.8m then its just the final install.
Best of luck.

Please note: I have a professional bias towards Vodafone.

NikT

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#1129236 15-Sep-2014 17:09

No updates from Chorus yet. Will check as soon as I get in tomorrow morning. Thanks for your patience with this one.

Product Manager @ PB Tech

Smartphones @ PB Tech | Headphones @ PB Tech

graemeh

2078 posts

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#1129264 15-Sep-2014 17:28

I guess the "no 8 wire" fix would be to put through one of those water powered drain unblockers and remove the clay and also the fibre to the other four properties :)

pdh

338 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1129938 16-Sep-2014 14:06

Just to update the discussion, NikT has kindly given this a kick along towards the goal line.

Seemingly independent from that, I had two much more competent guys show up today (Chorus contractors) who had been given a Work Order for a 'Fibre install in a Premises where Fibre has been used before'.

We quickly agreed that this was a bit optimistic.

They soon figured out the situation - and one of them had a memory of doing an install at one of the neighbouring units and (at that earlier date) finding that 'my' blocked 1.8m pipe was actually two misaligned ends which point towards each other but don't form one continuous tube. He suggests that the passage is now full (with the existing cables) and it will need to be dug up.

I hope they can trace the original installation works-order for the pipe installer - and have a ceremonial court-marshall.

Anyway - today's white-van man promised that Chorus would now gather the various threads of installation works-orders together and push this forward.

So, now I'm reviewing my options for data over how-ever many days or weeks this takes to play out. I guess I can do mobile data or a copper re-connect (unit has been sitting disconnected for 6 months), or ?

shrub

775 posts

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#1130028 16-Sep-2014 15:28

just hit up ur neighbor for there wifi password until chorus sorts the duct issue?

pdh

338 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1133005 21-Sep-2014 01:51

All's well that ends well.

UFB in and working this evening - the Chorus team worked long and hard to get it done this afternoon (Saturday).

Never did get the story straight as to how they got the fibre through the blocked duct - the asphalt has _not_ been disturbed - so someone with more mojo has has been brought in to lean on the duct-clearing tool, I guess ;-)

Now, on Monday morning, I must stop all the ADSL works orders that were started to give me temporary copper relief. Not quite sure why, but there seem to be a number of them out there - I've had texts and emails giving me a variety of dates (and even a firm appointment for a UFB scoping visit on Oct 1st). The tough part will be how to respond to the text messages - they explicitly say not to text back - but give no alternative means of communication.

I reckon that there's room here for VF to have a customer-facing portal showing works orders & status under each customer or account number - then we would have a chance of some dialog to keep things on track.

Anyway, thanks (I believe) to some very helpful intervention by NikT (here on Geekzone), I am a happy new UFB user (and my smartphone can remove the weight of the world from its shoulders).

networkn

Networkn
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#1133273 21-Sep-2014 21:12

I applaud your calm and rational approach to lodging this issue, and patience whilst it was resolved.

It's frequent that people come here, rant and carry on, abusing the provider for something they have little or no control over.

Good for you, glad you got the result you needed!