[WXC/VFX] looking for reviews of xnet

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [WXC/VFX] looking for reviews of xnet

yupishi

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#22530 30-May-2008 17:29

i'm a non-geek looking for reviews (or anything else you think might be helpful) of xnet internet, specifically of the vfx phone service. things like reliability as opposed to normal phone lines, how good the isp service is and so on. can anyone help? im not a

gazza27

63 posts

Master Geek

#134479 30-May-2008 17:40

Weird... my reply didn't work... to summarise:

I used to be with Xtra but recently changed.

I was on the 10GB/$60 plan with Xtra, getting about 4500-5000 down and 120 up.

Now, for about the same price (varies slightly), I get:

- $50 base plan cost (Flood - Torrent)
- Unlimited data @ $1.50/GB, and 75GB free overnight data
- 6500kb down and 350kb up

Also their customer service is very helpful, and the one time I've rung up (during setup) I was greeted by a Kiwi accent!

Highly recommend Xnet :D

Quic Broadband

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enforcernz

30 posts

Geek

#134480 30-May-2008 17:54

I used to be with Xtra also before xnet

I was getting about 4500-5000 down and 400 up.

Now I get:

- $59 plan cost (NDSL Flood - Torrent)
- Unlimited data @ $1.50/GB, and 75GB free overnight data
- 7500 - 8000kb down and 700 - 800kb up
- Customer serice is average better then most but hey its an ISP and these guys customer service is always gona go up and down on quality. Most ISP's seem to hire people for there customer service skills arather then there technical skills.

I dont use there VOIP service I use Skype and have a skype In Number works great

grant_k

3539 posts

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#134481 30-May-2008 17:56

yupishi: i'm a non-geek looking for reviews (or anything else you think might be helpful) of xnet internet, specifically of the vfx phone service. things like reliability as opposed to normal phone lines, how good the isp service is and so on. can anyone help? im not a

I've been an Xnet customer for more than 3 years now, and a VFX customer for about 18 months. I would highly recommend VFX to you without any reservations. Reliability is as good as your internet connection.

Regarding the Xnet ISP service:

- I have tried all the big name ISPs in NZ and some of the smaller ones as well. Xnet offers the best customer service end of story.

- But for the last 7-8 months, and especially the past 3-4 months, Peak-Time International speeds have been poor, as you may have noticed if you've been reading these forums for a while.

- This morning I made a post about my opinion of the International Speed that is currently on offer during peak times:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=65&TopicId=19794&page_no=31#134371

- I must point out that this issue does not affect all types of web traffic. Browsing web pages is not too bad now, but trying to watch YouTube video clips during the evenings is very frustrating because they pause all the time. Up until October last year, this never used to happen.

- If you never use YouTube or FTP/HTTP/BT downloads during Peak Time, don't worry about it, you won't have a problem.

- The way to get around it is to schedule downloads outside of Peak Time but of course, that isn't any good for people like me who want to watch a bit of YouTube during the evenings.

So, to sum up:

Xnet is a great ISP who will do their very best to look after you. But keep in mind the limitation I have mentioned above.

JUPITER2K

131 posts

Master Geek

#134491 30-May-2008 18:20

I joined Xnet from IHUG 2 months ago. The customer service is good in comparson with IHUG & Orcon.
(was a Orcon user once reason for leaving > it did not honour the contract I signed on
i.e. just change data usage from $1 per G to $2 per G)

I will give Xnet at least 6 months before giving my better opinion. Most ISP was once voted NZ best ISP, so I don't think
the tag mean anything at all. Unless the ISP is voted 3 years in a row.

Speedwise I do find that there is some improvement for that time will tell.

marmel

1924 posts

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#134506 30-May-2008 19:39

I used vfx/fusion for a couple of months before changing back to Ihug.

Pros

-extra services that came with vfx, caller id, voicemail, etc etc
-reasonable price and pay only for the data you use
-no fixed term contract

Cons

-International speed, still not fixed (getting better though)
-voice quality was never as good as a standard phone line, sounded like a cellphone call, our family used to comment on echoes etc
-some issues with getting set up, csr's not returning calls etc (fairly standard with most ISP's though )

With regards to speed I am now getting about 25% faster downloads with Ihug, probably increasing to about 50% faster with international traffic.

My downstream sped according to the modem went from about 4000kbps to over 6000kbps when I went back to Ihug.

You should also take into account that the type of modem, wiring in your house, local exchange etc can all affect the above issues. Some have had great results with vfx, unfortunately it wasn't that great for me.

scottjpalmer

5970 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#134507 30-May-2008 19:40

I am very happy with their pricing, customer service, speeds etc. Sure there have been some slow patches lately but it hasn't affected me too much.

I haven't been able to fault the VFX call quality and all the extra services included in the price are great!

And all the Xnet staff I've met are great people to deal with and always willing to discuss, make suggestions and solve problems!

kinetic

91 posts

Master Geek

#134532 30-May-2008 22:11

I have been in the IT industry for 9 years, and until a week ago had only bothered with dial up for my home internet connection. I had previously used my work connection for everything I wanted to download (owning the company meant I didn't get in trouble!)

But with the new Torrent plan Xnet were offering, how you can not sign up and get it for home.

I signed up for Fusion (torrent plan) and VFX and I love it. (it's saving me money too!)
I have since signed up my Mum and Dad, and I'm getting all my other family onto it as well.

I had a friend, Leon, work everything out for me (he's a reseller and really knows the VFX stuff!)
He did all the paperwork (Sign me up to Xnet and port my numbers etc..) and supplied all the hardware preconfiged for me.

PM me if you want his contact details.

I'm getting 7.5k Down and 800 Up, and the phone call quality has been top notch.

I highly recommend Xnet.

kaway

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#135221 3-Jun-2008 16:27

vfx sound quality as good as a regular landline call ... even overseas (well, at least to the place ive rung anyway).
i just set up the modem to email me voice mails which i find easier to deal with than logging into the voice mail system.
only issue ive had was when telecom decided to repeatedly disconnect me from the exchange (like micro-outages) because they thought i no longer had a phone line.

maverick

3594 posts

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WorldxChange

#135230 3-Jun-2008 16:59

The one thing is that we don't lock you in so you can try for yourself and see how it goes, others will want to lock you in for a quite some time.

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

https://www.facebook.com/wxccommunications

Ragnor

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#135245 3-Jun-2008 18:15

Pros:

Most flexibile usage plans of any ISP, set your limit per GB etc
Data is cheap compared to some ISP's and generally on par or with other ISP's
No 12 month contract / Disconnection fee
New plans to address peak time usuage/contention/congestion

Cons:

Service has "broken" twice for at least 1 month+ in the last year, by broken I mean you can't stream a youtube video or play a fps or mmo game on overseas servers reliably in peak time.

New plans are attractive to the heavy leecher type users, I can't imagine playing a fps or mmo on a US server is going to be smooth after midnight if you're into that sort of thing.

I left during their months of problems, their new plans look good but their track record for keeping the service running reliably is not great.

2meke

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#135781 5-Jun-2008 21:09

yupishi: looking for reviews, specifically of the vfx phone service. things like reliability as opposed to normal phone lines, how good the isp service is and so on. can anyone help? im not a

I joined on the Fusion plan a couple of months ago and except for the first 2 days (phone kept dropping out) I've had no problems.

I would (and often do) recommend their Fusion service.

sultanoswing

814 posts

Ultimate Geek

#135787 5-Jun-2008 21:39

In this day and age of faceless foreign corporations, it's refreshing to feel that a company is local and listening. I've been impressed with xnet since I joined (about two years ago now, from iHug > Orcon > Xnet, having also been with Slingshot and Woosh over the past several years).

They have innovative offerings as 'pay as you go per GB' and now Torrent, and even better, once signed up they haven't done what iHug, Slingshot and Woosh did once I'd joined them on the promise of better plans i.e start renegging on the excellent sign up conditions which sucker customers in, like the guy above who had Orcon increase his per GB data from 1$ to 2$ - that sort of behaviour is plain malicious!

Xnet is always my first recommendation to friends and family who are looking at signing up to internet (and now phone). I've had no problems with VFX service locally and around NZ - my call to a mate in Hong Kong (to a cell phone) suffered from an almost 1 second delay and some echo.

The lag on You Tube vids seems better the past few weeks (or perhaps that's just because I'm now on VFX Fusion, hence FS up and down).

In Summary: The best of the several ISPs I've tried by some margin, both in service, attitude and behaviour.

Niel

3267 posts

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#135846 6-Jun-2008 07:34

The only thing I know of where they have changed customer's services is the recent discontinuation of the original 2Mbps plan with free national traffic. And the reason for that is because Telecom has terminated that service. However, the alternative offering from XNet is cheaper for most customers anyway and only a few who does lots of national is "loosing out".

I've been with XNet for over a year now, and they have always responded very quickly to support requests. They know what they are doing.

You can never have enough Volvos!

mch_nz

53 posts

Master Geek

#136496 8-Jun-2008 18:43

Support people were very good, easy to talk to and responsive. Unfortunately peak hour international speeds were unusable for me. Pity, I liked their plans but 100kbps from 5pm to midnight was just too slow. If they got this sorted I'd probably go back...