Farmside trialling unlimited rural 4G broadband $79/m

Forums › One NZ (including Farmside) › Farmside trialling unlimited rural 4G broadband $79/m

tim0001

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#288237 15-Jun-2021 13:07

Farmside is apparently launching the unlimited trial at the Fieldays agricultural show starting June 16.

The service trial will be delivered through recently built Rural Broadband Initiative 2 cellular sites, and priced at $79 a month.

More details on the Herald (pay walled)

Sounds like a very good price, but this could lead to performance/ capacity issues. Perhaps its only going to be offered on lightly loaded RBI2 sites?

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#2729095 15-Jun-2021 13:10

Watch the site/s cripple under the load

wratterus

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#2729096 15-Jun-2021 13:12

Is it this?

https://www.farmside.co.nz/post/unlimited-rural-broadband-data-packages-from-midnight-to-midday-daily

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#2729099 15-Jun-2021 13:23

Quantity vs quality...

tim0001

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#2729100 15-Jun-2021 13:26

@wratterus The article doesn't mention midnight -midday. Also $79 is below normal Farmside rates. But I guess we'll get all the details tomorrow

There are some RBI2 sites with only a handful of broadband customers, so I'm guessing it might just be these sites

RogerMellie

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#2729106 15-Jun-2021 13:38

wratterus:

Is it this?

https://www.farmside.co.nz/post/unlimited-rural-broadband-data-packages-from-midnight-to-midday-daily

No, that's from last year in response to the COVID lockdown.

wratterus

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#2729108 15-Jun-2021 13:41

Oh whoops it is too. My Bad.

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halper86

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#2729114 15-Jun-2021 13:52

Can't wait to see the effects of congestion after this offer. By the sounds of things, techs will manually do a prequal based on site loading.

However - this is really positive news and I am sure a whole lot of rural folk will appreciate it. My grandparents are rural and they watch their usage like a hawk. No more limits on Netflix now :))

wellygary

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#2729119 15-Jun-2021 14:10

halper86:

Can't wait to see the effects of congestion after this offer. By the sounds of things, techs will manually do a prequal based on site loading.

However - this is really positive news and I am sure a whole lot of rural folk will appreciate it. My grandparents are rural and they watch their usage like a hawk. No more limits on Netflix now :))

If it gets bad I image they will implement some sort of Bandwidth management (a.k.a throttling)

Heck, if the main mobile operators can offer unlimited* data for users that move from site to site then it should not be too hard to manage a similar product for fixed subscribers....

RBI 2 sites are apparently fibre fed, so its not like the rural "bad old days"

https://company.chorus.co.nz/chorus-provide-backhaul-fibre-rbi2-mobile-sites

halper86

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#2729122 15-Jun-2021 14:15

wellygary:

If it gets bad I image they will implement some sort of Bandwidth management (a.k.a throttling)

Heck, if the main mobile operators can offer unlimited* data for users that move from site to site then it should not be too hard to manage a similar product for fixed subscribers....

RBI 2 sites are apparently fibre fed, so its not like the rural "bad old days"

https://company.chorus.co.nz/chorus-provide-backhaul-fibre-rbi2-mobile-sites

I can imagine in the fine print there will be a fair use clause with 'traffic management at peak times'. I can see this going down badly, as I know for a fact the RBI site servicing my grandparents is eDMR backhaul. I hope users on the fibre-fed sites can take advantage of this offer, but hope RSPs proceed with caution on microwave fed sites.

-e- Evidence of eDMR backhaul: https://gis.geek.nz/map/pointtopoint/link/kyqbxgvq

tim0001

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#2729125 15-Jun-2021 14:26

Some of the RBI2 sites are daisy chained too (via eDMR)

The bar seems to be quite low for congestion on RBI2 sites. From the 2020 CIP report:

“ 90% or more of all Eligible End Users must receive Rural Broadband Retail Services at the Minimum Speeds or greater, measured across a rolling 12-month period”

halper86

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#2729250 15-Jun-2021 17:14

tim0001:
Some of the RBI2 sites are daisy chained too (via eDMR)

The bar seems to be quite low for congestion on RBI2 sites. From the 2020 CIP report:

“ 90% or more of all Eligible End Users must receive Rural Broadband Retail Services at the Minimum Speeds or greater, measured across a rolling 12-month period”

Isn’t minimum speed 5mbps though? Barely enough to watch HD video and video call at the same time. But yes, the daisy chained sites will be hit the worst, but I assume that there is traffic management being done to reduce congestion.

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#2729294 15-Jun-2021 18:49

halper86:
Isn’t minimum speed 5mbps though? Barely enough to watch HD video and video call at the same time. But yes, the daisy chained sites will be hit the worst, but I assume that there is traffic management being done to reduce congestion.

I don’t believe so. It’s in the order of kilobits if I remember correctly. However, none of that would apply to non-wholesale offerings to my knowledge (i.e. Spark and 2d offerings).

halper86

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#2729299 15-Jun-2021 19:12

boosacnoodle:
halper86:
Isn’t minimum speed 5mbps though? Barely enough to watch HD video and video call at the same time. But yes, the daisy chained sites will be hit the worst, but I assume that there is traffic management being done to reduce congestion.

I don’t believe so. It’s in the order of kilobits if I remember correctly. However, none of that would apply to non-wholesale offerings to my knowledge (i.e. Spark and 2d offerings).

I.E. Vodafone. Yet they have the RBI agreement with the Government.
Bring NZ into the modern age, minimum requirements should be in megabits not kilobits. Currently barely better than dialup.

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#2729314 15-Jun-2021 19:38

How do RSP's share bandwidth/spectrum on RBI sites. Is it split into thirds? Or is it a free-for-all, meaning any RSP (ie voda/farmside) can offer unlimited plans and degrade the experience for all users from all telcos?

antonknee

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#2729317 15-Jun-2021 19:51

halper86:
tim0001:

Some of the RBI2 sites are daisy chained too (via eDMR)

The bar seems to be quite low for congestion on RBI2 sites. From the 2020 CIP report:

“ 90% or more of all Eligible End Users must receive Rural Broadband Retail Services at the Minimum Speeds or greater, measured across a rolling 12-month period”

Isn’t minimum speed 5mbps though? Barely enough to watch HD video and video call at the same time. But yes, the daisy chained sites will be hit the worst, but I assume that there is traffic management being done to reduce congestion.

Correct. 5mbps down is Vodafone’s agreement with MBIE.

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