CafeNET is now available in Auckland

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timfitz

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Wannabe Geek

Topic # 13289 2-May-2007 11:16

CafeNET is now available in Auckland at the following locations:

Downstairs Food Court, 125 Queen Street,
Robert Harris Cafe, Level 2, 125 Queen Street
Level 4 of Brookfields House, 19 Victoria Street
Sierra Cafe, 123 Carlton Gore Road, Newmarket
Caffe Massimo Takapuna, The Strand, Takapuna
Takapuna Library, The Strand, Takapuna
FAI House, Corner of Victoria and Queen Streets (Ground floor)
De La Creme, 7-9 Fanshawe Street (old Microsoft House)

Most sites are run by Vector Communications and backhauled on their fibre network.

http://www.cafenet.co.nz/zones/auckland/

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BDFL - Memuneh
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Reply # 69209 2-May-2007 11:47

Good stuff... The CafeNet is a brilliant service. I use it all the time when I am out and about in the CBD.

I wish it would extend to big centres, such as Johnsonville and Lower Hutt ;-)

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

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Reply # 69220 2-May-2007 12:57

freitasm: Good stuff... The CafeNet is a brilliant service. I use it all the time when I am out and about in the CBD.

I wish it would extend to big centres, such as Johnsonville and Lower Hutt ;-)

It's available in the library in Lower Hutt.

timfitz

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Reply # 69899 8-May-2007 10:20

Latest site to go live in Auckland is Caffe Greco in Wyndham Street - almost on the corner of Federal Street and more or less opposite St Patrick's Cathedral. Very handy for Gen-i people!!

PS: Hopefully we'll get it in all the North Shore libraries before the end of the year.

jpollock

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Reply # 72377 27-May-2007 12:09

NZ$80 for 350MBytes? Zowie, that's expensive.

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Reply # 72383 27-May-2007 13:42

jpollock: NZ$80 for 350MBytes? Zowie, that's expensive.

Remember that wifi public hotspots are not really intended as a means to download mass amounts of information (ie. peer to peer and torrenting) but rather an easy way of connecting to the interwebs to download your emails and general internet surfing.

350MB would last a long time for that purpose generally and depending on usage, it may be better value than the 'timed' options.

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Americancars

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Reply # 72423 27-May-2007 21:24

24 hours for $10 seems pretty good. I think that it is worth it. I might give it a go tomorrow.

Does anyone know where the "Downstairs Food Court, 125 Queen Street" is. I.e. can anyone give me a name as numbers are a bit annoying to look for.

This seems pretty good, I can't wait to try it out.

Can't beat the burble of that American V8. Ohh yea!

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Reply # 72428 27-May-2007 21:57

Americancars: 24 hours for $10 seems pretty good. I think that it is worth it. I might give it a go tomorrow.

Does anyone know where the "Downstairs Food Court, 125 Queen Street" is. I.e. can anyone give me a name as numbers are a bit annoying to look for.

Is that Asian foodcourt or that place by burger king (movie theater?)

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Americancars

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Reply # 72431 27-May-2007 21:59

cokemaster:

Is that Asian foodcourt or that place by burger king (movie theater?)

Oh, ok thanks. I go there with friends often. Have never noticed the numbers before.

Can't beat the burble of that American V8. Ohh yea!

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Reply # 72433 27-May-2007 22:18

I'm not entirely sure either. Though I do head down that way for lunches sometimes.... both of those have 'foodcourts' and are underground but not sure on the numbering.

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timfitz

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Reply # 72453 28-May-2007 08:13

It's what used to be called the BNZ Tower - right-hand side of Queen Street, heading up - almost opposite Shortland St.
HTH.

jpollock

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Reply # 72455 28-May-2007 08:36

cokemaster:
Remember that wifi public hotspots are not really intended as a means to download mass amounts of information (ie. peer to peer and torrenting) but rather an easy way of connecting to the interwebs to download your emails and general internet surfing.

350MB would last a long time for that purpose generally and depending on usage, it may be better value than the 'timed' options.

I'm sorry, but doesn't Telecom offer free access to their wifi cafe network if you have a broadband connection with them?

If I were going to use this, my dominant use would probably be to make VoIP calls, and other mobile data uses where using a GPRS/UMTS connection would be prohibitive. Music streaming, wifi media player synching, etc.

Also, wouldn't local's standard usage pattern be accessing local email and services? I would expect a large number of business people using laptops to have all of their traffic pass through a vpn connection to their corporate network. That just makes the price even more insane, since I would expect most of that traffic to be delivered nationally.

Still, good to see it expand into Auckland.

I mean, look at the price! $80/350MB! That's more expensive than 3G on Vodafone!

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/personal/plans-services/plans/3G-broadband-and-data/3g-broadband-plans.jsp

1GB/59.95.
2GB/69.95

I never expected to see the day when I would be forced to point out that you could get cheaper data on a mobile phone network.

Gah! My brain!

I guess their target market is individuals who would be paying roaming traffic rates instead of locals.

Jason

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timfitz

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Reply # 72459 28-May-2007 08:57

There's one small but significant difference in the pricing for data compared to cellular data - it doesn't expire at the end of the month. So if you use 50MB this month you've still got 300MB for next month or whenever you get around to using it. As far as I'm aware it never expires. Also there's no commitment.

Also in Auckland, Palmerston North and Wellington (possibly others) it's backhauled on fibre so you get very low latency. As Citylink, InSPire and Vector are connected to the peering exchanges performance for many local sites is particularly good.

freitasm

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Reply # 72461 28-May-2007 09:01

Not counting the free content - in Wellington you can stream some radios and TV One, TV 2, Maorie TV for free and I mean large laptop full screen streaming. Can't beat that.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

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Reply # 72471 28-May-2007 09:44

jpollock:
I'm sorry, but doesn't Telecom offer free access to their wifi cafe network if you have a broadband connection with them?

That is currently a promotion, due to expire on the 31st of December this year. Once it expires some public 'suggestions' have been that it would deduct usage from your monthly allowance.

If I were going to use this, my dominant use would probably be to make VoIP calls, and other mobile data uses where using a GPRS/UMTS connection would be prohibitive. Music streaming, wifi media player synching, etc.

Cafe net also have all day passes which gives you unlimited usage for a 24 hour period. Remember that mobile data (cdma 1x/evdo and gprs/wcdma/hspda) are all expensive once you hit the plan limit. $0.50+ a mb is not exactly cheap. While the cafe net options are prepaid and thus the worse you can do is burn up your allowance.

Also, wouldn't local's standard usage pattern be accessing local email and services? I would expect a large number of business people using laptops to have all of their traffic pass through a vpn connection to their corporate network. That just makes the price even more insane, since I would expect most of that traffic to be delivered nationally.

I fail to see how this comes into it. Corporate users probably wouldn't be streaming youtube and music from home...

I mean, look at the price! $80/350MB! That's more expensive than 3G on Vodafone!

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/personal/plans-services/plans/3G-broadband-and-data/3g-broadband-plans.jsp

1GB/59.95.
2GB/69.95

I never expected to see the day when I would be forced to point out that you could get cheaper data on a mobile phone network.

When you can span those plans over multiple months (who knows how long they last - a year?), then it does bring things into the picture. Remember you still pay for those plans even if you don't use them. Alternatively comparing them to roaming rates (Vodafones infamous $30 a mb comes to mind), it can be quite a competitive rate for some.

Obivously it depends on your usage of course. Users that regularly use data and want it on the move may be better off using mobile data.

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jpollock

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Reply # 72474 28-May-2007 09:56

timfitz: There's one small but significant difference in the pricing for data compared to cellular data - it doesn't expire at the end of the month. So if you use 50MB this month you've still got 300MB for next month or whenever you get around to using it. As far as I'm aware it never expires. Also there's no commitment.

True, it won't expire at the end of the month.

As for commitment, the prices I found for vodafone were without commitment too. It's even cheaper on a 2yr contract.

I just can't believe the price.

Let's do some math, it relaxes me. It's always fun!

CafeNet is charging $228/GB. Assuming that it still costs $5k for the router for a connection, I'm guessing a total of $8k/node. At that traffic price, they only need to sell 2GB of traffic per month on a 2 year payback period. Everything else is gravy.

If they used DSL instead (3k/node), it cuts it down to $120/GB instead of 228+.
If they used a slingshot-style hacked DSL wifi router, it drops to ~76/GB (1k/node).

That's assuming you're only going to sell 2GB of traffic per node per month.

Now, let's change it a bit.

Let's assume 80GB/node/month.

Then, we end up with a cost price of NZ$7 for citylink, 5 for DSL and 4 for slingshot, keeping the 2year payback.

I can only assume that the there is some insanely large cross subsidies going on where a lot of low traffic nodes are being subsidized by higher traffic ones. Or else, there really isn't a market for wifi in a cafe.

I didn't account for the back-office account management servers, since that is per user user cost, not per byte. I don't have enough usage data to properly scope it. :)

Jason

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