Kordia Wi-Fi performance [uses RoamAD technology]

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MauriceWinn

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#16495 12-Oct-2007 10:56

I tried out Kordia's network again in Remuera yesterday.   There are two nodes, on top of footpath verandahs towards each end of Remuera shops.    Coverage is pretty good. It works in Sierra half way between the two, and of course in Robert Harris from 4 metres away, with an antenna pointing straight in the door nuking the place. Inside malls it doesn't work [too deep in the buildings].   But it worked sitting comfy in the Post Office, which is around the corner and I thought perhaps out of sight.

Sitting at a bus stop, with strong signal, I got nice fast transmission.   I got 4163 kb/s download and 1483 kb/s upload.   Then I walked home and did the same test on my Slingshot ADSL over Wi-Fi on the same device [with the Zenbu Wi-Fi two metres from the laptop, so signal was fine] giving download 3235 kbps, upload 127 kb/s   Hooray for Kordia and RoamAD.

New Zealand ADSL is pathetic.   The download was fast [it's not normally so quick]

Tomizone and Fivo SSIDs were missing for some reason in Kordia's Remuera zone yesterday, though they have been on board Kordia's network previously, along with Orcon and KiwiWireless.

At 15c a megabyte, [the 'plan' I chose] Kordia's price isn't too bad either. It's not as cheap as Zenbu's 10c a megabyte, [or free if zone operators offer that, which some do] but it's not bad = metropolitan zones cost more to build than cheap little ADSL Wi-Fi routers and Kordia people are on big salaries.

127 kb/s is hopeless.

BTW, Zenbu now has more accommodation provider points of presence than any other Wi-Fi network in NZ and is third after Telecom and CafeNET in total points of presence.   Zenbu is also a finalist in the Open Source awards in Wellington next week. http://www.nzosa.org.nz/news << Open Source Use in Business: Zenbu, Plan HQ, New Zealand Post/Red Hat, Zoomin, Silverstripe >>

sbiddle

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#90801 12-Oct-2007 11:06

New Zealand ADSL is pathetic.

Surely that's a problem with Zenbu then if you're relying on people providing Zenbu AP over a "pathetic" ADSL service? At least Kordia can provide a decent service by having their own backhaul.

The Kordia Metro system is great and I've spent quite a bit of time playing with it. It would be great to see it extended a lot further but I still have serious doubts about the business model of doing so.

MauriceWinn

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#90849 12-Oct-2007 16:02

Quite right SB, a rotten backhaul is bad for Zenbu, but these things are all a matter of dollars and cents.   Little motels can't afford to run fibre to their place.   So they make do with what backhaul they can get.

Good luck to Kordia sending Wi-Fi kilometres out to motels on the edge of towns and further away than that.

New Zealand is locked in behind fibre under the Tasman and then locked into legacy Telecom twisted pair and half-baked ADSL.

802.11n can really speed along, but its speed won't be much use in the NZ environment when speed is as slow back upstream as it is and as slow downstream too.

MauriceWinn

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#90852 12-Oct-2007 16:21

Meanwhile, I am using Orcon, who kindly are providing FREE data in the Kordia system [for now anyway].   Today I'm getting only 870 and 1535 kbps down and up respectively. Down is slow today for some reason, after being really nicely quick [for NZ] yesterday at 4200 kbps.

For some reason, Fivo SSID is still missing, but Tomizone SSID is back on-line and I could connect to their website.   Connection was fragile on Kordia SSID, but now going okay [I have no idea why].

As you say SB, the economics of wide area network rapidly go awry in sparse populations with little Wi-Fi need.
Mobile cyberspace will be a balance of economic and technological forces, with Wi-Fi good for the end of ADSL pipes, Kordia/RoamAD good for metropolitan coverage, CDMA [in EV-DO and HSDPA] forms for wide area networks, and OFDM in WiMAX and other bits and pieces as it develops.

RECOMMENDATION - Use Kordia's Wi-Fi zones via Orcon SSID.   Best quality and price available in NZ.

Zenbu has not got a Kordia SSID. It's tough to pay Kordia and compete with free Orcon. They aren't exactly giving a level playing field to Tomizone and Fivo, but at least Tomizone customers can get access and use their time purchase on Kordia's system rather than have it expire unused.