Wireless internet on Great Barrier Island?

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Linkzor

45 posts

Geek

#217828 13-Jul-2017 21:59

Hi folks, just interested to see if anyone has had any recent experiences with internet on Great Barrier Island. My last experience with Vodafone's 3G RBI a few years ago was pretty mediocre with frequent slow downs to sub 1mbit during peak hours in the evenings.

I see Spark had upgraded their cell towers to 4G on the island last year and their rural wireless broadband is now being offered. Interested to know of anyone's recent experiences with the different providers.

lucky015

743 posts

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#1822181 13-Jul-2017 22:57

Appears there are a couple of newer towers on the island for Vodafone now so worth borrowing a phone to test briefly perhaps. Haven't spent much time on the island over the last couple of years but still hasn't been great in my experience although it'd depend heavily on where you are on the island.

https://gis.geek.nz/celltowers/

KiwiSurfer

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#1822182 13-Jul-2017 22:58

Vodafone doesn't have 4G on the island yet according to the GIS Geek map. Spark probably the best option for the time being.

Edit: Vodafone has one site live with 4G which seems to be a recent addition. Need to remove the Spark layer on the GIS Geek map before you can see it which is why I didn't see it initally. Unless you happen to be near that one site my comment above probaly still stands.

Jase2985

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#1822196 14-Jul-2017 05:25

cant comment specifically about being on the island but im frequently on the eastern side of barrier on a ship, and it seems pretty good on my mobile, havent done any speed tests but 4g connection past the horizon and everything was reasonably snappy.

atomeara

324 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1827141 22-Jul-2017 16:06

What part of the island are you on?

Chorus upgraded there broadband cabinets last year and you can now get ADSL 2+ at decent speed (no VDSL)

Top speeds in Claris and Tryphena and 24/25Mb with over 10Mb common in both areas