What is the best VoIP + VDSL2 bundled package in the market right now ?

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BlueToothKiwi

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#129417 15-Sep-2013 02:32

I had a phone call from Telecom call centre last week asking if I want to upgrade my ADSL to VDSL2 and sign a 12 month contract for a phone+broadband package. This made me look at what is available in the market and at my recent usage to see what is the best package for our family. I been with Telecom for twenty odd years - mainly because I have been happy with them overall (plus I have had an Xtra account - and did not want the hassle of changing it) So I checked out about a dozen or so web sites and it looks like only six companies are providing BOTH VoIP and VDSL2 - and I came up with a short list of two (Snap vs WorldExchange] - they are different - and they all sounds good and I cant make my mind up. Any advise / recommendations ? I read many of the posts here - but very few of them were written in the last few months with the newer VDSL offerings were in place. This is what I found on the web site:

1. SNAP VDSL BROADBAND & SNAP PLUS

100GB data per month
Need VDSL modem (FRITZ!Box 7390) - I think this is extra.
Snap Plus phone line
FREE Voicemail
FREE Caller ID
FREE Call Waiting
Free Number Port
FREE connection and Wiring
$100 / month @ 12 mnth contract
NZ-based Help Desk

Snap seem pretty on to it, had a good writeup about it in Stuff yesterday and have a FB page full of happy customers. However, they are based in Christchurch - and I cant find out about what sort of DR / Bus. continuity they have if their data centre goes down with an earthquake.

2.WORLD EXCHANGE FUSION 100

100GB data per month
Need a WXC MP264 Residential Gateway @ $295 extra
FREE Voicemail
FREE Caller ID
FREE Call Waiting
FREE connection and Wiring
$125 / month @ 12 mnth contract [Plus $30 switching fee]
Emergency Services Compliant Primary Voice Line

Call Waiting
Call Forwarding
Fax to Email
Free Local Calls
5 Cent NZ Calling

Free installation
Free Number Port
12 month contrac
NZ-based Help Desk

WorldExchange seems to have the most 'features' per unit dollar - but not sure I have use for many of the telephony features.

3. 2TALK VDSL BASIC PLAN + GO FREE VOICE PLAN

100GB data per month
Need a Zyxel P-870H-51A V2 VDSL Router @ $219.37 extra
$86.12 / month and $57 connection fee

2Talk looks cheap - but the cost of ownership seems more than SNAP when you add all the bits (extra monthly or extra toll charges).

4. TELECOM ULTRA VDSL AND EVERYDAY LOCAL CALLING

80GB data per month
FREE Ultra VDSL Modem (TG589vn) +Wifi
$95 / month @ 12 mnth contract [Plus $99 connection fee]
Edit: includes landline + everyday local calling
VoIP is not something Telecom offers - so need extra fees for for a PBX on cloud + SIP phones from another provider.

Any suggestions from existing users / experts are gratefully accepted. Here are my detailed requirements:

- We have six in the family (Three teenagers)
- our average bandwidth usage is 80GB / m. Hardly use the land-line
- Not bothered if the router does not have Wifi - as I have a separate high end Wi-Fi router.
- Have not considered the phones we need - but I guess a phone like a phone like the FRITZ!Fon MT-F) would be fine for the main phone, and each person in the house (who have either an iPAD or iPHONE) can download Zoiper SIP Phone - so everyone in the house will have a phone each.
- Edit: I dont need analogue line for FAX / alarm / Sky etc. Manage everything fine over broadband.
- My current ADSL connection has down bandwidth of 15kbps and 14dB line attenuation

Tim M, Auckland
Blog: http://paddler.co.nz

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#895745 15-Sep-2013 07:38

Snap Naked VDSL (a 24 month contract gets you the fritzbox free) + 2 Talk VOIP works well for our house. You can easily configure the Fritxbox for 2talk voip and it has a built in ATA which means you can just plug any phone you already have into one of the FON ports on it.

IMO snap are the best VDSL provider and 2 talk have been outstanding (and well priced) for our VOIP.

(I hope your current ADSL has 15 Mbps not kbps down otherwise there's no way you'll get VDSL)

PS: I'm surprised at that usage per month with 3 teenagers! You might find it goes up a fair bit once on VDSL ;-)

PPS: It looks like you were looking at Fibre pricing with Telecom. Their base VDSL plan is 80GB @ 95$ and includes landline + everyday local calling.

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vexxxboy

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#895748 15-Sep-2013 08:12

im With Snap and have the 1st package on your list and it's great, the Fritzbox is a great modem, solid and reliable and your question on continuity in a earthquake, i cant answer that, but during the last earthquakes i never had any down time with Snap.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

RunningMan

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#895753 15-Sep-2013 08:57

From personal experience, WxC have been very good with service continuity, and on the occasions tech support has been required, it has been of a very high standard.

Double check the Fusion 100 price though - I thought it was $125.00

BlueToothKiwi

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#895754 15-Sep-2013 09:08

RunningMan: Double check the Fusion 100 price though - I thought it was $125.00

Sorry - Typo at my end - updated the original post with the correct price.

Tim M, Auckland
Blog: http://paddler.co.nz

sbiddle

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#895784 15-Sep-2013 10:33

First thing is to establish whether you're in a VDSL2 coverage zone. You'd think Telecom would only target those customers who are. Does the Chorus coverage map show VDSL2 (20Mbps+) at your address?

BlueToothKiwi

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#895790 15-Sep-2013 10:45

vexxxboy: im With Snap and have the 1st package on your list and it's great, ... the Fritzbox is a great modem, solid and reliable .

Oh OK. I read in another post that their Wi-fi range on n sucks - are you OK with their Wi-Fi performance?

sidefx: Snap Naked VDSL (a 24 month contract gets you the fritzbox free)

Which Fritbox did they give you? Was it the FritzBox 7340 or the 7390? They dont have any pricing on the Fritzbox - I am assuming it is part of the monthly fee even on 'BROADBAND & SNAP PLUS' the regardless of which Fritbox I get?

sidefx: You can easily configure the Fritxbox for 2talk voip and it has a built in ATA which means you can just plug any phone you already have into one of the FON ports on it.

Just curious - why did you not sign up for their 'BROADBAND AND PHONE' with SNAP and have just one provider?

sidefx: IMO snap are the best VDSL provider and 2 talk have been outstanding (and well priced) for our VOIP.

I will call Vodafone and Telecom on Monday who are my current providers and see if they will help me save $1400/year - which is how much I will be saving if I do switch based on my current usage [plus any one off fees]. I owe that to them after they looked after me for so many years.

sidefx: PS: I'm surprised at that usage per month with 3 teenagers! You might find it goes up a fair bit once on VDSL ;-)

I turn on Parental control (which block Youtube and Steampowered) when I get the 80% usage alert from Telecom broadband everymonth.

sidefx: PPS: It looks like you were looking at Fibre pricing with Telecom. Their base VDSL plan is 80GB @ 95$ and includes landline + everyday local calling.

Thanks updated the original post regarding the Telecom price and what is included.

sidefx: (I hope your current ADSL has 15 Mbps not kbps down otherwise there's no way you'll get VDSL)
.

I get 12 Mbps download when I do a speed test However, this was a copy and paste from the modem statistics:

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:

1.113 / 14.869

Tim M, Auckland
Blog: http://paddler.co.nz

chevrolux

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#895797 15-Sep-2013 10:49

For just VDSL they are all much the same. But you require voice services so that is where they are all VERY different:
Telecom - you will retain an analogue line. Sky will still be able to dial out, so will your alarm or anything else. You dont get 'smart' features though.
Snap - they are an awesome ISP (I use them) but their voice service had (and probably still does) some pretty major issues. I wouldnt use Snap voip.
2Talk - excellent voice service. We use 2talk for pretty much all our business customers with their phone systems. 2talk broadband is mainly built towards getting the best access available for their voice product. I find throughput on 2talk VDSL to be a bit lower than others. It doesnt worry me though as the main point is that we can provide end-to-end QoS for the voice traffic. Also, if you arent confident with setting up VoIP equipment 2talk is not for you. They have no real support available. So to summarise, 2talk has an awesome voice platform as long as you know what you are doing.
WxC - they have a true PSTN replacement. They auto-provision and then manage your VoIP device to make sure you have an excellent experience with VoIP. I have never heard anyone say a bad thing about their voice service. They dont make as many features available as 2talk do but you probably dont require too much anyway. I see caller id, voicemail and call forwards being the most useful feature in the home situation. The rest are more business orientated. Seeing as you dont seem too clued up on the VoIP side of things I would suggest WxC is your best bet.

Thats my 2c anyway.

BlueToothKiwi

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#895800 15-Sep-2013 10:55

sbiddle: First thing is to establish whether you're in a VDSL2 coverage zone. You'd think Telecom would only target those customers who are. Does the Chorus coverage map show VDSL2 (20Mbps+) at your address?

Yeah...my area is clearly in the middle of the 20Mbs zone with UFB planned by Jun 2016. I think I am connected to the Whenuapai exchange.
My high attenuation might be down to dodgy wiring of the in-line ADSL splitter inside the wall - but if I get VDSL I was going to discard all the old wiring.

Tim M, Auckland
Blog: http://paddler.co.nz

vexxxboy

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#895803 15-Sep-2013 11:02

I have never had a problem with the WiFi on the fritz box , some people have, but i run 2 laptops and 4 other devices often at the same time and have had no problems and Snap Voip is the only Voip i have used and have used it since they started it, and any problems they have fixed pretty much straight away. The Fritzbox is a lot more than a modem, i use mine as a answering machine and have it set up as my NAS device. And also remember for an extra $5 a month you get unlimited Youtube, i watch everything in HD and go through 40- 50 Gb a month .

Common sense is not as common as you think.

BlueToothKiwi

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#895812 15-Sep-2013 11:21

vexxxboy: And also remember for an extra $5 a month you get unlimited Youtube

I did not find anything about that on Snap Web. But this is what I read about here in Geekzone posts:

- Steam gaming traffic are un-metered
- Traffic between 1AM-7AM are unmetered
- $5 a month get you unlimited Youtube

Anyone confirm if these are still on offer?

Tim M, Auckland
Blog: http://paddler.co.nz

BlueToothKiwi

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#895829 15-Sep-2013 12:38

chevrolux:
WxC .... dont make as many features available as 2talk do but ....

Thanks - just trying to do a compare WxC features vs 2Talk Features - what are the features you are alking about? I found the main ones of differentiation are things like being able to record phone conversation, Group Talk that 2Talk have (as opposed to only 3-Way Talk that WxC have). On the other hand, WxC have / Outlook integration (probably for presence info based on your calender / status?) and 2Talk seems to have just a manually updated stand alone calender. I guess Snap does not offer any of these voice features? Am I right?

Tim M, Auckland
Blog: http://paddler.co.nz

vexxxboy

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#895877 15-Sep-2013 14:20

BlueToothKiwi:
vexxxboy: And also remember for an extra $5 a month you get unlimited Youtube

I did not find anything about that on Snap Web. But this is what I read about here in Geekzone posts:

- Steam gaming traffic are un-metered
- Traffic between 1AM-7AM are unmetered
- $5 a month get you unlimited Youtube

Anyone confirm if these are still on offer?

yes they are still on offer but the Steam one they cant guarantee but everytime i have used it the data has been free.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

chevrolux

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#895884 15-Sep-2013 14:28

2Talk sell their platform as a Cloud-based PABX system. Meaning it has most of the flexibility of a true PABX built right in to the platform. Whereas WxC's residential offering is built towards offering a replacement for the analogue network. WxC also make geographic information available when you dial 111 and, as previously mentioned, run an entirely managed service meaning you will simply have to plug in the router and not worry about.
2Talk's website doesn't really tell you what is actually available. You need to log in to an account and you will see there are many many features built in to the platform but like I say, they are more business orientated so don't really concern the residential user. The biggest downside to you will be having to set up your VoIP devices yourself.

nitrotech

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#895917 15-Sep-2013 15:52

You could take a look at www.fullflavourmedia.co.nz at @114 no limit as such but fair use policy then add a 2talk line. they give you the modem to use ( with 2 ATA ports ) which you need to send back at the end of the contract and from memory it's around 250 install fee but no minimum contract length.

coffeebaron

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#895948 15-Sep-2013 16:50

WorldxChange! They are the only ones I'd trust to be a true PSTN replacement option, and have been doing it to a high standard for longer than any others. Where were the likes of Snap, Orcon or even Telecom when fibre to home subdivisions were being built? Last I check (very recently), Snap didn't even have their dial plan sorted, you have to wait several seconds before the call can begin to connect.

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