No traffic management plans with UFB rollout? No consultation?

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#604922 4-Apr-2012 09:41

Correct or where ever the OLT serving the cabinet resides. I am sure some of the Chorus guys on here can possibly detail a bit more, but as the OLT to ONT with splitters between can be approx 20km apart its reasonable to assume that in some regions smaller local exchanges will not house OLT only the larger regional ones, in other words some smaller local exchanges will not be required to house gear.

Cyril

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#605037 4-Apr-2012 13:04

hamish225: could you not catch a bus or something?
If it was REALLY that important you could have found a way of getting there rather than standing around jumping up and down about it.

Since you didn't read my post I will summarise:

I told the contractors I needed to have access to the street to leave in 15 minutes and asked - politely - if they would be able to let me out by then. They *could* have simply moved the truck as I drove out, then gone back to where they were until moving again to allow me in on my return. I had no problem with the truck being there all day until I had to leave.

Several contractors were around the truck and ute, and stayed around it, using insulting language about the silly b... inconveniencing them. I waited in my vehicle for 45 minutes. I had an injured puppy in her crate in the back of my vehicle. They moved, I left. No jumping up and down involved.

FYI - I am disabled. Even if I had not been racing to an emergency vet appointment with a puppy in her crate, I am unable to walk any distance. There are no buses near my street and no taxis that will take a dog & crate at short notice. My helicopter is in the shop.

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#605045 4-Apr-2012 13:12

Chorus themselves have been great - I'm really impressed with their service. Downer and their sub-contractors, on the other hand, have been a nightmare to deal with.

Since my blog post about access & egress issues, traffic management has been put in place. This week they are putting out cones to block off the areas they need for parking. According to Chorus, this should have been done from the outset.

They are letting me know if a cabinet is going outside my place. It doesn't happen without notification so its possible the contractors are just winding people up.

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#605290 4-Apr-2012 20:35

Elpie:
hamish225: could you not catch a bus or something?
If it was REALLY that important you could have found a way of getting there rather than standing around jumping up and down about it.

Since you didn't read my post I will summarise:

I told the contractors I needed to have access to the street to leave in 15 minutes and asked - politely - if they would be able to let me out by then. They *could* have simply moved the truck as I drove out, then gone back to where they were until moving again to allow me in on my return. I had no problem with the truck being there all day until I had to leave.

Several contractors were around the truck and ute, and stayed around it, using insulting language about the silly b... inconveniencing them. I waited in my vehicle for 45 minutes. I had an injured puppy in her crate in the back of my vehicle. They moved, I left. No jumping up and down involved.

FYI - I am disabled. Even if I had not been racing to an emergency vet appointment with a puppy in her crate, I am unable to walk any distance. There are no buses near my street and no taxis that will take a dog & crate at short notice. My helicopter is in the shop.

Ohh, right. didn't see that bit :)

Well some people are just a little bit rude like that sometimes. Did you make a complaint to chorus about it?

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

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#605906 5-Apr-2012 22:05

This may be something to talk with john campbell about.
I know many residents in napier are getting rather fed up with the works also. I dont know of any cases where UFB chorus contractors have treated napier residents with such disrespect but if it entered into national discussion by means of television news, it would mean that the people contracted by chorus would be more aware of how they are to act when talking to residents.

I see a representative of chorus has replied to the blog posting, but with a company that size, employing many, many contractors around the country to carry out this work, i can see this happening again to someone else very soon.

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Elpie

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#607741 11-Apr-2012 11:35

raytaylor: This may be something to talk with john campbell about.
I know many residents in napier are getting rather fed up with the works also. I dont know of any cases where UFB chorus contractors have treated napier residents with such disrespect but if it entered into national discussion by means of television news, it would mean that the people contracted by chorus would be more aware of how they are to act when talking to residents.

I see a representative of chorus has replied to the blog posting, but with a company that size, employing many, many contractors around the country to carry out this work, i can see this happening again to someone else very soon.

Chorus are working hard to ensure that this experience is not repeated. They have been consistently good in their dealings with me but I can't say the same for Downer. I called Downer again yesterday, since I hadn't heard back from them. They finally called me back around 4pm.

Apparently, when anyone calls they get a call center that cannot redirect the call. The call center sends an email to Downer staff and the staff are then supposed to return the call. I got a whole lot of reasons why the email from my call went astray for over a week and a whole bunch of excuses about how the behaviour of the contractors is not really their problem. Apparently the contractors are sub-contractors of sub-contractors to Downer who are sub-contractors to Chorus.

However, the buck has to stop somewhere and this afternoon a representative from Chorus is coming out to meet with me. He is bringing a Downer representative with him.

I now understand why work has been going on outside my place for three months (with more to go) and why I had two different letters about the work. My property is at the junction of two different contracts. Apparently, its the corner of two UFB zones. So, two lots of digging, two lots of contracting companies, and months more inconvenience. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.

linw

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#608628 13-Apr-2012 09:24

It certainly is a saga, this ducting exercise. Our street is close to getting back to normality - last people will be the gardeners to restore the grass berms. It will be quite lonely after they have all gone!!

You certainly met some rude sods but hope things are OK now. Most of our street's contractors have been good but with so many different contractors involved, there are bound to be problems.

Good luck with your talks with Chorus and Downer.

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#608630 13-Apr-2012 09:30

At least none of you have reported issues with services being cut - I'm aware of quite a few issues with the rollout in Kelson in February where power and water were cut. A high pressure gas main was also hit in Porirua around the same time.

Beccara

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#608632 13-Apr-2012 09:39

cyril7: Correct or where ever the OLT serving the cabinet resides. I am sure some of the Chorus guys on here can possibly detail a bit more, but as the OLT to ONT with splitters between can be approx 20km apart its reasonable to assume that in some regions smaller local exchanges will not house OLT only the larger regional ones, in other words some smaller local exchanges will not be required to house gear.

Cyril

20km's is pushing it in reality, there are maximum distances between the first and last ONT being as low as 8km and this has an impact on the distance between the OLT and the first ONT. It's quite an artform in some respects

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#608651 13-Apr-2012 10:10

sbiddle: At least none of you have reported issues with services being cut - I'm aware of quite a few issues with the rollout in Kelson in February where power and water were cut. A high pressure gas main was also hit in Porirua around the same time.

Allow me in that case. Since they have started digging (about 2-3 weeks ago) in my neighbourhood we have had the water go off once, the phone go out once and power cuts twice. Fairly short durations though, all less than 2 hours except for the last power cut which lasted for four.

Whether they are related or caused by the rollout...who knows.

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

sbiddle

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#608666 13-Apr-2012 10:51

floydbloke:
sbiddle: At least none of you have reported issues with services being cut - I'm aware of quite a few issues with the rollout in Kelson in February where power and water were cut. A high pressure gas main was also hit in Porirua around the same time.

Allow me in that case. Since they have started digging (about 2-3 weeks ago) in my neighbourhood we have had the water go off once, the phone go out once and power cuts twice. Fairly short durations though, all less than 2 hours except for the last power cut which lasted for four.

Whether they are related or caused by the rollout...who knows.

Odds are they will be related.

Those who don't live in Wellington would not be aware of the nightmare that was created with TCL's HFC rollout in the late 90's. This caused chaos suburb by suburb where it was deployed underground.

linw

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#608687 13-Apr-2012 11:21

Pretty lucky here in Camborne, Porirua. No service disruption due to the digging.

The guys are running air pressure testing of the tubes, now.

Elpie

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#608762 13-Apr-2012 13:54

sbiddle: At least none of you have reported issues with services being cut - I'm aware of quite a few issues with the rollout in Kelson in February where power and water were cut. A high pressure gas main was also hit in Porirua around the same time.

Two short-duration power outages and one internet outage (guy apologised so I know it was the rollout), but these are only to be expected.

On Wednesday I had Chorus and Downer come to visit. Two representatives from Chorus and the Downer guy who is in charge of this part of the rollout. We spent a very good hour discussing issues and suggestions for improvement. I felt like I had my old city councillor hat on (as in, former role, not age old ;-) )

The contractor behaviour issues had already been dealt with prior to our meeting. Better co-ordination between two rollouts where they meet at the one property was discussed. As was my suggestion that city councils need to be actively engaged in the traffic management in problematic areas and should be sending notices (I suggested quarterly updates to go out with the rates notices) to inform residents and reassure them. Chorus is taking a lot of flack from people who don't know what is going on and why. Residents need, IMO, to be told what the UFB rollout is, how it will temporarily affect their streets and how this benefits their cities.

Elderly people in my street have been distressed by the work. They make up the majority of residents in this area. Those I have spoken with haven't a clue what broadband is let alone UFB. Nobody has reassured them that the streets will go back to normal, footpaths and grass verges will be remediated, and that it is part of a national plan. People tend to read only the things that interest them in the newspapers and I suspect that a lot of people across the country have never heard of the UFB rollout.

People, like me, whose properties are at the juncture of two rollout phases, will be informed of this. Chorus will do its best to co-ordinate the work so that those of us getting two sets won't have months of access issues. By the time they wrap up the work outside my property it will have been close to 5 months.

Chorus have been excellent in their handling of my situation. Downer not so, but they promise improvement for others that may experience issues. East Coast, the sub-contractors to the sub-contractors employed by Downer are a firm I never want to see again - that is one company that gives all contractors a bad name.

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#608850 13-Apr-2012 16:45

sbiddle:

Those who don't live in Wellington would not be aware of the nightmare that was created with TCL's HFC rollout in the late 90's. This caused chaos suburb by suburb where it was deployed underground.

If i remember it correctly, TCL dug open trenches down the road, and only used horizontal drilling (of sorts) from the pedestal to the house.

In Mana for the fibre rollout it appears they are horizontal drilling down the footpath, that has surely got to be asking for trouble!

At least with open trenches, contractors know when they have hit a service

Ragnor

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#609473 15-Apr-2012 04:13

Ground penetrating radar and other tools have improved a lot, there should be less mistakes/accidents/bad luck but there will never be none.

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