Should I switch to UFB when it is installed and drop Vodafone cable?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Should I switch to UFB when it is installed and drop Vodafone cable?

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Hammerer

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#1151767 11-Oct-2014 11:13

sbiddle:
Sideface:
"cable" areas seem to get low priority for fibre

There isn't really any truth to this. The reality is cable covers the entire Kapiti, Hutt Valley (with the exception of the Western Hills) and Wellington suburbs right through to Johnsonville. Many of these areas already have fibre. A huge chunk of Petone, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt already has UFB despite having cable.

The simple reality of UFB is that up until this year the focus has never been residential areas.

I'd leap from Vodafone cable to UFB but being in a residential area with no schools or commercial buildings we might be one of the last to get UFB.

Brumfondl

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#1151845 11-Oct-2014 15:11

I found this thread an interesting read, especially as I would guess that I am one of the few people who have both Cable (130/10) and UFB (100/50 through Slingshot) and I have separate uses for each one.

I have found UFB superior for gaming (WoW, WoT and the like) with a lower ping, possibly due to better routing when you aren't on the old TCL network. But for downloading 130>100 and since I only get about 90Mbit on the UFB and downloads from places like Uploaded.to seem to be throttled by Slingshot Cable beats UFB by a very large marging during the day. The only problem is that when everyone gets home at night and starts doing whatever, Cable goes all to hell. Johnr will tell you that there are upgrades in progress that will be be finished by some time in November. I hope that these alleviate a lot of the problems that Cable users experience but it is very much a wait and see game.

So... having experienced both side-by-side for the last 5 months or so, I would have to say that the people saying to switch to UFB are probably right at the moment. If however, you are willing to wait a month or two then you may see an improvement in Cable that might change you mind. Up to you :)

Brumfondl

Yabanize

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#1151871 11-Oct-2014 16:05

timmmay: UFB is more likely to work in a power cut or emergency, cable relies on mains powered repeaters. Also you can switch to an ISP that offers better customer service and routing, Snap! is good. Cable is good when it's working, but if it goes wrong Vodafone are a bit of a nightmare to deal with.

Tbh in my experience it works pretty well and doesnt go wrong much. Much more reliable than DSL

Not sure about the power thing, But im quite sure if the power goes out all they need to do is provide power to the cabinet.

Fibre goes to a cabinet too doesnt it?

Yes vodafone can be a nightmare sometimes (hold times), but having people like JohnR and NickT on here helps, and the VF community, and knowing someone who works there :P

michaelmurfy

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#1151879 11-Oct-2014 16:40

Yabanize:
michaelmurfy: You will need to change ISP but I have found (after living in a house with Vodafone Cable) that UFB is just a far better product. I am also a big fan of the better upload.

Where you on a DOCSIS3 plan? You can get up to 100 down 10 up through it at the moment. And VF is working on faster speeds. Overseas they have apparently managed to get 10Gigabit per second over it. I agree fibre is the future though, Cable is a great alternative for places that don't have fibre

I was indeed with a Mikrotik RB951G-2nHD however noticed some pretty epic congestion on my node especially during weekends, connection speed will drop to around 50mbit (on my 130mbit plan) over Ethernet. I understand Vodafone are working on this however I do much prefer my 100/50mbit UFB plan on Spark, just seems quite a bit more stable with big potential to get more bandwidth if needed.

I wouldn't mind Vodafone if they did offer more upload - but stability and speed drops during the evenings were the big dealbreaker for me.

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timmmay

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#1151881 11-Oct-2014 16:47

Yabanize: Not sure about the power thing, But im quite sure if the power goes out all they need to do is provide power to the cabinet.

Fibre goes to a cabinet too doesnt it?

Yes vodafone can be a nightmare sometimes (hold times), but having people like JohnR and NickT on here helps, and the VF community, and knowing someone who works there :P

My understanding is there are pole mounted repeaters not a central cabinet that can be powered. Fibre goes to a cabinet. I moved from cable to fibre because of the power thing and also because TC/VF routing was pretty mental to Australia.

Yabanize

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#1151902 11-Oct-2014 17:34

timmmay:
Yabanize: Not sure about the power thing, But im quite sure if the power goes out all they need to do is provide power to the cabinet.

Fibre goes to a cabinet too doesnt it?

Yes vodafone can be a nightmare sometimes (hold times), but having people like JohnR and NickT on here helps, and the VF community, and knowing someone who works there :P

My understanding is there are pole mounted repeaters not a central cabinet that can be powered. Fibre goes to a cabinet. I moved from cable to fibre because of the power thing and also because TC/VF routing was pretty mental to Australia.

Just reading here on wikipedia, it sounds like power goes through the cable, but is blocked before it goes into homes, ofcourse could be different in NZ

Would be cool if someone from VF could confirm or deny that though, and explain how a power outage affects cable

In NZ they have the repeaters on power poles or green boxes on the street

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dcole13

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#1151903 11-Oct-2014 17:37

Brumfondl: I found this thread an interesting read, especially as I would guess that I am one of the few people who have both Cable (130/10) and UFB (100/50 through Slingshot) and I have separate uses for each one.

I have found UFB superior for gaming (WoW, WoT and the like) with a lower ping, possibly due to better routing when you aren't on the old TCL network. But for downloading 130>100 and since I only get about 90Mbit on the UFB and downloads from places like Uploaded.to seem to be throttled by Slingshot Cable beats UFB by a very large marging during the day. The only problem is that when everyone gets home at night and starts doing whatever, Cable goes all to hell. Johnr will tell you that there are upgrades in progress that will be be finished by some time in November. I hope that these alleviate a lot of the problems that Cable users experience but it is very much a wait and see game.

So... having experienced both side-by-side for the last 5 months or so, I would have to say that the people saying to switch to UFB are probably right at the moment. If however, you are willing to wait a month or two then you may see an improvement in Cable that might change you mind. Up to you :)

Brumfondl

Why not switch to one of the 200/200 plans on Bigpipe? Or if you want to stay with Vodafone, the 200/50 plan.

Home ADSL: School:

Quinny

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#1151906 11-Oct-2014 17:50

Yabanize:
Quinny: I was a huge fan of cable and when new home was built went to Snap (via enable not Chorus). I have found my connection way better, faster and more stable. Work out what isps offer ufb where you are and check the forums for those providers for a better idea.

Which cable speed were you on? 15/2 or 50/2 or 130/10

Apologies slow reply Rl intruded. I was on 130/10 and are now on 30/10. Download speeds stayed the same from the ftp i use which is amazing and WOW performance as noted by others is better (never had one drop out yet)

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