Wireless 4G broadband vs fibre: do you really need fibre?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Wireless 4G broadband vs fibre: do you really need fibre?

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#2194055 8-Mar-2019 22:16

Rikkitic:

Why can't Spark also do RBI?

they do, It's called Rural Wireless Broadband.

the gotcha here is, It's not RBI bound, so it doesn't come with all the t&c's that kinda box vf into some situations i'd certainly prefer not to be in..

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Talkiet

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#2194092 9-Mar-2019 00:16

coffeebaron:

It's like those cheap seats on flights, they are space fillers. I.E. the airlines know they will only fill say 80% of their flight, so hey lets see if we can get a few more $$ for that other 20%.

The 4G wireless service is like that 20% of capacity that's not being used, so Spark / Skinny sell it cheap for the low users. However, if everyone went on 4G instead of fibre/xDSL etc, then capacity would be obliterated and all would discover the true meaning of "dial-up speeds".

It's been a while since I had to trot out this link :-)

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=78340

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

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#2194103 9-Mar-2019 05:23

Rikkitic:
Why can't Spark also do RBI?

They have for many years

Lee13

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#2194109 9-Mar-2019 07:31

Rikkitic

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#2194123 9-Mar-2019 09:06

Linux:
Rikkitic:

Why can't Spark also do RBI?

They have for many years

Not where I live.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Linux

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#2194130 9-Mar-2019 09:49

Rikkitic:
Linux:
Rikkitic:

Why can't Spark also do RBI?

They have for many years

Not where I live.

Have you checked out the address checker on Spark and Skinny

I just got connected this morning with Skinny modem turned up first thing this morning @hio77

nzlogan

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#2194167 9-Mar-2019 09:53

Rikkitic:

Why can't Spark also do RBI?

Parents use Spark's Rural Wireless and consistently get good speeds (never been below 10Mbps down), just done a Speedtest now and getting 22/53 down/up. Far superior to the 1Mbps ADSL they had for years.

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#2194223 9-Mar-2019 10:21

Spark Rural Wireless Broadband is not the complete solution.

I was an early adopter of Spark’s rural 4G in 2015. 2 km from the tower, no obstructions of any sort. The modem stats were very good at RSRQ = -3dB, RSRP = -77 dBm, SINR = 21 dB. Internal connections use ethernet.

Initial speeds were good at around 60 Mb/s down, 40-50 up. By the beginning of 2017, lagging on Lightbox was a big problem. In March 2017, L1800 was added to the tower and speeds improved to 90-100 down. This improvement remained until early Oct 2017 when the download suddenly dropped to 1-5 Mb/s. Upload remained at 40-50. Same result using a cellphone (direct, not via modem). Without getting into the details, this turned out to be a tower fault but it took the network team 9 weeks to take it seriously.

A temporary fix was put in place by 13 Dec 2017. A cellphone test confirmed download of 124 Mb/s but by that time I had switched to VDSL. Fortunately the cabinet had been upgraded since I started 4G in 2015. I’m 1.5 km from the cabinet but get rock solid speeds of 28 down and 3 up. Thanks to @hio77 back then for constantly pushing the network team and aiding my transfer to VDSL.

I have been monitoring the tower periodically since Sep 2018 using a Skinny cellphone connection. Same point of testing, no obstructions. The speeds bounce dramatically when comparing one day’s test with another, just like @Rikkitic gets with Vodafone RBI. For example, 80/46, 14/6, 21/37, 31/7, 44/8, 85/28, 11/7.

Rikkitic

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#2194314 9-Mar-2019 10:52

Linux:

Have you checked out the address checker on Spark and Skinny

I just got connected this morning with Skinny modem turned up first thing this morning @hio77

Spark says I'm not in their service area. Skinny can't even find my address! Just for the record, I am about 20 km from Hastings, with near LOS.

Edited to add: Signal strength to the tower is almost always excellent, especially after an upgrade last year. The problem is congestion, and it only seems to get worse.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

hio77

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#2194334 9-Mar-2019 11:24

Linux:
Rikkitic:
Linux:
Rikkitic:

Why can't Spark also do RBI?

They have for many years

Not where I live.

Have you checked out the address checker on Spark and Skinny

I just got connected this morning with Skinny modem turned up first thing this morning @hio77

Skinny don't do the rural product.

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

frednz

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#2194525 9-Mar-2019 15:27

It seems that coverage of Skinny's 4G broadband could be improved. For example, many addresses in Lower Hutt aren't eligible and the following message appears:

"Unfortunately, coverage is not at your place at the moment. Our techies are always adding coverage spots though, so please check back and try again."

And if your address is eligible, you are told that:

"Your Skinny modem can only be used at this address. If used anywhere else, we may need to stop your service. Please also note Skinny Broadband is only for consumer customers (not businesses)."

frednz

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#2194526 9-Mar-2019 15:34

frednz:

It seems that coverage of Skinny's 4G broadband could be improved. For example, many addresses in Lower Hutt aren't eligible and the following message appears:

"Unfortunately, coverage is not at your place at the moment. Our techies are always adding coverage spots though, so please check back and try again."

And if your address is eligible, you are told that:

"Your Skinny modem can only be used at this address. If used anywhere else, we may need to stop your service. Please also note Skinny Broadband is only for consumer customers (not businesses)."

It's a pity that the Skinny 4G broadband modem can only be used at the address which was first approved by Skinny. It would be a big advantage of the service if the modem could be plugged in anywhere. After all, you use your mobile phone anywhere where there's mobile coverage!

Can anyone explain the technical reasons why Skinny won't allow the use of these 4G modems anywhere except at the address where the service was first approved?

hio77

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#2194535 9-Mar-2019 15:40

frednz:

It's a pity that the Skinny 4G broadband modem can only be used at the address which was first approved by Skinny. It would be a big advantage of the service if the modem could be plugged in anywhere. After all, you use your mobile phone anywhere where there's mobile coverage!

Can anyone explain the technical reasons why Skinny won't allow the use of these 4G modems anywhere except at the address where the service was first approved?

network management is a big thing for sparks offering. Moving your modem from an approved address could mean you add tons of load into an already loaded area affecting other customers.

If i could just use a 4G modem service, i probably wouldn't be on as big of a mobile plan as i am. my car would just have the modem in it 24/7...

in lower hutt you may have more luck with Spark than skinny. Slightly different offerings.

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Rikkitic

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#2194541 9-Mar-2019 16:00

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

frednz

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#2194542 9-Mar-2019 16:00

hio77:

frednz:

It's a pity that the Skinny 4G broadband modem can only be used at the address which was first approved by Skinny. It would be a big advantage of the service if the modem could be plugged in anywhere. After all, you use your mobile phone anywhere where there's mobile coverage!

Can anyone explain the technical reasons why Skinny won't allow the use of these 4G modems anywhere except at the address where the service was first approved?

network management is a big thing for sparks offering. Moving your modem from an approved address could mean you add tons of load into an already loaded area affecting other customers.

If i could just use a 4G modem service, i probably wouldn't be on as big of a mobile plan as i am. my car would just have the modem in it 24/7...

in lower hutt you may have more luck with Spark than skinny. Slightly different offerings.

Thanks for your reply, yes I can see your point, but "adding tons of load" might be a slight exaggeration? If I were to take my Wellington address approved modem and run it in Lower Hutt, would this really upset other Lower Hutt users? Wouldn't you have to have dozens or even hundreds of other Wellington users all doing this at the same time before you got any problems in Lower Hutt?

This article is of interest when considering whether your broadband is good enough to allow you to stream the forthcoming Rugby World Cup broadcasts. It's headed :

"Around 40,000 rural households' broadband won't be good enough to stream Rugby World Cup"

I wonder whether 4G broadband modems will be able to cope with Spark's Rugby World Cup coverage and whether perhaps you really need Fibre broadband for this event?

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