How to deal with unacceptable Chorus scheduling of activation?

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252 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1322003 10-Jun-2015 12:13

sbiddle:
pdath: You wont be able to do anything about Chorus. Just be glad you are not getting UFB or it would be many times worse, and you would think the corrent response is wonderful. Get yourself a 3G card, teather to your iPhone, or find a temporary place to work.

I think people need to get the mindset out of their head that UFB always takes months to install. It doesn't.
...

You're wrong. I've had a lot of UFB installs done for customers. I can't think of a single one that took less than a month. Not even one. 3 months is typical. 6 months does also happen.

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Jaxar

383 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1322006 10-Jun-2015 12:16

sbiddle:
pdath: You wont be able to do anything about Chorus. Just be glad you are not getting UFB or it would be many times worse, and you would think the corrent response is wonderful. Get yourself a 3G card, teather to your iPhone, or find a temporary place to work.

I think people need to get the mindset out of their head that UFB always takes months to install. It doesn't.

Yes there are plenty of nightmare stories out there with MDUs and shared drvieways and I have to deal with them on a daily basis, but if you're in a residential dwelling that has no access issues (ie the vast majority of residential premises) you'll easily get an install within 1-2 weeks after submitting an order.

I got my UFB at home a few weeks ago. Had it not been for the fact I was away for a week on holiday I could have booked the scoping for 2 days after I submitted my order, and then could have booked the install for the following week.

As it turned out with my holiday I booked a scoping for a Friday a couple of week later, had the civil team turn up the following Tuesday and Wednesday to trench the front yard and install the ETP, and had the ONT install on the Friday. That was 7 days from scoping to install. There was nothing special about my job, it was just a stock standard residential install. Had my house been an overhead leadin rather than underground I could have probably even shaved a few days off that.

This may be true for residential installs but it is not the case for business installs ~90% of business installs are MDU's and often require a fair amount of build work. Basically a business is not likely to own the building it occupies and thus consent is required. Even when it does sometimes it is owned via a shell company meaning it technically has a different owner. Business consent processes tend to be less problematic than residential from what I've seen however. The amount of upset business customers I hear about because somebody has set an expectation for just a few days has been disappointing.

I have seen business installs go in less than a week this however is usually when an MDU has already had fibre installed at another unit or floor. This currently is the exception but will gradually become the rule.

Please note: I have a professional bias towards Vodafone.

Benek

72 posts

Master Geek

#1325901 16-Jun-2015 16:34

After settling down and coming to the realisation that there's nothing I can do but wait for Chorus's install date, I get a call from Orcon today to let me know the date has been moved back again, and now won't be installed until the 18th! (now 6 days later than my initial request). So now I'm pissed off again.

I already had plans to have a security alarm installed on the 18th so now I have to put other people out and ask them to change plans based on Chorus's ever-changing schedule. Very frustrating.

If they are going to give me a really delayed install date, they could at least stick to it so I can plan around it!

Jase2985

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#1325921 16-Jun-2015 16:49

can you not have them both there at the same time?

Benek

72 posts

Master Geek

#1325929 16-Jun-2015 16:58

The broadband needs to be working before they can finish the alarm setup. VDSL could not be ready until 5pm. If Chorus could tell me when it would be done I could schedule something, but all they'll say is it will be sometime between 1-5pm.

BarTender

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#1325939 16-Jun-2015 17:22

Benek: The broadband needs to be working before they can finish the alarm setup. VDSL could not be ready until 5pm. If Chorus could tell me when it would be done I could schedule something, but all they'll say is it will be sometime between 1-5pm.

Have you contacted the current tenants to see which ISP they are with and service they have ie ADSL vs VDSL?

Often if you come to an agreement with the current tenants and their current ISP the service can be left intact and just swapped over to you without needing to involve Chorus at all.

Get the current account number and permission from the current tenants that you can take over the service on the due date. Then you would be away without any tech visit.

I would say that would be the most painless way to keep the internet service running at the property.

Jase2985

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#1325970 16-Jun-2015 17:57

is it an alarm over IP or a standard alarm? if its the latter it doesnt matter, just get the tech to tell you the sequence of numbers to force the alarm to do a comms test after the install, your phone will work before the vdsl install so that shouldnt matter

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Benek

72 posts

Master Geek

#1326019 16-Jun-2015 19:32

BarTender:
Benek: The broadband needs to be working before they can finish the alarm setup. VDSL could not be ready until 5pm. If Chorus could tell me when it would be done I could schedule something, but all they'll say is it will be sometime between 1-5pm.

Have you contacted the current tenants to see which ISP they are with and service they have ie ADSL vs VDSL?

Often if you come to an agreement with the current tenants and their current ISP the service can be left intact and just swapped over to you without needing to involve Chorus at all.

Get the current account number and permission from the current tenants that you can take over the service on the due date. Then you would be away without any tech visit.

I would say that would be the most painless way to keep the internet service running at the property.

The old owner was with Vodafone. Not sure if ADSL or VDSL but I didn't want to go with Vodafone so it wasn't an option to switch his account over.

Benek

72 posts

Master Geek

#1326021 16-Jun-2015 19:33

Jase2985: is it an alarm over IP or a standard alarm? if its the latter it doesnt matter, just get the tech to tell you the sequence of numbers to force the alarm to do a comms test after the install, your phone will work before the vdsl install so that shouldnt matter

Alarm is over IP.

Don't have a landline. Our phone with be VOIP over Orcon genious. So we can't get the alarm setup completed until broadband is activated.

BarTender

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#1326189 16-Jun-2015 23:23

Benek: The old owner was with Vodafone. Not sure if ADSL or VDSL but I didn't want to go with Vodafone so it wasn't an option to switch his account over.

You can still talk with the current account holders and use them for the churn to your gaining service provider.
Should make it go smoother as a churn should be processed the day that the gaining service provider requests it and it's a network change on the Chorus side.

nigelj

856 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1326192 16-Jun-2015 23:37

BarTender:
Benek: The old owner was with Vodafone. Not sure if ADSL or VDSL but I didn't want to go with Vodafone so it wasn't an option to switch his account over.

You can still talk with the current account holders and use them for the churn to your gaining service provider.
Should make it go smoother as a churn should be processed the day that the gaining service provider requests it and it's a network change on the Chorus side.

Just a note here, in my recent experience (beginning of the month), a VDSL-to-VDSL provider churn still requires a site visit, so may not have helped if the contractors in the area were already heavily booked for this time of the month.

lNomNoml

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#1326194 16-Jun-2015 23:39

Why not just get a 3G/4G/LTE dongle? and use that for the meanwhile, would help to have it as a backup solution in the future.

BarTender

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#1326783 17-Jun-2015 19:58

nigelj:
BarTender:
Benek: The old owner was with Vodafone. Not sure if ADSL or VDSL but I didn't want to go with Vodafone so it wasn't an option to switch his account over.

You can still talk with the current account holders and use them for the churn to your gaining service provider.
Should make it go smoother as a churn should be processed the day that the gaining service provider requests it and it's a network change on the Chorus side.

Just a note here, in my recent experience (beginning of the month), a VDSL-to-VDSL provider churn still requires a site visit, so may not have helped if the contractors in the area were already heavily booked for this time of the month.

If it were me and Interwebs was so important that I couldn't live on 3G. I would ask what access the current household was on, so hopefully no physical work is required only loading a service order into the Chorus OOT. That way service would continue, and if it was already VDSL then kindly ask to not have a tech visit if they are so booked.

That way once you have moved in, you can at your own convenience get it moved from ADSL -> VDSL if you so desire.

Out of interest has the OP tried Spark or Snap to see if they can offer any better options?

Benek

72 posts

Master Geek

#1327034 18-Jun-2015 09:13

Thanks for the advice guys. It's too late to try to do any of this now but I will keep it in mind for future moves. Chorus says it should be hooked up this afternoon.

SQLGeek

135 posts

Master Geek

#1327084 18-Jun-2015 10:03

I had a similar issue, gave 6 weeks notice to Snap and they requested the wrong thing from Chorus, so my activation was cancelled and I went to the back of the queue. A tweet to Snap & Chorus and I was scheduled for 2 days later (today!).

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