About the only difference I really noted was the "About us" section :)

//I don't think econofibre or hotshot will sit on the phone with somebody who doesn't

Sometimes its worth giving the low cost guys a chance.

Al.

ageorge:

 

//I don't think econofibre or hotshot will sit on the phone with somebody who doesn't

 

Sometimes its worth giving the low cost guys a chance.

 

Al.

 

@ageorge Then your next thread will be why is the low cost ISP so crap! 

aotearoasteve:

 

I like supporting those who drive down prices, like waitomo & allied petrol stations... 

 

Definitely, Im agreed with competitive companies, my connection with Econofibre kicks in a week from now will also advise experience.

Al.

Well, tomorrows the day I get connected to Econofibre.

They have another carrot which might tempt a few; no contract sharp prices:

I'll give a connection report tomorrow, then a more detailed report a week or so later.

Regards, Al.

Econofibre Review

My provider Slingshot had provided good service, good telephone/chat/email support, their years contract ended today. Sadly, their retention team could not provide a competitive offer, and competitors are regularly offering specials. I decided to give more price competitive, no-contract options a chance.
A few years back, flip.co.nz was cheapest option. But they've lost their competitive edge & only do ADSL/VDSL/$84/month no contract, so my choice between https://www.hotshot.nz $70/month $29.50 install fee (special no install fee) and https://www.econofibre.co.nz. Econofibre has a no-contract, unlimited discounted monthly charge of $60/UFB 100M/20M & 1-off connection fee of $30 discounted from $50 for existing ONT. Both Econofibre and Hotshot have very few reviews, indicates they have a small share of the ISP pie. Also available no-contract Voyager with a $79/month, no setup fees, phone support, and member of TDR and highly recommended by many.

Hotshot and Econofibre provide email support, Hotshot adds online chat (most times offline), neither have phone support. Hotshot support I found was too slow at 1-2 days to respond, and mentioned by others as a problem, so chose Econofibre instead. Both are not a member of TDR, which means you cant use Ombudsman for any disputes, and there is no physical address showing on Econofibre website which IMHO is a tad shonky, but their email support is good with average reply within 1-2 hours except weekends and after hours. I was initially annoyed that my no-contract bill resulted in sign-up credit being carried over to the next month, until I brought that to the attention of their accounts, which they sorted promptly. Their invoicing and user control panel is simple and logical to use. Billing is similar to most IP's with monthly being direct debit or credit card debiting, monthly period starts 6th of each month, means if you want to exit without next months fee departure must be booked for the 5th day of month of the paid period. UFB connection requirements: VLAN Tagging: Untagged, Authentication: DHCP /Plug and Play.

Econofibre Fees: $60/month (special), VOIP monthly fee is $10 and one-off number setup fee is $25, connection fees @ $50 (unless discounted), other fees if you want to move and so on. Untried Hotshot does not have as many extra fees as Econofibre, but also doesnt have the flexibility of plans.

Comment to Econofibre/Hotshot: I'd recommend for good customers you provide phone support after 3 months, and reduce or remove connection charges for new connections. Also a temporary phone support during transition would be helpful.

Speed tests vs (these are 1-off tests, not have an averaged result, modem NFV18ACV)
Slingshot 100/20Mbs linetest.nz results: Ping 6ms, Jitter 4ms 88/23Mbps Down/Up
Econofibre 100/20Mbs linetest.nz results:  Ping 5ms, Jitter 4ms 87/23 (effectively same) but using speedtest.net Im getting 107/24Mbps
There is a difference between the Linetest.nz with Slingshot the speed is smooth, whereas Econofibre it peaks at 150Mbs, then settles down, bringing the average speed to the same. This is probably a good thing from Econofibre as it may deal with peak demands better.

Personal impressions
Demerits: for their carry-over initial billing (for me), and no phone support; I think all ISP should provide at minimum a mobile contact for urgent situations.
A physical address on their website also is a prerequisite for all  businesses.
Positives: for email support; they have received multiple emails from me, and their response has been both polite and prompt, with advisory and confirmation of when your connection will kick in, and plenty of detail.

Initial connection experience
Service date was today/10th September 2020, and they advised it would activate around 6am. After 10am still no connect I emailed them (still on Slingshot), no reply, emailed again at 1pm, no reply, got on Econofibre/Facebook messenger and got a reply that they would answer me soon. Shortly I got an email asking if I have hooked up the ONT to LAN2, which was in signup instructions but I'd wrongly thought LAN1 would be the same. Hooked up LAN2 and voila immediate connect to Link Telecom (NZ) Limited also known as 'Worldnet Services Limited'. As for fibre, plug and play makes it a piece of cake to set up.

Long Term Experience - will be advised in a month or so.

//Hi George,
Can I ask for an update on Econo fibre, I need to move away from spark wireless as it is costing me too much, but I don’t want to move if the performance is going to drop through the floor, what is your general web surfing and online streaming been?

Hi Johny.

So far Im finding its performing a lot better than Slingshot as far as throughput speed goes. Linetest.nz goes to vocus whereas speedtest.net goes to Worldnet directly and Im getting 108/24 exceeds the speed.

Im satisfied for using them, you do need to be aware of the caveats I mentioned in the review though.

So much for the nay-sayers (Linux et al)

ageorge:

 

Later; I found these reviews on Broadbandcompare:
2019-08-14 11:37:02
Rafael 1.6
Don't be fooled by the low prices. This is the worst support I've ever seen. I've been trying to contact them for 5 months (!) to fix a slow connection issue (actual 11 Mbps vs 70 Mbps in the contract), and they take days to answer just blahblahblah and nothing actually happens. They don't have a physical address, no telephone to call. And things get even worse: they store our passwords in plain text! This is simply unacceptable.

 

It's normal to store PPP passwords in plain text. It's not like its encrypted over the wire.

ageorge:

 

Econofibre Review

 

My provider Slingshot had provided good service, good telephone/chat/email support, their years contract ended today. Sadly, their retention team could not provide a competitive offer, and competitors are regularly offering specials. I decided to give more price competitive, no-contract options a chance.
A few years back, flip.co.nz was cheapest option. But they've lost their competitive edge & only do ADSL/VDSL/$84/month no contract, so my choice between https://www.hotshot.nz $70/month $29.50 install fee (special no install fee) and https://www.econofibre.co.nz. Econofibre has a no-contract, unlimited discounted monthly charge of $60/UFB 100M/20M & 1-off connection fee of $30 discounted from $50 for existing ONT. Both Econofibre and Hotshot have very few reviews, indicates they have a small share of the ISP pie. Also available no-contract Voyager with a $79/month, no setup fees, phone support, and member of TDR and highly recommended by many.

 

They all go that way because its impossible to make money at the bottom end of the market. You get what you pay for.

Either they did cheap prices as a marketing thing or they discovered clients at the bottom end are also the least profitable (ie no profit or even a loss) and expect the most.

MichaelNZ:

 

They all go that way because its impossible to make money at the bottom end of the market. You get what you pay for.

 

Either they did cheap prices as a marketing thing or they discovered clients at the bottom end are also the least profitable (ie no profit or even a loss) and expect the most.

 

My 3rd month and no problems. It would be really great if folks would comment on personal experience rather than opinionated experience=no experience at all.

Al

ageorge:

 

My 3rd month and no problems. It would be really great if folks would comment on personal experience rather than opinionated experience=no experience at all.

 

Al

 

3 months isn't much. Years of discussion in this forum attest the ISP's at the bottom end of the market can't sustain it because the numbers don't stack up.

A new ISP has to purchase a minimum quantity of bandwidth and typically has a network with only a few clients. So its easy to offer good speeds, abeit at a loss. But as the "cheap shoppers" start piling on things get worse and the ISP either has to chew through more capital, reduce service or increase prices to sustainable levels.

Additionally local speed tests are irrelevant because any ISP worth their salt is connected to an IX or even runs the speed test server themselves, so of course the numbers will be close to line speed. It's the speed tests to overseas which are the real measure. How their network performs under a level-4 lockdown is the real measure.

If someone is buying a 100/20 plan then clearly performance isnt something that they care about, and its very easy for an ISP to support those speeds. Really need to see performance on the decent speed plans to make a comparison.

richms:

 

Really need to see performance on the decent speed plans to make a comparison.

 

Typically the only thing which has changed on a 1G plan vs 100M plan is the speed of the last mile connection. A bottom end ISP can not sustainably allocate any more upstream bandwidth because the numbers don't allow it.

To put a number to it 2Mbps per client* is pretty standard for low cost "flat rate" plans. The lowest cost ISP's are even less than this.

*Upstream international pooled.

Full on ISP mafia around here. Let the man enjoy his ISP, he's been warned.

hio77:

 

Speed, Reliability and cost.

 

You can't get all 3 in a single provider.

 

I am not sure if that's exactly true now. It used to be in the bad old days.

Orcon has been awesome, cheap, quick and in 14 months I have been with them, I can't recall an outage.

I would say it's more true than not, but still not impossible.