NZHerald running story on shoddy Chorus contractor installation work

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › NZHerald running story on shoddy Chorus contractor installation work

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#1587184 6-Jul-2016 15:46

andrew027:

And if you say "No, because if you run the lawnmower over a power cable it will kill you, but a fibre line won't", try living in a house with two teenagers and no internet for a week. Someone. Will. Die.

I'd say that's grounds for moving into a hotel until it's fixed.

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#1587187 6-Jul-2016 16:04

littleheaven:

andrew027:

And if you say "No, because if you run the lawnmower over a power cable it will kill you, but a fibre line won't", try living in a house with two teenagers and no internet for a week. Someone. Will. Die.

I'd say that's grounds for moving into a hotel until it's fixed.

Has the hotel got fibre?

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kiwifidget

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#1587191 6-Jul-2016 16:18

sbiddle:

kiwifidget:

Could a lack of competition be part of the problem?

It would seem I have no choice but to use Chorus, even though there are at least 2 other companies in my town capable of doing the work, maybe more competently.

I cant even choose another company even if I am prepared to pay for one?

Chorus don't do the install so that argument is kinda moot IMHO. The work is contracted out, and depending on what civil and install work is required can easily involve anywhere from 2+ subcontractors.

It is people in Chorus vans doing the installs in my neighbourhood.

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#1587192 6-Jul-2016 16:20

Sideface:

littleheaven:

andrew027: And if you say "No, because if you run the lawnmower over a power cable it will kill you, but a fibre line won't", try living in a house with two teenagers and no internet for a week. Someone. Will. Die.

I'd say that's grounds for moving into a hotel until it's fixed.

Has the hotel got fibre?

We stayed in a local (cheap) motel for three weeks before moving into the new house, due to different settlement dates. With tokens for one hour of wifi a day, living in such close proximity and only having one bathroom, we were lucky to all get out of that alive!

mattwnz

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#1587199 6-Jul-2016 16:35

If you listen to the Radio NZ story, they say it is Chorus who own the fibre from the box into the living room, and they are responsible for maintaining that, which I presume is at their cost. So if the cabling does break down, or snap I am guessing they will fix free of charge. The problem though is whether that will always be the case, and whether ownership could be transferred in eh future back to the owner. It is unusual, because for other things such as pipework from the gate, I believe homeowners are responsible for maintenance and problems.

The other thing which was interesting is that the guy said the standard was that the fibre should be 40 cm under ground. But some people have said that it was only laid a few cm's, which is a bit confusing. We use a rotatory hoe to aerate my soil for vegetables, and that can get down to 40cm , so I wouldn't want it chewing up the cable. But am guessing they do put in a warning strip well above the 40cm.

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#1587205 6-Jul-2016 16:46

8cm deep here. No warning strip. Can't put a warning strip in when they're only cutting the ground with a spade and pressing the tube into the slit created,

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#1587215 6-Jul-2016 16:58

kiwifidget:

sbiddle:

kiwifidget:

Could a lack of competition be part of the problem?

It would seem I have no choice but to use Chorus, even though there are at least 2 other companies in my town capable of doing the work, maybe more competently.

I cant even choose another company even if I am prepared to pay for one?

Chorus don't do the install so that argument is kinda moot IMHO. The work is contracted out, and depending on what civil and install work is required can easily involve anywhere from 2+ subcontractors.

It is people in Chorus vans doing the installs in my neighbourhood.

Installs are done subcontactors such as Downer, VisionStream etc who will all have Chorus logos on their vans along with the company.

Civil work such as trenching etc is typically done by various 3rd parties depending on exactly what is required.

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DarthKermit

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#1587234 6-Jul-2016 17:20

I listened to the whole thing. He said that if a fence needs replacing, Chorus can come along and re-attach the microduct to a new fence. Only trouble being, I've seen pics where the installers have drilled holes through the fence posts and threaded the microduct through it!

Wheelbarrow01

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#1587247 6-Jul-2016 18:12

Mark Ratcliffe during the RNZ interview: "We receive about 50 escalations per week.... somebody's come to us and said that we don't think the work's done to a sufficient standard, and those jobs are resolved with those customers".

As someone who has daily contact with the Chorus fibre provisioning escalation team, I'd dispute that statement on several fronts. Firstly, it appears Mr Radcliffe doesn't know what the Chorus definition of 'escalation' is. Chorus fibre orders can be (and are) escalated by RSPs for a multitude of reasons - by far the most common is where a technician is a no-show for a scheduled appointment. The usual excuse is 'lack of tech resource' which indicates they are regularly over-booking their techs. Other reasons for escalation include miscommunication between Chorus and the end customer with regards to timing, delays in 3rd party contractors doing civil works, incorrect scope assessments, incorrect existing network records - the list goes on really. I'd expect, based on my experience, that only a fraction of all escalated orders are due to 'shoddy' install work after the fact.

And just because a job is escalated, that does not mean it will be resolved with any speed. One of my corporate clients fibre orders was under escalation for over a year before it was finally resolved and service delivered. During the period it was under escalation, there were a total of 14 missed site visits (visits scheduled between Chorus and the customer where the Chorus representative - be it the scoper, civil crew, field manager, installer - failed to show up). This is an extreme example, but most escalations I handle take between 1-3 months to resolve. This particular client is in the process of developing a high profile Auckland site into a very large residential development. Their concern is that if it takes over a year to get a single fibre connection to their show home prior to construction, how long will it take to get the other 200+ connections in place when the new development is actually complete.

I'd also be VERY surprised if the total volume of escalations was as little as 50 per week. I personally escalate at least 1 to 2 fibre jobs to Chorus every day, sometimes more - surely I'm not personally responsible for 10-20% of all Chorus fibre escalations??? Couple those with the escalations raised my my team mates here at Spark Digital alone, and it would appear no other provider (including Spark residential) ever escalates anything......

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

mattwnz

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#1587252 6-Jul-2016 18:41

Wheelbarrow01:

Mark Ratcliffe during the RNZ interview: "We receive about 50 escalations per week.... somebody's come to us and said that we don't think the work's done to a sufficient standard, and those jobs are resolved with those customers".

Maybe they restrict the number they receive to 50? Or maybe their systems are broken and they aren't getting them all, that could explain the delay. Or maybe those are escalations that can't be resolved, and have to involve someone higher, such as using the TDR.

But I suspect he got the numbers wrong or someone gave him the wrong info, as he also initially said that the cables are installed 400 metres underground !

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#1587266 6-Jul-2016 19:56

He meant 400 nano metres.

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#1587312 6-Jul-2016 21:15

Listening to the audio with the Chorus CEO kinda made me angry, as in he gave the impression he didn't really care about the s*#t installations that have been happening, and they were only fixing Joes issues as he had publicly called them out on it. Thank god I no longer live in a Chorus fibre area.

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#1587416 7-Jul-2016 02:16

Sideface:

This topic was discussed in depth on Nine to Noon this morning:

Mark Ratcliffe kept saying they will use the copper duct where possible. To the lay person, every house has a duct going in from the road.

The interviewer kept asking what reasons would prevent a duct being used, and he didnt clarify.

He should have explained that if there are bends in the duct, or tree roots, you cant pull out the existing copper.

And if your house is more than 10 years old, it probably doesnt have a duct all the way to the road and is just direct buried copper.

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#1587438 7-Jul-2016 08:21

The thing that annoyed me of late was we ordered UFB for a customer, then they came back with a quote for install as it required a 20M trench. We then accepted the quote, received and RFS and they missed the RFS due to "Non standard install, Trench required" - Considering we had accepted a quote for the trench, I would have thought that they would have taken that into consideration when they set the RFS.

Hmmmm

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#1587441 7-Jul-2016 08:23

raytaylor:

And if your house is more than 10 years old, it probably doesnt have a duct all the way to the road and is just direct buried copper.

This is something that many people forget. Direct buried cable was standard practice for many years.

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