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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2130 posts

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#1587474 7-Jul-2016 09:27

sbiddle:

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.

I've checked mine where it comes out of the ground - it's a pale green plastic pipe about 20-30mm in diameter. Does that indicate duct may have been used?

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

DarthKermit

5346 posts

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#1587495 7-Jul-2016 10:09

^^^

Sounds like the real deal, LH. The green Chorus conduit fades to a pale green from UV light exposure.

chevrolux

4962 posts

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Inactive user

#1587512 7-Jul-2016 10:30

sbiddle:

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.

I would say more like 20 years old now.

And yes direct buried was quite common, but the small 1/2-inch conduit was even more common. Also they would often terminate the end of the ducts with a bit of alkathene to bend it up in to the DP or ETP, or even worse they used 90 degree bends to come up at the house end. This means when you go to draw a new cable through it gets stuck as it binds on the alkathene. The thing is just a little bit of digging each end and you have a viable duct for fibre to be drawn through, but due to lack of time, care and money the installers opt for the easy option and whack it on the fence.
The installers in Palmy (some of the best in the country IMO) were taking advantage of the 1/2 inch conduits for quite a few installs meaning they were really only needing to expose it at the house end to accommodate the new ETP.

StarBlazer

961 posts

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#1587514 7-Jul-2016 10:31

Still waiting for my installation which is from the aerial from the power pole. When they did the site visit apparently the pole has a tag on it which means they can't climb it - will need either permission or a bucket lift. Someone at Downer/Chorus didn't put the request through to the power company so no permission and no bucket lift!! Even though I rang 2Degrees yesterday to confirm, it won't now be happening for at least 2-4 weeks according to Downer. Doesn't fill me with confidence... I have expressed my thanks to them both for wasting an annual leave day...

Procrastination eventually pays off.

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1587563 7-Jul-2016 11:51

DarthKermit:

^^^

Sounds like the real deal, LH. The green Chorus conduit fades to a pale green from UV light exposure.

Oh, awesome! Yes, it would be quite faded after 23 years (house built in 93). Hopefully this bodes well for a smooth install.

Now I just have to talk sweetly to the three other houses that come off my drive to give consent (although on the council GIS viewer, only one of those appears to legally share it with me, the other two apparently have no legal access to the road at all, lol).

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

ajw

1932 posts

Uber Geek

#1587685 7-Jul-2016 14:46

Shoddy installation.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/81860791/chorus-and-spark-solve-landline-fault-hours-after-business-speaks-out

bok007

77 posts

Master Geek

#1587693 7-Jul-2016 14:55

Worst shoddy install I heard of last weekend;

Fibre was installed to the wrong side of the house, so a large hole was drilled in the middle of the wall, then cable run internally to the opposite side of the house.

After a complaint, they ripped the cable out leaving hammer marks across the wall.

Chorus came in and agreed to repaint the whole room (open plan living/dining/kitchen) which is the majority of the interior.

I've also got my own horror stories that lasted 3 months, but that one takes the cake!

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mdav056

607 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#1587880 7-Jul-2016 21:18

A pipe dream...but *when* fibre gets here I may have a choice or two -- and with all you people who know such things watching here, I thought I'd ask these questions:

1. I am currently connected to VDSL as the last house on a road; however, I am on a corner to another road, and Spark comes down that road too, past my house. Given my history of being the last house on a line back in dialup days, would there be any benefit to getting fibre connected from the passing cables in one street rather than as the last on the cable on the other street? I have the suspicion that the cable that passes me on one street may end up, going around a crescent, coming down the other street... Hope you follow this! Think of a U with a horizontal line across it half way down - we are where the horizontal connects to the U...

2. When all my neighbours get connected to fibre, is there any likelihood that my crappy VDSL will get better anyway, so that I could perhaps stay on VDSL?

Thanks for any help -- needed by May 2017, apparently...

gml

DarkShadow

1647 posts

Uber Geek

#1587899 7-Jul-2016 21:59

mdav056:

A pipe dream...but *when* fibre gets here I may have a choice or two -- and with all you people who know such things watching here, I thought I'd ask these questions:

1. I am currently connected to VDSL as the last house on a road; however, I am on a corner to another road, and Spark comes down that road too, past my house. Given my history of being the last house on a line back in dialup days, would there be any benefit to getting fibre connected from the passing cables in one street rather than as the last on the cable on the other street? I have the suspicion that the cable that passes me on one street may end up, going around a crescent, coming down the other street... Hope you follow this! Think of a U with a horizontal line across it half way down - we are where the horizontal connects to the U...

2. When all my neighbours get connected to fibre, is there any likelihood that my crappy VDSL will get better anyway, so that I could perhaps stay on VDSL?

Thanks for any help -- needed by May 2017, apparently...

1. The fibre is Chorus (usually) and not Spark. You seem to be implying you want to minimize the fibre cable length. There is no need to take such measures. As long as you're connected it will work the same no matter the length.

2. In theory, yes. Whether it gives significant improvement is another question. But with fibre both cheaper and faster than VDSL, you should get it (despite all the installation hassles posted in this thread).

tripper1000

1617 posts

Uber Geek

#1588532 8-Jul-2016 22:03

My install was completed crap (west Auckland, late 2015). Would discourage anyone out west from getting fibre installed, until the local contractors loose the contract, especially if you are any kind of house proud.

Summary:

Customer service was crap.

They did not plan the install at all.

I had to intervene to stop them butchering my house.

The install was completely unprofessional and half arsed.

If you ever looked at a Sky install and thought it was a bit rough, you need to see this.

Suspect that I will be switching back to copper in the future due to failure/break down.

Details:

They never did any planning, my brother missed a day of work waiting for the planners to attend the appointment they made and they never showed up and never phoned to cancel.

Because they didn't plan, they ran the cable the ONLY room in the house where the was no easy point of entry - the floor is concrete and there is no ceiling cavity. Halted the install, made them replan because their solution was to staple the cable to the skirting board for 3/4 the length of the house.

They buried the cable 40mm deep, and bridged a shallow drainage channel by pouring dirt into it - created a little dike to run the cable through! I was clearing out the channel to relieve the flooding caused and hit the cable with my spade. With the channel clear and the cable now exposed, it is at risk of being hit by the motor-mower.

The installers barely spoke English, and just muttered and grunted their way around.

The original thrusting down the street cut corners and ultimately increased costs - They stopped thrusting one plinth short of mine, from where there is a pre-existing conduit from the plinth, into my basement - possibly/probably could have used that, saving a whole lot of digging and concrete cutting.

Satyr

64 posts

Master Geek

#1588556 8-Jul-2016 23:09

As an ex UFB installer I'm glad i got out of the industry when I did, Ever since contractors went from being paid T&M to Codes the quality went downhill.
Plus the work is contracted out by chorus, to another company who then sub contracts it to another contractor who gets in another contractor to do the work so the money passes through ten people before getting to the people who are actually doing the work, which is why the installs are being rushed and done badly, especially difficult installs.

My advice is to do as much work as possible to get your property prepared for the install so they are less tempted to cut corners and try and tack it to the fence when they come to install it.

Sideface

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Lifetime subscriber

#1588704 9-Jul-2016 11:22

Cartoon: How fibre is being delivered in some areas - NZ Herald Tuesday Jul 05, 2016

Sideface

Lorenceo

904 posts

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#1588740 9-Jul-2016 11:43

Install here would be simple. Overhead lead in, tack cable down external wall, ONT on opposite side of said wall. Unfortunately there's nothing in the street but deteriorating, slow copper. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

johny99

495 posts

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Inactive user

#1588742 9-Jul-2016 11:51

Had a double take on your post sideface thought you were referencing VF cable.

froob

692 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#1588746 9-Jul-2016 12:05

Saw the Chrous contractors redoing an install up the road this morning. I remember walking past the property a week or so ago and thinking how it looked quite bad. The owners obviously agreed...

It was just the standard aerial install where the cable hits the fascia and runs down a conduit to the ETP. Problem was, they had decided to install it front and centre on the house. The new install is tucked around the corner.

Even when done well, the aerial installs can unfortunately be a bit ugly. It's a real shame when it's installed on the front of an old character villa, bungalow etc.

Guide: Installing Network Cabling in New Zealand Homes

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