Gigatown winner town and plans

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Master Geek
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#1189487 5-Dec-2014 16:33

toaster:
semigeek:
Wicked did say somewhere they would have plans but at a higher price. I guess when you are a smaller company compared to say Orcon , they are unable to offer plans that match the $95 a month.
Less customers = Higher costs. More customers = Lower costs.

I contacted the WIC owner, and he said $95 plan means severe loss, but Orcon is apparently willing to take a few losses at this stage to build up market share.
Makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Well, I intend to take complete advantage of Orcon's desire to gain market share.

RJKing

freitasm

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#1198287 16-Dec-2014 09:34

And Spark announces its Gigatown plans:

Spark today announced it will offer Unlimited gigabit-broadband plans from $99 a month to customers in #gigatowndun (also known as Dunedin) next year. As an extra bonus for winning the Gigatown competition, the technology company will also be installing GigaWiFi on ten of the busiest Spark WiFi hotspots around the city.

Spark Home, Mobile and Business Chief Executive Chris Quin said gigabit speeds over the fibre network would deliver enormous benefits to Dunedin – enhancing educational and business opportunities, as well as allowing people to do more online in their day-to-day lives.

“Our customers love the ultra-fast speeds they’re already getting on our fibre plans, and now with our Gigatown plans we’ll be able to bring locals in Dunedin speeds around ten times faster than those available to most parts of New Zealand.

“Fast fibre connections make a huge difference to our home broadband customers, allowing people to seamlessly watch online-TV services like Lightbox and use data-heavy apps like video-calling and video streaming.

“When it comes to education and agriculture, two very important industries for the Otago region, a fast internet connection is even more important – and in fact can be transformative.”

Early on in the Gigatown campaign Spark committed to installing GigaWiFi on some of the WiFi hotspots the company already has in the winning centre. Around New Zealand, Spark has retrofitted its phoneboxes to be WiFi zones – allowing people to connect to the net without chewing through their mobile data allowances.

GigaWiFi involves Spark installing next-generation super high speed (up to 1 gigabit per second speeds) WiFi hotspots on ten selected phone boxes around Dunedin.

Chris Quin said: “From next year, Dunedin will have some of the fastest commercially available public WiFi in the Southern Hemisphere – and most Spark customers will be able to access 1GB of WiFi data a day for free. Dunedin is a deserved winner of the Gigatown competition and we hope GigaWiFi will be the icing on the cake.”

Mr Quin said Spark is working with the Dunedin City Council to identify which WiFi hotspots would be “gigafied” during the coming months.

Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull said: "Spark is giving Dunedin a fantastic chance to explore the potential of synergies between Gigabit broadband and Gigawifi. It is great to see the extra opportunities that Gigabit UFB is opening up for the city.”

Chris Quin said: “This is an obvious complement because WiFi expands the reach and connectivity of the fibre network. The benefits work both ways, not only does WiFi expand the reach of fibre, but having good fibre connectivity is essential to realising the full potential of WiFi.”

Spark Digital will also be offering medium-to-large business and government clients in Dunedin access to Gigatown Broadband plans, and will be contacting customers directly with information on pricing and other details.

More information on Spark’s gigabit broadband plans may be found at www.spark.co.nz/gigatown

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#1242877 20-Feb-2015 10:13

From Spark:

Spark gives Dunedin locals exclusive Gigatown pre-launch offer

Spark is inviting Dunedin locals to gear up for the launch of Gigatown by offering its fastest Ultra Fibre plans at a discounted price, ahead of launching its official Gigatown plans later this year.

From today, residents of Dunedin in the Gigatown UFB footprint can sign up to Spark’s Ultra Fibre 100 plans for just $79 a month for 80GB ($99 with a landline), or $99 a month for Unlimited data ($119 with a landline). The Ultra Fibre 100 plans offer speeds of around 100mbps upload and 50mbps download.

Spark Chief Executive, Chris Quin says “we want our customers to have a mind blowing experience on the Spark Ultra Fibre Network and so we are right behind Gigatown. However, our Gigatown plans are taking a little longer to deliver than expected, and won’t be available until around the middle of the year.

“In recognition that we don’t have these plans ready for customers as early as we’d like to, we are offering Dunedin locals our fastest Ultra Fibre plans at a heavily discounted price.”

The Ultra Fibre 100 offer comes a month after Spark announced it would shout Spark Broadband customers a 12-month subscription to Internet TV service Lightbox.

“Lightbox gives our customers access to more than 6,000 ad-free hours of insanely good TV. For our customers in Dunedin, this means fibre broadband speeds are suddenly a whole lot more attractive, as they’ll allow you to bingewatch your favourite TV shows on the smoothest, fastest connection available.” said Quin.

Spark is also planning to launch its GigaWiFi service for Dunedin locals later in the year. Spark plans to liven up the ten busiest Dunedin WiFi hotspots with gigabit speeds for Spark Mobile customers to connect to while they are out and about.

And since a Dunedin offer wouldn’t be complete with something for the Scarfies, Spark is offering all tertiary students on the $19 or $29 prepaid pack a beginning-of-the-year boost. Tertiary students who visit the Spark store and present their student ID before 9 April 2015 will have an additional 250MB of data and unlimited calling added to their $19 or $29 prepaid pack for the next 12 months.

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#1243037 20-Feb-2015 13:40

The 100/50 offer for $119 is awesome value considering it's already $109 for Unlimited ADSL+landline in Dunedin with Spark.

Well played Spark

mdooher

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#1244928 23-Feb-2015 15:28

OK
So who should I choose...

What I mean is, forgetting the cost, I want to know which ISP will give me the best GigaUFB experience.

I want to make sure I don't choose one that has some hidden gotya using a sub optimal technology that will cause me trouble down the road. It would also be nice if they were contactable...somehow

I use UFB for Netflix, Dial in VPN access and general stuff that everyone does.

Anyone got any advice on who to choose...or not choose?

thanks

Matthew

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#1244959 23-Feb-2015 16:05

I'd be going Snap or Spark myself. Do you need a phone line? If you you would have to use the FritzBox is you wanted a phone with Snap. Think Spark still use POTS for the phone side of things.

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mdooher

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#1244985 23-Feb-2015 16:28

lxsw20: I'd be going Snap or Spark myself. Do you need a phone line? If you you would have to use the FritzBox is you wanted a phone with Snap. Think Spark still use POTS for the phone side of things.

Yes I should have mentioned:

I use 2 talk for landline, and since Chorus took so long to come back removed the copper with a pair of tree loppers... but in any case I'm happy with my 3rd party VOIP service so am just looking for a naked plan.

Matthew

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#1244986 23-Feb-2015 16:30

Probably go Spark then, they don't seem as pedantic about CPE because they aren't delivering VoIP.

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#1246202 25-Feb-2015 10:23

Received from MyRepublic:

Fibre broadband specialists, MyRepublic are thrilled to be part of the launch of New Zealand’s first Gigatown, Dunedin.

“Gigatown supports our goal at MyRepublic of bringing the ultimate internet experience to all kiwis at affordable prices. We applaud Chorus on the Gigatown competition. It has truly enhanced awareness of the benefits of fibre broadband, and we at MyRepublic are very keen to deliver on our promise and unleash the awesome potential of the UFB rollout for homes, gamers and businesses with an attractive gig service”. said MyRepublic NZ Managing Director, Vaughan Baker.

MyRepublic are today confirming our Gigatown launch offer that launched in Dunedin on 16 February. Until the end of February they are pleased to offer Dunedin residents truly unlimited plans with no fixed term contract plus $10 off their monthly bill. MyRepublic also offer free additional features on all plans to provide the ultimate internet experience. With the fastest speeds in the southern hemisphere, Dunedin residents will be about to make the most of these free add ons:

Free Fibre TV, offers every customer easy, instant access to the latest, most popular content from across the world
500 minutes free national calling
Free installation
Free gigabit capable router

To further enhance the UFB experience, MyRepublic have just launched a range of routers so customers can choose the right one to fit their individual needs. All MyRepublic’s current customers in Dunedin will be automatically upgraded to the Gigatown plan.

Tim Harris, Chief Commercial Officer from Chorus "This is a fantastic opportunity for Dunedin to become a world-class tech and business hub and showcase to the rest of New Zealand what is possible with gigabit services. It’s great to see how much enthusiasm there is in Dunedin for the potential of UFB to transform our communities and boost economic growth.”

For the rest of New Zealand, MyRepublic are actively connecting homes and businesses to the 100Mbps minimum, truly unlimited residential and business services with our range of gigabit capable routers in readiness to migrate the towns to 1Gbps when this becomes commercially viable and available nationwide. MyRepublic will continue to work closely with Chorus and the other local fibre companies to make this a reality for all kiwis in the near future.

In South East Asia, MyRepublic, were responsible for shifting Singapore to the fourth most affordable fibre broadband market in the world. They were the first to introduce 1Gbps services at

a mass market price. Through this shift, the region now have greater opportunities through fast, reliable and affordable internet. MyRepublic look forward to delivering equivalent quantum leaps here in New Zealand.

MyRepublic is excited to be unleashing the full potential of fibre broadband in Dunedin and delivering the ultimate internet experience to all kiwis.

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toaster

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Master Geek
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#1247721 27-Feb-2015 12:29

mdooher: OK
So who should I choose...

What I mean is, forgetting the cost, I want to know which ISP will give me the best GigaUFB experience.

I want to make sure I don't choose one that has some hidden gotya using a sub optimal technology that will cause me trouble down the road. It would also be nice if they were contactable...somehow

I use UFB for Netflix, Dial in VPN access and general stuff that everyone does.

Anyone got any advice on who to choose...or not choose?

thanks

You should choose Orcon. It's a no brainer really. Ever since I've been on their fibre plan I've had next to no problems, maximum advertised speed, minimal outages, very little hassle, and they have people on this forum always willing to help with any issues. Besides, they're the only provider with truly unlimited plans (no silly fair use policies), and have the lowest prices.

I've had other ISPs before at home and at work, and most of them are simply terrible, especially Spark/Telecom and Vodafone/Telstra, and local Dunedin ISPs.

NonprayingMantis

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#1247728 27-Feb-2015 12:39

Interesting that MyRepublic are doing no fixed term contract, albeit only for people who sign up before end of Feb (3 days after the press release was posted)

However, I see they are still touting:

"Free Fibre TV, offers every customer easy, instant access to the latest, most popular content from across the world"

Suspect their customers are going to be very disappointed when they find out that it's just the same as global mode and that they actually they still need to pay to subscribe to Netflix etc.

Slingshot and Orcon etc are marketing 'global mode' in the right way - i.e. it's about removing geoblocks, not giving actual access to the content.

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loceff13

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#1249330 2-Mar-2015 11:51

Snap is offering 1000/500 unlimited with voip phone for $99(Lightwave Home Ultimate) for Dunedin

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#1249423 2-Mar-2015 13:01

how can snap offer such a lower price and give unlimited unshaped data and yet have no speed bumps during peak periods? sounds too good to be true yet everyone rave about them. my UFB date is Sept .... got 6 months to research :D

haydenmarsh

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Ultimate Geek
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#1256352 11-Mar-2015 14:37

Anyone connected up to this yet? can we get some speedtests to NZ, AU, EU and USA servers?

Delphinus

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#1256833 12-Mar-2015 09:22

Set up a customer earlier this week through Snap. This is a speedtest to the Snap Chch server. 1ms ping to the Dunedin server. Sorry about the poor quality image.

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