UFB availability - Chorus map versus Telecom Address checker

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hairyfil

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#115690 3-Apr-2013 18:18

Hey all,

So I live on the North Shore on the edge of the UFB coverage area.
A few months ago I watched Chorus install the Fibre on the other side of the street from me, and shortly after I received a flyer saying that I'd soon be able to connect to UFB.

Whoohoooo I thought.

Now that Telecom has launched their Ultra Fibre offering I phoned up to place my order. Telecom promptly told me that my address wasn't covered. What!?!?

Quick check gave me the following....

Reviewing the Chorus map my property has UFB available right now.
Checking Telecom's address checker only the odd numbered properties on the same side of the street gets UFB, and since I'm on the wrong side of the street I'm in the "no plans for UFB ever" bucket.

What further frustrates me is that some of my neighbours on the other side of the road live down long drive ways and are 7x further from the fibre than I am.

Tried twice to talk to someone at Telecom about it but I just get transfered to a line that never picks up.

Checking Snap they have the same address checker result but I wonder if I'll have more luck with a smaller company that offers a better customer service experience.

Oh and my phone line is not over ground so I should be ok on that front!?

Anyone else aware of problems with the address checker OR restrictions on hooking up house on the "wrong" side of the street??

Regards
Phil

sbiddle

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#792595 3-Apr-2013 18:37

Is any cabling there underground or overhead? I'm guessing your connection is an overhead leadin across the street. If so you can't be connected via Telecom because of this and may want to check the other threads on this very topic that are being discussed right now.

You shouldn't have any issues going with any other UFB provider.

DarthKermit

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#792598 3-Apr-2013 18:39

Can you give us the name of your street?

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

hairyfil

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#792605 3-Apr-2013 18:46

Street is Gills Road in Albany Heights.

Copper cabling is overground up the street. However at the edge of my property it is goes through an underground duct to my house. I understood the issue was around copper overground to the property itself and its shouldn't matter where the copper is before my house.

I would have expected that Chorus would be able to push the Fibre cable under the street to the point where my underground duct lives then route it through that to the house itself.

I'm assuming of course that they only lay fibre up 1 side of a street and not both!?

Regards

Phil

LennonNZ

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#792606 3-Apr-2013 18:46

The public maps are only indications if people can get UFB/VDSL/ADSL etc and the ISPs can do prequals to actually check if you actually can get service.

You getting the Flyer saying you can get UFB was probably a mistake by whoever put them down the street.

Chorus cannot do every street/road etc right now and people have to wait. There will be some areas which are exactly like you. They cannot go under the street to get to people on the other side of the road. They have to run it along you side of the road first which mostly Chorus has no plans as of yet when it will be done.

All that ISP's (telecom, Orcon, SNAP etc) just go off what Chorus' system says so you will get the same results from all of them. Maybe you can go to VDSL at the moment (if you are not already on it) as its quite similar in speed to the 30/10 UFB Service.

DarthKermit

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#792607 3-Apr-2013 18:52

hairyfil: Street is Gills Road in Albany Heights.

Copper cabling is overground up the street. However at the edge of my property it is goes through an underground duct to my house. I understood the issue was around copper overground to the property itself and its shouldn't matter where the copper is before my house.

I would have expected that Chorus would be able to push the Fibre cable under the street to the point where my underground duct lives then route it through that to the house itself.

I'm assuming of course that they only lay fibre up 1 side of a street and not both!?

Regards

Phil

The Chorus site is weird: if you toggle the "UFB Zones" on, then toggle the UFB on, the latter extends out further than the former.

This is over the top of your road.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

RalphFromSnap

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#792608 3-Apr-2013 18:52

Hi Phil,

PM us your full address and we will confirm if you can get UFB!

Thansk
The Ralph

Snap

0800 BROADBAND (276 232)
www.snap.net.nz

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sbiddle

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#792613 3-Apr-2013 19:05

hairyfil: Street is Gills Road in Albany Heights.

Copper cabling is overground up the street. However at the edge of my property it is goes through an underground duct to my house. I understood the issue was around copper overground to the property itself and its shouldn't matter where the copper is before my house.

While the leadin on your property is underground but there is an overhead drop across the road for your existing copper? If so this would explain the issue.

hairyfil

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#792616 3-Apr-2013 19:07

So why does the fibre have to follow the copper wiring?
I get why they would want to keep it underground to the property, and if there isn't an existing underground route then that would be a problem. But surely it shouldn't matter what the copper does outside of my property.

I should also point out that the odd numbered houses on the other side of the street are no different to me regarding the run of their copper. Their side good - my side bad.

sbiddle

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#792618 3-Apr-2013 19:12

hairyfil: So why does the fibre have to follow the copper wiring?
I get why they would want to keep it underground to the property, and if there isn't an existing underground route then that would be a problem. But surely it shouldn't matter what the copper does outside of my property.

Am I wrong?

The issue isn't the leadin, it's the other overhead copper and the fact Chorus are pretty much adopting a 1 1 for 1 swap for any overlead drops to comply with some local body regulations on pole usage.

Rather than everybody repeating everything whcih has already been discussed in a couple of other threads in here over the past couple of days you might want to check out the other threads.

hairyfil

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#792632 3-Apr-2013 19:48

Thanks Sbiddle - I'll read up some more.

hairyfil

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#795928 10-Apr-2013 07:24

A quick update.

After have two failed attempts at discussing this with Telecom I called Chorus. While I was on the phone they confirmed that my address was within the UFB however the address database, which is then sent to providers, did not have my address listed. The very helpful lady at Chorus promised to look into this, check to see why there was a discrepancy and fix it. A week later she phone me back to say that I was right, the address database was in error. Updates would be made to the database that day for the whole side of my street and that would then automatically filter through to the providers in the next 24 hours or so.

Very helpful people at Chorus, great service.

The next thing will be to see if they have any issues with my existing underground conduit.

thanks for everyone's help and advice

cheers
Phil