Diary of a UFB Install with Snap (Chorus LFC)

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naggyman

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

#127455 10-Aug-2013 23:37

PLEASE NOTE: I will update this as things go.

Sunday August 4:
Signed up for Snap via Website.
Plan: Lightwave Home Ultra
100 Mb/s Download
50 Mb/s Upload
150GBs Data
+ Unlimited National Calling
Currently on Telecom Total Home ADSL with 120GBs.

Tuesday August 6:
Fritz!Box 7390 Arrived in the Courier in the Morning. Includes a card inside that says our Snap username and account number and installation instructions (Plug LAN1 into LFC's ONT) along with the router, power supply, analogue phone cable and a snazzy ethernet cable (flash connectors!).

Get a text from Snap in the evening telling us that the install is scheduled for the afternoon of Friday the 16th.

Friday August 9:
Call from Chorus, coming in on Monday to scope out install.

Saturday August 10:
Sniffed around the Fritzbox. I am not sure why the Fritzbox is required for Snap Plus VOIP. The sip settings seem simple and not hidden (Unlike Orcon). I haven't connected the router to any internet connection just in case... (Not sure about what initiates the number port. POTS Telephone still works but we are recently getting quite a few blank calls. Probably not related).

Now is the long wait until Friday for my UFB install!

Morgan French-Stagg

morgan.french.net.nz

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2397 posts

Uber Geek

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Subscriber

#876052 12-Aug-2013 19:26

I signed up at exactly the same time and my connection is also scheduled for this Friday.

Same plan but with unlimited YouTube and an extra 250GB per month on top of the 150GB - we're big users of Apple TV and Roku.

naggyman

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

#876084 12-Aug-2013 20:29

Monday August 12
Chorus came in and mainly told us what we already knew. A 5 minute visit. Will be a areal connection, which will be run under the house through a conduit to a ONT where we have chosen.
INTERESTING TIDBIT: Chorus has told us that they have done 10 other installs in Masterton. I personally have only spotted one other one. It probably is because Snap! and Vibe Communications are the only two ISPs with handovers in Masterton....

Morgan French-Stagg

morgan.french.net.nz

InstallerUFB

840 posts

Ultimate Geek

#876087 12-Aug-2013 20:36

naggyman: Monday August 12 <snip> INTERESTING TIDBIT: Chorus has told us that they have done 10 other installs in Masterton. I personally have only spotted one other one. It probably is because Snap! and Vibe Communications are the only two ISPs with handovers in Masterton....

Haydon (the Install Tech based in Masterton) is currently being booked in for 2 installs a week but that is ramping up as it is here in Palmy (currently 3 installs a day)

JokezNZ

144 posts

Master Geek

#876089 12-Aug-2013 20:38

InstallerUFB:
naggyman: Monday August 12 <snip> INTERESTING TIDBIT: Chorus has told us that they have done 10 other installs in Masterton. I personally have only spotted one other one. It probably is because Snap! and Vibe Communications are the only two ISPs with handovers in Masterton....

Haydon (the Install Tech based in Masterton) is currently being booked in for 2 installs a week but that is ramping up as it is here in Palmy (currently 3 installs a day)

Sorry to go off topic but how much time do you normally see between installing the underground pipes 'til they're allowed to start connecting to houses?

InstallerUFB

840 posts

Ultimate Geek

#876096 12-Aug-2013 20:54

JokezNZ:Sorry to go off topic but how much time do you normally see between installing the underground pipes 'til they're allowed to start connecting to houses?

As a Rule of thumb 2mths from the physical installing of microducting (diging in) till installing of customers - in that time you have -Cabinet construction/ tube testing / fibre feed (cabinet to Terminals (if any) / Fibre back hall (from Exch to cabinet) / terminal construction/ Fibre testing / record creation / sign off to chorus and CFH

shanes

258 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#876144 12-Aug-2013 22:12

naggyman: Monday August 12
Chorus came in and mainly told us what we already knew. A 5 minute visit. Will be a areal connection, which will be run under the house through a conduit to a ONT where we have chosen.
INTERESTING TIDBIT: Chorus has told us that they have done 10 other installs in Masterton. I personally have only spotted one other one. It probably is because Snap! and Vibe Communications are the only two ISPs with handovers in Masterton....

I'm also in Masterton and signed up on the 1st, very similar process to yours.

When the tech came for a visit he told me that the installs are overhead, BUT the pole outside my house didn't have the fibre junction box, the fibre layers had installed a pillar at the end of my drive... so I am lucky enough to get an underground connection.
I had 3 guys turn up today with a digger, 2 1/2 hours to run 15 metres down the drive.
BTW it will be 11 installs by the time they get to you, mine is being installed Thursday :)

naggyman

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

#878210 14-Aug-2013 16:48

Wednesday August 14
Chorus drove up and began the install today. They happened to have a few hours spare. They ran a duct from the pole to our house and installed the junction box. We were away at the time (they asked us first) so they haven't done anything inside. We just opened the junction box and looked inside. They have not blown the fibre yet and they are returning on Friday to complete the install. They were nice enough to leave the copper up (thats why I can write this right now) for the meantime so that we are not without internet for a few days.

Will take some photos later...

Morgan French-Stagg

morgan.french.net.nz

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

dan

1134 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#878226 14-Aug-2013 17:00

thats pretty quick ETAs!

i ordered a snap UFB connection (Grey Lynn, Auckland) on March 15th for a customer

just got installed 2 days ago

naggyman

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

#878963 15-Aug-2013 17:15

Thursday August 15

Took a couple of pictures of what Chorus has done as of yet.

The full install. The aerial wires; Left, Fibre; Right, Copper. Also power is off view to the right.

Different angle on the Aerial installations (Fibre on the left, copper on the right).

Closeup of the spice box. Notice that the conduit comes into it, but not out. Chorus is planning on running the cable out of the box down into the vent at the bottom of the picture. I opened the box yesterday and looked inside. Just a empty plastic tube. Although that hazard sticker wasn't there yesterday, just sitting inside. So maybe chorus has been back and blown the fibre? (Or my dad did it himself)

View of the two cables going to the power pole. The left one is copper, right is fibre. I have noticed that the tensioning system for the fibre conduit is much better than the one for the copper.

Morgan French-Stagg

morgan.french.net.nz

shanes

258 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#878972 15-Aug-2013 17:29

Closeup of the spice box. Notice that the conduit comes into it, but not out. Chorus is planning on running the cable out of the box down into the vent at the bottom of the picture. I opened the box yesterday and looked inside. Just a empty plastic tube. Although that hazard sticker wasn't there yesterday, just sitting inside. So maybe chorus has been back and blown the fibre? (Or my dad did it himself)

Chorus came and finished my install today, I had mentioned this thread, when they left my place and they told me they were going to blow the fibre to your ETP.

naggyman

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

#879722 16-Aug-2013 18:32

Friday August 16
YAY FOR UFB!

The techs came and installed UFB today. Easy work. Our phone number has been ported too, it has been fun using the Fon app for iOS!

The all important speedtest:

I have only been able to get these speeds with Snap's Speedtest server and slightly worse speeds with Telecom's Speedtest. All other NZ servers show ok, but not amazing results.

Sydney:

Pretty good speeds!

Here is the updated ETP:

And the ONT:

Blanked out a serial number thingy...

The conduit, aptly labelled of course!

Morgan French-Stagg

morgan.french.net.nz

naggyman

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

#885941 28-Aug-2013 15:41

Wednesday August 28

Firstly, here is an updated photo of our comms cupboard. Much cleaner now.

From the bottom;

External Hard Drive (Plugged into Fritz!Box)

Power Strip

Raspberry Pi (currently being powered by the Fritz!Box USB port)

Fritz!Box

Old ADSL Router (Currently on Bridge mode, giving us a few more Ethernet ports)

Patch panel (Not completly finished)

After adjusting a few things here is a speedtest journey around the world!

Christchurch:

WellingtonL

Palmerston North:

Napier:

Auckland:

Sydney (WOW!!!):

Honolulu:

San Jose:

Overall, pretty happy with the UFB connection!

Morgan French-Stagg

morgan.french.net.nz

darkasdes2

429 posts

Ultimate Geek

#886117 28-Aug-2013 19:34

Just a bit off topic but I am curious what you are using the Rasperry Pi for in your set up?

naggyman

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

#886313 29-Aug-2013 07:47

At the moment I am not using the Raspberry Pi for much, but it does allow me to SSH into the network and allows for some basic server functions... not much.

This is more of a snap thing but I just did a traceroute to geekzone:

1 fritz.box (192.168.178.1) 0.519 ms 0.583 ms 0.829 ms
2 16.17.69.111.static.snap.net.nz (111.69.17.16) 24.197 ms 24.258 ms 26.131 ms
3 54.32.69.111.static.snap.net.nz (111.69.32.54) 29.392 ms 29.716 ms 29.700 ms
4 23655.syd.equinix.com (202.167.228.156) 58.384 ms 58.395 ms 58.370 ms
5 13335.syd.equinix.com (202.167.228.154) 54.810 ms 54.838 ms 54.798 ms
6 108.162.204.101 (108.162.204.101) 59.379 ms 46.425 ms 47.645 ms

Interesting that my signal goes all the way to equinix in Sydney before it arrives back in New Zealand.

Morgan French-Stagg

morgan.french.net.nz

LennonNZ

2459 posts

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#886318 29-Aug-2013 08:00

naggyman: At the moment I am not using the Raspberry Pi for much, but it does allow me to SSH into the network and allows for some basic server functions... not much.

This is more of a snap thing but I just did a traceroute to geekzone:

1 fritz.box (192.168.178.1) 0.519 ms 0.583 ms 0.829 ms
2 16.17.69.111.static.snap.net.nz (111.69.17.16) 24.197 ms 24.258 ms 26.131 ms
3 54.32.69.111.static.snap.net.nz (111.69.32.54) 29.392 ms 29.716 ms 29.700 ms
4 23655.syd.equinix.com (202.167.228.156) 58.384 ms 58.395 ms 58.370 ms
5 13335.syd.equinix.com (202.167.228.154) 54.810 ms 54.838 ms 54.798 ms
6 108.162.204.101 (108.162.204.101) 59.379 ms 46.425 ms 47.645 ms

Interesting that my signal goes all the way to equinix in Sydney before it arrives back in New Zealand.

Some of geekzone is on cloudflare who are in Au so there is nothing wrong with the traceroute (and no it doesn't go back to NZ after it goes to AU)

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