Orcon Fibre -> Telecom Fibre

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Orcon Fibre -> Telecom Fibre

Domoth

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#132182 11-Oct-2013 14:15

I'm guessing I would be one of the first moving from fibre with one ISP to another since I got my first connection over a year back. Now that my contract has expired, I can give telecom a go. I thought it could be interesting for others wanting to compare these two ISP from a single address.

Some interesting facts so far...
Even though my fibre connection already is installed and working, I still have to pay the $299 standard installation fee (or go on contract for a year). I thought this was weird since I have confirmed they do not need to send any techs out to do anything at my address.

Its only possible to go from Orcon to Telecom if the original installers left the copper installed (for the phone line). This will change later on in the year. I was lucky they did.

I have received the Telecom Modem which is a lot smaller than the genius one. Might actually be able to fit everything in my cabinet now. The genius is a monster in comparison.

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136 posts

Master Geek

#913701 11-Oct-2013 15:05

Hopefully going forwards we'll be seeing $50-$60 administration like switching fees (299.00 just to switch RSP's is a bit steep for a active Fibre connection), I'd say the $299.00 could be possibily something to do with re-living that POTS line of yours or is it actually still completely active?

Also didnt know that they actually had a proper switching process anywhere yet?

alexj

61 posts

Master Geek

#913720 11-Oct-2013 15:52

Yeah did they need to cancel the service with the old provider before the second could connect it up (purely billing-wise) or was it a pure transfer/churn?

Domoth

16 posts

Geek

#913737 11-Oct-2013 16:03

I didn't need to cancel the service with Orcon. It's still in play at the moment (just received the modem this morning) but I am told they will give me a call and I just swap the modems over. Getting my number transferred back to copper is the main delay from what I understand.

l43a2

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#913739 11-Oct-2013 16:12

have you done speedtests, ping tests etc on orcon so we can see any differences? :)

Frane

15 posts

Geek

#913760 11-Oct-2013 16:59

Left Orcon two weeks ago because of occasional micro-outages and video streaming issues (heaps of buffering on Youtube's less popular content). I contacted Orcon helpdesk many times but all help received from them was suggestions about rebooting ONT/router/computer. They also recommended upgrading to the business plan which is apparently a higher quality one.

At the same time I upgraded from 30/10 to 100/50 and the overall experience is that the micro-outages are gone (based on my first 2 weeks with Telecom) and the overseas streaming content gets less buffering. I also got the static IP without the additional surcharge which helps working from home on servers with IP address locking. The Telecom router seems nice, small and packed with features especially for advanced users. Here is the manual http://www.thinkbroadband.com/router-manuals/ST585-CLI_guide.pdf

I monitor my connection externally every minute - see the image.

https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/2989873152

Hope it helps.

Domoth

16 posts

Geek

#913801 11-Oct-2013 18:48

My speed has been pretty consistent from December last year. Before that it was all over the place. My average now to an Auckland server is 94 Mb/s down 40 Mb/s up. My ping started of being 2 - 4 ms (1st 6 months) but these days its always 8ms

Let me know if there are any other before / after tests you would like to see.

Thanks Frane,

I had a lot of the same issues, especially in the beginning. Orcon updated the firmware on my modem and it never rebooted itself again after that. I do have the same issues with YouTube clips so hope to have a better experience like yours on telecom. I was paying the extra $10 for the static IP too so it was nice to have it free on Telecom.

Frane

15 posts

Geek

#913855 11-Oct-2013 20:03

Forgot to mention, another reason to move from Orcon was the absence of any plan over 200 GB which was my original plan available when I joined in July 2012. Due to the nature of my internet usage I didn't want to go into the pool with 'unlimited' users.

Orcon tried to fix my connectivity issues (I received three routers) but the service was generally less reliable than expected. I could not accept their explanation about business plans being higher quality compared to consumer ones where issues are expected. Let's imagine other utility companies applying the same logic.

After a bit more than 14 months with Orcon I recorded 70 downtown periods (see below). In some cases their routers required reboots from home which is unacceptable for customers having house monitoring systems connected via internet. Was I suppose to leave my office and drive back home every time when my remote monitoring tools detect the internet connection at home is down and the router may need a reboot (70 times in 14 months)?

The free English Premier League package received from Telecom was a nice incentive too. More importantly, I hope my overall fibre experience with the new provider improves.

Cheers
F.

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Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

insane

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#913897 11-Oct-2013 22:34

I'm surprised they don't just provision the second ISP onto another port on the ONT a few days before the exiting ISPs RQs the circuit. Would make for a seamless transfer and a few days for the new ISP to get any issues out should there be a problem.

I guess Orcon chose the Genius because its 'easy' to use and allows the average internet user the ability to use VoIP without much hassle. Perhaps in their haste to go to market early not enough real world testing was done to iron out the bugs.

Frane, you sound like you're not new to the game, is there any reason you didn't investigate using a different router if it was such an issue, or does the VoIP have to be provisioned onto the Genius?

Frane

15 posts

Geek

#913909 11-Oct-2013 23:12

During my recent transition to Telecom I was told that the process of switching ISPs with the fibre installed is not well established. I expected issues and had to make a couple of support calls to get the connection working. My effective downtown was just over 12 hours. Probably it could be done better but still acceptable.

For the record, I spent many hours on the phone with the Orcon support team. I think they really tried hard to support me especially in the first weeks of my contract. Their team was very new with the fibre technology at that time and admitted teething issues. As an IT person myself I was mainly ok with that the first couple of months but later and some recent issues requiring router reboots at home drove me crazy. Just imagine emails during my overseas holidays informing me that my home is disconnected from internet/phone/alarm monitoring. Should I cancel my holiday and reboot the router?

VoIP was delivered through Genius, not sure if it was possible to use another router for testing. At some point I got the Genius router with some remote debugging features but never heard about results from Orcon.

I am convinced that Orcon rushed into the UFB market without proper knowledge and procedures in place.

coffeebaron

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#913915 11-Oct-2013 23:34

You should have got the special AlarmNZ kit that automatically reboots your router when it detects broadband down.

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Frane

15 posts

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#913948 12-Oct-2013 01:21

I didn't know about it. Thanks

hamish225

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#913951 12-Oct-2013 03:38

coffeebaron: You should have got the special AlarmNZ kit that automatically reboots your router when it detects broadband down.

sounds interesting, where would one aquire one of these?

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

coffeebaron

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#914017 12-Oct-2013 11:21

https://alarmnz.com/Public/Technology/Broadband/PowerSupplies/Default.aspx

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Domoth

16 posts

Geek

#920473 23-Oct-2013 16:11

Quick update

I had my connection cut over yesterday. My internet stopped around 12:30 pm and didn't start again to about 3 am. 15 hours isn't quite the 30 mins I was told but I didn't expect it to go 100% smooth. I was told Chorus hadn't done their side as the ONT had not been configured at 5:30 when Telecom gave me a call.

Getting my phone back on copper was not straight forward either. Once the tech had found how they left the copper in, it didn't actually go all the way back to my cabinet. He had to join it up at some point half way.

Aside from the slight delay im pretty happy so far. Good coms from Telecom and the Chorus tech was also great.

As for speeds, in real world it seems much the same so far but here is a local speed test.

International speeds don't seem quite so good but ill post those when I have more data.

Batman

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#920546 23-Oct-2013 18:02

Lucky you

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