HELP! Best broadband option for Hamilton

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › HELP! Best broadband option for Hamilton

slackerz

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#139527 12-Feb-2014 00:22

Hi guys just made the move to Hamilton and deciding which ISP I should go for. Previously was on Vodafone which I was very happy with but I'm aware there are better ISPs out there. Unfortunately the place we are moving to is out of the VDSL/UFB network. I do download, youtube, stream often. I would say I would use around 100GB a month so an unlimited plan (or one with high data cap) will suffice

Initially I was tossing between Slingshot and Orcon, but following negative feedback on geekzone and friends have gone off Orcon. So at the moment Slingshot is on the top. However I am curious about Snap and the new kid, BigPipe

Thoughts, advice and suggestions would be great. Both from local Hamiltonians as well the rest of the geekzone community will be awesome

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michaelmurfy

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#984681 12-Feb-2014 00:55

I'm on Bigpipe and experience some pretty impressive speeds, especially with International. What area are you in? Might be worth to punch your address into http://www.chorus.co.nz/maps to see what max speed you can expect.

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slackerz

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#986450 12-Feb-2014 22:05

St Andrews. On ISP sites, it says USB will be fitted in to the area by April 2015 :(. I did the CHorus thing and it says >10Mbps......

eXDee

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#986468 12-Feb-2014 22:16

St andrews area is a mix. You're hanging off the Te Rapa exchange next to Fairview Motors. From looking at the map, there are very few cabinets in this area, except down Delamare down by the river.

For Fibre, its ultrafastfibre you want to use as a source in hamilton:
http://www.ultrafastfibre.co.nz/getting-connected/address-finder

As for ISPs, go with whoever is the best deal for you tbh. Most ISPs are going to perform the same here as elsewhere.
You might want to go with the big mainstream options, maybe with a bundle of phone/net/mobile etc with telecom and vodafone.
You might want an unlimited plan with orcon or unlimited without phone with bigpipe.
You might want snap who offer unlimited just in their offpeak period, but may offer more consistent results than a fully unlimited plan (anecdotal).

Personally i'm on the latter, using VOIP on naked dsl. It works great.

slackerz

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#986503 12-Feb-2014 23:02

cheers eXDec. Yup have checked out ultrafastfibre website and UFB will be rolling out at my end of St andrews by april 2015.. oh well

Just tossed the various options... Think we will be going for either the slingshot or Orcon. Leaning towards Slingshot $89 plan for 200GB which will be more than sufficient for me. Would rather have a cap data and guarantee no throttling... Unless people would recommend Orcon over Slingshot? Truenet seems to rate SLingshot pretty well (on par with Orcon really)...

michaelmurfy

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#986521 13-Feb-2014 00:09

Bigpipe don't throttle. I personally wouldn't touch Slingshot with a 10ft pole if you're wanting decent speeds. Also Bigpipe are cheaper than Slingshot / Orcon for unlimited + are free until the end of march and don't have a contract.

slackerz

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#987007 13-Feb-2014 21:25

hey michael.. thanks for that. Seem to hear such conflicting reports re: Slingshot/Orcon. Some swear by it and others downright detest it. A lot of people seem to say that if you don't get the unlimited plan, they don't throttle your speeds, is that true??

I'm aware of BigPipe's wellpriced plans problem is my partner wants a home phone line (and she ain't tech savvy enough) to use VOIP etc.

ARGH!

eXDee

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#987056 13-Feb-2014 22:50

I personally wouldn't go near Slingshot either. Orcon is improving, and i'd pick over slingshot.

However since i'm with Snap, so i can give a bit of detail on what they offer too.
$90/month will get you 150gb but you get unlimited between 1am and 7am. This is using Snap Plus voip service which is very straightforward. the fritzbox they supply is your modem, which also does wireless.
It does all the voip stuff for you, so its as if you have a normal landline, you just plug phones into it with normal phone jacks or if they are standard dect (not uniden dect) you can connect them directly.

I have this set up at my parents house too and they don't even notice the difference except the call quality got better after swapping to VOIP. And having caller ID, call waiting, free voicemail (including sending to email) etc is all included. Plus other voip stuff you can tinker with like connecting a PC or a smartphone as a voip client over your network.

You can go with a landline instead but i think its $5 more and you get less features.

BigPipeNZ

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BigPipe

#987077 13-Feb-2014 23:56

slackerz: hey michael.. thanks for that. Seem to hear such conflicting reports re: Slingshot/Orcon. Some swear by it and others downright detest it. A lot of people seem to say that if you don't get the unlimited plan, they don't throttle your speeds, is that true??

I'm aware of BigPipe's wellpriced plans problem is my partner wants a home phone line (and she ain't tech savvy enough) to use VOIP etc.

ARGH!

Have you considered just using your mobiles for voice?

With the amount of minutes you can get these days on mobile plans, coupled with something like Skype for international calling, there is not much real need for a landline for a lot of people (whether traditional or VOIP)

I've totally cut the landline at my house, just relying on mobile for voice and it's just fine, I don't use up anywhere near the amount of minutes in my plan, and neither does my wife.

bigpipe.co.nz
https://www.facebook.com/BigPipeNZ
https://twitter.com/BigPipeNZ

surfisup1000

5078 posts

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#987091 14-Feb-2014 03:16

Snap work great for me .... and I was a long term telecom customer very reluctant to try anyone else. While you can get teething troubles during installation, once you are up and running the service is very fast an reliable.

As for voip--- you cannot even tell the difference between a normal phone and voip as you can plug in your existing phones into the fritzbox fon ports.

slackerz

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#987821 15-Feb-2014 16:24

Lots of great support for Snap. Looked into their website, they have heavy setting up costs. The cheapest it gets is if you sign up to a 24 month contract which gets you a free set up, modem but you still have to $199 for installation! Not sure if I like the idea of commiting to one ISP for 2 years even though it has a good track record

michaelmurfy

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#987853 15-Feb-2014 16:51

Just use mobiles like the rest of us and go for the only open term option around here ;)

Sounddude

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Vocus

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#987854 15-Feb-2014 16:57

slackerz: hey michael.. thanks for that. Seem to hear such conflicting reports re: Slingshot/Orcon. Some swear by it and others downright detest it. A lot of people seem to say that if you don't get the unlimited plan, they don't throttle your speeds, is that true??

orcon doesnt throttle any of its plans, including unlimited.

no fair use policy either.

slackerz

6 posts

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#988014 15-Feb-2014 21:46

So it is fair to say Orcon>Slingshot as of 2014? They have been back and forth over the last few years

myfullflavour

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#988016 15-Feb-2014 21:56

Check any prospective ISPs Facebook for feedback from current customers.

There are a couple ISPs getting a constant stream of complaints about speed that gives off a warning signal.