Cabinet upgrade?

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CraigY

59 posts

Master Geek

#155940 13-Nov-2014 20:19

We are serviced by the cabinet at the Ngutunui School. We checked and got confirmed that the cabinet has fibre service to the school, the rest of us are on ADSL. The problem is that over the last year the night service has dropped to 0.300 Mbps, but at 4am it is 3.200 Mbps. So either the number of customers on the cabinet have increased or have increased their usage of the internet, or the copper feed to the cabinet from Pirongia or Hamilton is itself becoming congested in the evening.

My question is how do I find out if Chorus has a planned upgrade for the cabinet? I know the govt recently increased the funding to upgrade rural cabinets, but last time I checked with Chorus about our cabinet they said there is no broadband service on that cabinet, at least according to their online records. If they don't know about this cabinet then it is likely that we will not see it upgraded.

It does have fibre to the cabinet, so I would think the next step would be to replace the incoming copper link from Hamilton with the fibre link. Just want to check that this is actually happening.

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#1175421 13-Nov-2014 20:19

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

- you have reset your modem and router

- your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing

- you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap

- your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing

- you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

- Your ISP and plan

- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)

- Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)

- Your general location (or street)

- If you are rural or urban

- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin

- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service

- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

- Is your premises phone wiring impacting your broadband performance? (very technical)

- Are you receiving a substandard ULL ADSL2+ connection from your ISP?

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

CraigY

59 posts

Master Geek

#1175433 13-Nov-2014 20:24

We get great service (for a rural house anyway) after midnight .. this is consistent. Before midnight our service drops below 1Mbps, after midnight it is 3.2 Mbps. So it is not due to wiring or anything in the house. I have rebooted the modem many times. I have removed all devices from the network and plugged a laptop directly into the modem. Makes no difference.

The problem is due to evening congestion. Since we get 3.2 Mbps after midnight it says the line between us and the cabinet is good enough to support a solid 3.2 Mbps service. So I think what is needed is to increase the pipe coming into the cabinet so it can be dispersed better to the customers on the cabinet. With fibre at the cabinet seems like we could somehow use that instead of the copper link coming in.

And given that the govt has just increased funding for this to $300 million then I just want to know that our cabinet is scheduled for an upgrade and not forgotten. Would be nice to just have 3 Mbps in the evening.

michaelmurfy

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#1175435 13-Nov-2014 20:27

http://www.chorus.co.nz/maps is what you're looking for. Also search "Outram" before you complain you're not on the maps ;)

sbiddle

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#1175436 13-Nov-2014 20:28

Sounds like you're on a Conklin. Nothing is scheduled for copper for that area, RBI wireless is your solution.

CraigY

59 posts

Master Geek

#1175449 13-Nov-2014 20:42

Checked the Chorus map and it now shows .. excellent. When I was at the FieldDays last year the Chorus guy used his computer and could not find the cabinet.

Anyway, we now know the cabinet exists so thats a good start. But if fibre is already at the school, why would they not upgrade the boards to provide better service to the 50 or so customers on that cabinet?

Also, I am using TrustPower Kinect as the ISP. Do you think I would get better performance (priority?) if I moved over to Spark or Vodafone?

michaelmurfy

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#1175450 13-Nov-2014 20:45

CraigY: Checked the Chorus map and it now shows .. excellent. When I was at the FieldDays last year the Chorus guy used his computer and could not find the cabinet. Anyway, we now know the cabinet exists so thats a good start. But if fibre is already at the school, why would they not upgrade the boards to provide better service to the 50 or so customers on that cabinet? Also, I am using TrustPower Kinect as the ISP. Do you think I would get better performance (priority?) if I moved over to Spark or Vodafone?

Not at all. Each ISP has the same level of access as the rest so you'll get the same speeds. It costs tonnes (as in $200k) to upgrade a cabinet to support newer technologies and for an area with 50 connections it simply isn't worth it.

johnr

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#1175452 13-Nov-2014 20:48

Changing ISP zero difference as you will still be connected to the overloaded Conklin cabinet

Ask around the community see if they will pay for the upgrade

CraigY

59 posts

Master Geek

#1175459 13-Nov-2014 20:54

We had vodafone come out and look at our site to receive RBI wireless .. didn't work .. no signal.

Can we try this .. will an ISP let us install a UFB modem at the school, as if it were installed at our house. Then we privately install a wireless link (with a relay) between the school and our house to carry the UFB service. Will Chorus and an ISP let us do that?

sbiddle

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#1175461 13-Nov-2014 20:57

CraigY: We had vodafone come out and look at our site to receive RBI wireless .. didn't work .. no signal. Can we try this .. will an ISP let us install a UFB modem at the school, as if it were installed at our house. Then we privately install a wireless link (with a relay) between the school and our house to carry the UFB service. Will Chorus and an ISP let us do that?

Yes. That's been an option since early in the year. Other fibres at the school are available for an ISP to provision as a P2P connection.

If you get a group of you together you should be able to put something together for $5k - $10k if you're happy with paying ~$200ish per month for a connection, probably a little less if you could get a reasonable number of people. If you were to do it just for yourself you'll probably be paying about $1000 per month for a connection.

CraigY

59 posts

Master Geek

#1175462 13-Nov-2014 21:00

So setting the capital cost aside, is the monthly connection for UFB $200+ per month? I thought it was more like $80 to $100?

sbiddle

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#1175464 13-Nov-2014 21:02

CraigY: So setting the capital cost aside, is the monthly connection for UFB $200+ per month? I thought it was more like $80 to $100?

UFB, yes. But this isn't a UFB connection, it's a P2P bitstream fibre connection. You're not in a UFB area (and neither is the school) so they don't actually get "UFB" per se. Minimum cost for the connection (can't tell you exactly so these are all ballpark) will be somehere around $500 per month just for the connection, add CIR onto that and backhaul and you're probably looking at around $1000 per month for a 50Mbps connection. I could be a little on the high or low side but I'm not sure what backhaul costs are up that way.

plambrechtsen

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#1175466 13-Nov-2014 21:05

CraigY: We had vodafone come out and look at our site to receive RBI wireless .. didn't work .. no signal.

Can we try this .. will an ISP let us install a UFB modem at the school, as if it were installed at our house. Then we privately install a wireless link (with a relay) between the school and our house to carry the UFB service. Will Chorus and an ISP let us do that?

There has been a fair amount of talk about community wifi and how it could be run. The main stumbling block is who pays for the power , space on school grounds. And if a business is making money does the school get a cut and all sorts of fun complexities.

I say talk to the school's principal and see if they are happy with gear being installed on their site. As that is half the battle.

InstallerUFB

833 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1175467 13-Nov-2014 21:05

The Cabinet is PIR/B and I think its hosted off Te Awamutu via Otorohanga - I think the school will have an RBI fibre connection not a UFB one (differnt equipment to provide the link)

CraigY

59 posts

Master Geek

#1175468 13-Nov-2014 21:09

I see .. a bit disappointing.

Then the next is RBI wireless. The problem is the closest cell towers are on Pirongia mountain, just south of Pirongia. Unfortunately because of the intervening hills, we don't get cellphone coverage. Is there a plan by Telecom or Vodafone to provide a tower between Pirongia (or Otorohanga) and Kawhia to fill in the void between the two towns?

And another option, at the back end of our property we have a hill that overlooks the Waikato valley. If I take my HTC One phone up there I can get 3G service, 5 bars (on the handheld). Does that mean if I put a cellular yagi up there with a 3G modem that I could RBI internet down to the house using a wifi type connection. And if so, what type of performance could I expect? Worse nightmare is I go through all of this only to find out that it has the same level of performance degradation in the evenings due to congestion on the RBI link.

quickymart

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#1175470 13-Nov-2014 21:13

Forgot getting the cabinet upgraded, it will probably never happen. Vodafone's coverage map gives an indication you may (note my use of the word "may") have wireless RBI coverage. I would look into that.

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