Is Snap! UFB good?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Is Snap! UFB good?

RayAllen34

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Topic # 157510 3-Dec-2014 11:22

Hi,

I am currently with Spark on the 150GB ADSL plan and I can now get Fibre according to the Chorus website and a Spark representative.
I am not liking my current plan as well, switched from Orcon to Spark and my speed went from 8-9Mbps to 4-5Mbps, it also struggles to load youtube videos alot of the time.
Spark fibre plans also seems more expensive than other ISPs so I have been looking around and the Snap! Lightwave Home 100 Unlimited plan caught my eye.

https://myaccount.snap.net.nz/signup/home

Is Snap! good? Their plans have no traffic management or fair use policies.
I live in the Te Atatu Peninsula area (West Auckland).

These are the unlimited Fibre 100 plans I looked at:
Spark: $139/month (traffic management policies, copper phoneline)
Vodafone: $115/month (traffic management policies, copper phoneline)
Orcon: $125/month (No traffic management policies, Orcon Genius VoIP)
Snap!: $109/month (No traffic management policies, Snap Plus phone service - VoIP)

Thanks,
Raymond

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Reply # 1187810 3-Dec-2014 11:22

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.

sidefx

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Reply # 1187835 3-Dec-2014 11:28

My experience with snap on VDSL has been excellent. Sadly I can't get UFB yet, but I have every intention of going with snap when I can. They did seem to have some teething issues early on with UFB, but so did all ISPs I think.

lxsw20

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Reply # 1187839 3-Dec-2014 11:33

I'm happy with Snap for UFB. The only thing I don't like is they make you use the FritzBox if you want phone services. I understand the reasons but still a little annoying.

DravidDavid

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Reply # 1187857 3-Dec-2014 11:39

One person supports this post

I'm not with Snap! Personally, but can tell you that over the years, majority of the forum who is with them are quite happy. Their staff regular this forum and are very helpful and have even helped out in places where issues were not directly related to Snap!

Sometimes what you don't get is a blessing in disguise!

billgates

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Reply # 1187859 3-Dec-2014 11:41

Very happy with their speed and performance on UFB plans.

Do whatever you want to do man.

hio77

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Reply # 1187864 3-Dec-2014 11:46

Ild say you will be VERY happy with snap :)

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

RayAllen34

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Reply # 1187881 3-Dec-2014 12:29

Thanks everyone, I know what I need to do now :)

timmmay

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Reply # 1187902 3-Dec-2014 12:57

2 people support this post

I'm very happy with Snap performance. Customer service is significantly better than the industry average, they put TC/Vodafone to shame. I posted a comment here on an existing thread recently about my IP address changing regularly, Ralph noticed my comment, had someone call me, and fixed it. I wasn't even particularly bothered, I just noticed because I have some services locked to my IP and had to modify the IP address sometimes.

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hio77

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Reply # 1187904 3-Dec-2014 13:02

One person supports this post

timmmay: I'm very happy with Snap performance. Customer service is significantly better than the industry average, they put TC/Vodafone to shame. I posted a comment here on an existing thread recently about my IP address changing regularly, Ralph noticed my comment, had someone call me, and fixed it. I wasn't even particularly bothered, I just noticed because I have some services locked to my IP and had to modify the IP address sometimes.

Thats the thing about snap, they look after you!

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Noodles

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Reply # 1187926 3-Dec-2014 13:24

Have Snap at home (UFB 100/50) and work (UFB 200/200), overall they've been great. It's usually easy to get hold of their NZ based helpdesk 24/7

eth

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Reply # 1187943 3-Dec-2014 14:03

RayAllen34:

These are the unlimited Fibre 100 plans I looked at:
Spark: $139/month (traffic management policies, copper phoneline)
Vodafone: $115/month (traffic management policies, copper phoneline)
Orcon: $125/month (No traffic management policies, Orcon Genius VoIP)
Snap!: $109/month (No traffic management policies, Snap Plus phone service - VoIP)

To add to that list:

BigPipe: $79/month, Unlimited 100/20, No traffic management policies, No phoneline (Only in Auckland currently)
MyRepublic: $99/month, Unlimited 100/20, No traffic management policies, VoIP included
MyRepublic: $109/month, Unlimited 100/50, No traffic management policies, VoIP included

Just signed up for the $99 100/20 MyRepublic plan last week and now waiting for the install so I haven't actually used their services yet but I've had a good impression so far. Could be worth a look as they have a free three month trial to decide whether you like them or not.

I haven't used them myself but from what I've heard Snap provides a really good service. They won the best ISP award for a few years in a row too.

RayAllen34

14 posts

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Reply # 1187998 3-Dec-2014 14:47

eth:
RayAllen34:

These are the unlimited Fibre 100 plans I looked at:
Spark: $139/month (traffic management policies, copper phoneline)
Vodafone: $115/month (traffic management policies, copper phoneline)
Orcon: $125/month (No traffic management policies, Orcon Genius VoIP)
Snap!: $109/month (No traffic management policies, Snap Plus phone service - VoIP)

To add to that list:

BigPipe: $79/month, Unlimited 100/20, No traffic management policies, No phoneline (Only in Auckland currently)
MyRepublic: $99/month, Unlimited 100/20, No traffic management policies, VoIP included
MyRepublic: $109/month, Unlimited 100/50, No traffic management policies, VoIP included

Just signed up for the $99 100/20 MyRepublic plan last week and now waiting for the install so I haven't actually used their services yet but I've had a good impression so far. Could be worth a look as they have a free three month trial to decide whether you like them or not.

I haven't used them myself but from what I've heard Snap provides a really good service. They won the best ISP award for a few years in a row too.

O yep, I looked at those.
Need a phoneline so BigPipe was out of the picture and was 50/50 about MyRepublic, heard some good and bad things about it.

eth

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Reply # 1188138 3-Dec-2014 18:02

RayAllen34:

O yep, I looked at those.
Need a phoneline so BigPipe was out of the picture and was 50/50 about MyRepublic, heard some good and bad things about it.

That's why we ended up signing up for MyRepublic, every ISP seems to have a lot of negative feedback, which often is actually due to things out of their control such as another ISP or the LFC, so it's hard to judge if they are good before signing up for a 12-24 month contract which means you are stuck with them if they are bad. MyRepublic and BigPipe (and I think a few others) have trial periods during which you can leave any time. If MyRepublic ends up being bad we will just change to another ISP after the 3 month trial.

Even Snap from which I had only heard good things about for the last few years has had a number of comments recently saying that they are going downhill so I'm not sure what to think about them now. On the other hand, I have always heard terrible things about Slingshot yet we have been with them for 10 years and have had almost no issues and are happy with their service so I think it is just the vocal few who have had a bad experience with their ISP that you hear from, even though most customers are satisfied with their service. The lack of home phone put me off BigPipe but one option to consider is to pay $10 for 2talk VoIP which would make the monthly cost on BigPipe 100/20 plus home phone $89 which is actually quite good.

Anyway good luck with whatever ISP you end up choosing!

Aredwood

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Reply # 1188368 4-Dec-2014 00:53

Im with Snap and yes Im happy with them. Also 1 of the flatmates works for Vodafone and he really likes Snap UFB as well. If you do online gaming then definitely go with Snap. As they had the lowest Ping when I last checked the Truenet results. And have managed to get a download running at 180mbit from Steam servers. Also the Fritzbox can directly communicate with some models of DECT cordless phones. Which means you can have end to end VOIP without any analogue phone cabling. And there is a smartphone APP to go with the fritzbox. Which allows you to make landline calls from your cellphone when you are within WIFI coverage of the fritzbox.

RayAllen34

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Reply # 1188857 4-Dec-2014 19:15

eth:
RayAllen34:

O yep, I looked at those.
Need a phoneline so BigPipe was out of the picture and was 50/50 about MyRepublic, heard some good and bad things about it.

That's why we ended up signing up for MyRepublic, every ISP seems to have a lot of negative feedback, which often is actually due to things out of their control such as another ISP or the LFC, so it's hard to judge if they are good before signing up for a 12-24 month contract which means you are stuck with them if they are bad. MyRepublic and BigPipe (and I think a few others) have trial periods during which you can leave any time. If MyRepublic ends up being bad we will just change to another ISP after the 3 month trial.

Even Snap from which I had only heard good things about for the last few years has had a number of comments recently saying that they are going downhill so I'm not sure what to think about them now. On the other hand, I have always heard terrible things about Slingshot yet we have been with them for 10 years and have had almost no issues and are happy with their service so I think it is just the vocal few who have had a bad experience with their ISP that you hear from, even though most customers are satisfied with their service. The lack of home phone put me off BigPipe but one option to consider is to pay $10 for 2talk VoIP which would make the monthly cost on BigPipe 100/20 plus home phone $89 which is actually quite good.

Anyway good luck with whatever ISP you end up choosing!

Ah yep, thats a good idea

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