No it should not be called red tape

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zhzh

55 posts

Master Geek

#198772 21-Jul-2016 21:01

So after 5 weeks of waiting I'm told that Spark"now working on gaining consent from the power company/council to utilise their power pole for your installation"...

Mt Cook, Wellington, New Zealand

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#1596510 21-Jul-2016 21:06

Five weeks is nothing, it took 8 months in the northern suburbs, though I was one of the earliest UFB users in the area. You have no choice but to be patient, it happens when it happens.

zhzh

55 posts

Master Geek

#1596519 21-Jul-2016 21:27

8 months how did you survive that?

Okay what I don't understand is why they have to ask permissions every single time. Same company used the same power pole for my neighbor about two weeks ago. Can they not simply apply for a general permit then hand in a list at the end of each month?

DarkShadow

1647 posts

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#1596520 21-Jul-2016 21:30

They need to send techs to inspect each pole and make sure it is safe to climb, attach additional cables to it, etc. So can't be blanket approval.

Brumfondl

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#1596525 21-Jul-2016 21:38

And there is at least one story on here of a person having had consent to use the pole refused. Be aware.

I'm in Mt Cook as well and was only held up for about four months, but this was back in 2014 when they were just getting their act together at WE to create a consenting process with Chorus.

froob

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#1597004 22-Jul-2016 18:54

Such a strange contrast to my install - also aerial, also Wellington - literally one week from ordering to completion. Not trying to gloat, just genuinely confused how the experiences could be so different. Why is the consent not obtained as part of the network build in anticipation of individual connection requests? Surely that should be a consideration in the network design, particularly if the consent can actually be refused?

Guide: Installing Network Cabling in New Zealand Homes

Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#1597015 22-Jul-2016 19:31

Most poles are owned by the applicable power company, but some are on private land and therefore can be owned by that landowner. Some poles are found to be unsafe during scoping and require replacement before the techs are allowed to scale them.

All poles are subject to a maximum load, therefore blanket consent is not viable. Consent for individual installations must be obtained with thought given to the total load on the pole.

I don't know why some take a long time to get consent and others don't. From my experience Wellington Electricity seem to take the longest in the country. (and seem to have the most rotten poles which require replacement).

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

Behodar

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#1597039 22-Jul-2016 20:31

Horizon (Bay of Plenty) either offers blanket consent or has a very fast turnaround; the installer came in the morning, realised that they needed to use the pole, and then came back the same afternoon to install it.

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webwat

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#1597700 24-Jul-2016 13:21

Vector has a system where suspect poles are tagged, which may not speed things up but does identify that a particular pole is not allowed to have a ladder lent against it. There have been cases where normal looking poles have fallen over when a tech goes up the ladder.

There are also issues about what fibre is allowed to be run on aerial installs (consents may limit to a single cable that may be replaced but not added to). Since Chorus is supposed to keep the copper intact unless there is no choice, some of jobs may require special composite fibre/copper cable to be specified at the scoping stage and alternatives investigated such as attaching to fence lines.

Time to find a new industry!

DarthKermit

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#1597707 24-Jul-2016 13:29

Looking at the absolute crap weather blowing around Wellington today, it's not surprising that they take a conservative approach re: extra wires strung from power poles.

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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#1597715 24-Jul-2016 13:51

zhzh: So after 5 weeks of waiting I'm told that Spark"now working on gaining consent from the power company/council to utilise their power pole for your installation"...

Mt Cook, Wellington, New Zealand

Issues with poles can be a nightmare. It's why Chorus have tried to minimise use of any WE poles in their build.

Once lodged assuming the pole isn't red flagged consent will normally take 2-3 weeks.

sbiddle

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#1597717 24-Jul-2016 13:52

froob: Such a strange contrast to my install - also aerial, also Wellington - literally one week from ordering to completion. Not trying to gloat, just genuinely confused how the experiences could be so different. Why is the consent not obtained as part of the network build in anticipation of individual connection requests? Surely that should be a consideration in the network design, particularly if the consent can actually be refused?

I'll make an assumption with a 1 week build time that your connection uses a Chorus pole and not a WE one.

froob

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#1597731 24-Jul-2016 14:30

sbiddle:

I'll make an assumption with a 1 week build time that your connection uses a Chorus pole and not a WE one.

The whole install was done on the initial scoping visit, so I would think that was right. Either that, or consent had already been obtained. Chorus has its fibre "black box" located on the pole, and the aerial cable is a single span from there to my house. (Power and HFC also are delivered from the same pole.)

Guide: Installing Network Cabling in New Zealand Homes

zhzh

55 posts

Master Geek

#1597873 24-Jul-2016 21:51

froob:

sbiddle:

I'll make an assumption with a 1 week build time that your connection uses a Chorus pole and not a WE one.

The whole install was done on the initial scoping visit, so I would think that was right. Either that, or consent had already been obtained. Chorus has its fibre "black box" located on the pole, and the aerial cable is a single span from there to my house. (Power and HFC also are delivered from the same pole.)

The pole across the road, which is a timber one, has got fibre box on it.

The pole on my side, a concrete one, is the one needs consent. So it is a WE one?

sbiddle

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#1597901 25-Jul-2016 07:16

zhzh:

froob:

sbiddle:

I'll make an assumption with a 1 week build time that your connection uses a Chorus pole and not a WE one.

The whole install was done on the initial scoping visit, so I would think that was right. Either that, or consent had already been obtained. Chorus has its fibre "black box" located on the pole, and the aerial cable is a single span from there to my house. (Power and HFC also are delivered from the same pole.)

The pole across the road, which is a timber one, has got fibre box on it.

The pole on my side, a concrete one, is the one needs consent. So it is a WE one?

Very likely.

Chorus poles only have Chorus services on them, but I have seen a couple that have VF HFC services running from them as part of the overlead lead-in to avoid an aerial tresspass. Concrete polls are WE and will have power as well as VF HFC services on them.

elpenguino

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#1598537 25-Jul-2016 21:15

zhzh: So after 5 weeks of waiting I'm told that Spark"now working on gaining consent from the power company/council to utilise their power pole for your installation"...

Mt Cook, Wellington, New Zealand

as other have said, grab a book and get comfortable, this might take a while.

The problem i had was incompetent scoping. When each team came to do something they discovered a problem that hadn't been noted during scoping. Instead of all the problems being fixed at the same time, they got fixed one after another.

7 months for me.

worth it in the end .....

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

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