Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


unsignedint

69 posts

Master Geek


#210360 24-Mar-2017 10:41
Send private message

I thought I would send in a review for a smaller ISP that I have been using for the last 6 months -- MynxNet. Unfortunately, the name isn't great (IMHO), but they are actually owned and run by Vibe Communications, a large NZ wholesale/business provider. My review is based on Chorus Fibre 200/20 in the Wellington/Lower Hutt region.

 

Customer Service and Support
Adequate. They are a much smaller provider so probably have limited staff. I did call them up to ask a few questions before signing up. However I think email is preferred for all support. I think I have generally had a support reply within 24 hours to my minor issues/inquiries. However, some of the Vibe management are actually members of this forum and I have received stellar service from them via PM.

Pricing
List pricing is on the high side. *However* I signed up with a 15% off coupon code "PROMO15DISC" which is still active. This brings the pricing down to be pretty competitive IMHO. That works out to about:
Unlimited 100/20 incl static IP = $84.15/mo
Unlimited 200/20 incl static IP = $101.15/mo
Unlimited 1000/500 incl static IP = $131.75/mo

 

Every plan is unlimited, includes static IP, and there are no contracts. So on the whole I think it's pretty competitive.

 

Network
The Vibe network is great, with a mix of "premium" bandwidth and lots of peering: http://bgp.he.net/AS45177. According to http://bgp.he.net/country/NZ it is the most "connected" network in New Zealand. Internet bandwidth is not a utility like water, there are measurable differences in quality, and of course pricing. Vibe's high network quality results in very good performance across the board. I had some latency results here: https://gist.github.com/unsignedint/6aa9b35d0202509f91b38a7957d6a3e6

 

With respect to "real world" speeds, my 200/20 connection is easily maxed out with pretty much any local/Australian content. Testing internationally, to the USA, I have downloaded a 1GB test file at 13MB/s average:

 

$ wget http://103.13.117.1/test1000.zip -O /dev/null
Connecting to 103.13.117.1:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 1073741824 (1.0G) [application/zip]
Saving to: ‘/dev/null’
100%[====================================>] 1,073,741,824 14.5MB/s in 81s
2017-03-20 23:16:14 (12.7 MB/s) - ‘/dev/null’ saved [1073741824/1073741824]

 

A negative with the network is that they currently only have a single UFB presence in Auckland. If I want to connect to a server in Wellington traffic is routed, WLG -> AKL -> WLG, leading to higher latencies. However, they have told me that they are planning to install a new presence in WLG soon.

 

A minor note is that I have detected several routes which seem to be "biased" by the large connectedness into weird routes. (For instance, connected to a site in Germany going via Singapore then back to the US, and a site in New York going via London). I would definitely say these are outliers. That said, they are very responsive to correcting these, which is great). I do wonder if its possible to actually test and optimise for this automatically?

 

IPv6 is also available, but admittedly I have not tested it.

Conclusion
I would highly recommend MynxNet / Vibe Communications for anyone who does not need a lot of support and assistance. If you are technically inclined you will have access to an excellent network, with no contracts, unlimited traffic, and static IPs, for a competitive price (with coupon). Moreover you get a support a small local company smile

 

However, I would be hesitant to recommend them if you need hand-holding and assistance configuring your modem, phone line etc. Honestly I'm not sure how well they can cater to those needs.


Create new topic
deadlyllama
1260 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #1746968 24-Mar-2017 11:54
Send private message

That 15% discount makes their prices much more reasonable!  I almost switched to them a year or two ago.  If I'd known about that discount I definitely would have.




MichaelNZ
1385 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Integrity Tech Solutions

  #1747297 24-Mar-2017 21:05
Send private message

My experience of Vibe was a company who charged very-premium prices for data and delivered average-deteriorating performance.





WFH Linux Systems and Networks Engineer in the Internet industry | Specialising in Mikrotik | APNIC member | Open to job offers


Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.