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siyuan

189 posts

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#236350 29-May-2018 13:42
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We signed up for UFB as soon as it become available early Decemenber last year, I was reasonably optimistic about getting it installed by February this year. The conscent took a couple weeks but we finally got a date for scoping late January. We thought it went well as we are happy with the proposed install plan.

 

Early February, we've had the fibre micro-duct laid down, we were optimistic that the installation would be completed soon. Unfortunately, a week or so later, we received an email from Bigpipe to inform us about a delay to our UFB installation, this is when the nightmare started.

 

We were told that due to the "hazardous condition", the installation date has been rescheduled to early April. We were unable to obtain more details about what the hazardous condition was, we were simply told Chorus would not say. We waited patiently for two months, finally, the install date came, but Chorus didn't send any confirmation email nor a phone call on that day. So we contacted Bigpipe again to find out more, we were told that a Chorus tech had been to the site and advised council approval and traffic management plan are required for the build work to proceed. Shouldn't this have been done soon after the scoping visit? Besides, I thought once the micro-duct is in place, the only work left to do is to blow the fibre from the street to our property? Why would that require council approval and traffic management plan?

 

We waited for another month and still haven't heard anything, so we contacted Bigpipe again. We were told that the build work hasn't been completed and there's no ETA provided. This is even more confusing now, I thought the build work is supposed to be worked out after the scoping visit, not after scheduling a install date twice.

 

It's been over 6 months since we signed up, we are definitely frustrated by the lack of communication from Chorus. It's still unclear when we'll get UFB installed, there just doesn't seem to be an end to it.


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evnafets
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  #2024831 29-May-2018 14:10
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It is frustrating I know.

 

Don't know if it applies in your case, but what held up my installation for a month or so was that the fibre was on the other side of the street, rather than at the bottom of our drive (where it should have been).  Cue months of waiting because it was too wet / dangerous to climb poles to run a line across the road.  This was a relatively quiet suburban street.

 

I presume you live on a busy road if they are talking about "traffic management" ?

 

 




siyuan

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  #2024864 29-May-2018 14:49
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We live on a relatively busy road, but I saw they ran the fibre duct underground from the other side of the street to our side, I assume that's where the fibre will come in from?


MikeAqua
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  #2024871 29-May-2018 15:01
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Does beg the question how did they run the micro-duct and what has changed since then to require a sea of road cones and people in high viz vests.  Possibly a change in rules or a response to an incident.

 

Also possibly an excuse to defer your job to manage work flow.





Mike




pctek
807 posts

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  #2024904 29-May-2018 15:24
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Contact Chorus and ask them.

 

If they have to dig near end of drive or anything, then the traffic management thing might apply.

 

Find out where, what and see if perhaps you can help.

 

We ran our own pipe, and while they cut across drive, we patched it after as well.
So did 75% of ourselves, saved more hassles with ours......


Taubin
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  #2025011 29-May-2018 16:57
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Man that sounds really frustrating. Try pinging Chorus on twitter, they were helpful to inform me that they needed more work before my install was completed, even after BigPipe informed me the installation was fine to go forward and the installer would be here "in a few hours". Apparently Chorus had told BigPipe that 2 days prior, and BigPipe never saw it fit to inform me. It's best to go to the source, especially when dealing with BigPipe, their service people tend to not actually look up what's going on, and instead tell you what they think you want to hear.





ZL2TOY/ZL1DMP


siyuan

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  #2025372 30-May-2018 09:30
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I don't see any Chorus reference number or case number, would Bigpipe have that?


evnafets
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  #2025388 30-May-2018 09:51
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Generally your contact is meant to be with your provider (Bigpipe), not directly with Chorus.  You talk to Bigpipe, they talk to Chorus, who talk to Bigpipe, who get back to you, and you hope nobody drops the ball on the way through...

 

@Chorusnz may be able to provide some support/info for you if you message your details to him. 

 

 


 
 
 

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.
siyuan

189 posts

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  #2031410 7-Jun-2018 13:11
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Just as I thought our fibre is finally getting installed when Chorus came yesterday, they informed me that the drop off point for the fibre has been installed on the pole on the wrong side of the street, they admit that Chorus messed it up. So they'll have to reschedule a time to come back to run a conduit between the poles, but they are only permitted to do so on a clear sunny day. As we head deep into winter, I think we'll have to wait a while longer still...

 

One slightly positive news is that they said the street we live on has been downgraded from level 2 to level 1, meaning that Chorus could sign the consent (for traffic management?) without having to involve Auckland Council. They'll be able to get the job done whenever their schedule and weather permit.


Chorusnz
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  #2031490 7-Jun-2018 15:47
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Hey Siyuan, it’s good to hear things have started moving for you again. If you’d like to PM us with your address we’d be happy to just keep an eye on things for you and make sure the ball continues rolling. ^Richard


TeaLeaf
6325 posts

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  #2031568 7-Jun-2018 17:13
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Well its better than my story so all I can say is congrats.

 

Honestly if you dont own the house, dont bother with UFB, was a waste of tax payers money. We dont have the field force to cope with it, and we have so much red tape when it comes to multi dwellings. It should be a mandatory like telephone lines. if hey dont like it, to .... bad.

 

Also Chorus have to rely on some pretty unskilled sub contractors. I feel sorry for Chorus as its there name that is used generally.

 

I asked one guy, have you ever installed a land line, no, no, way before my time. I then asked how are you going to trace the line with fibre, he said he wasnt he will drill a hole. LOL. Gone is the skill of when I worked in Telecom in the mid 90s and guys could actually do more than drill a hole and feed a piece of fibre through it.

 

Moved to aus and the the NBN came and it too had its own issues.

 

All this, its going to save millions in data and the public will have 1st world communications.

 

I say yes to the first part because the banks and corps arent going to hold their installs up, but as for the public, give it 10 years and we might be in a better place for installs.

 

But one suggestion for Chorus, get UCG learning how to trace copper and even know what a snake is....

 

On the flipside Richard is our Angel on here and does such a good job Im sure chorus have no idea how much hes helped.


quickymart
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  #2031573 7-Jun-2018 17:26
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I rent my property and had no issues getting fibre installed. It was well worth it, IMO.

TeaLeaf
6325 posts

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  #2031636 7-Jun-2018 18:59
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quickymart: I rent my property and had no issues getting fibre installed. It was well worth it, IMO.

 

 

 

single story or multi dwelling?

 

as per owning the property, renting a normal house shouldnt be an issue. but the coverage for ufb isnt that large out of central auck.


siyuan

189 posts

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  #2031843 8-Jun-2018 07:49
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Chorusnz:

 

Hey Siyuan, it’s good to hear things have started moving for you again. If you’d like to PM us with your address we’d be happy to just keep an eye on things for you and make sure the ball continues rolling. ^Richard

 

 

Thanks Richard, PM sent.


Chorusnz
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  #2031934 8-Jun-2018 10:04
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All good Siyuan.

 

 

 

@TeaLeaf you are too kind, happy to have helped mate. Yours was certainly one of the more difficult cases I’ve seen.

 

We do actually get quite a number of installs completed every day without issue, but obviously no one hears about them because happy people don’t make a big song and dance about it. tongue-out

 

However we do agree that the number of install jobs getting delayed is still too high and are working with our service companies to make improvements.

 

^Richard


siyuan

189 posts

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  #2040076 18-Jun-2018 21:44
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After almost 7 months of waiting, we are finally connected on fibre!

 

That's not without challenges though, many thanks to the Chorus tech, they completed a difficult, but fabulous job. They were also patient and nice to deal with, they don't rush things. They started around 10am this morning, and only just completed the installation at 9pm.

 

For some reason, our property is estimated to be about 700m away from the main fibre feed, furthest they've done they've told me. However, the actual cable use was about 1000m! When they completed the installation, I was told the attenuation was only -9.6dBm downstream. It's the first single digit they've seen, despite having to go through 1000m!


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