Chorus - odd build quote

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simpsonr

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#250919 31-May-2019 16:30

Hi All

Hoping someone from Chorus is floating about that could perhaps help (considering the ISP in the middle may confuse things).

Long story short -

I own house in semi rural area, near West Melton/Rolleston

The house has been previously connected to DSL broadband by the prior owner AND by tenants we had there while we worked through a move, so was connected to copper, I think even VDSL, as recently as last year.

I request a connection through ISP (BigPipe) and they cannot connect the property claiming that they need to complete a $3200 network build to do it - which is about a 16 year payoffs the alternative service (RBI) so not something I will consider.

Why would it suddenly be so hard to connect - gut feel is its to to with port capacity, but the quotes are pretty vague and bang on about having to bring the copper to our boundary because it doesn't run close enough. Considering it's been previously connected to DSL it seems surprising, and there have hardly been workmen up and down the road ripping out copper lines.

Anyone that can help clear up would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Rob S

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#2249205 31-May-2019 16:34

@ChorusNZ

What does the ChourNZ checker say for the address?

https://www.chorus.co.nz/tools-support/broadband-tools/broadband-checker

wellygary

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#2249206 31-May-2019 16:36

Is the Connection still in place ( physically) ie if you plug a phone in and lift the handset what happens.....

simpsonr

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#2249208 31-May-2019 16:39

Hi Guys

Checker says VDSL available (although a bit far from cab for best connection I suspect). Cab is corner Hoskyns/Pearces/Newtons

To be fair, I haven't tried plugging a handset in and lifting it, but I will this weekend - to best of my knowledge no copper has been ripped up or off Hoskyns since it was connected by our tenant.

Thanks

Rob

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#2249211 31-May-2019 16:44

Has the house got an ETP on the side of it somewhere?

simpsonr

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#2249234 31-May-2019 16:57

Pretty sure I've seen it, but I'll double check tomorrow (am up in Auckland at present which complicates all this stuff) - phone jacks (house is from 95ish), pre-DSL era monitored alarm etc suggest that it connected to something. Pretty sure I know where the lead in goes in too

toejam316

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#2249247 31-May-2019 17:31

Records and reality don't always mesh - it could be that the address you are at presents as something else in Chorus' records, or a myriad of other issues, I've been to a couple of sites as a build tech where there was a job placed and quoted for, ready to go, and I've just popped open a nearby terminal and said "This is your service lead, I'm rejecting the job, you're already to go" Admittedly I can count the number of times I've done it on one hand, but it does happen.

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#2249259 31-May-2019 18:15

toejam316:

Records and reality don't always mesh - it could be that the address you are at presents as something else in Chorus' records, or a myriad of other issues, I've been to a couple of sites as a build tech where there was a job placed and quoted for, ready to go, and I've just popped open a nearby terminal and said "This is your service lead, I'm rejecting the job, you're already to go" Admittedly I can count the number of times I've done it on one hand, but it does happen.

Exactly this, sounds like a records issue.

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simpsonr

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#2250959 4-Jun-2019 11:06

Yeah I suspect it is too.

I found the lead in wire over the weekend, didn't take the top off to check there were actually wires in it.

No ETP, the wire to the house was likely put in when it was built and looking where the lead in is, it is in line with all the services, the reasonable assumption being it was put in when the house was being built, and will follow the trench with power/water and comes up through conduit in the concrete pad. This is some 50m from the driveway in the shelter belt.

Phone plugged into line is not dead as in no speaker activity at all, it's kind of hard to describe but like a small amount of sound like an amp with no source playing (if that makes any sense at all)?

BarTender

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#2251029 4-Jun-2019 12:09

I would not touch the pillar on the roadside as that is Chorus equipment and if you break it Chorus will charge you.

You should typically get a disconnected tone but depending on if you have a house alarm it could be the alarm generating the sound on the line.

Could also be if there is a cabinet you are jumpered to the DSLAM but have been unjumpered from the copper feeder in the cabinet back to the exchange.

Really you want to find your lead-in where the cable enters the house and isolate it from everything in your house. It should be a thick black cable about 7mm or so with two pair that will be perhaps shielded, but gel filled. One will be an active pair and the other is spare.

It may be worth your while connecting with Spark as they are the ones who will make an effort to see if you did previously have a connection and not charge you the new connection fee. While Bigpipe may be owned by Spark the reps won't necessarily have the same ability to investigate previous connections and say if it's an intact or new connection.

dt

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#2251128 4-Jun-2019 14:04

have you tried another ISP and see what they say?

Had a mate im a similar situation.. I dont understand it quite right but it had something to do with the ISP not having any "tails?" into the exchange so were trying to charge him for their build.. or something.. he tried another ISP that had local equipment and it was no charge to connect up

Chorusnz

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#2251782 5-Jun-2019 09:33

My apologies for being late to the party all.

Two things come to mind here; 1) This may well be a records issue. Copper records are, not great to say the least. The order may have been placed against an address record that’s never had a connection and so our automation has decided we need to build in network.

2) It may well be that there are no available pairs left to provide a connection. If so then you would either need to wait for availability or pay to have a new pair connected.

Obviously this is just off the top of my head. @simpsonr if you want to send through a PM with your address I can look into the details properly to see what’s happening. ^Richard

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simpsonr

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#2251810 5-Jun-2019 10:07

Awesome - thanks Richard, have PM'd

simpsonr

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#2252233 5-Jun-2019 17:33

Solved

To close off - it's lack of capacity in the line running past the house, and should be a port-waiter. I really appreciate Richard @Chorusnz taking the time to investigate and come back to me on this, and to be fair to BigPipe they have been really good about cancelling the requests.

Port-waiter is always going to be 'how long is some string' to an extent, so next step is going to be mounting antennas, and scanning the forums for best antenna set ups (and preparing myself for the joy of working on the roof and in the ceiling, at least it's winter and not a million degrees...)

Thanks everyone for their contributions.

Rob S