Big Pipe Vs Skinny

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Big Pipe Vs Skinny

johny99

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#260138 12-Nov-2019 16:13

Hi All,

Looking to have fibre installed, as Big Pipe and Skinny fibre has finally arrived in my neck of the woods. AFAIK BP and Skinny are essentially the same, am i missing any critical POD things?

I do not have the need for a static IP, I know Skinny is CGNAT, is BP the same now days? if a Static option is not taken? the broadband compare site indicates that BP will work out more cost effective, as they have a 3 month free deal. $59.52 p/m BP (taking into account the 3 months free) Vs $78 p/m Skinny for 100/20 unlimited on a 12 month term.

Thank you in advance.

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#2352361 12-Nov-2019 16:21

It depends what you're looking for. Do you want to be able to call in the event you need help, or are you happy with email support?

FWIW there's no CGNAT on Bigpipe or Skinny Unlimited. Also worth noting you can use any router you like on Bigpipe, whereas with Skinny Unlimited you'll need to get one of their supplied modems as part of your connection.

johny99

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#2352363 12-Nov-2019 16:23

Email support is just fine, how is there email support?

jonathan18

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#2352368 12-Nov-2019 16:35

johny99:

Email support is just fine, how is there email support?

Their email support can be patchy, based on my own experience and that of others reported here.

Email-only support sounds good until... it's not. Have a search for some threads here on GZ to read of others' experiences.

Personally, I'd not return to BigPipe based solely on the limited support channels. There are other good RSPs out there that provide a full contact centre and who offer internet at a similar or potentially better price, so can't see the need to go there.

nztim

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#2352379 12-Nov-2019 16:50

Bigpipe have been fine for me, once I was setup it never has gone down and have 100/100 plan, also they dont use tagged VLAN10 which is irritating when you want to swap out a faulty router in a hurry and have to create sub interfaces etc

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2352381 12-Nov-2019 16:56

nztim: Bigpipe have been fine for me, once I was setup it never has gone down and have 100/100 plan, also they dont use tagged VLAN10 which is irritating when you want to swap out a faulty router in a hurry and have to create sub interfaces etc

On the other hand, they also use PPPoE, so you've got that additional irritation (and much more significant limitation) as well.

nztim

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#2352386 12-Nov-2019 17:38

SirHumphreyAppleby:
nztim: Bigpipe have been fine for me, once I was setup it never has gone down and have 100/100 plan, also they dont use tagged VLAN10 which is irritating when you want to swap out a faulty router in a hurry and have to create sub interfaces etc

On the other hand, they also use PPPoE, so you've got that additional irritation (and much more significant limitation) as well.

anything@anything and password of anything isn't as much of a irritation compared to creating sub interfaces on a router in the business broadband world i much prefer username and password authentication rather than port based for static IP addresses so I know when i send out a preconfigured router everything will just work, but for home bigpipe is fine

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

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jonathan18

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#2352418 12-Nov-2019 19:23

nztim: Bigpipe have been fine for me, once I was setup it never has gone down

Reliability is certainly important, but so is how well an otherwise reliable service provider responds when something does go wrong. That you haven't had any problems to date is great, but is no assurance you won't in the future, nor that if you do it won't be a frustrating experience trying to get your internet back up and running.

I too had a fine experience with BP, until my internet died and I had to try to get help and diagnose the problem via email.

In my situtation, the indicated email response times were totally missed, and CSRs failed to properly read emails - the result being many hours between responses that were simply going over the same ground...

gbwelly

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#2352423 12-Nov-2019 19:40

I've never used email support with bigpipe, I've always used chat and told the Bot that I wanted to talk to a human. Those humans have consistently been able to resolve my issues on the spot. E.g. when I moved from vdsl to fibre they reinstated my static ip address on the spot.

hio77

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#2352485 12-Nov-2019 20:03

SirHumphreyAppleby:

nztim: Bigpipe have been fine for me, once I was setup it never has gone down and have 100/100 plan, also they dont use tagged VLAN10 which is irritating when you want to swap out a faulty router in a hurry and have to create sub interfaces etc

On the other hand, they also use PPPoE, so you've got that additional irritation (and much more significant limitation) as well.

100/100 is delivered at a over committed rate for PPPoE services to still return full 100/100 speed.. Chorus do this for all of their BS2a services.

#include <std_disclaimer>

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

johny99

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#2352490 12-Nov-2019 20:14

nztim: Bigpipe have been fine for me, once I was setup it never has gone down and have 100/100 plan, also they dont use tagged VLAN10 which is irritating when you want to swap out a faulty router in a hurry and have to create sub interfaces etc

Sorry what do you mean by sub interfaces?

insane

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#2352515 12-Nov-2019 20:47

Lorenceo:

..... Also worth noting you can use any router you like on Bigpipe, whereas with Skinny Unlimited you'll need to get one of their supplied modems as part of your connection.

That's a myth. My skinny router has never been powered on. They just won't help you set up another 3rd party router, but as long as you configure it per usual you'll have no trouble.

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SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2352523 12-Nov-2019 20:57

hio77:

100/100 is delivered at a over committed rate for PPPoE services to still return full 100/100 speed.. Chorus do this for all of their BS2a services.

The limitations I refer to apply primarily to the gigabit plans, where very few routers can route at close to the maximum speed when PPPoE is used.

I'd happily configure a VLAN if it meant I could get rid of PPPoE.

michaelmurfy

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#2352524 12-Nov-2019 21:00

Look at 2degrees. They’ve got a great deal with gigabit at $85/mo (or $75/mo if you have on account mobile with them) combined with $200 credit.

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matisyahu

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#2352529 12-Nov-2019 21:14

I've used both BigPipe and Skinny - I'm with Skinny now and are pretty happy with how things are going. I'm on the 100/20 unlimited plan.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

hio77

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#2352533 12-Nov-2019 21:16

SirHumphreyAppleby:

hio77:

100/100 is delivered at a over committed rate for PPPoE services to still return full 100/100 speed.. Chorus do this for all of their BS2a services.

The limitations I refer to apply primarily to the gigabit plans, where very few routers can route at close to the maximum speed when PPPoE is used.

I'd happily configure a VLAN if it meant I could get rid of PPPoE.

Or you could just get a router that can cut the mustard.

Dont skinny and bigpipe provide one that can do that perfectly...

#include <std_disclaimer>

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

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