COVID-19 update from Chorus

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#268456 20-Mar-2020 13:40

Just received:

Chorus is closely monitoring the rapidly evolving Covid-19 situation with the top priority being the well-being of both our people and our customers.

We appreciate having reliable and fast internet is particularly important at this time and we are committed to providing continuity of service with our fibre broadband installations through the pandemic, subject to any ongoing government and health requirements. We are also putting in place additional health and safety measures to protect you from the spread of the virus.

What does this mean for me?

- Our technicians will be contacting customers ahead of all site visits for fibre installations to confirm each customer is not showing any symptoms and are not in self-isolation. If this is the case, we will look to reschedule the work for when the illness or self-isolation period has ended. Please refer to Ministry of Health guidelines to see when it’s ok to stop self-isolating.

- Likewise, Chorus has aligned with Ministry of Health guidelines and all our staff and contractors are required to stay home if they have been exposed to the virus or are showing any symptoms.

- Our technicians are also equipped with masks, gloves and hand sanitiser, so if you’d like them to wear a mask while at your place, please request this when they call to confirm your appointment. You can also choose to stay in a separate room during the visit.

The Chorus network

For those that are on the Chorus network, we can assure you that we are not anticipating any capacity issues due to the expected increase in the number of people working from home over the coming months. We will also continue to monitor capacity on our network and if we feel it is required, we will look to add further capacity to ensure the network continues to support the New Zealand economy throughout this period.

We are closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation as it unfolds and will continue to communicate any changes that will impact you.

We thank you for your cooperation during this uncertain time. Please take care of yourselves and your whānau and check in with those around you.

The team at Chorus

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#2442280 20-Mar-2020 16:05

Nice one Chorus... :) Keep up the good work upgrading everyone to UFB.

And hopefully if any contractors get sick then Chorus will be leaning on the sub-contractors to make sure they are still being paid.

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#2445233 24-Mar-2020 09:42

Another update:

Chorus is closely monitoring the rapidly evolving Covid-19 situation with the top priority being the well-being of both our people and our customers.

As the country’s largest broadband infrastructure provider, here’s an update on our plans to help keep Kiwis connected during the lockdown we’re moving to as a result of the Government’s increase of the Covid-19 alert to level 4 by Wednesday 25 March.

With internet access deemed an essential service, connections on and maintenance of the Chorus broadband network that is relied on by over 80 New Zealand retail service providers will continue throughout the shutdown period, but with priorities given to certain situations.

In the first instance, priority will be given to repairing faults on our network as quickly as possible and then connecting locations where no other form of fixed line connectivity is available.

Chorus will continue with fibre connections and upgrades in locations that already have a fixed line broadband connection, but only if field resources are available. We ask for your understanding as this is in the interest of protecting the health and safety of you and your community, and of those working on our behalf.

Making install appointments safer

Controls are already in place for any visits to any home or business by Chorus technicians. These controls include identifying situations where customers may be self-isolating and ensuring any Chorus technicians who display any signs of illness are stood down and put into self-isolation immediately, along with their close contacts.

Detailed health and safety requirements are also in place where faults occur at homes or businesses where people are ill, or self-isolating.

Making it easier to connect

Capacity of the Chorus broadband infrastructure is robust and while daytime data consumption on our network continues to grow, it is still much lower than the usual 9pm busy internet hour. Significant capacity is also available above and beyond the peak throughput ever recorded on our network.

Finally, to enable more New Zealanders to get connected and work from home, Chorus is waiving potential price increases linked to CPI (consumer price index) that retail providers can pay for a connection to our network. We're also continuing to work through options to provide support to retailers and service companies to ensure as many Kiwis as possible are able to have internet access.

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#2479068 8-May-2020 10:02

An update for April 2020:

Chorus network statistics released today show that households connected to fibre consumed an average of almost 500GB in April, the equivalent of 12 hours of Zoom video conferencing every day of the month.

The 713,000 connections on fibre carried 495GB on average, surging by nearly 30 percent from February prior to lockdown. The average speed on the Chorus network also increased to more than 150Mbps as more people connected to higher speed fibre plans, like gigabit. Including copper connections, data consumption grew by 34 percent to 406GB.

“Recent events, and being under lockdown, have been truly unprecedented times and it’s not surprising to see that reflected in the way Kiwis have been using their broadband,” says JB Rousselot, Chorus CEO.

“Now more than ever, having a robust broadband connection has proven critical as we’ve all had to adapt to working and learning from home.

“High bandwidth apps, such as Zoom, have become so important not just for business meetings but for people to stay in contact with friends and family. Fibre is perfect for making use of these tools with its low latency and high download and upload speeds.

“Our fibre network offers Kiwis the fastest, most reliable and affordable broadband available. It isn’t subject to data constraints either meaning everyone can do what they need to do online,” Mr Rousselot says.

As the country moved into alert level 3, Chorus recommenced non-essential fibre installations with stringent health and safety measures in place.

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#2539427 12-Aug-2020 14:33

Just received:

Chorus reports midday downstream traffic on its network reached 1.49Tbps today, an increase of 37 percent on yesterday (1.09Tbps) but comfortably within available headroom.

Peak downstream traffic last night was at 8:55pm and was 2.43Tbps which is within the normal range.

The increase in traffic is expected as households across the country settle into Alert Level 2 lockdown, and Aucklanders into Alert Level 3.

There is no congestion on the Chorus network.

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#2539556 12-Aug-2020 17:24

Loving the level of communication and transparency from Chorus. Excellent job.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

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#2541050 14-Aug-2020 14:47

Chorus update:

Chorus reports midday downstream traffic on its network reached 1.55Tbps today, an increase of 44 percent on Monday. The Auckland region saw a 76 percent uplift in traffic, while the rest of New Zealand increased 12 percent.

Upstream traffic, which increases with higher use of applications such as video conferencing, across the country increased more than 30 percent to 0.21Tbps. Mini-surges occurring every half-hour, seen in graph three below, seemingly coincide with online video conferences starting.

The increase in traffic is expected as households across the country remain in alert level 2 lockdown, with those in the Auckland region at alert level 3.

There is no congestion on the Chorus network.

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#2542840 17-Aug-2020 13:15

Update 17 August:

Chorus reports new record for broadband traffic

Traffic on the Chorus network on Saturday night reached a new peak of 3.07Tbps, a 24 percent uplift from last Monday and surpassing the previous traffic peak of 3.03Tbps seen on the evening of 27 March.

The new traffic milestone coincides with Auckland being in alert level 3, the rest of the country in alert level 2, and a major update to the popular online game, Call of Duty.
Earlier this year, Chorus announced it had significantly upgraded network capacity in Auckland as part of its $50m investment to ensure New Zealand’s networks could weather unexpected crises.

Chorus continues to invest in network capacity based on forecast traffic growth of between 30 and 40 percent per year. While a throughput ceiling of 3.5Tbps was advised in advance of Rugby World Cup 2019, this was nearly a year ago with overall network capacity now giving significant traffic headroom at about 4.5Tbps.

In addition, Chorus continues to work with the retail service providers to ensure the points in the network where it hands over traffic between one another remain congestion free.

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#2544731 19-Aug-2020 20:55

Another update today:

Chorus reports midday downstream traffic on its network reached 1.64Tbps today, an increase of 52 percent on last Monday. The Auckland region saw a 85 percent uplift in traffic, while the rest of New Zealand increased 19 percent.

Upstream traffic, which increases with higher use of applications such as video conferencing, across the country increased by 43 percent to 0.227Tbps. The Auckland region saw a 70 percent uplift in traffic, while the rest of the country increased 11 percent. Mini-surges occurring every half-hour, seen in the second graph below, seemingly coinciding with online video conferences starting.

The increase in traffic is expected as households across the country remain in alert level 2 lockdown, with those in the Auckland region at alert level 3.

There is no congestion on the Chorus network.

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#2545478 20-Aug-2020 17:24

Today's update:

Chorus reports midday downstream traffic on its network reached 1.50Tbps today, an increase of 39 percent on last Monday. The Auckland region saw a 69 percent uplift in traffic, while the rest of New Zealand increased 9 percent.

Upstream traffic, which increases with higher use of applications such as video conferencing, across the country increased by 37 percent to 0.217Tbps. The Auckland region saw a 62 percent uplift in traffic, while the rest of the country increased 7 percent. Mini-surges occurring every half-hour, seen in the second graph below, seemingly coinciding with online video conferences starting.

The increase in traffic is expected as households across the country remain in alert level 2 lockdown, with those in the Auckland region at alert level 3.

There is no congestion on the Chorus network.

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#2546525 20-Aug-2020 19:20

Good to see the network performing well, I am still at work on 4 hours zoom call to the US and it is running great!

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

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#2547062 21-Aug-2020 14:44

Update 21 August:

Chorus reports midday downstream traffic on its network reached 1.52Tbps today, an increase of 41 percent on last Monday. The Auckland region saw a 67 percent uplift in traffic, while the rest of New Zealand increased 16 percent.

Upstream traffic, which increases with higher use of applications such as video conferencing, across the country increased by 34 percent to 0.213Tbps. The Auckland region saw a 56 percent uplift in traffic, while the rest of the country increased 8 percent. Mini-surges occurring every half-hour, seen in the second graph below, seemingly coinciding with online video conferences starting.

The increase in traffic is expected as households across the country remain in alert level 2 lockdown, with those in the Auckland region at alert level 3.

There is no congestion on the Chorus network.

This will be the last daily update unless there is a significant change in traffic.

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#2656879 15-Feb-2021 16:52

First update since Auckland moved to L3 and rest of country to L2 at midnight:

Chorus reports midday downstream traffic on its network reached 1.75Tbps today, an increase of 55 percent on last Tuesday. The Auckland region saw a 96 percent uplift in traffic, while the rest of New Zealand increased 13 percent.

Upstream traffic, which increases with higher use of applications such as video conferencing, across the country increased by 41 percent to 0.236Tbps. The Auckland region saw a 61 percent uplift in traffic, while the rest of the country increased 14 percent. Mini-surges occurring every half-hour, seen in the second graph below, seemingly coincide with online video conferences starting.

The increase in traffic is expected as households across the country enter alert level 2 lockdown, with those in the Auckland region at alert level 3.

Chorus technicians are taking all necessary precautions when carrying out fibre installs or maintenance in homes. Nationally technicians are using appropriate PPE when working in homes and businesses and are socially distancing themselves. In Auckland, Chorus will pre-screen customers to check whether households have anyone with Covid-19 symptoms or who is a confirmed case. Technicians will only go into homes where customers are comfortable for them to attend.

There is no congestion on the Chorus network.

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#2657385 16-Feb-2021 11:11

I feel it may be an over simplification for Chorus to say "There is no congestion on the Chorus network."

There are tens of thousands of people affected by congestion on limited backhaul ISAMs (ie eDMR and copper backhaul). (Although to be fair, there aren't many in Auckland.). Trying to work off congested ISAMs is impossible for some people.

Some RSPs are also trying to deploy VoIP instead of POTS. So some customers are even having their voice calls fail due to internet congestion.

Here's just the start of the congested ISAM list:

Jan 2021
DSLAM DSLAM Type Peak Backhaul Util Frequency Commentary
AO/H Akaroa 7330 100% Daily Hub ISAM with eDMR Backhaul
AO/N Akaroa 7330 100% Daily Hub ISAM with Restricted Copper Backhaul
AP/C Apiti 7330 100% Daily Hub ISAM with eDMR Backhaul

Anyway, whinge over. Waiting for my Starlink dishy to arrive...😀

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#2657395 16-Feb-2021 11:22

@tim0001 you didnt read the white paper did you

https://sp.chorus.co.nz/download-file/2207

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#2657439 16-Feb-2021 12:37

Jase2985:

@tim0001 you didnt read the white paper did you

https://sp.chorus.co.nz/download-file/2207

Chorus are defining "congestion free" to mean something other than the "Absolutely no congestion" that I would expect with that name.

Could well fall foul of the fair trading act.

That paper has exclusions on page 5, and they are averaging over 15 minutes, rather than taking the checking for congestion at the maximum sampling rate.

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