Personal fibre connection at a commercial address.

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Ghouly

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#293100 28-Dec-2021 13:44

Hey guys.

We live on site at a commercial building, in a 2 bedroom apartment. We also run the business in the building, which I guess would be considered the buildings primary function.

We've asked Spark if we can change from our business account which is on 4g Wireless, to a new fibre connection (as its just become available in our area).

Spark have said as it is a commercial building, Chorus won't allow them to put us on a Personal plan, and that we will have to stay with the Business plan (which is $30+ more expensive per month, no free Netflix).

We don't need the business level of support, as all our eftpos terminals are 3g connected anyway, and it could operate without internet in here at all. We're looking at keeping as many costs down as possible.

Are spark being genuine with this? Any suggestions?

If we have to use a "commercial/business" plan we'll probably leave spark. Is there nything better around than what Orcon are offering for SME (the 6 months free).

TIA.

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TEAMnetwork

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#2839531 28-Dec-2021 14:15

If an address is classified commercial I doubt any other provider will give you “residential” plan either as they will need to pay chorus at commercial rates

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Wellingtondave

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#2839652 28-Dec-2021 18:20

It's an interesting conundrum, quite a few people are now living in commercial areas or have a mixed use building for a small business. I get that they want a fully fledged business to pay business rates (and still get crap support) versus a home user.

But many people run a business from home, or work from home now - and home users will use a hundred times more data downloading games and crap. What's the difference?

SpartanVXL

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#2839655 28-Dec-2021 18:34

If the business is the main purpose then you don’t have much choice. Unless you can somehow change it to a residential premise(?).

Otherwise what’s the chance you can get the apartment part of the building classified as it’s own seperate premises?

BarTender

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#2839657 28-Dec-2021 18:41

I think you’ll need to chat with @chorusnz directly and see what they can do. I doubt you will have much joy as the address location management has all sites classified business vs residential. And if you don’t have a business connection in there they will likely think you are taking the mickey and trying to cheap out on a business connection.

andrewcnz

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#2839744 29-Dec-2021 04:26

Try another RSP (like voyager) for cheaper business broadband offerings...

lucky015

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#2839745 29-Dec-2021 05:14

Once a Chorus ONT is installed to a property there is no restriction on if residential or business products can be ordered on it. This is not the same for all of the other wholesalers.

Getting the ONT installed (via a standard install process) may require a little bit of back and forward (especially for messy business addresses) however is perfectly achievable should you sign up with a provider who doesn't follow the "nah it's a business address, that's too hard for our residential provisioning team so lets make a policy against it" mind set.

Your best bet is to seek out a provider who put in the extra effort, typically that will be one of the smaller providers and the one mentioned above Voyager have one of the best reputations for this.

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CYaBro

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#2839762 29-Dec-2021 08:10

Maybe another one for @danfaulknor ?

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danfaulknor

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Prodigi

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#2839898 29-Dec-2021 11:26

More than happy to make this happen!

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raytaylor

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#2842623 4-Jan-2022 00:45

I have never had a problem getting a residential service lit up on a chorus ont at a commercial address.
The main difference is the business plans have a faster response time for faults. If your running an eftpos terminal, make sure you have either 4g backup, or transaction caching enabled on your eftpos terminal or a zipzap.
Its quite often we have a cable hit and I get to make the call to the customer to say "well if you want to switch to a business plan for your home business then the chorus techs prioritise your repair, but you specifically chose to go with the lower priority fault option by selecting a residential plan."

In the oldendays of telecom, getting a residential landline at a commercial address was quite difficult though. Wouldnt surprise me if spark still have a address list.

It sounds like yours will be a new installation so you might just need to fill in the online sign up form after selecting a residential plan and see what happens. If you tell a sales person its a commercial property, it may muddy the situation.

I have just tried a chorus test order for a commercial address in Napier CBD without an existing installed ONT and its allowing me to select residential plans for the order.

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sparkz25

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#2842629 4-Jan-2022 01:16

Also to note the New Chorus Small Business Fiber plans are much better with the added bonus of a SLA pending on the time the fault is lodged with them.

https://sp.chorus.co.nz/product/small-business-fibre/overview

MadEngineer

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#2842630 4-Jan-2022 02:19

This is daft. I had no issues getting Chorus fibre installed on a business premises under a standard non-business ISP plan (it was non-critical). Mind you this was a few years back - have things changed?

Why should Chorus care what kind of plan you’re paying to your ISP?

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

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Jase2985

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#2843028 4-Jan-2022 12:02

MadEngineer: This is daft. I had no issues getting Chorus fibre installed on a business premises under a standard non-business ISP plan (it was non-critical). Mind you this was a few years back - have things changed?

Why should Chorus care what kind of plan you’re paying to your ISP?

they care if it falls under a free install or not

MadEngineer

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#2844042 6-Jan-2022 01:01

Again, in my case they didn't - it was a free install.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

danfaulknor

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Prodigi

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#2844044 6-Jan-2022 01:08

We've had orders cancelled with 'Can't install residential service to business address' or something along those lines.

ONT Install is free either way though but there may be business level service setup fees.

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Goosey

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#2844054 6-Jan-2022 06:55

The best thing here for the OP to do is take a look at both the LIM and property file for the premises (available from the council) and see if the property was actually legally consented for being partially used as a residential address.

That would then settle the arguments over if it is a "commercial" vs "free residential" install.

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