Can you rate compass?

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mother

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Wannabe Geek

#30265 3-Feb-2009 09:36

Hi i need faster internet
no coverage for vodafone 3g
exchange needs upgrade from telecom not likely to happen soon if ever not broad band compatible???
testra cant help
sling shot uses telecom infrustructure
so compass can give me 8gig pluss home phone for less than my telecom home phone and dial up charge
to good to be true whats the catch they always say when somethings seems to good to be true it nomally is can any on help me with some reasons why i should not sign up with compass

any help would be appreciated as i am going back to uni as a very mature age student and need fast internet,but cant afford telecom mobile or farmgate ??????????

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#193638 3-Feb-2009 10:21

G'day,
I can rate Compass. I have been with them over 2 years. I am on the 8 GB plan and have VFX running over the connection. From my perspective:
1. They seem to have plenty of bandwidth and good ping times (I don't game online but VOIP works really well).
2. Install is a bit pricy at $250(might have changed lately?) but I can see why as they have to put an aerial on the roof and run Cat-6 back to your router.
3. You may have to buy a new router as it PPP-OE.
The huge bugbear for me is if the internet goes down (probably 5 times in the last 2 years) their 0800 number will not accept a mobile call. Our phone line is down as it is VOIP over the broadband connection so it costs me a fortune to ring them to tell them the internet is down on my mobile dialling an Auckland number. Also if you call and go through to residential after 5 minutes on hold they will put you through to answerphone and then the call is disconnected and you have to wait for a callback.
If I was able to call them tollfree on a cellphone (only if the VOIP was down) then I would give them 10 out of 10. Otherwise they get a 7. It is a bit strange as they are the major seller of those calling cards in NZ so I thought they would be able to sort something out.
Cheers,
Matt.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

mother

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#193767 3-Feb-2009 19:05

Hi thankyou for your reply   the are giving me free install   i wont be playing games it will be purely for study and forum can you please tell me what voip ppp-oe and vfx is
they tell me they will be introducing mobile cell coverage on the back of the vodafone network end of march so might take my mobile to them then as well   Peeves me of that i was silly enough to be paying telecom $29.95 a month for all these years for dial up, telecom has offered a $80.00 stay with them one of credit, but for home phoneline plus 8 gig braodband all for $60.00 with free install seems to good to be true.
looks like i going to make the move   thankyou

Detruire

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#193827 3-Feb-2009 22:03

VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. Basically, that means voice conversations over the internet. Usually VoIP is used to describe what we'd call normal (non-cellphone) phone calls when one (or both, even) end is routed over the internet.

VFX is the Xnet (AKA WorldxChange) brand of VoIP service.

PPP-oe would be Point-to-Point Protocol Over Ethernet. PPP is a protocol used to provide authentication and to let the user connect directly to part of the ISP's system. Ethernet is a bunch of technologies to do the physical connection.

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hairy1

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#193841 3-Feb-2009 22:36

Good summary Detruire.
Most people have an ADSL modem or ADSL modem router floating around which they have used with typical broadband which requires an ADSL modem. In the case of Compass you require a router which doesn't have a modem. Compass may give you one if you ask. I am not sure how they configure it. In my case I required specific hardware to run VFX which I supplied. This was specified by World Exchange so I could run thier VOIP service. As you are going to use the Compass "phone line service" which is VOIP (although you won't be able to tell the difference), they will probably supply a router with some phone ports attached.
I hope this makes sense. If you would like wireless access around your house you will require a device called a wireless access point such as this:
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=NETTPL0601

In summary if you have more than one computer in the house ring Compass and ask them if they can supply a router to support more than one computer. If you only have one computer, they should supply the required equipment....
Cheers,
Matt.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

mother

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#193881 4-Feb-2009 08:07

thankyou will look at your links later it has taken 7 mins just to get to see your reply page i am hoping that that will reduce to a lot less time sitting and waiting with compass, the only thing they would like me to buy is a d/link and they said thay are on clearence sale at dick smith for $70.00 and that is so i can have the two computers running one for the kids and my one, with my one being portable so i dont need to be stuck in one place. will be back this arvo to look at your link and sign the contract with them,
cheers

Detruire

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#193987 4-Feb-2009 13:23

D-link =

Dynalink =

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scottjpalmer

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#194003 4-Feb-2009 14:21

Can you please confirm it is Compass Wireless you are looking at getting?

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mother

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Wannabe Geek

#194063 4-Feb-2009 16:59

Yes that is the one the plan for both phone and internet Can you see anything that i should watch out for it still seems to cheap but hey maybe telecom has really been taking me for a ride

scottjpalmer

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#194065 4-Feb-2009 17:26

mother:
Yes that is the one?? the plan for both phone and internet? Can you see anything that i should watch out for?? it still seems to cheap? but hey maybe telecom has really been taking? me for a ride

You can't really compare it to the Telecom situation as it is a totally different system. The upload and download speeds are considerably less than a large majority of the population experience on ADSL and the phone service is a VOIP service so bear in mind if the internet is down you have no phone and if the power is off you have no internet and therefore no phone (unless you buy a UPS).

I used to use it in Pukekohe years ago and I have to say it suffered a huge decline in reliability and support once Compass took it over. Other than that, it was great and for someone in your situation where other methods of getting broadband aren't an option it should be fine.

skyplonk

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#194069 4-Feb-2009 17:48

scottjpalmer:
mother:
Yes that is the one?? the plan for both phone and internet? Can you see anything that i should watch out for?? it still seems to cheap? but hey maybe telecom has really been taking? me for a ride

You can't really compare it to the Telecom situation as it is a totally different system. The upload and download speeds are considerably less than a large majority of the population experience on ADSL and the phone service is a VOIP service so bear in mind if the internet is down you have no phone and if the power is off you have no internet and therefore no phone (unless you buy a UPS).

I used to use it in Pukekohe years ago and I have to say it suffered a huge decline in reliability and support once Compass took it over. Other than that, it was great and for someone in your situation where other methods of getting broadband aren't an option it should be fine.

Well Scott, that is the completely opposite of the experience I have with Compass Wireless. I have dozens customers coming of Pukekohe Hill, Kiapara Road, Otahuhu, Skytower, and Onewhero and I must say that these days to me it seems to leave ADSL for dead in terms of reliability, uptime and latency. Sure, the connections peak out at 3mb, but it is fast, and it is reliable.

Upstream is easily 800k on a 3m/1m plan, and that to me seems to be as good as or better than people are getting off DSL.

I also use it at home, I have no copper at all, on a 3m/1m, 10gb, connection with Voice, and I would never look back after replacing my DSL connection.

Some sites like Skytower appear to be using 64QAM for modulation which seems to give a faster throughput, but even site like Onewhero give our customers very good speeds.

QoS and CoS are given for their voice customers, and they are also placed on to a sperate VLAN so you can go nuts on the net, and max out your connection with no affect on voice.

We have one customer running a SIP trunk with 10 simultaneous calls over a 1m/1m connection.. Works a dream.

My bugs are you can not call the 0800 number from a mobile, and sometimes they try and lock you into a 24 or 36 month contract which for a residential user is not a good idea.

Mother, I would say go for it. If you can get it.

Oversight

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Wannabe Geek

#194755 8-Feb-2009 17:10

Am considering going to compass myself for the same reasons. Not sure about signing up for the voice over IP side of things instead of our telephone line though. Still I would like to make the savings on getting rid of the Telecom bill.

Question: once we have the VoIP into our house does it work with the regular telecom handsets, ie: our existing cordless phones or do we need new handsets...this is not skype is it requiring a skype hand set/

Cheers

hairy1

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#194759 8-Feb-2009 17:27

Yes. It works with your regular handsets. Included in the Compass offering is "activating your phone jacks" which means they will plug your existing phone jacks into the ATA unit they supply. The ATA is an Analogue Telephony Adaptor and converts the phone to VOIP. Your phone will ring as before, you have a dial tone before you dial and your phone dials out as before. The problem with the Compass VOIP offering is they charge more than other VOIP providers. Most do national and international 5 cents per minute but Compass rates are higher. National rates are 17 cents per minute. However, you will only be paying $50 for your broadband, 8 GB of data and line rental which is pretty much unbeatable.
Cheers,
Matt

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

Detruire

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#194766 8-Feb-2009 19:00

hairy1: However, you will only be paying $50 for your broadband, 8 GB of data and line rental which is pretty much unbeatable.

That's $60/mth.

$50/mth only has 4GB of data.

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mother

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#194773 8-Feb-2009 19:38

Thank you every one for your input will let you know how it goes.As I am paying $47 for line rental and $16 for dial up 150 hour Internet connection now to telecom i will already be saving money and compass also offer free voice mailbox, caller id and call waiting in their package which if telecom could provide they would charge extra for so i am going to go with the 8gb $59.95 1m/256kb download/upload phone and broadband package have been on the roof and can see puke hill so hopefully the can hook me up, cheers thank you

Damager

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Uber Geek

#196184 16-Feb-2009 23:40

Compass Wireless used to be wired country wireless. I joined wired country when they did a deal with Ihug for both phone and internet and it was excellent. Sure now and again the service would drop out but otherwise i wasreally happy and it was nice to be copper free like skyplonk mentioned. I was on a 2M/1M connection..Often i could get 10Mb/s national.

The one day... no signal.... techie came out (guy name rod who always looked grumpy but was always very helpful) hopped on my roof and said some trees were in the way and unless they got chopped down.. that was it for me.. There were supposed to be plans for another base station in Te Rapa (in Hamilton the base station is on the waikato hospital and i live in nawton) but this never happened. I was so gutted that i had to return the CPE and ended up connecting the landline and joing Ihug adsl.

Still have the ATA so might dust it off and suss a VOIP provider for cheaper toll calls at least.

I agree with scott palmer in that once compass took over, the service took a dive somewhat, bearing in mind this was about 3 years ago now so perhaps things have changed/improved since then.

sorry to be slightly OT.

mother, good luck on finding a suitable phone/net plan.

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