New ISP Evaluating NZ Market

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › New ISP Evaluating NZ Market

zipfibre

4 posts

Wannabe Geek
+1 received by user: 10

ZipFibre

#324917 12-Jun-2026 13:52

Hello,

We are ZipFibre an established Australian ISP and we are currently evaluating the NZ market to offer Ultra Fast Broadband services in New Zealand and thought GeekZone would be a great place to start to get feedback from the community.

Our current model in Australia is low touch with a comprehensive self service portal to manage your connection.

Is this something that appeals to you?
What would make you switch?
What features did you wish you had that you don't now?
Are you happy with the options on offer in the market right now?

1 | 2

6034 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 468

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#3502388 12-Jun-2026 13:52

Welcome to Geekzone!

I am PeterReader, the Geekzone Robot. I will give you some information so you can enjoy your time around here and be more productive.

First, everyone follows the Forum Usage Guidelines (FUG). You clicked [ACCEPT] before your first post, but I suggest you go over and reread it. If you have any questions, ask away.

There are many features around this forum. To get the best out of Geekzone, check out our Geekzone Guide.

People around here can be funny. When reading a comment don't take it personally, as everyone here knows we should always attack arguments, not the people behind them. But if you see some sarcastic jokes, it happens. With time, you will see there are lots of people who post around the forums on a variety of topics. Those more frequent posters help us make sure the community is safe.

If you need help, look for freitasm, our BDFL and send him a Private Message (PM) by clicking the email button.

You can use the watch forums and topics functions or our RSS feeds to keep up with discussions. Check the menu items on the top and bottom of all pages to learn more.

If you see that the time in these posts are wrong, check your profile page and make sure the correct timezone is selected.

If you want to help the community, subscribe to Geekzone or purchase through our MightyApe affiliate link. We also would appreciate it if you white list Geekzone in your ad blocker.

Lastly, enjoy your time around here and I might even reply in another of your posts!

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

boosacnoodle

1415 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 948

#3502406 12-Jun-2026 14:18

Sounds similar to Quic.

MaxineN

Max
2137 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1759

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#3502407 12-Jun-2026 14:32

Welcome and I hope we can get a badge of verification from @freitasm.

Looking at your Aussie page I see a static is included. Is that a static v4 or is that also a static v6?

Can see you also do no contracts. Love that.

There are very few providers that offer self service. That's pretty bold and requires solid execution, however I am sure the market would welcome it just as much as they would welcome support based in Aotearoa.

I cannot see your ASN. Are you reselling another provider? If so it would be good to know(I want to say it's Vocus https://www.speedtest.net/result/c/a580b8cd-dc73-42b5-bd47-0a5596661b97 based off of this speedtest) but Ookla could be inaccurate. If you are a reseller, why so and would you want to build your own network eventually?

What I would like to see is personally:
Your own network. Reselling 2degrees or Devoli is fine but it's a bit vanila. Having another ISP that openly peers and has built their own network from the ground up would be a positive.
Keep no contracts.
rDNS/PTR.
Full on network transparency on how it's performing.
Committing to engage openly with not just GZ but show up the big players that actually we can innovate how we talk with customers both potential and current.
I'd also like to see a physical presence in Aotearoa with the idea of training young blood who want to build something pretty significant.

Hopefully this was very useful, hope you can also answer some of my questions.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

Want broadband cheap and made for tech enthusiasts? Go look over at Quic. Use R177510EBNVXP for free setup at check out.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
81033 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41906

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#3502408 12-Jun-2026 14:40

As above.

Welcome to Geekzone.

Some local ISPs go the self-service path (more or less), and Quic is an example. And although it's self-service and self-supported, there are now and then faults that require intervention.

I think this is the main reason for a local presence, not just a remote one.

I also consider the New Zealand environment to be on a different level from the NBN. Our FTN network is well deployed, and people might have higher expectations than the Australian market. This is something to consider. And yes, owning your network, peering agreements, and local presence is the differentiating factor here.

Seeing your email address belongs to the company, I've added the ZipFibre tag to your account.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
81033 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41906

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#3502410 12-Jun-2026 14:45

MaxineN:

I want to say it's Vocus.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

wellygary

8977 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5530

#3502419 12-Jun-2026 14:55

Bring your wallet.....

The UFB network is heavily regulated so retail margins are pretty slim,

There is currently a big push into "bundling" by many non telco utilities, so more and more customers will have intertwined power, broadband and potentially mobile...

Mobile and Fibre Broadband offerings from the large players is also a big feature of the Market.

This will limit the pool of customers available to churn your way,

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

gzt

19155 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8277

Lifetime subscriber

#3502425 12-Jun-2026 15:12

zipfibre: Our current model in Australia is low touch with a comprehensive self service portal to manage your connection.

Sounds good. The tricky bits are keeping up communication flow to the customer for line fault resolution with 3rd party like Chorus, then diagnosis for temperamental busted modems and things like that. Also I'm curious what model modem you are likely to supply to new customers. Also, will you provide phone service option.

Lias

5678 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4000

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3502429 12-Jun-2026 15:19

The broadband market is pretty saturated already I'd say. I can't see you gaining much traction unless you can find some sort of untapped niche.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

yitz

2286 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 610

#3502434 12-Jun-2026 15:41

MaxineN:

I cannot see your ASN. Are you reselling another provider? If so it would be good to know(I want to say it's Vocus https://www.speedtest.net/result/c/a580b8cd-dc73-42b5-bd47-0a5596661b97 based off of this speedtest) but Ookla could be inaccurate. If you are a reseller, why so and would you want to build your own network eventually?

I have wondered do 2degrees have exclusive rights to resell Vocus services in NZ?

Because the 2degrees bandwidth mix is not as good - an example is the Sydney-Singapore path does not use Vocus' redundant ASC.

Last ISP in the NZ market to use wholly Vocus and not AS9790 2degrees was MyRepublic NZ and I do wonder if that was a contributing factor to their exit out of the NZ market.

It would be interesting and a differentiator to have an ISP that is fully built around and leverages the Vocus AU backbone network.

zipfibre

4 posts

Wannabe Geek
+1 received by user: 10

ZipFibre

#3502435 12-Jun-2026 15:52

Thank you for all the feedback so far

We did this in the Australian market to understand what people really wanted and your comments are valuable to us. We built a platform that is smart gives a ton of detail about your connection and we would be looking at bringing that to NZ if possible but in a simple way.

Network is important to us also. In Australia we use Vocus on a Layer 3 arrange atm and been very happy with them due to their diverse infrastructure. We are evaluating existing network providers in NZ first to see what that looks like here. NZ have various LFC's to deal with opposed to just dealing with NBN in australia and from what we gather not all would work the same way from an API perspective. The people behind ZIP are engineers and developers and we already have some staffing presence in NZ already as part of our Australian arm.

mrgsm021

1575 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 325

ID Verified

Trusted

#3502440 12-Jun-2026 16:09

Welcome to GZ and NZ!

If it all stacks up and ZipFibre eventually makes its way to NZ, always good for competition in the NZ market, benefitting us the consumers.

Definitely will have to look to differentiate yourself from other ISPs since like an earlier post mentioned margins are slim and everyone is pretty much similar on retail pricing.

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

gzt

19155 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8277

Lifetime subscriber

#3502456 12-Jun-2026 16:25

Lias: The broadband market is pretty saturated already I'd say. I can't see you gaining much traction unless you can find some sort of untapped niche.

Low touch and quality service is an untapped niche.

DjShadow

4237 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1334

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#3502470 12-Jun-2026 17:54

Is there the option to acquire an existing NZ ISP and rebrand? As noted in the thread the NZ market is saturated

xpd

Geek of Coastguard
14229 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4698

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3502475 12-Jun-2026 18:00

As someone else mentioned, there's little wriggle room in the $$ area now, so you'd need to rely on network, services, customer service, and support being your core attractant. If you cannot match/outdo the existing players here, I think you'll find its probably not the right market for you.

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

KiwiSurfer

1782 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1052

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3502504 12-Jun-2026 21:15

zipfibre:

Our current model in Australia is low touch with a comprehensive self service portal to manage your connection.

Is this something that appeals to you?
What would make you switch?
What features did you wish you had that you don't now?
Are you happy with the options on offer in the market right now?

Sounds like Quic which AFAIK is the only RSP in the NZ market that fits your target market. Good to see other RSPs are exploring more of this type of service. Currently with a full service provider (2degrees).

I would definitely be keen to try your service if you come to NZ.

For me my #1 is reliability and responsiveness to network-side faults. I've been with what is now the 2degrees network (ex-Vocus) for most of the last decade (under Slingshot brand for most of that time and more recently 2degrees) and they've been rock solid. I tried Quic for several months and I switched back to 2degrees simply cos I had months with broken IPv6. I understand this is now fixed - but the irony is I had broken IPv6 with 2degrees when I switched back but a message to a 2degrees staff here sorted that out same day I asked about it.

For this reason I don't mind if you end up reselling 2degrees -- honestly it's probably your best bet unless you have the resources to go all in and build up your own infrastructure here. Not sure about the other resellers. Some commonly recommended RSPs I've read about here on Geekzone are 2degrees resellers so it seems to me that can be a viable way into the NZ market.

My #2 would be static IPv4 and IPv6. i don't mind if this is an extra cost as long as it is an option. I currently pay $10 a month to 2degrees for this. I'd prefer it was a one-off cost though but as long as it works I'm happy to pay. rDNS would be icing on the cake but no big deal if not available (2degrees doesn't offer this AFAIK).

#3 and what I miss from Quic is seeing all the Chorus LFC detail in the customer portal. I also had automatic notification of Chorus LFC network incidents -- including planned ones. Not sure if you could do this as a reseller though so that might be something that pushes you to going independent rather than be a reseller.

Other things I'd like to see: strong NZ/AU peering, option to use either DHCP/PPPOE, option to use VLAN10 or not (though not a dealbreaker for either as may be better on your end to support only one option each to reduce support issues), no-fee card payments.

Low on my list would be pricing - as long as it is reasonable and on par with what other RSPs are offering then if the above conditions are met I'll be happy. No interest in Hyberfibre - the standard fibre service is fine. No router sales - I can bring my own router.

1 | 2