In and Outs of Providers

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nizmosan

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#34067 17-May-2009 20:29

Hi
Im in the middle of changing ISP providers from Snap which has cancelled there night owl plan so im stuck with having to get a new provider as they are canceling that plan...

Now ive decided to get a provider who provides internet, phone and call... i have narrowed the list down to 2 providers Vodafone and Slingshot

Now the only thing is that ive has slingshot before and there service or internet (back in the days) sux keeped dropping and long wait times to get through to technical suport hence why i changed to Snap before the Red Zoning... now that there lines are more free (Red Zone). Vodafone Ultimate Package is looking pretty good with pretty much the same packages as Slingshot Big things #2

AnyBody got any in and outs for these providers or Views....??

Detruire

1400 posts

Uber Geek

#215417 17-May-2009 21:00

Both aren't exactly great (bad support, poor speeds).

If you want reasonable speeds, you really have to join Telecom or Telstra.

rm *

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vexxxboy

3863 posts

Uber Geek

#215424 17-May-2009 21:19

the best option is still Snap, best value, constant speed in peak times and a great help desk you can go to telstra or telecom but a lot more expensive, you must be really p****d of at Snap to leave them. the plan they want to put you on is stiil way better than any other isp can provide in terms of reliabity of service.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

nizmosan

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#215437 17-May-2009 22:10

Id have to admit there service from Snap is pretty good however when you weight up the facts that the snap net cost 59.95 without tolls and phone plus the telecom line 52 is already more than the current offers from vodafone or slighshot then its a saving to start with and its under one bill plus the toll call from snap and phone line isnt cheap compaired to others so your behind to start with to stay with snap net..

nizmosan

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#215438 17-May-2009 22:11

how bad is the speed on vodafone and slightshot at peak times....??

grant_k

3539 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#215439 17-May-2009 22:20

nizmosan: Id have to admit there service from Snap is pretty good however when you weight up the facts that the snap net cost 59.95 without tolls and phone plus the telecom line 52 is already more than the current offers from vodafone or slighshot then its a saving to start with and its under one bill plus the toll call from snap and phone line isnt cheap compaired to others so your behind to start with to stay with snap net..

That's why Snap Naked DSL + VoIP is a much better option: $69.95 for 10GB plus 2Talk @ $15 per month with 500 mins calling to NZ landlines.

Beats the hell out of paying separately for your landline + broadband on top.

Detruire

1400 posts

Uber Geek

#215489 18-May-2009 00:07

nizmosan: how bad is the speed on vodafone and slightshot at peak times....??

On Slingshot, peak times ~8PM->~12PM average 100kBps (line can support over 600kBps)
Similar speeds most of the free off-peak time (possibly slightly better than on-peak)

rm *

nizmosan

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#215506 18-May-2009 07:07

well i total forgot about the naked broadband and Voip... so how Good is Voip now.. since i heard that there were a few priblems with quality...? and does sounds like a better deal thanks Grant_k

grant_k

3539 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#215535 18-May-2009 09:40

nizmosan: well i total forgot about the naked broadband and Voip... so how Good is Voip now.. since i heard that there were a few priblems with quality...?

There are a lot of VoIP enthusiasts here on GZ, so I guess you have to keep that in mind when taking our advice. Having said that, VoIP has saved me a tremendous amount of money in the 3 years we've been using it.

Xnet's VFX definitely provides the best quality if you are fussy about these things. You can even use the G711 codec if you wish, which provides a wider bandwidth than the more usual G729. However, for most people (myself included) G729 is plenty good enough and it uses around 30% of the bandwidth of G711 while not being so demanding on your internet connection so far as jitter and lag are concerned.

G711 is in every respect equal to or better than the best quality landline which uses the older PCM codec via an analogue line. Whereas G711 uses an equivalent codec via a digital line so there is no possibility of interference being picked up on the line, however, it will expose any weakness in your entire internet connection including CPE to exchange, backhaul to ISP, ISP's interconnect to the wider internet and then finally internet connection to the SIP server. Obviously there are a lot more points of failure with a VoIP setup, and the internet infrastructure in NZ simply wasn't good enough a few years ago, but that has largely changed now, and VoIP is reliable enough, so long as you have a cellphone handy as an emergency backup. I could count the number of times I've had to resort to my cellphone on one hand during the past 3 years, and most of them related to lightning strikes, failures at the SIP server etc.

HTH,
Grant.