Is anyone here in the know over ADSL2 upgrades? (rant)

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Is anyone here in the know over ADSL2 upgrades? (rant)

greaneyr

52 posts

Master Geek

#74761 6-Jan-2011 21:58

Hi all

I had been following Telecom Wholesale's website since June 2010 to get an idea of when my home Internet connection can be expected to be made faster than this rubbish I experience most nights during peak hours:

Admittedly this is significantly slower than ADSL1. My connection is syncing at 7Mbps, but it's the backhaul upgrade I'm looking forward to more than 7+Mbps speeds.

The site told me (and told me all year) that my ADSL2 upgrade was due to happen in December 2010. So I watched with bated breath in case that date should change for 6 months. It never did. It stayed the same. At least, I thought it would make a nice christmas present.

So to cut a long story short, December 2010 came and went, and no ADSL2. We're now in January, and after still seeing th familiar G992.1 on my router, I decided to check with Telecom Wholesale's website again. What do they now tell me about my exchange??

ADSL2 upgrade scheduled for June 2011.

WTF?????????

Does anyeone here work for Telecom or Chorus and is able to explain to me when my exchange is actually due to be upgraded? Obviously the site can't be relied upon. I'd just like to know how it can be delayed by a whole 6 months, when cabinets in Palmerston North are being upgraded to schedule.

Not only that, I have clients in Levin who were scheduled for an upgrade in September 2010 and they too are now showing June 2011, so it's even worse for them.

I'd just like to know what' going on here. Can anyone shed any more light on this?

sbiddle

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#424806 6-Jan-2011 22:21

You might want to mention what exchange or cabient you're going to be on.

matisyahu

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#424812 6-Jan-2011 22:54

The upgrading is happening in the rural/far flung areas first them the cities - that is how the deal was struck with the government hence the reason why you're being upgraded around June 2011.

I'm stuck in Heretaunga where it'll be upgraded June 2011 - rumour has it that the exchange is pushed to its limit so hopefully the problems that I was experiencing will be resolved when June 2011 roles around and there is cabinitisation.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

l43a2

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#424818 6-Jan-2011 23:10

you may want to stop using the Wellington test site on speedtest, as its going over seas ... :)

RunningMan

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#424931 7-Jan-2011 11:18

sbiddle: You might want to mention what exchange or cabient you're going to be on.

+1

Also, what site are you getting your information from? This site is generally pretty accurate.

greaneyr

52 posts

Master Geek

#424968 7-Jan-2011 14:02

Thanks for the replies. I'm on Maxwells Line exchange (MXL) in Palmerston North. If they are upgrading rural areas first, how come the central exchange in Palmerston North has been on ADSL2 since 2008?

Chorus' cabinet notices sites appears to give no information about exchange upgrades and focuses solely on cabinets. I'm about 2Km from the exchange, and not going to be moved to a cabinet, so the only thing that applies to me is the exchange upgrade. There's only one cabinet going onto the MXL exchange (MXL/P), and on the cabinetisation notice and forecasts spreadsheet from November it's showing as being completed on 1 April 2011. Wholesale's website has MXL/P as being upgraded in June 2011, so the two figures differ.

I'll run another speedtest to an alternate server. Is it only Wellington that ends up going overseas, or do the others do it as well?

Ragnor

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#425089 8-Jan-2011 02:32

Use this one if you're on Telecom, it's in Telecom's core network so should rule out other factors
http://zeus.jetstream.co.nz/

You can use the others (Christchurch, Auckland) on speedtest.net too, Wellington is just a problem because it's hosted by Citylink and it's multicast with a mirror in LA. Because Telecom and CityLink don't interconnect or peer traffic together there is no route from Telecom to CityLink's speedtest server in Wellington so it goes to the nearest mirror in LA.

kfella2000

495 posts

Ultimate Geek

#425543 9-Jan-2011 20:55

Exactly the same thing happened here on the Spotswood exchange here in New Plymouth. That website told me that my address would be on the ADSL2+ upgrade December 2010 too and a week or 2 before Christmas I saw 5 Chorus vans parked at the exchange and I thought yay it looks like they are getting into action with it as our original upgrade was set for September 2009 when I first shifted into my house. Then when that month came it changed to April or May 2010 and then onto December 2010 and now that site says June 2011 for me too. So personally myself I am not holding my breath for the upgrade to take place then either and yet people on cabinets who were on the same exchange as I about half a km away are on ADSL2+.

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greaneyr

52 posts

Master Geek

#425632 10-Jan-2011 09:00

Yeah it's frustrating huh? A guy I work with used to live in one part of Palmerston North that couldn't even get ADSL 1 a couple of years back which annoyed the heck out of him. Now he has moved over to the same part of town as I am in and he too is on the overcrowded ADSL1 exchange I'm on. Since he moved, his old suburb has been cabinetised and upgraded to ADSL2, while he's now stuck on ADSL1 with a delayed start date.

I wonder if Chorus get hit daily with emails along the lines of what I'm thinking of sending them. I just want to know when it's likely to happen, and whether the start date is likely to get postponed again. It doesn't change your life either way, but it would make the unbearable peak time speeds easier to swallow if I knew for certain that they were going to stop on such and such month.

Behodar

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#426398 12-Jan-2011 09:19

If it's any consolation, it looks like the Whakatane exchange has been pushed back by 6 months too.

Ragnor

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#426576 12-Jan-2011 16:29

I think they change the schedule to best suit their available resources, which makes sense.

They have just started on the cabinet nearest us, yet the maps website says not due till April 2011.

webwat

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#426991 14-Jan-2011 01:11

greaneyr: I'll run another speedtest to an alternate server. Is it only Wellington that ends up going overseas, or do the others do it as well?

Perhaps Telecom has delayed ADSL2 so they can install new VDSL2 cards at the exchange as indicated on the website by the VDSL2 upgrade date.

Speedtest to Citilink from Telstra does not benefit from BGP peering at WIX or APE, while some ISPs have formal interconnection with Telstra or Telecom at another handover point. This means Telstra would send citilink-destined traffic to their global gateway even if it doesn't actually go overseas. Its Telstra's problem that they block normal peering.

Time to find a new industry!

pjamieson

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Chorus

#427042 14-Jan-2011 09:45

That's a shame, the FTTN programme has been running really well to schedule. Maybe there is an issue in Wanganui region (run by Transfield). If you think there is an issue with Backhaul, maybe increased backhaul has been delayed therefore no point doing the 2+ upgrade.

The best site to use to monitor this is http://www.telecomwholesale.co.nz/maps where you can put your address in and get alot more info and maps. The Long range Chorus notices are open to alot of change, until they come ont o the short range one.

Also the rollout schedule is not Rural first, it is based on greatest need (and the logistics etc), so it could be in any order as suburbs and towns have equally bad connection speeds as rural in some cases. As you say the connection speed is good, throughput is the problem.

KShips

153 posts

Master Geek

#428595 18-Jan-2011 20:52

Hi greaneyr

I feel your pain. I'm also on the Maxwells Line exchange and I'm fed up with the crap speeds every day. I've been keeping an eye on the telecom site for quite a while and I'm sure the initial upgrade date was early/mid last year.

I was also waiting and counting down the days for ADSL2+ in December(while thinking the switch on the corner has not been upgraded can't be good) and one day website showing FROM June!!! Not impressed to be polite....

I also noticed the VDSL added at some stage so wondered if that had some impact. What will VDSL provide me?.... I'd even just be happy to get ADSL1+ speeds at the moment!!!!

OK rant over I'll go back and watch my 10-20kB/s download for another couple of hours while my parents who are 256k limit get same speeds as my FS/FS joke connection.