Basically the best thing to do currently (imo) is just to wait and see what happens this quarter with sub loop unbundling and watch for any NGN annoucements.
Don't make any rash decisions eg: getting into new 12-24month contracts, going on to naked dsl or going on to LLU equpment as it's hard/expensive to change your mind atm.
That's good advice. Orcon just went ahead and changed me to their LLU network despite my request to stay on Telecom Wholesale. And my fears were realised with phone problems and a 6-week period of Interent dropouts from mid-November - see this thread: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=82&TopicId=28621
And then I found out that we're scheduled for cabinetisation, which of course explained why Orcon wanted us on their LLU network. At least I'm not locked into a contract and can change at any time.
Ragnor: Basically the best thing to do currently (imo) is just to wait and see what happens this quarter with sub loop unbundling and watch for any NGN annoucements.
Don't make any rash decisions eg: getting into new 12-24month contracts, going on to naked dsl or going on to LLU equpment as it's hard/expensive to change your mind atm.
That might be a little bit conservative in some cases.
If I consider the Eden Terrace area of Auckland, I can check these sites and build up a map of when and where the cabinets will be installed.
Checking some random street addresses along New North Road on the telecomwholesale site...
2 New North Road - No Cabinet planned. 83 New North Road - No Cabinet planned. 103 New North Road - Cabinet AT/DM late 2011/Jan 2012 110 New North Road - Cabinet AT/N late 2011/Jan 2012 326 New North Road - Cabinet AT/AC late 2011/Jan 2012
Now if I'm in a no cabinet area, I shouldn't have to worry about cabinetisation, but even if I'm in a planned cabinet area I have to consider the following possibilities.
Best case - Cabinetisation problems between Orcon and Chorus are sorted out before end 2011 and I'm not affected. Worst case - I save several dollars a month (Orcon LLU plan costs me less than my previous plan) for almost three years - so maybe $150+ over that time - quite a bit more if I increase my data usage - and at the end of 2011 I might have to switch ISP's.
Three years is a long time in the internet world to assume the worse case will happen and the outcome will be worse than the savings I get in the meanwhile.
But for people on a street that is due to be cabinetised during 2009, I'd agree that the wait and see approach would appear to make more sense.
Yeah but unless you are really really really far away from the exchange chances are you won't even notice a difference tangible difference on the cabinet vs not...
Your ISP's international bandwidth is going to be the limiting factor not your sync speed.
There seems to be a fair bit of confusion around this, so I knocked up a quick summary so that you have the official word. Check out: http://www.orcon.net.nz/about/article/cabinetisation_what_does_it_mean_for_orcon_customers
For what it is worth - I am on an Orcon FS/FS Autosense 15 Gig plan. I have no idea whether it is an unbundled plan or not, but I do note that it is no longer available.
During cabinetisation we lost our phone and broadband for two days and I had to ring Orcon. Hats off to Orcon as they got on the case quickly and kept me in the loop. Our speed has increased from aprox 3.7MBits to 13Mbits.
If this is an indication of things to come, I think most people will be more than happy.
DaveB, I'd guess your DSL line is provided through Telecom Wholesale, hence the speed increase. Unbundled Orcon subscribers seem to have the opposite experience!
Hi Guys, I'm on Orcon's Purple ADSL1 MAX/MAX plan. I live in Hamilton where Orcon do not offer ADSL2+. I presume then my current plan is Telecom Wholesale? Now....on February 9th the newly installed Cabinet TRV/N less than 300m from my house is migrated. Does this mean I will automatically get better sync rates and increased speeds? Or will I still be connected to the exchange 3.5kms away with a degraded service because Orcon don't offer me a Service via the cabinet? Or do I need to change to ADSL2+ for much better speeds?
once the cabinet is built, then its likely you will be moved onto the cabinet, however you will still be on Orcon's adsl1 speed. Your sync won't go above 7.6mbps down, but considering you are 3.5km from exchange atm, you should see some increase in speed. Even though at that distance your sync could be as high as 20mbps+, however Orcon only offer such speeds on their equipment which they do not currently have in any cabinets. So, at this point in time, you could wait till Orcon put their equipment in the cabinet and then your speed will go up to adsl2+ speed or if you want it now, best to swap to xtra then.
Thanks NzKaizer, Well my latency and packet loss at the moment gaming on International Server's is really bad. My speed has dropped to 2000kb/s on average from my usual 3000+ kb/s. So if Orcon can get me up to speeds closer to 7.6kb/s with less latency on ADSL1 via the cabinet I'll be happy to stay in the meantime with improved service of course. If not.... then Telecom/Xtra here I come ! Remember I'm on Orcon's MAX/MAX plan with Homeline and Tolls so I should get better speeds and service than I'm currently getting... not less!...afterall I do pay them more for the extra MAX/MAX plan. Interesting next few weeks. Thanks again.
After Thought: If Orcon doesn't offer ADSL2+ in Hamilton...Does this mean my ADSL1 Purple MAX/MAX plan is Telecom Wholesale or not?
BazNZ, changing to a cabinet will not improve your latency. If you check the ISP forums, you may find that other ISPs will provide a better gaming experience. I'm quite happy with the performance of the Orcon+ network, but no one here does any online gaming.
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