Hi all,

Just wanted to share my UFB installation experience with you.

First off a big thanks to Snap and the guys at Chorus for seeing this through. As with any new install, there were a few minor hiccups but I was very impressed with Snap and their friendly staff.

Below are some details about my install in case this might be of use to anyone. Please feel free to ask anything specific about the install process if you would like.

Background:

I was a Snap Naked Broadband customer with a VOIP line from XNet (VFX).

My gear included:          

 

• Draytek Vigor 120 ADSL Modem 
• Netgear Nighthawk R7000 Router
• Gigaset C610A – IP VOIP phone and DECT base
• 8 Port TPLink Switch (TLSG1008D) 

The house has recently had CAT6 cabling in all rooms and terminates in the common living area behind the A/V cabinet.

UFB Install:

I received an email from Snap on 7th May that UFB was available at my address (West Auckland) and also included a discounted plan if I upgraded by 9th May.

I tried using their website but it showed that UFB was not available at my address. A quick chat with the friendly CSR and the request was logged in their system.

On 16th May, I received a text from Snap that the connection was booked in for 23rd May.

On 22nd May, I received another txt from Snap that the booking has been rescheduled to 3rd June instead.

On 23rd May, I received a call from Chorus informing me that a new conduit has to be laid as they would not be able to use the existing conduit and wanted consent from me to carry on the work. I was told that I did not need to be at home for this.

On 27th May, the Chorus guys showed up to complete the trenching work. I was monitoring it remotely using my outdoor security camera (Foscam 19805W) :-) 

On 3rd June Chorus civil guys showed up again to push the fibre through. A little later a Chorus technician called me and advised that he would be coming over to install the ONT.

The technician arrived as planned and installed the ONT where I wanted it (behind my A/V cabinet where all the CAT6 cables terminate).

Unfortunately the civil guys had snapped (no pun!) the fibre while pulling it through. They advised that they’ll be back in a day or two to redo the laying of fibre.

This meant that the technician could not finish the second part of his job which was to connect the ONT to the fibre. He however left his mobile number and asked me to call him when the civil guys finished their work.

On 5th June, the Chorus civil guys showed up again and completed the laying of fibre. The same evening I advised the Chorus technician that he could come in to complete the ONT install.

On 6th June, the Chorus technician showed up and connected the ONT to the fibre. He sent me a text after the job was completed. The same evening, I connected the Fritz 7390 (provided by Snap) and lo and behold the connection was all good!

I had noticed that my throughput was 30/10 instead of 100/50. Apparently an incorrect service order was passed onto Chorus but Snap admitted their fault and promised to get this resolved at the earliest. This was rectified on 13th June.

VOIP:

I was quite happy with my VOIP service with VFX but Snap had a free VOIP number bundled within the UFB plan. I requested them that I would first like to try their service and only if I was happy, I would then request a port of my existing number.

I configured my C610A IP with the number provided by snap and was happy with the call quality. My number was then ported to Snap and the temporary number was cancelled.

New Setup:

I was unable to use my Netgear R7000. I tried DD-Wrt (Kong’s build) with VLan tagging as per the a few online tutorials but could not get it going. I then tried my old Linksys E4200 with Toastman’s TomatoUSB and was able to connect fine.

However the Wi-Fi performance wasn’t as good as the Fritz 7390. So for now I’m sticking with the Fritz 7390 as it meets all my current needs. I’m still using the C610A IP for VOIP as I’ve got a few dialling plans already configured and IMO it offers a lot more functionality than the Fritz box.

For those interested I’ve also tested the C610A handsets to work fine with the Fritz in DECT mode (i.e. use the Fritz as a DECT base) and displays the contacts from the address book in the Fritz.

Final Words:

A big thanks again to Snap for assisting me with all of my queries and needs during this entire process and most importantly keeping me informed.