Thinking about Switching from BigPipe to 2Degrees

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Thinking about Switching from BigPipe to 2Degrees

1 | 2 | 3

10300 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2414367 7-Feb-2020 19:24

I recently logged a job with 2degrees as the 2degrees Android application was very very slow and timed out 50% of the time and I got fantastic support with follow-up calls and progress updates. Now the 2d App never times out and opens much much quicker

GoodSync

GoodSync. Easily back up and sync your files with GoodSync. Simple and secure file backup and synchronisation software will ensure that your files are never lost (affiliate link).

kickintheeye

112 posts

Master Geek

#2414405 7-Feb-2020 23:27

Update: I went to a 2d store and signed up. Mobile + Fibre Unlimited. The salesperson knew his thing and was quite helpful. No stress or complications at this point. He said the fibre connection installation could take up to 5 working days (my bad for not contacting them earlier). Free Amazon Prime Video seems pretty sweet too. I own a Huawei router but it is generic as. So, I paid $15 (delivery fee) for the 2d one.

kickintheeye

112 posts

Master Geek

#2416841 12-Feb-2020 19:36

Update: It's been nearly a week since I signed up with 2Degrees. Today I received the Frtiz!Box 7530 router and an email from them that was a little bit concerning. Apparently, due to a shared driveway Chorus needs to obtain consent from my neighbors/landlords in order to get my fibre connection installed.

On top of that, their assessment can take up to 2 weeks. That's so frustrating. When you check online if fibre is available at your new address and the result says "Fibre connection is available" when in reality that's not 100% true. I hope 2Degrees can at least provide a temporary VDSL connection temporarily until the fibre connection is being sorted. Crossing fingers

Linux

10300 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2416842 12-Feb-2020 19:43

Of course Chorus need consent to dig up / make changes to a shared driveway this is not new and well out of 2degrees control

sjhs

40 posts

Geek

#2417216 13-Feb-2020 11:26

I recently moved from a Vodafone 'fibre'-x connection to a 2degrees actual fibre plan, and have found the 2degrees side of things pretty decent.

I did have to wait 30 minutes on hold to get through to a 2degrees support person, despite knowing that the problem wasn't likely on the 2degrees side of the fence... but the person I talked to was helpful and got a Chorus technician out the next day to get a signal to my recently installed ONT (Am I the only person who has never signed up for an internet connection and have it work on the first day?). Once the lack of signal to the ONT issue was sorted my connection has been reliable and speedtests indicate I'm getting what I pay for in terms of speeds to 2degrees.

As for cons: I'm getting bad latency and things not loading correctly (ie. youtube app on TV will sometimes just buffer endlessly, but going back and reloading the same video will bring it up straight away etc). I'm hoping this is CGNAT related, as I've requested a static IP... It would be cool to have the option to request a static IP as part of the web based sign up, but it's either not there or I just wasn't paying enough attention. Even with the latency issues it's a significant improvement on my Vodafone cable connection which would drop out regularly and require a modem power cycle to bring it back, and I'm even happier today having found the web based email portal to log my request for a static IP.

trig42

5604 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2417225 13-Feb-2020 11:44

kickintheeye:

Update: It's been nearly a week since I signed up with 2Degrees. Today I received the Frtiz!Box 7530 router and an email from them that was a little bit concerning. Apparently, due to a shared driveway Chorus needs to obtain consent from my neighbors/landlords in order to get my fibre connection installed.

On top of that, their assessment can take up to 2 weeks. That's so frustrating. When you check online if fibre is available at your new address and the result says "Fibre connection is available" when in reality that's not 100% true. I hope 2Degrees can at least provide a temporary VDSL connection temporarily until the fibre connection is being sorted. Crossing fingers

Did you not have Fibre with Bigpipe?

mobiusnz

393 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2424269 19-Feb-2020 21:51

Really feel I must chip in here. I have a fibre connection at my office and one at home. The work one is with 2 degrees and I’ve been with them for about 9 years since they were snap. I also work in IT and regularly deal with help desks on behalf of clients and I have to say since the 2 degrees purchase of snap I was concerned the bigger client base would result in a dumbing down of the help desk. I’ve been very pleasantly surprise that although the wait times have increased a little (still not the 45 minutes it takes to get to someone that can actually help more than suggesting switching off and on the router with the others) the person who I talk to is the person who stays with me until the problem is resolved, usually they have the training and tool set to do it themselves and if not it’s usually a quick hold while they talk to the next tier and it’s resolved.

My folks in Auckland are with them too and had a failed fritzbox and 2 degrees couriered one out all programmed ready to go and then very patiently talked to him on the phone while he confused himself plugging the wrong things in the wrong place until after 30 minutes was up and running.

I also find their broadband speeds far more consistent. Vodafone especially I find their international bandwidth is often complete rubbish where I never find myself thinking my connection is any slower than usual (mainly a 9 to 5 user on 2D). I’m not the big fan of the fritzbox some people are but it’s a lot better than the traditional vanilla rubbish you get elsewhere, very reliable and if you put a static dhcp reservation in and or port forwarding they work and stay working - the Hg659s have become better after firmware updates but still unreliable and prone to failures.

As I said, I work in IT and spend a lot of time working with ISPs and 2 degrees consistently outshine the rest. I’ve had clients trying to get fibre installed with Vodafone for weeks getting the runaround and told that their cable network is just as good (it’s not) because in reality they make more margin as they own it. Ring 2 degrees and you’ll get much faster action that the others on a fibre install (at least with Enable in Christchurch I can vouch for that). As for spark telling people on of their 4g router is as good as fibre when again they just make more money on it.

Ive seen some talk here complaining about the service level dropping and that might be true but try going with Vodafone and ringing up with a fault. I’ve had enterprise account managers for very large companies fail to get a static ip allocated after numerous back and forth and eventually tell me to ring the help desk and sit on hold for 40 minutes. I don’t have experience with many of the consumer bands (Bigpipe etc) but deal with 2D, Vodafone and Spark constantly and 2 degrees don’t have quite the boutique flexibility they did in the early days of snap but you can’t run customer recipes with every client when you grow to the size they are but they still run a very reliable SMTP relay server which makes copier scan to email effortless and as for complaints about status pages, I’ve spent 45 minutes on hold to Vodafone to finally be told there is an outage in the area, when I “suggest” they should maybe update their status page they usually say something stupid like “oh, that’s a good idea, I’ll talk to my manager”

Matt Beechey

Mobius Network Solutions

kickintheeye

112 posts

Master Geek

#2424294 19-Feb-2020 23:44

Here's my weekly update:

My fibre activation is scheduled on 02/03/2020 during the morning. The only thing confusing here was the conflicting info provided by the service desk saying that someone needs to be at home, and the confirmation text said "you won't need to be home", which resulted in an additional call to 2D. Yes, someone needs to be home, of course.

On my previous comment, I mentioned that would be great having a temporary DSL connection until the fibre is up and running. After one week without Internet access, I had to spend $50 to top up my mobile data (15GB). Surprisingly, I got a new text from 2D today scheduling my "broadband connection" on 24/02/2020. That was a little bit confusing due to the lack of details, such as - do we need to be home? - is this a temporary connection or the definitive fibre installation? Turns out, it will be the temporary DSL connection until the fibre is activated. It took me around 30 minutes to get to talk to the service desk, but I can only do that after 6pm. I can imagine they have fewer people available taking calls at that time of the day.

Answering the question about Bigpipe. No, thank goodness I am not with them anymore. At least with 2D you can talk with real people and the customer service is far far superior. It would be a nightmare if I had to deal with the service desk via email only or a silly AI. Bigpipe never again!

pom532

147 posts

Master Geek

#2424326 20-Feb-2020 09:03

If your mobile is with 2degrees, they can give some free mobile data to cover you for the small gap in service.

bandicoutts

17 posts

Geek

Trusted

#2424574 20-Feb-2020 15:14

kickintheeye:

Answering the question about Bigpipe. No, thank goodness I am not with them anymore. At least with 2D you can talk with real people and the customer service is far far superior. It would be a nightmare if I had to deal with the service desk via email only or a silly AI. Bigpipe never again!

There's live chat and both their live chat and email options are staffed by real people.

kickintheeye

112 posts

Master Geek

#2424633 20-Feb-2020 19:29

Surprise news! Early this morning I got a new text from 2D saying that my broadband connection was completed yesterday! I just turned on the router and it is working. I'm happy that they managed to make that connection available earlier than yesterday's text notification. Cranky communication? Yes! Am I mad? No! Thanks 2Degrees for providing a temporary connection until the fibre activation is done.

CrashAndBurn

639 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2643269 27-Jan-2021 23:15

Contract about to end next month with BP and leaning towards 2D. Any recent info apart from what is on their website? Any promo codes? Any gotchas I need to be aware of? Is their connection stable enough as both me and my wife primarily WFH. Should I opt for their modem given I don't mind getting locked for 12 months or it is no better than the one I got from BP?

DjShadow

3954 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2643270 27-Jan-2021 23:26

I've found 2D very good, long as you are ok being on a cg-nat IP. I've not bothered going for a Static IP as everything I need just works, including WFH stuff

michaelmurfy

cat
12247 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2643277 28-Jan-2021 00:50

@CrashAndBurn I'm with 2degrees and also do production support for the company I work at so require a very stable internet connection for callouts. I've built my home network to be as stable as possible with a UPS, decent router etc. I schedule updates and reboots to happen after-hours if possible (normally at around 1am). In the time I've been with 2degrees (around 4 years now) I've only had 3x extended outages lasting longer than 5mins. They've got great international bandwidth capacity and also very good national peering.

Only problem - They have CG-NAT by default these days so if you've got services you're hosting on your home connection like Plex, a web server and have port-forwards for these services then it won't work on 2degrees without paying them $10/mo for a Static IP address. If you don't do any of this then you're totally fine to join them and won't notice any change. Also by having your mobile with them (on an on-account plan) you save $10/mo.

Take the Fritz!Box they offer - it is a good router.

Lastly - any deals are on their website. Just sign up there.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Tessie | Tesla | Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? Please consider supporting us by subscribing.
Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

CrashAndBurn

639 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2643289 28-Jan-2021 00:55

michaelmurfy:

@CrashAndBurn I'm with 2degrees and also do production support for the company I work at so require a very stable internet connection for callouts. I've built my home network to be as stable as possible with a UPS, decent router etc. I schedule updates and reboots to happen after-hours if possible (normally at around 1am). In the time I've been with 2degrees (around 4 years now) I've only had 3x extended outages lasting longer than 5mins. They've got great international bandwidth capacity and also very good national peering.

Only problem - They have CG-NAT by default these days so if you've got services you're hosting on your home connection like Plex, a web server and have port-forwards for these services then it won't work on 2degrees without paying them $10/mo for a Static IP address. If you don't do any of this then you're totally fine to join them and won't notice any change. Also by having your mobile with them (on an on-account plan) you save $10/mo.

Take the Fritz!Box they offer - it is a good router.

Lastly - any deals are on their website. Just sign up there.

Thanks. I use to run Plex but not anymore. Just really need a stable connection else will get forced to come to the office. Are you aware of any issues with streaming e.g. Netflix and or gaming e.g. PS+ on 2D?

1 | 2 | 3