[Snap] Snap vs. XNet vs. Maxnet?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › [Snap] Snap vs. XNet vs. Maxnet?

CrystalLil

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#60520 27-Apr-2010 12:29

Looking for some advice, please?

I am moving to a new house in a couple of weeks (in Auckland) and looking for a new broadband provider. There is currently no active phone line in the house - and I don't really need one connected. So I'm looking for a naked broadband plan that won't charge me a phone reconnection fee. So far, the main contenders seem to be Snap, XNet and Maxnet.

I'll probably use 10-15GB data per month and mainly in the evenings for watching video (e.g. youtube, megavideo). So speed performance is important. I understand that many, many different factors affect speed performance, so I guess I'll have to take the risk to some degree on that one. There will only be 2 of us connecting to the network - and it's unlikely we'd both be watching video at the same time very much.

I would definitely want good customer service - prompt response times and user friendly advice and support if something goes wrong. I've most recently been an Orcon customer and we were never satisfied with the speeds we got from day one. Every time we called them about it, they asked us to run about a 1000 tests and unplug everything and plug it in somewhere else...we never got to the root of the problem and I'm exhausted with it all. Before that, we were with vodafone who only ever seemed to have 1 technical support person dealing with calls at any one time (e.g. 45 minutes not an unusual wait to talk to someone...)

No 12 month contract would be a bonus - but that seems to be unrealistic!

So - what are people's thoughts? Has anyone had experience of all 3 (snap, xnet & maxnet) and found any one to be better than the other?

thanks in advance,

Lil.

1 | 2

meow
13257 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#323619 27-Apr-2010 14:00

I have always been with Snap - and their customer service is excellent. There's hardly any waiting around to get to a CSR.
The speeds I have always found to be quite good too, would recommend them to anyone as a ISP.

Just to chuck something more in, i'm sure Ralph will throw in a free Scone with any 12mo plan purchaced, making it a worthwile investment.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: 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.

CrystalLil

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#323668 27-Apr-2010 14:43

mmmm...tempting. I am partial to a date scone...

SCM

459 posts

Ultimate Geek

#323677 27-Apr-2010 14:58

michaelmurfy: I have always been with Snap - and their customer service is excellent. There's hardly any waiting around to get to a CSR.
The speeds I have always found to be quite good too, would recommend them to anyone as a ISP.

Just to chuck something more in, i'm sure Ralph will throw in a free Scone with any 12mo plan purchaced, making it a worthwile investment.

+1

While ive not used the other 2, Snap have great CS good local speeds and rearly have an outage. Only issue is international bandwidth tho that counts for them all

Kraven

729 posts

Ultimate Geek

#323678 27-Apr-2010 14:58

I'm with Maxnet naked DSL, have been for 12 months, never had a complaint about speeds.

The only time I needed to speak to a CSR was about 8 months ago and I couldn't because at the time they blocked cellphone calls to their 0800 number (not sure if this is still the case).

So, I guess my advise would be to check that the ISP allows you to call their helpdesk 0800 number from a cellphone - really important if you're using VOIP on naked DSL.

kyhwana2

2566 posts

Uber Geek

#323707 27-Apr-2010 15:28

As I said on the other thread, I like xnet because:
Charge per MB that you actually use, none of this paying for unused data crap.
Native IPv6 support (Not important to non-geeks, I admit)
I can pull line rate (~1.6MB/s) during off peak. (National and international)
I know one of the guys who works there
Naked DSL. no paying $45/month for something I don't use.

I don't like xnet because:
On peak international is complete ass. (But probably better than telecoms big time, from what i've read of that thread!)
They blow up for a few hours once every 1-3 months.

michaelmurfy

meow
13257 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#323736 27-Apr-2010 16:10

kyhwana2: I don't like xnet because:
On peak international is complete ass. (But probably better than telecoms big time, from what i've read of that thread!)
They blow up for a few hours once every 1-3 months.

The only major outage was with my parents Go-Large plan about 3 years ago, when broadband was out for a whole day. The other only major outage with Snap was when Chorus were installing a ADSL2+ Cabinet.

But looking at my old Pingdom stats, my last uptime was 99.97% for the whole month, and 98.93% for the year, this is not really a valid test for testing ADSL uptime since the server has to go through updates, and also there was a few times where I had to move the server around the house.

Snap also allow Mobile Phones to call their 0800 Number, great for people like me who don't use a landline.

Go with them :) - And request your date scone too :P

maxzzz

86 posts

Master Geek

#323802 27-Apr-2010 18:08

kyhwana2: As I said on the other thread, I like xnet because:
[...]
I can pull line rate (~1.6MB/s) during off peak. (National and international)

Hi kyhwana2

What speeds do you get during peak time international (say US) with one thread?

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

kyhwana2

2566 posts

Uber Geek

#323830 27-Apr-2010 19:10

maxzzz:
kyhwana2: As I said on the other thread, I like xnet because:
[...]
I can pull line rate (~1.6MB/s) during off peak. (National and international)

Hi kyhwana2

What speeds do you get during peak time international (say US) with one thread?

About 100KB/s max (KiloBytes)

Which I suppose isn't TOO shabby, but HD youtube isn't watchable without buffering, and SD youtube requires about 2-4x the length of the clip to buffer.

But then again, there's a big different between 50-100KB/s and 1.6MB/s..

Ragnor

8222 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#323965 28-Apr-2010 01:32

Shouldn't Youtube on Xnet go to Orcon's google/youtube caches via APE/WIX, what DNS settings are you using?

andar

67 posts

Master Geek

#324803 29-Apr-2010 15:59

I used to be with Xnet, service worked fine. No problems until I wanted to change to Snap as I got a good deal through work. Xnet continued to charge me for several months after that. This was 2 years ago and despite numerous phone calls, emails and letters this is still not resolved.

As for Snap, they are great. Speed is quite good and reasonably consistant. Only a couple of minor outages that I have noticed in the last 2 years. I have changed plans a couple of times and the staff are great.

I have no experience with Maxnet.

Cheers,

Lias

5589 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#324811 29-Apr-2010 16:21

I was on Xnet until I switched to Big Time.. On average, Big Time's performance is better than what I got from Xnet.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

nakedmolerat

4629 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#325703 2-May-2010 00:51

Kraven: I'm with Maxnet naked DSL, have been for 12 months, never had a complaint about speeds.

The only time I needed to speak to a CSR was about 8 months ago and I couldn't because at the time they blocked cellphone calls to their 0800 number (not sure if this is still the case).

So, I guess my advise would be to check that the ISP allows you to call their helpdesk 0800 number from a cellphone - really important if you're using VOIP on naked DSL.

Maxnet...

They do not allow you to use cellphone to call the helpdesk. If you only have cellphone (like me) - then be prepared to call 09-xxxxxx number. I have naked DSL - so currently using 2degrees to call them when needed.

Maxnet support is NOT 24 hours. I have trouble logging to the internet early Sunday morning, I have to wait until afternoon to ring them and get the password resetted.

Poor security - one password to access the internet, emails and members account. This password can only be changed by ringing them over the phone.

CrystalLil

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#325712 2-May-2010 07:56

Well...after reading all the feedback from all you kind repliers, I decided to give Snap a try. I called them up to sign up and was told by a very honest CSR that there were known performance issues with the telecom network at the cabinet/exchange in the area where I'm moving to. Apparently, this means video streaming will be affected at certain times throughout the day and possibly all day. The problem is that there are too many people on the network for it to cope with and there are no imminent plans to do anything about this. I called Orcon and Vodafone and they also use the telecom network in this area - so I'll have the same problem whoever I go with. Argh. There is a local library round the corner - I might just go and use their wi-fi instead. Or spend my broadband money on some videos and magazine subscriptions.

Thanks so much to everyone who's replied here.

Lil.

Ragnor

8222 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#325881 2-May-2010 22:10

That sounds a bit odd, what area/exchange was this?

You can lookup the address on http://www.telecomwholesale.co.nz/maps to find out what the exchange or cabinet name is.

insane

3240 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#325907 3-May-2010 00:53

nakedmolerat:

Maxnet...

They do not allow you to use cellphone to call the helpdesk. If you only have cellphone (like me) - then be prepared to call 09-xxxxxx number. I have naked DSL - so currently using 2degrees to call them when needed.

Maxnet support is NOT 24 hours. I have trouble logging to the internet early Sunday morning, I have to wait until afternoon to ring them and get the password resetted.

Poor security - one password to access the internet, emails and members account. This password can only be changed by ringing them over the phone.

Good point about the 0800 number, I'll see if I can get his changed this month.. makes sense now that so many people don't have land lines anymore. At least on the bright side its not like you have to wait more than a minute to speak to someone.

Support not 24 hours.. watch this space, the guys are nearly finished their training :)

Poor security? There is your DSL password which will also be your primary email account password, each subsiquent email account may have a different password and same for your members centre password.

cheers

1 | 2