Broadband Provider and Modem

budget on 16/02/2021 - 14:23

just wondering if any one here has experience with changing broadband provider ( Fibre service ) with smooth and no hassle, and can use existing modem without any problem ?

I have recently switch from Spark to Contact and using Spark modem, didn't work, and switching back to spark, ( not sure what went wrong )

saw the competitive price for slingshot, and 2 degree and wondering with those broadband provider, do I need to use their modem in order to connect ?

any one know if spark modem can work on all provider ?

Thank you

General Discussion

Comments

  • nachos on 16/02/2021 - 14:41
    +1

    most now want to send you a modem which you have to give back (guess its easier for support). Its all built into price and not many providers have option to byod modem and if so probably not much of a cost save.
    i'm on stuff fibre, the referral system gives a new user half price for 6 months on a 12 month contract and the refferer a free month which is pretty good, i've had 3 free months so far.
    check out the stuff fibre deals posted here to get a random refer.

  • moona on 16/02/2021 - 14:45

    Generally speaking, you are better off dropping the ISP supplied router (it isn't a modem - that is DSL technology :D) as for the most part they are fairly average.
    A couple of ISPs break that tradition and supply the likes of an Asus router which are half decent. People on here might be able to comment who those are.

    Some of these ISP supplied routers come heavily locked down and preconfigured with settings to work across your Fibre connection so whether they will work with another ISP is not always possible, and again determined by how much technical knowledge you have to dive into the router firmware itself.

    All ISPs should allow you to connect with your own supplied router. Spark as an example (https://www.spark.co.nz/help/internet/set-up/non-spark-modem…)

    If you want a router that is all in one and serves the average house fairly well for WiFi, something like this would work well (https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETAS4068/ASUS-RT-AC68U-Gig…) Config settings to set it up (https://www.pbtech.co.nz/ASUSISPSettings)

    In an ideal world, you go for a non ISP supplied router and a separate access point or two depending on your house (size, levels etc)
    This is moving into a territory where you need some knowledge on the configuration as it does not just come plug and play from the ISP.

    • Rowjo on 16/02/2021 - 15:01
      +1

      Stuff fibre provides a decent Asus one as their base router and with referral works out $67.5 avg for 12 month contract gigabit

      (6 months half price)

      • The Hound on 16/02/2021 - 17:19

        Stuff's Asus modem is a rental, but Contact's Netcomm modem is free according to their website. Must be plan specific. I also notice all those join-up discounts will come upto around $240 in savings, whether its 6 months half price or 10 bucks off each month etc.

        • Rowjo on 17/02/2021 - 02:40
          +1

          I think stuff fibre says you can keep it if you remain with them for two years I believe, but I feel it's just better value to sign new 12 month contracts each year and buy your own

          • Alan6984 on 17/02/2021 - 09:59

            @Rowjo: I haven't tested this with Stuff (yet!), but my experience in general has been that once a 'modem' is more than about 18 months old, they often don't want it back, since the model is out of date, and it costs them for the courier and admin.

            It does seem to vary though.

            Alan.

  • huffboy on 16/02/2021 - 15:36
    +1

    Another vote for stuff here… among all the ISPs I've tried (voda, bigpipe, skinny), they are the only one with competent customer service - local, no much wait time, they know what they are talking about. even sorted out my chorus issues for me.

    • Rowjo on 17/02/2021 - 02:38
      +1

      I would have to disagree with the competent customer service, it honestly felt like it was outsourced when I needed to contact them to update my contact as they signed me up for 6 month half price 24 month contract initially.

      it took me 6 calls to fix the issue, with problems ranging from the employee being incapable of counting 12 months (don't know how they even managed 15 month contract??), to several just lacking basic English to understand me and or help me.
      Very frustrating experience
      Had a 50 minute wait time twice so there was that also.

      However, when I finally got someone decent the experience was great. Also the person I talked to signing up was good even though my sign-up was what caused issues.

      I'd still recommend them on value though but just pointing out customer service experiences could vary greatly

      • huffboy on 17/02/2021 - 09:27
        +1

        wow.. when did you sign up? some changes might have happened when stuff got sold to vocus.

        • Rowjo on 17/02/2021 - 21:02

          2 months ago I signed up so very recently. Not sure when vocus bought them

          • huffboy on 17/02/2021 - 22:02
            +1

            @Rowjo: must be vocus screwing it up then… they were bought mid 2020.

  • Detruire on 16/02/2021 - 18:12

    I switched from Bigpipe to Slingshot several years ago and had no problem using the same router, although I ended up using the Slingshot-supplied one as it had better wireless performance.

    I've since switched from Slingshot to Stuff Fibre and was able to use either company's supplied router with the other. This is sort of cheating, though, as they're owned by the same company and share the same network.

  • Alan6984 on 16/02/2021 - 22:26

    Generally, using the ISP supplied 'modem' (router) does not actually cause a problem, but I have (since moving off dial-up to an DSL all those years ago) placed my own router behind the ISPs router.

    My thinking is that I don't know for absolutely certain whether the ISP has configured it 'well' (securely) or not, but if / when something goes wrong, support is much easier if you are using their piece of kit. I still have to forward ports on their router of course. Also, while things have improved, it used to be common that the ISP supplied routers could only setup a LAN-side with 192.168.0.0/24 or 192.168.1.0/24 - I have, for many years, used 172.25.0.0/16 (to avoid clashes with client LAN configs over VPNs who often use the same as the ISP routers or something in 10/8).

    I then configure my own router to be secure, and forward ports as I require, and all other LAN-side config as I want.

    If and when I ever change ISP, I can leave all my config as is, and just replace the ISP router, re-do port forwarding, and away I go.

    It also means that, if the ISP support people ever want to login to their router, and they decide to do a reset or muck anything up, I can be more philosophical about it (even though I always backup the config before calling them), and I need have no concerns about them being 'inside' my (real) LAN.

    To be fair, I haven't had to call support for some time now, but you never know!

    Upshot is - I would advise to use the ISP's router and have your own router LAN-side of that, with all your own kit inside that one again.

    Alan.

  • Zyo on 19/02/2021 - 16:48

    I think vodafone now gives you mesh routers. Which could be interesting compare to an all in one.

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