Thinking of Switching Fibre Broadband - Recommendations Please

With the increases in fibre broadband pricing, i'm keen to explore some alternatives.
I'm currently with Spark and will end up paying $97 per month for 300/100 and Netflix.

I've found a few cheaper options but have read mixed reviews and feedback.
Cheapest was 2degrees ($62) with their broadbandcompare deal, but alot of the comments mention their customer service is seriously lacking. Not sure how their actual performance is?
Then there's Skinny ($75) - haven't heard much about them. I know they use the Spark network, so does this mean in terms of performance, switching from Spark to Skinny would be identical? or are there some differences between the two?
I can also bundle broadband with Contact energy ($70), but haven't heard anything positive about them either…

So curious as to who your provider is, how much you currently pay and whether you'd recommend them or not?
Bonus if you can help identify whether or not they're increasing their prices too like Spark…

Thanks in advance

Comments

  • +1

    I'm currently with Skinny having previously used 2degrees.

    I have found the performance to be fine with both providers. Straight forward enough to get connected and no issues with speed.
    The 2degrees call centre is awful though as they offer no call back facility and you could end up waiting an hour to speak to someone. If you think you won't need to speak to someone then it won't be a problem.

    I switched to Skinny just because my old plan was due to end and Skinny had a better offer. Currently I pay $75 per month with the first 3 months free, although they have had offers previously with 6 months free.

    All the broadband providers put their efforts into getting new customers so you will pretty much always be better switching at the end of your term.

    In regards to Netflix, I have that via Turkey and costs about $10 month (NZD) for the Premium plan.

  • Try Zeronet

    • they are the only ISP that charges connection fee…

      • Oh that wasn't the case for me. And on top of already being the cheapest when I looked, they are also offering 4 months half price.

  • +2

    Just go with the cheapest, or whoever gives you the best bundle deal. If you are in Auckland then you are using Chorus's fiber network. Personally I haven't had the need to talk to my ISP for a few years now as I generally don't have any issue with internet. If say you loss internet and your router is fine then it's more to do with Chorus than your ISP.

  • I did a search on both Glimp and Broadband compare, is there another website(s) I should search? Thanks

  • +1

    I was in your position, considering 2degrees but was advised to stay away from them due to their customer support (Wife WFH, so may need to occassional support).

    Ended up bundling with Contact. It is fine for me and no issues so far apart from the connection day where I had to switch the ONT port from Port 1 to Port 2 as they open the connection on Port 2 for me. Restart the modem and works right away.

    Deciding to just use Contact instead of the hassle and save $8/month. Tricky bit is if we decided to move power, then will be on the hunt for broadband provider.

    • Are you using a Contact supplied router? If so, do you mind if i asked what model router was supplied? They seem to have a few different ones on their website.

      • +1

        Sorry, Im using my own, which is an Asus ac-86u. Reading from the web the supplied router would be TP-Link x55 or TP-Link Hx510.

        From when I joined the supplied one was TP-Link x55 only, so perhaps they introduced more variant now

        • Sorry do you mind if i ask, when changing providers, did you have to notify your existing provider? Or will Contact do that on your behalf? And what was the timeframe from when you joined Contact to getting connected and up and running? Thanks

          • +1

            @Martz5: Ok, so here's what I did when I changed to Contact:

            Rang Contact to say that I wanted to join their broadband with what I want the connection date. ~This depends on your current provider and you will need to check their T&C on what the termination days is required. I had 30 days termination notice so I scheduled the connection date with Contact 1-month ahead.

            Once Contact confirmed that they have set up the scheduled connection date, I rang my old provider back and says along the line of "consider this is my 30 days notice of closing my account etc." They might ask why you're leaving etc. and might offer you contract to keep you to stay; its up to you what do you do in this step. In my case, I insisted that I wanted to leave.
            — some provider will do this step for you, however I have been burned in the past and they didn't do it on your behalf so I did this myself this time to make sure they know that I'm leaving. If you want, you could ask for an email confirmation so that you have that in writings so if they screwed up and bill you for another month, you have something to fight with and get an easy refund.

            Wait for the connection date. I think the day before Chorus texted me the scheduled connection time for the next day and reminded that the connection is on Port 2 of ONT.

            On connection date, at the specified time (+/- an hour I think) the internet cut off. Switch over the connection on the ONT to Port 2 then reboot my router. I think I had to fiddle with the settings as described in Contact page (depending on what router you have, if you opt to use their router, you may not need to change the settings). I'm connected within 10mins again.

            So far I haven't got any issue apart from getting them to confirm the bonus month as I got charged the first month where it's supposed to be free.

            Hoped that help, but I find that when I joined, Contact broadband tech support helped me go through the process (they're the one that suggested the Port 2 connection to ensure that I have connection and could opt for few days overlap should you chose to)

        • Hi there, can you please advise if you have to return the router when you switch away from contact ? thank you

          • @budget: Not sure. I use my own router so didn't get their router

      • +1

        Contact uses devoli for their fiber broadband and it's without a doubt the worse broadband performance I have ever encountered.

  • +1

    Agree with almost all the comments above.

    I change every 12 months, with who ever has the best deal at the time. In auckland, it's chorus so speed is mostly same. Currently with skinny and absolutely no issues at all. Have used Skinny, slingshot, orcon, Stuff-fibre, Electric Kiwi. Hardly had to contact any of them so can't speak about customer service.

    For netflix using it via turkey is the best bet. For me the best deal is when it's either 3-4months free(6 months half price), I don't bother with addons and have always found bundles bit expensive.

    • +1

      There's so much more to an ISP than the fibre provider being chorus….

      • I totally agree. But in most cases the problem is with the router/modem.

    • Can you reuse your Skinny modem with any ISP without too much hassle? I recall sometime ago that some ISPs used to lock down their modems that they used to give to new customers from being used with other ISPs.

      • Most of them work. I have my own router and hardly use isp one. But all of the provider above i mention can use same skinny modem.

  • Thanks for the replies.
    I’m in Wellington, which means i’m on a Chorus network.
    Does this mean the performance and reliability should be identical regardless of who I switch to?
    I’ve been with Spark for many years and have never experienced any outages or issues which required me to contact them for support. Hoping the reliability will be similar with a new provider?

    • A majority of issues with Fibre relates to the router or WiFi. Each ISP is required to advertise their average speed for their Fibre plans and you'll see they are all about the same. There really isn't really an issue with congestion for ISPs as most bandwidth is used within NZ where there is a ton of capacity.

    • +1

      No not at all. Each ISP has to pay for international bandwidth. Think of it as a pipe and the more they pay the bigger the pipe they get. The more subscribers they have the more they will put in to this. The more old people with the provider not using their share means the more you get to use. There's a fair bit more to it than this too, but this is one of the largest factors.

  • I switched to 2degrees and all my smart home stuff stoped working. Apparently it's because they use CGNAT so no good if you have any smart home things.

    • That's why you need a static IP. They'll usually give you one for free if you complain about it breaking things.

      • -1

        Having a static IP within a CGNAT address range isn't going to help much, if at all - it still won't be routeable from the public internet.

        You would need a publicly routeable IP address. If it is static, it would be convenient, but you can use a Dynamic DNS provider if not.

        • Static IP's aren't in CGNAT.

          • -1

            @Jexla: Of course they can be - you can have a Static IP in any address range, either setup within the device getting the IP (not ideal) or if the device is using DHCP, then in the DHCP Server.

            Static / Dynamic is orthogonal to Non-routable / NAT / CGNAT / Public / Routable.

            • +1

              @Alan6984: You're being silly. You know what I'm saying. If you opt for a static IP with an NZ ISP you will not be behind CGNAT. Simple as that.

              • @Jexla: I suspect what you are attempting to say is that they need to get a publicly routeable IP.

                There is no absolute need for it to be static though - Dynamic DNS will probably work for them.

                I don't know what your home setup is, and you may not have set it up yourself, but if not, and you ask whoever did, you might well find that one or more devices in your home network have static IPs. Having a static IP does not, in and of itself, make the device reachable from the public internet.

                • @Alan6984: Dynamic DNS such as duckdns will not allow your home IP to be accessible from public internet behind CGNAT.
                  It is a pain in the but if you're hosting web services. The IP assigned to your router is different from the public facing IP. I have tried. A static IP will give you access.
                  And it's really nice to know this about 2degrees as I was just about to switch, so thanks!

                  • @tazomatalax: Your assertion that a Static IP will inherently give you aCcess from the public internet is not correct. You could have a Static IP in ANY network, including within a CGNAT range.

                    What you need to get external access is a fully ROUTEABLE IP. With that, you don't necessarily need a Static IP - Dynamic DNS will likely work for you..

                    You are confusing two entirely separate things.

    • CGNAT can be a pain if you want to be able to access your home LAN from the wider internet - it would be a deal breaker for me personally, but I suspect the vast majority of people won't even know / notice / care.

      Depending on your Smart Home stuff, you might be able to login via an external website (say), but that might imply a significant privacy concern.

      • Hi Alan,

        So if I were to switch my fibre to 2degrees, I wouldn’t be able to access my eufy camera system from my phone when I’m out and about anymore, is that correct?

        • Without knowing exactly how the Eufy Camera System works, I cannot be sure.

          If 2Degrees gives your modem / router a CGNAT address, you won't be able to connect directly into it (and then on into your camera 'system') from the public internet in general.

          However, it is possible that the camera system connects outwards to, say, a server owned by Eufy which is storing / displaying the camera feeds, and you connect to that server while you are out and about to view that video. If so, then it could still work, albeit with an horrendous privacy issue (in my opinion at least - you might not care all that much yourself, and if so, then fair enough).

          Alternatively, you might be able to get a publicly routeable IP address from 2Degrees, either by paying or just asking - no idea on that, but no harm in asking the question.

          Hope that helps,

          Alan.

          • @Alan6984: Thank you for taking the time to reply. I might steer clear just incase.

    • Is CGNAT bad for gaming? Due to the additional routing etc

      • CGNAT does not inherently imply any additional routing (although it might depending on how the ISP has their network setup, but that is true regardless of whether you get a CGNAT or fully routeable IP address).

        If you are connecting outwards only, then there is no inherent downside to CGNAT in that respect. However, if you want to allow others to connect in to, say, a (gaming) server you are running, then CGNAT would almost certainly stop that from working. If the other person(s) happened to be with the same ISP, and on the same CGNAT network, then it might be possible to connect into you, but that is probably unlikely, and the ISP could still block any connection attempts regardless (similar to some ISPs blocking all connection attempts to Port 25 by default and you have to ask to be unblocked).

      • You might have problem hosting games

        You might have problem torrenting (seeding)

  • I've been with 2degrees for 5 years, their customer support has gotten worse recently. The only time I've had to contact them was to try and get better deals, the end of last year, it took ages to get hold of anybody but they gave me a great deal on their ultimate unlimited plan, $90 a month plus free Amazon Prime video for a year. I've stuck with them because they also give me a free static ip which they gave me after they went CGNAT and it broke my plex server.

    I've also heard good things about voyager.

  • I'm with NowNZ, great support, local NZ helpdesk, and they usually do a 6 month half price deal for a 12 month contract (check on glimp etc).

    • Is NowNZ available all over the country, or just around Hawkes Bay?

      Someone else was 'extolling their virtues' to me recently, but I had it in my head (quite probably incorrectly) that they only served customers in HB.

      • Looks like it's nationwide.
        Just tested my Christchurch address and some in Auckland and they all were available.

        https://www.nownz.co.nz/

      • Definitely not just in HB.

        I was their customer prior to moving to Contact and in Auckland. Only trick is that the web thinks that you're in HB (e.g. Paknsave online web thinks that your local store is in Napier)

      • They're nationwide (I'm in Palmerston North), I think their head office is in Hawkes bay.

      • Cool - thanks guys.

        I am out of contract soon, so will look out for a deal. six months half price seems to be a 25% discount.

    • They're mostly fine, but I had them disconnect a business fiber connection over a 1 day late payment when an invoice was missed at a previous job. Wasn't very impressed with this and am now hesitant to suggest them.

      • That's pretty scary.

        Think I will steer clear, even though I'd hope to never be late paying, you never know.

        Thanks!

        • I doubt you'd be in that situation in a personal situation, but as a business this cost my work thousands of dollars over a $130 invoice.

          • @Jexla: I run a business from home (partially), so it could be a significant issue for me, and for clients.

            Probably best to avoid them for me at least.

  • Anyone use Flip.co.nz ? 60ish per month
    I use them in the broadband era …. And last year, used them to get matching price for my current provider (my republic).

  • I’m with skinny and after having previously used, orcon, Vodafone, slingshot, now and 2 degrees off the top of my head and never seemed to have any problems until I used skinny. The fibre drops out multiple times a week. Their support isn’t the best either. I will never use them again that’s for sure.

    • Have you ruled out router issues? Are you using isp router or your own? I am with skinny since 10 months and never had a single issue.

  • Went from skinny to 2degrees due to the offer they had running beginning of year. As you mentioned, their call centre is hell to get through. I've found if you email through, they now respond within 2 days so that's good, as long as its not something criritcal

  • Never called Skinny support since I've never had issues with them.

    Switched to 2 Degrees recently after my previous contract with another provider expired, and I find their call center and email support relatively acceptable. That said, I still have issues with their service (not getting the expected speed) and because of that, wouldn't recommend them.

    • +1

      Make sure 2degrees are not throttling your speed.
      I had exactly the same problem when I was with them and had signed onto the gigabit plan but wasn't getting anywhere near the expected speed even when connected by cable instead of WiFi.
      Once they ran a few tests they got it fixed and I got what I was payng for.

      • That seems to be the case. Before switching to 2degrees I could easily get speeds just under a Gigabit. Now they're saying it could be to different factors like home network set-up (which could be true). However, the only change I've had was to switch to 2degrees.

        Still working thru the issue with them. Not ideal but looking to get this resolve soon.

  • Check if you have HFC available with vodafone in your address, its $53 per month and you get over 500mbps.(been with them for a year, no issues) https://one.nz/broadband/ultra-fast-hfc/

    • Interesting. Unfortunately, "HFC broadband is exclusively available in parts of Christchurch, Wellington, and Kapiti."

  • +1

    Just got an email from Skinny that they are upping their prices by 5$ from 1st August even for fixed term customers. I am on open term and looking for options.
    I am with Contact for power and can add on broadband for 70$, whereas 2degrees 62$ seems more enticing. Had previously used 2degrees with no issues. I will continue using the Skinny modem and trying to figure out what would be the best to go with overall and if someone has other suggestions as well. TIA.

    • Yup. Got that as well. So the price would be $95/month. My term ends mid-august, so technically I can break before 1st Aug and move on.

      I am with Contact for power as well, but don't like to bundle power & broadband. Normally, that increases the power prices as I am on 9-midnight free plan which is open term. Please comment when you decide. Don't want to deal with 2D due to all issues reported.

      Will try to look for options as well.

      • You wouldn't need to bundle the broadband with power for Contact if you choose to get broadband from them. There are bundled plans and there's also the option to add on broadband as an independent service which does not alter your power prices. The broadband would be open term as well.

        • I haven't looked, but mostly to keep broadband service you need to have power with them. I might be wrong for contact. Just thinking in case when I switch power.

          • @ace310: Correct, you need to have power with Contact but don't need to switch to a bundle plan and get to keep your rates as in.

            • @sagnikd: Just checked, slingshot has 4 months free then $109/m. Total comes to $872/yr. Deal is via Glimp. Contact broadband will be $85/m, so $1020/yr.

              Skinny also offering 4 months free. I might contact support as ask for a deal, if I can get 3 months free with $90 lock in would be good.

              • @ace310: Cool, will check as well.

              • @ace310: Skinny 4 months free is only on the lowest <27Mbps plan. The rest are only 1 month free (Unless youre seeing something different)?

                • @Elvino: Ohh yes you are right. Scroll too fast and didn't read fine print.

      • You don't get an increased power price if you add broadband with good night plan unless you switch to their broadband bundle plan. From memory the broadband will be $75/month unless you go with the broadband plan?

        When i joined it was during promotion that i can get 70/month even on good night plan

        • Getting $80/m for max fibre.

    • +2

      Have signed up with 2degrees through BroadBand Compare. 300/100, 1yr contract, 62$/month

      • How are you finding their service? Customer and fibre?

        • Just signed up, contract will start in August. Will let you know of any issues. I had been with 2degrees previously for 2.5 years with no issues, fingers crossed

        • I am thinking of going with Slingshot on 900mb plan. Currently offering 4months free. Trying to stay away from 2D.

  • +1

    Skinny +$5/month

    What are my options?

    We'd love you to stay with Skinny, but you do have the option to cancel your Skinny broadband due to this price increase. If that's what you want to do then contact-us by 1 September 2023 and you won't have to pay early termination fees if you're on a fixed term contract.

    Has anyone left skinny recently while under fixed term contract? Can you share your experience

    • +2

      I’m in that boat, just about to look for a new plan now!

      • 2deg $62/mo for 12 months, $15 router fee… $759 total for 12 months… anything better?

  • Is myrepublic the only provider that offers a new router (rental) without being locked into a 12 month contract?

  • Bit off topic but is there a way to figure out which provider has CGNAT ?

    • Only ways to be sure (that I know of) is to either experience it, or ask.

      It would be great to find someone has done the hard work and posted it online as part of a comparison - might be out there perhaps….

    • All off them?

      Except if you get/buy a public ip or static ip?

      • I have never gotten a CGNAT address (at least up to now) by default on a fibre / DSL (any variant), or even dial-up (back in the day) connection.

        I have always (at least in the last ten years I would say) gotten a CGNAT address from my mobile providers though.

        However, maybe things have changed recently?

        • Ive always had a cgnat except that one time with bigpipe when they gave public ip for free

          • @justaddwater: Interesting - what is the list of ISPs that gave you CGNAT?

            I've been with the following over the last seven or eight years, and never had a CGNAT address (by default):

            Vodafone
            Orcon
            Spark
            Stuff
            Slingshot

            • @Alan6984: Hmm. I thought stuff & slingshot had/has CGNAT

              • +1

                @ace310: Well, as I said above, it is possible something has changed recently, but I am with Slingshot right now, and they have never given me a CGNAT address, and I never had to ask or pay anything extra to get a Publicly Routeable IP.

                Stuff was the same - I always had a Publicly Routeable IP with them (now absorbed into Slingshot I believe) and no extra charge.

                Maybe I was just lucky - no way of being sure.

                I believe that many (maybe all but I could not say for sure) will charge for a Fixed IP, but even that that is rarely an actual requirement if you use Dynamic DNS.

            • @Alan6984: when i say cgnat, i mean i had problems with seeding torrents.

              i dont actually check if an ip is cgnat or public.

              is there a way to check this?

              • +1

                @justaddwater: CGNAT means that your WAN-side IP address will be in the range:

                100.64.0.0 / 10

                or if you prefer:

                100.64.0.0 through 100.127.255.255 inclusive

                Similar to the 'classic' private ranges (one or more of which you likely use within your LAN):

                10 / 8
                172.16 / 12
                192.168 / 16

                That means it is not 'reachable' from the public internet, as routers won't route to those addresses from 'outside'. Some ISPs used to use the 10 / 8 range for this, but that causes problems if it conflicts with peoples LANs (pretty sure Spark did that maybe fifteen years ago, but my memory might be failing me there) which is why the CGNAT range was instigated.

                Your most external modem / router (the one that connects to your ISP if you utilise more than one) should show your (its) WAN-side IP - if it in the CGNAT range then you are subject to that. If you also search on the web to determine your apparent public IP, such as:

                https://www.whatismyip.com/

                and the two don't match, then routing to you will be difficult or impossible, as the public IP you are accessing the wider internet from (as shown in the above website) is a single IP being 'shared' by many of your ISP's customer.

                In theory, you can still 'torrent' with a CGNAT address, but other people won't be able to connect to you (hence the issue with seeding), so your speeds will often be impacted - many people won't allow you to download from them if you can't be reached to also upload to the swarm.

                HTH,

                Alan.

                • @Alan6984: Right now, at home: My Republic:
                  WAN IP: 10.10.175.0/17
                  Public IP: 101.100.131.9

                  CGNAT right ?

                  • @thesla: You can find out using this guide

                    Fyi: my skinny connection doesn't have cgnat.

                    • @ace310: I am pretty sure what Alan said is enough: if your WAN IP is in the Private range and your Public is also different from your WAN,, it's pretty certain that you are CGNAT
                      I was just making my point that CGNAT now is qutie common as there are less and less public IPV4 available in the world

                  • @thesla:

                    Right now, at home: My Republic:
                    WAN IP: 10.10.175.0/17
                    Public IP: 101.100.131.9

                    CGNAT right ?

                    No - your WAN-side IP address is in a private range (10 / 8), rather than a CGNAT range.

                    That's actually even worse as I noted above, as it means you would be restricted even in the options within your own LAN in that you can't overlap with 10.10.175.0 / 17.

                    However, the practical effect will (generally) be the same, as it is non-routeable, so you won't be able to get any connections initiated from the public internet.

                    I was just making my point that CGNAT now is qutie common as there are less and less public IPV4 available in the world

                    Yes - which is why we will all (eventually) move to IPv6, which is 128-bit space, rather than the 32-bit space for IPv4. From a practical perspective, the 128-bit space is so immense that there is no way that will get depleted in any foreseeable future :-)

                  • +1

                    @thesla: I'm with My Republic and have a free static IP. Just complain to them that you don't like CGNat until they give up and give you the static IP.

                    I pay $69 per month. I do speedtests often and get consistently 315 down / 105 up. No jitter and very low ping.

                    • @NovaAlpha: You need a fully (publicly) routeable IP - not the same thing as a static IP (they are two different, effectively unrelated, things).

                      Easy mistake to make if you aren't up to speed with basic networking.

                      • @Alan6984: it IS routable. I'm not behind CGNAT. If I do a tracert to my static public IP, it's a single hop.

                        I've got servers and IP security cams running at home and I'm able to connect to them and port forward without any issues whatsoever.

                        • @NovaAlpha: A static IP and a fully routeable IP are two different things.

                          If what you have said is true, then you have a static, fully routeable IP.

                          It is the latter, and not the former, that makes you reachable from the public internet.

                          If you aren't sure, do some reading around the subject - there is no need to be struggling with this stuff.

                          • @Alan6984: Nobody is struggling with anything. Not sure if you're trolling.

                            ISPs don't sell you a static non-routable IP. What would be the point of that? When people say they've got a static IP, of course it's going to be routable on the internet.

                            Like I told you, my public IP is fully routable. I've got a single hop to my public IP, I'm not hoping across a double NAT. My WAN IP IS my public IP.

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