[nippa&pippa]

We have been informed by Telecom that Broadband is NOT available from our new house that we are moving into this friday :no . We been offered only "dial up" service...hmmmm.
Our questions is "dial up" is too slow to use skype etc?
Or are there other companies offer broadband in rural locations (few km south of springston, near christchurch) without had to pay rip-off price for installation the wireless etc!! (one company gave us a quote of nearly $600 to install one then $60 per month to use it!!!:( )
Thanks for your help!

[katandbob]

We have been informed by Telecom that Broadband is NOT available from our new house that we are moving into this friday :no . We been offered only "dial up" service...hmmmm.
Our questions is "dial up" is too slow to use skype etc?
Or are there other companies offer broadband in rural locations (few km south of springston, near christchurch) without had to pay rip-off price for installation the wireless etc!! (one company gave us a quote of nearly $600 to install one then $60 per month to use it!!!:( )
Thanks for your help!

Sorry - but I have warned prospective house buyers on this forum that if they were wanting Rural WITH broadband - to check before buying. PUT it in the conditions of purchase - so if its not available then you dont have to buy it.

If you cant get telecom then its probably not possible that another company will be able to offer it if they use the Telecom lines - Have you tried to see if Telstra Clear have run their fibre optic cable line near there?

Other than that have you checked Woosh to see if they offer their wireless service in that area?

Yes Setting up Satalite wireless is an extrodinary cost - and their price per month is high too, which is why I have stuck to woosh.

Woosh is ok for internet, but I have given up on Skype - although It could be better now - I havent given it ago.

For MSN - I ring on the house phone and then video call as our signal can't handle the voice data and the video data at the same time.

I know a lot of kiwis that just have dial up - but they don't use the internet much.

It will be a case of either trying every possible alternative provider or the expensive Satalite option if you really need Broadband.

good luck

Kat

[suebeenz]

Hi Sophia,

I'm sorry about your situation. Good news that it's not impossible at least. By the way, when shopping for a house, I've found internet providers completely unwilling to guarantee internet service. I called 2 internet providers 3 times, and each time they stuck to their line of "We won't know for sure until a technician comes out there and tries to set it up."

I'm afraid I'm not aware of any cheap solutions. I do think dial-up will be too slow for skype. Heck, "NZ broadband" is often too slow for skype. :-)

Just in case you're not aware, there are phone cards you can buy here that are pretty ridiculously cheap. Cheaper than using Skype to call a landline anyhow.

Best of luck!

[nippa&pippa]

Thanks, we knew the risk of not having broadband in rural location as been mentioned on ENZ in past, so we took a risk. However we would like to know if there was other options to be prepare before move in. I will look into other companies like teatraclear and whoosh before sign up to have dial up Telecom.

[swissmissdesigner]

My kiwi friend in Whakatane has dial up system.
It’s like "Edison time" and the skype has a horrible static.

[Sam B]

Ha! We have Telecom's most expensive broadband package and the skype STILL has the most horrible static. We just use the camera and mute the microphone - have to use the phone instead.

[nippa&pippa]

Just let you know that dial up is turn out to be not bad after all so far............
in fact most of time, dial up is doing much better than broadband :confused:

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

Might be worth a chat to Vodafone. They offer a 3G broadband service which works via a PCMCIA card that you slot in the side of your laptop, or connect by USB to your desktop PC (costs about $150 I seem to remember, then $40-ish per month).

Whether it is any better than dial-up, however, will depend on whether there is a decent strength signal in your area (it works like a mobile phone connecting over radio wave signals - no reliance on cables in the ground - equally, however, susceptible to atmospheric conditions).

I suspect if there is no decent telcom hard wired fibre optic service where you are then there probably wont be a decent 3G signal either, but you never know. It's a totally different technology so worth a 10 minute chat with the Vodafone I suppose. Make sure you ask about the coverage (obviously you would anyway, apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs) before you sign up - you don't want to commit the cost and only get dial-up quality anyway ! The Vodafone guys in Hamilton were very helpful and knowledgable about it, can't speak for your area of course.

Also be warned that you have to commit to a 2 year contract, but if it is available at a decent signal strength and there is no alternative then that probably isn't an issue. Also, if you have a laptop, then your broadband travels with you, which could be a bonus.

[Timbo]

I just came accross this co while looking into the broadband options available;

http://www.wizbiz.co.nz/index.html