ADSL 2+ exchange

**SMOKEU** · 13th November 2012, 11:23

I was actually tempted into Slingshot, but after all the bad reviews I decided not to. I'm considering going with Orcon Genius, as their unlimited plan is $99 a month (it's the plan that comes with a VOIP box). I do plan on a fair bit of online gaming, but the current Telstra Clear data caps suck.

**bogan** · 13th November 2012, 11:25

Originally Posted by SMOKEU

I was actually tempted into Slingshot, but after all the bad reviews I decided not to. I'm considering going with Orcon Genius, as their unlimited plan is $99 a month (it's the plan that comes with a VOIP box). I do plan on a fair bit of online gaming, but the current Telstra Clear data caps suck.

Unlimited plans have been slow as balls for gaming in the past, as the traffic is managed to give them less priority on the network than those who pay for a set amount.

**SMOKEU** · 13th November 2012, 11:27

I wish there was such as thing in NZ as fast-ish broadband with no data caps.

**Gremlin** · 13th November 2012, 11:28

Unfortunately it looks like Orcon is going down hill. The new merger with Kordia will be interesting, as we saw changes since Kordia bought Orcon.

Had a business relationship with Orcon for over a decade, but if anything, performance has got worse on some connections, not even remained the same. Big degradation when the traffic shaper was put in (not to mention other routing issues in the middle of the night

)

We suspect they've reduced their capacity to reduce cost, which has impacted on performance. Bear in mind it's big dollars. Dropping a pipe to the internet can save millions a year. Apparently the call centre is trying to be moved... so they're turning into one of the big ISPs... with worse service.

**Bald Eagle** · 13th November 2012, 11:36

until all isp's stop charging for the water & the pipe we are all screwed. first isp to just charge for pipe only will clean up. But that wont happen while being an isp is a license to print money

**SMOKEU** · 13th November 2012, 11:39

Is there any better ISP to choose from then? I need at least 100GB per month. Unlimited would be good, so then I can run a Gomez client or 2, but otherwise I'll have to go with a capped plan

**Gremlin** · 13th November 2012, 11:40

Originally Posted by Bald Eagle

until all isp's stop charging for the water & the pipe we are all screwed. first isp to just charge for pipe only will clean up. But that wont happen while being an isp is a license to print money

You can buy the rights to a pipe and not pay for the "water", but the cost for the pipe is gonna make your eyes water...

Paying for the data is the easiest and most equitable way to share the big pipe you're all on. Simple user pays.

**Gremlin** · 13th November 2012, 11:43

Originally Posted by SMOKEU

Is there any better ISP to choose from then? I need at least 100GB per month. Unlimited would be good, so then I can run a Gomez client or 2, but otherwise I'll have to go with a capped plan

Better ISP? All have pros and cons... you get what you pay for. Cheaper ones usually have crap service...

Hell, I'm still on Telecom at home, data cap is 120GB or something. Static IP would be handy, but Telecom charges extra for that. Haven't been arsed to get around to including home in our WAN...

**Buyasta** · 13th November 2012, 13:47

Originally Posted by SMOKEU

Is there any better ISP to choose from then? I need at least 100GB per month. Unlimited would be good, so then I can run a Gomez client or 2, but otherwise I'll have to go with a capped plan

I'd advise Snap. Their base plan comes with 25GB a month, but you can also buy an addon datapack for $15-$70, which give an additional 100GB-1TB. If you do buy an addon datapack, all traffic between 1am and 7am is uncapped, and they don't shape.
Since I can download around 35gb a night in the 1am-7am period, I'm essentially getting an additional 1150GB for that $15 addon price for the 100GB pack.
Snaps support is also top-notch, and they frequently update their data pricing to keep them somewhere between competitive and dominant in terms of price/gb.
Pretty much the only potential snag is that their upstream provider is TCL, whos upstream provider does cap the speeds of individual connections, so if I tried to download off my full-duplex 100mbit seedbox, I wouldn't get my full potential line speed, but chuck in a few simultaneous threads, and it will. Also since you're coming from TCL, nothing will be changing for you in that regard.

**SMOKEU** · 13th November 2012, 15:48

Originally Posted by Buyasta

I'd advise Snap. Their base plan comes with 25GB a month, but you can also buy an addon datapack for $15-$70, which give an additional 100GB-1TB. If you do buy an addon datapack, all traffic between 1am and 7am is uncapped, and they don't shape.
Since I can download around 35gb a night in the 1am-7am period, I'm essentially getting an additional 1150GB for that $15 addon price for the 100GB pack.
Snaps support is also top-notch, and they frequently update their data pricing to keep them somewhere between competitive and dominant in terms of price/gb.
Pretty much the only potential snag is that their upstream provider is TCL, whos upstream provider does cap the speeds of individual connections, so if I tried to download off my full-duplex 100mbit seedbox, I wouldn't get my full potential line speed, but chuck in a few simultaneous threads, and it will. Also since you're coming from TCL, nothing will be changing for you in that regard.

I had a look at their website and their plans are very attractive. Would the speed and latency be a lot better with Snap than Orcon or Slingshot?

**Buyasta** · 13th November 2012, 16:41

Originally Posted by SMOKEU

I had a look at their website and their plans are very attractive. Would the speed and latency be a lot better with Snap than Orcon or Slingshot?

The speed would likely be better than Orcon's uncapped plan, since it's not shaped, and my speeds definitely got a lot better when I switched to Snap from Slingshot's AYCE plan (Not to mention infinitely better customer service).
As far as latency goes, you'd really need to compare some results... My latency did get a whole lot better with Snap than Slingshot, but there really shouldn't be much variance unless you're either on an overcrowded network (Slingshot), or they're doing their routing stupidly.
If you take a look at http://www.netindex.com/download/2,5/New-Zealand/ you'll see that Snap is the second highest in average speed, but that's not really indicative of a whole lot, as it's the last mile that's generally the limiting factor, and it'll also be skewed in their favour because they were one of the earliest ISPs to begin offering UFB plans.

**sil3nt** · 13th November 2012, 19:18

It annoys me that I can't get VDSL2+.

Uploading a video to youtube can take an entire day and the chance of it not uploading correctly is pretty high. The houses on the street behind me (less than 50 metres away) can get VDSL2+ but not me. My download speeds are fine but my upload speed is the same as that of ADSL(1).

Would quite happily sacrifice download speed for faster upload.

**SMOKEU** · 13th November 2012, 21:32

I will also need a modem/wireless router. My budget is around $150. Can anyone suggest one with DD-WRT support?

**imdying** · 14th November 2012, 10:39

Originally Posted by SMOKEU

Is there any better ISP to choose from then? I need at least 100GB per month. Unlimited would be good, so then I can run a Gomez client or 2, but otherwise I'll have to go with a capped plan

Should have asked me at the track! I've told you guys before that 700GB is a bad month... on a 60GB plan... Buyasta is on to it!