...And UFB is on!

7th Nov

Trenching had gone well the day before.

Around 9.30am I received a call from the techs confirming my address, and how to get here :) They turned up a bit later and we discussed the location for the ONT. The techs went to work, one under the house, and one above - every thing going swimmingly. They even drilled a hole and passed up the CAT 6 cable I was going to run under the house to get connectivity to the TV.

The fibre was run from the ETP and terminated, with a bit of extra length. The Huawei ONT mounted nicely against the wall, and call placed to the guy with the fibre blower.

I took off for the distribution point, about 80m away, and watched the setup from that ended. All pretty simple really, and the ducts are well labelled so should not be many issues down the line. I also checked out the Downer work order, had my address, the DP number, and the duct number all listed, so it looks like there will be no problems with incorrect connections :)

The fibre was blown through. Apparently you can do 30m just with the feeder unit, and only need the air for greater distances.

One quick join later ( apparently we are down to one joiner in Christchurch at present, the US has ordered around 17,000 so the factory is a bit behind ) and the Huawei is powered on, a phone call made to the NOC. The GPON light goes solid  and all is confirmed as OK, ready for me to plug in my router. The techs pack up, bid fond farewells, and are on the road 2hrs  after arriving.

Now the fun begins...... :)

Stage 3

6th November

The trenching is completed with no issues. A NZ$6000 drill bit was used to dig the 10m or so from the endpoint to the edge of my house. The hole was dug in two parts, under the driveway, then through to the house. It is dug at a depth of around 400mm and then a conduit is pushed through.

The endpoint of the ducting from the Distribution Point

The endpoint, uncovered, ready to be connect to the ETP on my house

The digging under the driveway.

Stage 2

29th October

1.30pm Stephanie from Enable (the LFC) rings me to confirm they have received the job from SNAP, and goes over the 3 visits again. She then says that she can book the final tech appointment now.... So i'm expecting maybe the end of November if i'm lucky :) 

"So we have a free appointment on the morning of the 7th" 

December, i ask with a small catch in my voice 

"No, November". 

So Wednesday 7th November it is then :)


30 October

Downer (Enable's contractor) have been out and scoped the job for Enable, total length of the fibre run will be around 25m to the ETP

Stage 1

This blog will follow the install of UFB (Ultra Fast Broadband), a fibre product being rolled out in New Zealand, in Bishopdale Chriscthurch. The blog is NZ centric, but I will try to explain things for interested overseas readers :)

This blog has been condensed from my thread on the fantastic NZ based tech site Geekzone

Here is a bit of background to set up the scene: 

UFB is subsidised by  the New Zealand Government, and LFC ( or Local Fibre Companies) have been selected to install the fibre in various areas.

For more information on UFB ( Ultra Fast Broadband in New Zealand) see the following links:

Crown Fibre Holdings - The NZ government department in charge of UFB
Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) for Dummies. - A great blog from Steve Biddle explaining UFB setups in NZ


My ISP of choice is SNAP!

I am an IT professional and will be using my own router etc, not the SNAP supplied Fritz box. No particular reason except i have the other equipment already.

I have been a Snap customer for three years, with no issues, and will be staying with them for UFB.

I am currently renting the the house i am in and have the landlords permission to install fibre

The house is stock standard, and should fall easily in the guidelines for a standard install 

So... we have a knowledgable customer, stock install, and no change of provider. In theory this install should go perfectly if everyone has their processes right :) Some of the Bishopdale exchange had been cabinetised, offering VDSL, but the majority of it was still ADSL 2+ and i sat on the out side edge (annoyingly only 100m from a VDSL area ) so was getting sync of around 5.5/.7 on average. 

April/May/June/July/Aug: Enable contractors begin laying piping through out a large area of Bishopdale and Papanui. The pipes are Red and and approx100-150mm and are laid under the footpath. Piping is then laid from them to approx every second house gate, two pipes, red again, approx 10-20mm. I am assuming the smaller pipes are run through the larger pipe and split off at each juncture. The termination of the pipes seems to be white cabinets, similar size to the VDSL cabinets, probably a max distance of 100m from the furtherest house

Discussing with the Enable contractors, apparently each small pipe will service one house.

So in May, excited ( probably more so than i should be, is there something wrong with me?), I ring SNAP and am told yes UFB is coming, supposedly around Aug/Sept, and to forward my details to a specific email for further info when plans and timetable are released. Plans a duly released later in the year and for a brief period the website tells me i can get UFB. Contact SNAP, as the pipes are still being laid, "Sorry about that,Enable accidently updated the database, check back around August/Sept

Sept /Oct : Contractors are back as the pressure in the pipes is not holding, so they try to find the leaks :) A bit of swearing going on. Problem fixed no sign of any Enable vans for about a month now

Oct : Constantly checking SNAP website to see if UFB available - 27th Oct will forever be etched in to my brain, supplanting my mothers birthday :)

27th Oct: Now the fun begins. Contact SNAP to discuss plans. Talk to Sam. Conversation goes something like this

Me: Hi I'd like to talk to you about UFB, do you know much about it?
Sam : Yep. We have done a few installs, where are you?
Me: Bishopdale
Sam: wow that was quick, they have only just released that to us
..... lots of gushing like a schoolgirl from me on how long i've waited etc :)

Sam confirms I'm a current customer, and begins by updating my details, which had changed. Also checked if i owned or rented. Confirmed i had spoken to the landlord.

Sam: Right so you want the 100/50 plan with your current 60gb top up pack?
Me: Nope lets start with the 30/10 ( baby steps lol ) and a 20gb top up
Sam: Ok. Now you realise that this is a minimum 12 month contract, and if you cancel you have to pay the remainder of the term
Me: (as if i'd cancel ) Yes
Sam: If you do leave the flat you may want to do a transfer of ownership to the landlord to avoid paying the termination fee (good idea!)

Sam then goes on to explain what the procedure for the install is

1) a scoping appointment will be made by Enable to come and look at the property, and discuss with me any technical issues, cabling, location of ETP, ONT etc and to plan the install
2) the civil works ie trenching etc will be completed
3) A tech will attended with the ONT, blow the fibre through, install the ONT and complete the setup. Snap will then switch me over to the fibre connection.

A bonus is that by staying with my ISP i should have ADSL right up to the point of switch over.