Just had an interesting live chat on the Spark website.I'm nearing the end of my BB contract with Spark, and doing what any intelligent person would do by shopping around to see what other ISPs offer.For $86 per month via 2degrees I can get fibre at 900/400 + Amazon Prime Video.So I hit up Spark, just to see what they would offer to retain a customer.900/400 + Netflix for $120.I asked the guy if that's the best they would offer to retain a customer, was told in no uncertain terms that Spark cannot offer a better deal than this.Anyone else find that weird, that they wouldn't even attempt to keep a customer?
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Spark not even attempting to retain customers?
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Change to unlocked firmware for Skinny B618 - is it possible
Long story short, we signed up with Skinny at our bach for Wireless Broadband as our daughter based herself there during the Auckland lockdown. When she went back to Auckland she was still working from home (ADSL in her flat), so we got approval from Skinny to relocate the modem to Auckland for her to use whilst doing so. We now want to relocate it back to the bach, but wireless broadband is no longer available there. So our B618S Skinny Smart Modem is now an expensive paperweight!Given i can no longer use it with Skinny, can i change the firmware on the B618S so it doesn't have the Skinny login details hardcoded in to it, so i can use it with Spark at our home address as they have just made unplan available rather than the hugely expensive Rural Wireless?
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Deadlocked trying to get refund, will lodge a complaint with Telecommunications Disputes Resolution in the morning.
Strange day, I'm collecting up transcripts, dates, screenshots, about to lodge a complaint to Telecommunications Disputes Resolution, regarding Spark. Pretty sure I'll be lodging tomorrow morning.The summary is:Purchased 2x Spark Smart Mesh products, online from the Spark website.Discovered the products do not provide functionality that was advertised and presented in the UI.Spark online chat confirmed the functionality is not possible and instructed me to return them.Returned both products to Spark Dunedin store, received a 'receipt' email from the store employee for the meshes with a promise of a refund back to my card.It's coming up two weeks and I am many conversations deep with Spark Online support, and getting nowhere.This response is the best I have gotten:00:30:30 Olivia : I understand. We apologize about it. I'll send you an email once received feedback from the direct fulfilment team.Which is similar to all the other responses I have received, and never get an answer.As time goes from days to weeks, I begin to wonder why does it take so long for fulfilment to receive two Spark Meshes?Who saw them last? They were received by the Spark Dunedin store manager.And then I begin to wonder about that exchange I had with him. At the time I physically returned the products to Spark Dunedin store, the manager was a little aggressive and incredibly resistant to receiving the items, despite showing him the printed transcript from Spark Online Chat instructing me to return them to the store. He was offering partial refunds, offering to send someone to my house - all sorts of behaviour that I'd expect from a dodgy Trademe vendor, not Spark. It was like he was somehow personally invested in the refund. Only once I pointed out his obligations under the CGA did he relent, saying he would courier them and I would get a refund to my card at a later time.I had put that exchange out of my mind until this morning, as this drags on and the non-response from Spark looks odder and odder, I begin to wonder, what is going on?This is not the Spark I know and love and have advocated for to friends and family.My patience is at an end, I'll go through Telecommunications Disputes Resolution in the morning. Should have a result in six weeks.
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Spark Unplan Wireless - Using my own router
We're looking to switch to Sparks Unplan Wireless plan, but we want to keep our existing router (Netgear R7000). I understand that you need to use Sparks modem for accessing their wireless, so I'm happy to keep that, but I was wondering how easy it was to setup some sort of DMZ, so that my router can handle port forwarding and routing. Is this possible? Or is there a better way of doing this
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Toll calls on Unplan Wireless Broadband/Wireless Landline
Thinking of swapping my current wireless broadband (RBI) ISP to Spark's Unplan Wireless Broadband together with their wireless landline service so I can continue to have a landline phone number but one thing against this is that the Spark flyer states:[With the Wireless Landline service] ...."Third-party call cards and calls through other providers won't work in the same way, so you'll need to make any toll calls through Spark"I don't make that many toll calls but when I do I use the Kia Ora card (from compass phone cards) that charge 0.019 cents/minute whereas Spark will charge 24 cents/minure. With the Kia Ora card, I dial a toll free local access number (eg Auckland 965 0103, Wellington 928 0103, Christchurch 978 0103 etc) to use ther service.If I was on Spark's Unplan Wireless BB/Wireless Landline service, would Spark somehow be able to block me from dialing a local number (eg above) to block me from using the phone card and if so, is this even legal?Thanks.PS I have a wireless landline with my current ISP and I can access the local access number with no issues.
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Anyone seen this issue before with Fritzbox on BigPipe UFB?
Got "connected" with BigPipe today.Have a Fritzbox 7490, which I factory reset, before applying the recommended BigPipe UFB settings.Cannot establish a connection.However, getting a lot of these messages in the Fritzbox system log:"Log in with Internet service provider failed. Unknown Subscriber type" Anyone seen this issue before?TIA.
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Spark Smart Modem + Smart Mesh as Wireless Access Points
For a number of reasons, I've put an ER-X in front of the Smart Modem with the modem and Smart Mesh unit configured to be WAPs only i.e. switched off DHCP, NAT, firewalls etc., LAN 1on the modem is connected to ER-X eth1 and the mesh unit is connected to LAN 2 on the modem by Cat 6 backhaul. This all works generally pretty well, but several questions:As the modem is not itself connected to the internet it shows a solid red, not green, light full time.... which I understand, but is there any way of switching this off? The mesh LED remains solid blue.Guest wifis don't seem to work properly as they used to when the Smart Modem was in stand-alone mode, pre ER-X. Guest wifi networks for 2G and 5G are set up in the Smart Modem and I want to connect a number of Google Home Minis to the Guest Wifi rather than the main wifi in order to make them more secure. However the Google Home App can't connect at either 2G or 5G and the iPhone says "no internet connection" against both network SSIDs and gives a public IP address of 169.*.*.* and no router IP address. I can't figure this one out?Speedtests have dropped from c. 920mbps to 650mbps ... still OK but I'm wondering what might be causing the 30% reduction? HWNAT and IPSEC offloading are enabled on the ER-X, so that's not the cause.Any help on the above would be much appreciated. Thanks & regards,
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Had Spark Fibre Then woke up to no internet. Any Ideas?
With Spark, had fibre installed 18 months ago and it worked fine till 2 days ago. Woke up and every devise in the house suddenly had no internet. Modem says connected , devices show the modem is connected but no device can connect to get the internet.Nothing has been changed in settings or anything. Worked when went to bed and nothing worked when woke up. Did the live help 4 times now. Chorus tech says all is fine there end as there is connectivity so not their problem. Spark chat got us doing all the standard turn off, reset, check cables tests and said need new modem. Went and got new modem from spark came home and still same issue. Contacted Spark chat again told that new modem must be faulty too. Back to Spark we went and got another modem. Still same issue. Contacted Spark chat again and once again they have opened up another job. Has anyone else had this happen to them? If so how did the issue get resolved? Any help would be immensely appreciated.
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skinny prepaid I can't text certain numbers- iPhone 11
I hope there is someone out there that can help solve this mystery. I have an issue where I can't send a text messages to three contacts in my phone.I have a new Iphone 11 - using Skinny - prepaid $26 planThe 3 contacts are all Australia numbers - I have them listed +61 425xxxxxxI can't send text messages to only 3 particular numbers in my phoneI can call them with no issues, just can't text.They can text me, but I can't reply. The three contacts are all on different Australian network providers, and all have different phones (samsung, iphone, Oppo) - Side note - I have had this issue once before when I had a 2 degrees pre paid number, so I am thinking possibly its not the network? could it be Iphone settings? previously I was using an Iphone 7 with 2 degrees and the three same numbers were coming back as a "message fail"Since then I brought a new Iphone 11, a new sim card with Skinny. (the iphone synced my contacts from Iphone-7 to Iphone-11) I have tried deleting the contacts and readding them - i still get "message failed"I turned off "imessage" - no luckI turned off mms - no luckswitched from 4g to 3g - no luck Does anyone have an idea's, had similar issues?
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Skinny 4G wireless question
Hi,Live in an area that says that 4G wireless service is not available, we are currently o. ADSL 6mb/s down 1.0mb/s up.Using a 4G modem and an external antenna ill aligned but we are able to get 25mb/s down and 20mb/s up obviously a big improvement on ADSL.Now the guy on the phone suggested that the cell tower was at capacity and had to wait till someone cancelled to get the service..A second house closer to town allows me to sign up with the service so the cell tower capacity is out the window. What options do I have or is there someone within skinny that can actually understand my situation?Thanks
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Skinny voicemail won't record messages from none Skinny numbers
I've upgraded from 8 to iPhone 12, and discovered my voicemail won't answer messages. After a lot of checking setting on phone and Skinny's voicemail, it appears calls from other skinny phones get through, but not other providers. Any suggestions?Cheers, Charlie
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Spark static IP charge for fibre
I have a couple of "home" fibre connections with Spark. One is on an older, apparently no longer available, plan that included a static IP (on request) for free. This has been stable for years with excellent uptime and service. I replaced the originally supplied router with a Cisco IOS router connected to the ONT.The other connection is relatively new and is the "unplan" service. The Spark website provides a page for requesting a static IP for $15 per month but before committing to that, I wanted to check if any of their current plans or service offerings include a bundled static IP?Both connections are residential/hobby and not business plans.
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Att: Spark QA - FW update requested to fix broken B618 WebUI.
It appears the B618 interface is mostly hidden. Perhaps this is an oversight? Examples below:
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What brand (and model, if you're swish) is this phone?
I had this phone some ~13 years ago. What is the brand and potentially the model number of this phone? It was a cheapee Telecom/CDMA phone to take advantage of text deals of the time, to sit alongside my more expensive (and useful) Vodafone GSM phone.A colleague used it in a chat message to denote something old and clunky; but it really took me down memory lane!
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Arlo 50% off deal
Anyone work for Spark or has seen the pricing that can provide a list of the prices on offer with this deal - you have to jump through hoops on the website and the info seems to be hard to come by
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Answer phone problem on Skinny
My stepdaughter is on Skinny. The answer phone service on her Iphone 11 had been working fine untill now. Some people phone her and if she doesn't answer the phone just keeps on ringing and will not activate the answer phone. For other people the answer phone works. She has talked to Skinny and they say her answer phone is setup fine on there end. They have also sent a new sim which didn't solve the proble. Anyone have any hints or suggestions?
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Issues Connecting via Mikrotik RB750Gr3 after Power Outage
Hi GuysI use my Mikrotik RB750Gr3 to connect to Sparks UFB Since swapping over to the RB750Gr3 , I noticed that after updating my router to the latest build available or a power outage, really anything that causes my router to reboot, the internet will not reconnect unless the routerboard is switched off for at minimum 10 minutes, if this 10 minute stand down period is not observed. the internet will sit in a disconnected state until the 10 minute window is observed. I contacted Spark who were not overly helpful and stated that 3rd party modems could not be provided any form of technical support, and would not provide connection attempt logs and told me repeatedly that "Nothing abnormal was happening with my connection" As a result of this issue any hope of automating the route update process is out the window, since I know that it won't come back online afterwards without manual intervention. Last night in my frustration i powered on the Spark Provided router, which was about to connect within 10 seconds of powering on with 10 minute cool downI've not used Mikrotik before this router but followed the setup guide found here https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=66&topicid=161676 and once it is connected, everything runs like a significantly smoother and faster than the speeds i get from my Spark modem. Thankfully once the connection is established, as long as i don't lose power or similar things, the connection stays active indefinitely. However I would love to get to the bottom of this, so if anyone has any ideas, I've reached the end of my knowledge :D. I am currently Running MMIPS - 6.48 Stable Cheers,WookieesAndCream
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Spark Website and App - Surely this can be improved?
I have been a Spark customer for more than a year and have exclusively made use of their prepaid deals.But I have to say: Using the Spark website and app is a real pain. And now I see that the Spark Website even warns you that it can no longer be used to top up as Chrome is no longer supported! Not only is the interface confusing, and completely illogical in that you can not see the current status of your account at a glance, it appears as if the purchasing function is also incorrectly designed. Attempting to purchase any bundle with your credit card will not work as it is trying to top up and then only after the top-up has reflected in your account, does the system in the background eventually attempt to use the topped up funds to exchange for minutes. Unfortunately this process is also very slow, in that my wife regularly makes a phone call prior to the exchange of prepaid dollars for voice minutes occurred!!! Which then results in you not getting any voice bundle, but rather realise that all the funds have now be used in a single call! Then I must first log a call and wait another 24 hours and then explain the problem again to the call center to have it eventually corrected..... Surely someone can fix this? I have suggested this to the call center and also in the Play Store review of this app. But, the only thing that has changed so far is that the Spark website no longer supports Chrome!!Anycase, If someone from Spark is here on GZ and willing to improve this website and app, I'm more than willing to share some of my thoughts. BTW - It would be handy if the Spark app (and website) would allow the credit card details to be remembered and entered by Google like all other apps and websites. Not sure if Spark had to do extra development to specifically prevent this details to be automatically entered by the handset.
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Does Skinny want new customers?
Spent all day on the phone trying to get through to Skinny with a problem related to their online signup. I recommended Skinny to my daughter because it was all so easy, regretting it now. Rant over.
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Spark billing confusion
I was hoping someone could explain to me in plain terms if the following scenario makes sense to them -- I'm genuinely confused and trying my best to understand. I've spoken to a Live Chat agent today about it and I'm still scratching my head Background - A little earlier in the month I decided to take advantage of the Spark Arlo camera offer where you can get half priced arlo gear on your account if you are on a wireless broadband or fibre planOn the form I kept the same plan, opting not to change I received my bill on the 10th of Feb containing a duplication of the plan charge for various periods:Unplan Netflix Metro Wireless 120GB+ 15.12.20 - 14.01.21 $95.00Unplan Netflix Metro Wireless 120GB+ 15.01.21 - 07.02.21 $73.54When I spoke to the agent I was informed the wireless service is billed after use and not charged a month in advance like other broadband products (I realise that I haven't prepaid in the above segments) It was explained to me that the 7th Feb was when the plan was "updated not changed" and that is why there is a charge there ending on the 7th FebI asked if this is the case, will my next bill be from 8 Feb to 14 Feb (I think I actually asked to 10th by mistake as that is the bill generation date, but what I meant was the 14th) and was responded that, no, the bill I receive next will be for the period 8 Feb to 7 March - am I completely wrong or have I been billed for almost an entire month in addition to the month of service I would usually be billed for?I'm so so lost
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