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Notes From Vodafone Meeting 13 July July 15, 2015
Please see below some bullet points from the Vodafone meeting on 13 July. As discussed the last point regarding the Technical Support number I would like a little more time with – especially since last night it was requested of Vodafone to revert back to the old Telstra 0508 number. I will come back to you on that tomorrow. I have highlighted this paragraph below and you may want to leave it out until I can provide a further update.
Vodafone acknowledged the issues the Pegasus Town residents have been having with their broadband services - specifically around peak time with broadband performance and speed. We are sorry these issues have occurred and that they have been causing frustration and inconvenience for the residents.
Vodafone are very grateful for the opportunity to discuss the situation directly with Pegasus Town residents and Vodafone is committed to resolving the issues as quickly as possible and at the meeting Vodafone explained exactly what they are doing to rectify the situation.
The Hybrid Fibre Coax cable system was developed in Canterbury around 2000 – this system is the same as the cable TV network in the United States. For Pegasus Town it was initially an exclusive deal with the developer. It is no longer exclusive however other providers are not interested in over building existing network.
Since its development the HFC cable network has had yearly capacity and technology upgrades with a major step change in technology approximately every 3 – 4 years. The cable itself is future proofed technology however to maintain quality performance and speed enhancements, the electronic equipment that provides the services needs to be upgraded regularly – which Vodafone had in plan.
However the enthusiastic uptake of video streaming services has taken us by surprise ( as it has done with other providers) and we were unable to perform our upgrade before service demand affected the services in Pegasus Town.
Vodafone have purchased the necessary equipment to perform the upgrade and the network team are working very hard to get this installed as quickly as possible. The first part of that work will be completed by the third week of August and the final upgrade will be ready in early September. When complete, the services will be returned to consistent speed and performance at all times of the day. This type of upgrade work would ordinarily take 6 months but Vodafone are completing it in 3 months.
New Zealanders increasing appetite for data, especially streaming video, has exceeded even our own ambitious expectations. The introduction of services such as Netflix and NEON are meaning 30% growth every month – this is putting pressure on all of NZ’s networks. Video streaming accounts for over 55% of Vodafone's home broadband traffic and it does not look like slowing down anytime soon as the rate of adoption of UFB plans also accelerates.
Vodafone have had to react quickly to the changing needs of customers and we are genuinely committed to getting things fixed for Pegasus Town.
The network upgrade of the HFC network is costing around $6 Million and Vodafone are working fast to get this sorted as soon as they can.
Many good questions were asked at the meeting and there are some specific action points for Vodafone to follow up on and get back to individuals about.
COMING SOON: Vodafone are providing priority assistance and have a technical support team specifically for Pegasus Town residents to contact. We also encourage residents to discuss their current plan and equipment with this team to ensure they have the right plan and equipment to meet their usage needs.