Life in the slow lane at Doubtless Bay

Vodafone's launch of a 5G network in 2019 hasn't done much for customers at Doubtless Bay. Photo / NZ Herald

Like many people in the Far North, Mangonui resident Robert Johnston relies on mobile data, as he has poor ADSL, VDSL, and is outside the fibre network.

"Connecting to the fibre network is prohibitively expensive," he said.

"In my case I'd be looking at in excess of $35,000, so mobile data and wireless broadband is my and many others' only option. I'm currently with Vodafone, so that service is what I'm talking about, but from what I've heard, Spark's provision is as bad.

"The problem is, we are not getting anywhere near the mobile data we are paying for in the Cooper's Beach, Mangonui, Tāipa area. Vodafone is more than happy to take our money for a very poor service to say the least.

"To give you an example of what I'm talking about, for a period of time I've been monitoring the download and upload speed of the Vodafone mobile network in the Mangonui - Cooper's Beach area because of the slow speeds on copper, and in anticipation of going on to fibre. The mobile data download speed is regularly around 1-4mbps; occasionally it will go up to 8mbps download speed."

Other areas in the district were serviced by different Vodafone towers, so he took some download readings on his way to Whangārei at around midday on Friday. The Taupō Bay tower provided 59mbps, Kaeo 35mbps, Kerikeri 267mbps, Moerewa 89mbps, and Kawakawa 127mbps.

"As you can see, the Cooper's Beach and Mangonui mobile data download speed is way behind most of all the surrounding areas, and in my mind, this is totally unacceptable," he said.

"I have contacted Vodafone customer service on numerous occasions, and have been fed the standard line that it's my or my equipment's fault.

We rely on mobile data for wireless broadband, as a lot of us up here don't have access to the fibre network.

"I must say David Semb, who runs the Kerikeri Vodafone store, has been a great support, and has given me awesome customer service. I'm not the only Vodafone customer complaining about this, but probably the only one doing something about it.

"In summary, Vodafone is giving us the absolute bare minimum service for what we are paying for," he added.

"Surely Vodafone's own systems would be highlighting the information I have outlined above, and red-flagged the lack of bandwidth up here, but they have chosen to ignore it because we are in the Far North, and they can get away with inferior service to the Far North. Out of sight, out of mind.

"The speeds we are getting now were the standard years ago, and they should not be the same in 2021. There are no excuses when 10 minutes down the road at Taupō Bay, a holiday bay with very few full-time residents, is getting 50 - 70-plus mbps, Kawakawa is getting over 127mbps and Kerikeri is getting over 250mbps. Speeds of 1-8mbps aren't acceptable in 2021, especially when we don't have access to fibre."

See for yourself

Robert Johnson is inviting Far Northerners to turn off wifi on their phones so they are on mobile data, with whichever provider they are using, then type 'speed test' into Google and click on the blue button Run Speed Test to see their download and upload speed.

"See what the results are in your area for your service provider - Vodafone, Spark, 2 degrees etc," he said.

"From what I can tell Kaitaia Vodafone is just as bad."

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Johnson received a response from Vodafone 18 minutes after he contacted the company by email, saying his complaint would be investigated urgently, and that someone would "stay across this" until the issue was resolved.

He had not received a response from Northland MP Willow-Jean Prime.