Rural wireless broadband trialist and Aka Aka dairy farmer Tony Walters said rural wireless broadband had surpassed his most optimistic expectations.
“The device was easy to set-up and within minutes we were good to go, there was no mucking around with installation of an external antenna or any additional set-up costs.
“Living in rural NZ, you get used to slow internet speeds and it kind of becomes the lay of the land which is pretty frustrating as we’re already strapped for time.
“Spark’s rural wireless broadband service has given us internet speeds that we’ve never had before and best of all we’ve actually got enough data to take advantage of the service.
“Being able to access the internet faster allows our farm to make better use of the latest apps and online farming tools to do things like store, record and analyse onfarm data.
“All of this helps us make better, more informed decisions, making sure we can work faster and smarter.” Walters said.
Spark home, mobile and business chief executive Jason Paris said reliable and fast internet connection was as vital to businesses and residents as utilities like power and water.
“New Zealanders have told us some of their biggest frustrations with other wireless broadband products has been the unreliable internet speeds and hefty installation costs.
“To address this head-on we’ve identified the locations across NZ where we know rural wireless broadband has the best chance of delivering reliable and super-fast speeds using the 4G network without the hassle and high-cost of installing an aerial antenna.”
Spark has launched an online address checker on its website so customers can check whether rural wireless broadband will be available to them from today.
Paris said Spark’s rollout of 4G was continuing.
“As we launch the service today, rural wireless broadband will be available to a number of customers living and working in areas that have access to 4G using the 700MHz spectrum.
“And, as we rapidly expand the 4G network to rural NZ over the next few years we expect the number of customers that can access the service to increase at that same pace.”
