Internet in New Zealand
Tuesday, 04 December 2007What’s not to love about New Zealand? The internet. Capped bandwidth, slow speeds, expensive fees, no naked DSL, an a lack of wifi hotspots are all examples of why telecom monopolies are bad things. Don’t get me started on Telecom’s current puppet ad campaign.
The most affordable short-term internet connection option in New Zealand is also the most versatile. Vodafone’s “Vodem” device and service provides a broadband internet connection via their 3G network. When in the country, the device “seamlessly” downgrades to the nation-wide GPRS network to keep you connected.
With a Vodem purchased off of TradeMe and a subscription-free contract, we can surf 6 gigs worth of the net per month for a mere $90 NZD. And this is our cheapest option (for three 3 months, including the installation and disconnect fees of the other options).
Traveling all around the north island, we haven’t had any geographical issues with the Vodem. In the cities, 3G works well and in the country, GPRS is slow but gets the job done. The main issue we’ve had is dropped connections to the network.
Typically, we’re able to authenticate and get online within 15 – 20 seconds of plugging in the Vodem to one of our Mac notebooks. Pinging a server like google.com gives us an average of a 300ms response, with about 1 – 2% of the packets dropped. This is good enough to make VOIP calls to the States and work within SSH tunnels to remote servers, not to mention read email, update blogs, and surf the web.
What will happen without warning, however, is that responses from the network will disappear. We’ll notice that web pages aren’t loading. From a terminal window, pings to our favorite domains don’t even hit the DNS server. The Vodem thinks it is still connected, but there is no response. Manually disconnecting and reconnecting the Vodem usually solves the problem, but can be a hassle when in the middle of a phone call or a download.
There aren’t many documents online helping to troubleshoot this issue. Vodafone solution support team (0800-921-021), however, has been very helpful. This morning they said that this sounded like a typical issue other customers have been having, and they suggested that I change the APN (access point name) from ‘www.vodafone.net.nz’ to ‘internet’.
Changing this on a Mac running Tiger (OS X 10.4.10) isn’t straightforward but can be done. Vodafone support said that in the Device Manager, there would be an option section and an APN tab where this value could be changed. I couldn’t find the Device Manager, so instead, inspired by a Tao of Mac article, I hacked the configs myself.
The Vodem, when installed, installs a modem script that Internet Connect uses to dail into Vodafone’s network. This file is:
/Library/Modem Scripts/MMHS ModemOpening the file, line 87 has the string string we’re looking to change. Change line 87 to look like this:
! write "AT+CGDCONT=1, IP , www.vodafone.net.nz ,,0,0 "
write "AT+CGDCONT=1, IP , internet ,,0,0 "That exclamation mark comments out the old line, and then below that we the ‘internet’ value.
This is my first time every dealing with modem scripts. My hack was led more by my deductive reasoning skills than any advanced knowledge I have on the subject. Additionally, I’ve only so far tested this fix with a 30 minute VOIP call. But all seems to be well. Initially my ping response time was ~360ms, but now is around ~320ms, with the dropped rate remaining about the same. Here’s hoping the fix lasts more than 30 minutes!
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