We’re currently working with you in the TCF to implement a change in band plan from 997 to 998 for VDSL, which will increase coverage and speed for a majority of your customers.  As part of this process we would like to test your modems.

What's happening?

We have initiated a project to help manage the band plan change from 997 to 998 and would like to include your modems within our regression testing of the band plan upgrade on our ISAMs to establish whether your modems will work on 998.  Our project is in the early stages and we’re still assessing the impact of the change, but as it progresses we will be able to provide more information on the timing and potential impact to our customers, as well as the benefits.

We are committed to working with you to assess the potential impacts of this change and to assist you with migration, so that together we can realise the potential benefits for your customers.

What's the detail?

New Zealand is the last remaining country that exclusively uses the 997 VDSL band plan.  All other countries have adopted the more asymmetric and higher downstream speed 998 based band plan for providing VDSLbased services. The benefits of moving to 998 for VDSL include:

• Increased coverage - 998 can cope with higher attenuation on the line meaning VDSL reach is estimated to improve.  We will be updating our pre-qualification tool to reflect this change once the benefits have been assessed.
• Increased download speeds – 998 is more asymmetric with higher download speeds possible, meaning that we expect download speeds for a majority of your connections to increase.
• Increased upload speeds – we are removing the 10Mbps upload restriction, meaning that we expect upload speeds for a lot of your connections to increase.
• Refreshed line profiles – an optimisation of current line profiles to provide further flexibility in adjusting lines for best performance.
• Access to wider variety of modems and network equipment – all large scale equipment suppliers focus their research and development on 998, which means you will have access to more modems at a lower cost.
• Less cost to upgrade –no need for a 997 specific variant of software upgrades or bug fixes to be created as998 is the supplier standard.

For more technical information on the band plan change, please refer to the TCF UCLL VDSL Band Plan Reviewworking party information.

Modem testing

As part of our normal regression testing we would like to complete testing on your VDSL capable modems, including whether your modem will work on 998 and the ability for it to switch from 997 to 998 without intervention. It does not include endorsement of your modem’s performance on our network. 

If you would like to be part of this testing, please provide:

• Two VDSL modems – for each VDSL capable modem you currently (or plan to) provide to customers for use on our network. If one of your modems behaves abnormally we can check it against another of the same model and configuration to rule out a modem fault.  It also provides the ability to run tests in parallel.

The modems should be provided to us:

• Configured as they would be for your customers and have current software versions loaded.
• With any default passwords installed on the modems.
• With contact details for your technical person / team in case of any issues.
• Clearly labelled with your company name.
• For at least 3 months – please indicate whether you would like us to retain or return your modems at completion of testing. If retained, we would store the modems for use in future testing of network changes.

Please note, if you choose to not be part of modem testing, there is a risk that your connections may be impacted when we change to 998.

Please send your modems, by courier, to the following address:

Chorus New Zealand Ltd
State Insurance building
Level 10
1 Willis Street
Wellington

Attention: Chandra Palani

Timings

We would like to start testing as soon as possible, so if you would like to be involved, please send your modems to us by 11 February.  We will provide an update on timings for the project and band plan implementation on 10 February at the TCF UCLL VDSL Band Plan Review working party meeting.

Who do I contact?

For more information, please contact your Service Delivery Manager.