Learn how you can resolve your internet speed concerns and receive the best overall online experience.

Factors to Consider

Various factors impact the broadband speeds you experience with your particular connection. Choose the type of service you have to learn more about the kinds of speeds you should experience.

• ADSL & VDSL services
  ADSL Broadband can achieve maximum speeds of up to 24Mbps download. Most customers generally experience 10-18Mbps over a direct ethernet connection. VDSL Broadband can achieve speeds of up to 70Mbps download. Most customers generally experience 22-50Mbps over a direct ethernet connection.

  Numerous factors impact the speeds you experience, such as:

  1. Distance: The further away you are from the cabinet or exchange, the slower your broadband speed.
  2. Internet traffic: The more people accessing the internet leads to a slower experience.
  3. Wiring and equipment: Poor or aged wiring and equipment is one of the leading causes of broadband speed issues. Filters can be added to your jackpoints to improve your broadband speeds.
• Fibre services
  Fibre Broadband can achieve maximum speeds of up to 700-900Mbps download on our Gigantic Fibre plans. Most customers attain 80% of the Fibre plan

  Numerous factors impact the speeds you experience, such as:

  1. Wi-Fi distance: The distance between your modem and your devices can affect your Wi-Fi performance.
  2. Old devices: Old devices, or certain software can impact fibre broadband performance. For Gigabit customers, we recommend checking the NIC card on your device for compatibility.
  3. Outdated modem: If you're a modem that was not provided by Slingshot, it might be too old or not appropriate for use over fibre broadband.
  4. Interference: Wireless interference can be caused by a range of factors such as neighbouring Wi-Fi networks, cordless phones, baby monitors, meal objects and microwaves etc. Modem positioning is vital to ensuring maximum Wi-Fi performance.

Troubleshooting 

• ADSL & VDSL services
  Learn how you can troubleshoot the cause of the slower speeds you are experiencing.

  Identifying the Issue

  1. Restart your modem by turning it off and then waiting 1-2 minutes before turning it back on.

  2. Plug an ethernet cable into the LAN port of your modem and the other end into the Ethernet port on your computer.

  3. Disable the Wi-Fi on your modem by holding the WLAN/Wi-Fi button on the side of your modem. Confirm the Wi-Fi on your modem is disabled by ensuring the WLAN/Wi-Fi light on your modem is off.

  3. Close any background programs running on your computer as well as all browser tabs. Open a single browser tab and run a speed test here. Test another ethernet cable and another computer if you experience lower than expected speeds. Attempt browsing over ethernet as well.

  Resolving your Issue

  With the results of your testing, we will equipped well to determine the kind of issue you are experiencing and how we can resolve it.

  1. If the speed test results over ethernet are lower than the expected range for your connection, we recommend completing an isolation test.
  2. If the speed test results are excellent over ethernet and drop considerably over Wi-Fi, we recommend referring to our Wireless Troubleshooting section.
  3. If you have discovered that your speed test results are normal for your connection and that you are experiencing browsing issues, we recommend referring to the Browsing support section.
• Fibre services
  Learn how you can troubleshoot the cause of the slower speeds you are experiencing.

  Identifying the Issue

  1. Restart your modem by turning it off and then waiting 1-2 minutes before turning it back on.

  2. Plug an ethernet cable into the LAN port of your modem and the other end into the Ethernet port on your computer.

  3. Disable the Wi-Fi on your modem by holding the WLAN/Wi-Fi button on the side of your modem. Confirm the Wi-Fi on your modem is disabled by ensuring the WLAN/Wi-Fi light on your modem is off.

  3. Close any background programs running on your computer as well as all browser tabs. Open a single browser tab and run a speed test here. Test another ethernet cable and another computer if you experience lower than expected speeds. Attempt browsing over ethernet as well.

  Resolving your Issue

  With the results of your testing, we will equipped well to determine the kind of issue you are experiencing and how we can resolve it.

  1. If the speed test results over ethernet are lower than the expected range for your connection, we recommend completing an isolation test.
  2. If the speed test results are excellent over ethernet and drop considerably over Wi-Fi, we recommend referring to the Wireless Troubleshooting section for your particular modem.
  3. If you have discovered that your speed test results are normal for your connection and that you are experiencing browsing issues, we recommend referring to the Browsing support section.

What should I do now?

If you find that you’ve performed all these steps, and you haven’t found a possible cause for your broadband issue, contact our team. We will complete some final checks with you before reporting a fault.

How to check the network interface card and/or ethernet adapter speeds on your Windows computer?

1. Press Windows + R and type “cpl”. The command should work on various Windows OS versions.
   
   
2. Right Click on “Ethernet or Local Area Connection” and Click on “Status”
   

3. The Status window will show you the Speed of the Network Interface Card of your PC.

For examples –

A PC with a 100Mbps Network Card will show up only 100Mbps next to speed.

A PC with 1000Mbps or 1Gbps Network Card will show 1.0Gbps next to speed

If you have a 100mbps Ethernet Card/Network Interface Card on a Gigabyte connection, upgrade the card to 1Gbps or test speeds with another PC which has a Gigabyte Ethernet Card/Network Interface Card.

1. Make sure your Ethernet cable is plugged in, and verify that you are connected to the network in System Preference > Network.

2. Locate the Network Utility on your mac. It is in Applications > Utilities > Network Utility. Alternatively, search Network Utility in Spotlight Search.

3. In the Info tab, under Network Interface, use the drop-down menu to select the Ethernet.

4. You should be able to view network connection details including network addresses, and connection link speed.

If you have a 100mbps Ethernet Card/Network Interface Card on a Gigabyte connection, upgrade the card to 1Gbps or test speeds with another PC which has a Gigabyte Ethernet Card/Network Interface Card.

The team at Slingshot will ask you to perform a trace route when you’re experiencing issues resolving websites or experiencing slow speeds, the tool allows us to see the path the traffic is taking and the response time from each node, this helps us determine if the problem is within or outside of our control to fix.

Step 1: Bring up the command prompt.

WINDOWS

• Hold down your windows key on the keyboard and press the R key at the same time, type cmd into the run box and press enter.

Or

• Click on the Windows Start menu and type cmd and press enter

Step 2: Enter the command

Tracert www.example.com and press enter, you’ll see the tool work through each hop until completion.

You should see that the tracert should perform several “hops”. If the number of hops is above 4-5 then the tracert is outside of our network and there will be little certainty that we will be able to fix the fault.

Step 3: Copy the data

Windows 10 drag the cursor while holding down the left mouse button to highlight the text, once highlight, press the enter button on the keyboard to copy it. Open a new notepad document and right mouse button click to paste or press ctrl + v

Previous version of windows you will have to right mouse click and select mark or select all, once highlight pressing the enter key would copy the text.

Step 4: Save results to a notepad and attach them with any further technical comments to https://www.slingshot.co.nz/contact/contact

Here are some youtube.com searchs demonstrating the trace route function:

Windows 10

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=preforming+a+tracert+in+windows+10

Windows 8

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=preforming+a+tracert+in+windows+8

Windows 7

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=preforming+a+tracert+in+windows+7

MAC

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=preforming+a+tracert+in+MAC

xDSL Broadband all depends on the quality of your line and the distance to the chorus equipment, there are other factors as well like the quality of your computer devices and setup of the connectivity to your router which does contribute to your overall experience.

New Zealand typically connects ADSL 2+ or VDSL 2+ for home internet users.

Below is a graph which demonstrates what is theoretically possible for your copper line to download line rate you could expect for your copper connection.

All ADSL 2+ products do have an UPLOAD rate shaped to 1Mbps, however if you have been connected to Slingshot owned equipment hosted via UCLL you may achieve a higher upload rate up to 2Mbps.

The shaping of the upload is to help prioritise and manage download traffic.

When copper services start to get over 500 metres from the DSLAM we start to see the line rates decrease, ADSL 2+ has a limit of 5kms and Slingshot will not provision any Broadband service where your premise does not qualify for the service

We do take proactive steps to ensure you’re on the best copper connection available for your line and location, if you have any performance issues with your Broadband CONTACT US

Common Speed Impacts

• If you live in an area where the Chorus equipment and service leads are old, Chorus does proactively maintain copper connections to help avoid outages and degradation.
• If you have many devices connected to your modem/router in use at one, sharing the available bandwidth can reduce the delivery to one device.
• The age and available hardware resources of your internet device is very important to overall performance.
• How far away your property is from the local Exchange.
• If you're using an old modem/router, it may have out of date firmware or just unable to process a higher number of packets to all devices at one time like modern equipment can.
• Out of date software and hardware i.e. updates and firmware
• Application configuration, see forums or support pages for 3^rd party applications and ensure it is configured correctly if it either doesn’t work and you have the minimum hardware specifications if the application seems sluggish

It is important to know that we do not guarantee any minimum speeds or latency on any of our Broadband plans.

Download is data coming from one computer system to another, example streaming a movie.

Upload is data sent from a computer to another, for example sending an email or posting a photo.

Download and upload work together simultaneously, this is to maintain the communication between devices, in other words you cannot have a one-way conversation.

Download capacity by design is always greater than upload due to the demand from end users wanting more download over upload, priority is given to download.

For gaming, it's best not to use a wireless connection as this can impact your latency. Ethernet will always have reduced latency to the router and avoid any interference.

While using Ethernet and latency issues have only just started happening, check for any recent changes to your local area network or personal computer, try rolling back those changes and then check for any improvements.

Have any recent game updates occurred? Did the issue start after the update installed, if so, this maybe causing the problem, check the game support pages and log a support request with the game vendor for help.

Make sure no Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are active/connected on your computer, if they are try disabling them and check for improvement.

If you’re connecting to an international server/host the latency could be due to distance, which is outside of Slingshot's control.

Gaming doesn’t require a lot of bandwidth, however can be impacted if all the bandwidth is being used by other devices on your Local Area Network (LAN). To test this, remove all other users on the LAN and check for any improvements.

If your latency is higher than normal or you have some connections issues, try port forwarding your game.

Still having problems? Use our contact form

Bandwidth

A great way to think about bandwidth is to liken it to a toll motorway. Bandwidth is the width of this motorway, which determines how much traffic there can be at any one time, and how fast that traffic can go.

Data cap

The data cap is how many vehicles in total there are allowed to travel at full-speed on this toll motorway at any given period of time (in this case, it would be per month). If this cap is reached, then all cars will be slowed to a fraction of the full-speed limit. For example, if the full-speed ability is 100 km/h, when the data cap is reached then all cars will have a maximum speed of 20 km/h.

The exception here is that if a data block is purchased, then the cars will be able to travel at their full speed again.

Does Slingshot have a broadband speed test?

Our speed test is the most accurate way to measure the performance of your Slingshot broadband. We encourage all our customers to use it, especially if you are experiencing speed-related issues. The data we gain helps Slingshot further improve our network and when speaking to one of our technical helpers, it can help identify what might be the problem. Lastly, in the odd occasion we need to escalate a problem to Chorus, they will accept speedtest results only from our network - not a third party. We want to do everything we can to make sure you avoid getting Broadbangry

Need to know

It is important that you have closed any other applications that might be using your internet connection when you run the Slingshot speed test. This includes things like file-sharing programs, chat or instant messaging applications, and any other browser windows. If you have multiple computers using your broadband connection, we also suggest you unplug them from your broadband router leaving only the PC you are testing with connected. 

Click here to go directly to the speed test webpage or click the image below.

System requirements

This application can run on Windows Vista, Windows 7 SP1 or higher, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.

 This application requires Java version 8 update 191 or higher installed on your computer to run, available from Java here.

Getting started

Start by downloading the app from: http://linetest.nz/LinetestSpeedDiagnostics.exe

Your browser may prompt you to open or save the file. If it asks you to do this, select the “Save” option.

Firefox

MS Edge: 

Internet Explorer:

Running the application

Once the download has completed, locate the file in your downloads folder, right click on the program, click “Run as administrator”, and allow the program to run.

The application will guide you through the process but we have supplied this document just in case you need any further help. 

 You might see the following screen when you run the application:

If you see this screen, click More info, then Run anyway.

If you see the following dialog, please click OK and follow the instructions to install the latest version of Java on your computer.

The application will guide you through the process but we have supplied this document just in case you need any further help.

After the program has finished loading, you will be presented with this screen:

You should have received a ticket number reference in the email we sent you. Please use this reference in the ticket number field.

 Under Contact email, please put in the email address you wish to be contacted on.

Testing server should be left as Auto select unless we request that you specify a server to test from.

Under Your plan, please select the plan you are currently on with your service provider. Your plan should have been sent to you in the email.

This tool will stress test your Internet connection based on the plan that you select. If you select a plan higher than your current connection, you may temporarily lose access to the Internet. If you are unsure of the correct plan you can check via logging in to MyAccount.

Click on Next to continue. On the next screen, it will ask if you are having a problem with a specific site as per below:

If you would like to test to a specific website or server, tick the Include other sites in the test box and add in any site(s) you are having issues with.

If you select Include a pathping test to linetest.nz, we will get some more valuable information to help resolve your issue. It is not usually required, however if we need you to complete further testing, we may ask you to tick this box.

The application will now check how you are connected to the modem/router, for these tests you need to be running on an Ethernet connection only as it will not allow you to run the tests over the wireless.

If you get this message, your computer is currently connected by Wi-Fi. Even if you have plugged in an Ethernet cable, your computer may be connected to both the Ethernet and Wi-Fi at the same time.

Please turn off Wi-Fi on your modem and click “Retry”.

After that the tool will check what applications are running, these applications could be using up bandwidth while testing. Ether shut them down manually and click “Retry” or the application will shut them down automatically when you click “Next”.

Once this is completed the application confirms it is ready to run the tests, as the screen below shows:

Click Next to continue with the series of complex tests which, depending on your connection type, will take between 5-10 minutes. If you have opted to include other sites in the test, please allow for an additional 3-5 minutes per site.

Important note: Do not use the internet from any network device in the property while the application is running as this will give a false impression of how the connection is performing and may hinder troubleshooting.

The screen will update with a progress bar during the test.

On completion, the application will ask if you want to save a copy of the test that we will be receiving.

If you wish to retain a copy for yourself tick “Save results” then select where you want to save the text file, such as the desktop.

Once you click on OK or Select Folder, the file will save, then the application will close automatically and send us the results.

Alternatively, if you just click Finish the application will close and send us the results but will not save a copy on your PC. Once finished the application will remove any set up files that it needs to run.

We will review the file once it has been received and the results have been checked.

Viewing the report

Once the test has completed, am HTML report will automatically open in your web browser. It should look like the report below:

From this report you can see the speeds you were able to achieve during the test, as well as some information about the performance of your computer and running applications. A full version of the report can be found at the bottom of the page.