It depends entirely on one thing: whether there's already fibre at your address. The two experiences are barely related, so find yours below.
Either way you deal with us. We pass the order to your local fibre company, keep track of it, and tell you what's happening, so there's nobody else for you to chase.
If your place already has fibre
Nothing happens at your house at all. No visit, no appointment, nobody needs to be home.
The fibre and the box on your wall are already there, and they stay exactly where they are. Moving to Plio is a change made in the network rather than at your property, a bit like porting a phone number. On the day, your connection simply becomes ours.
All you do is plug your router in when the day arrives. That's genuinely it, and it's covered properly in How does a transfer activation work?
If you're getting fibre for the first time
This is real construction work, and it runs in stages. Depending on your property the fibre company might do the lot in one visit, or spread it across a few weeks.
1. We hand your order to your local fibre company
The fibre in the ground isn't ours. Depending where you live it belongs to Chorus, Enable, Northpower or Tuatahi First Fibre, and they're the ones who physically run it to your house.
We place the order with them and stay on it. You don't need to contact them yourself.
2. Someone comes to look at your property
A technician visits to work out how the fibre will reach your house and where everything will go. It takes about an hour, and you need to be there.
Between you you'll agree the route the cable takes, where a small box called the ETP goes on your outside wall, and where the fibre box goes inside. The inside one matters day to day, because your router plugs into it.
You'll be asked to sign an Install Agreement before any work starts. It sets out what's being done and where. Read it rather than skimming it, because it's the record of what you agreed to.
3. The outside work
Fibre gets brought from the street to the ETP on your wall. You don't need to be home for this part.
How disruptive it is depends on your property, and the fibre companies sort jobs into three levels:
Low impact. Burying the cable in soft ground, running it along a wall, lifting a few paving stones, or bringing it in overhead. Most homes land here.
Medium impact. Shallow trenching through concrete, up to about four square metres, or cabling through the shared parts of a building.
High impact. More than four square metres of hard surface. Long concrete driveways are the usual reason.
You'll know which one applies to you before anyone starts, and anything beyond a standard install gets quoted to you first.
4. The inside work
The technician runs the cable in from the ETP, fits the fibre box, wires it up and tests it. You need to be home, and it can take up to four hours.
Worth blocking out a decent chunk of the day rather than squeezing it into a lunch break.
Talk to the technician. It's worth it
This is the one part where five minutes of conversation saves you months of mild irritation, because moving the box afterwards is a paid job.
Things worth raising:
Where you actually use the internet. Your Wi-Fi spreads out from wherever the router sits, so somewhere fairly central beats the garage or a far corner.
Rooms that are already bad for Wi-Fi, if you've lived here a while. Say so, and they can factor it in.
Whether you want anything hardwired. An ethernet run to an office or a TV is much easier to do now than later.
Your no-go areas. Walls you don't want drilled, routes you'd rather they didn't take. Say it before they start, not after.
Power points. Both boxes need one, so the spot has to have power nearby.
They do this every day and their suggestions are usually good ones. Ask what they'd do.
If you rent, or share a driveway
Some situations need someone else's permission first, and this is the single most common reason an install takes months rather than weeks.
Renting? You need your landlord's permission in writing, before you sign the Install Agreement. They're also welcome to come to the site visit if they'd like to. Ask them early. It's nearly always the slowest link in the chain.
Shared driveway or right of way? Your neighbours get an information pack and may need to consent, because the cable crosses ground that isn't only yours.
Apartment or a unit in a block? The work may affect shared areas, so other owners are notified. A body corporate can usually give permission on everyone's behalf, which is quicker than chasing people individually.
The fibre company handles the paperwork. What actually speeds it up is you giving whoever needs to sign a friendly heads-up first, so the form doesn't arrive out of nowhere.
One bit of good news: once the first connection on a shared drive is in, neighbours who follow tend to get connected much faster.
What does it cost?
For a standard residential install, nothing. It's covered under the UFB programme.
The things that can cost extra are fairly specific:
Adding a power point where the fibre box is going
Asking for a different installation method to the standard one
Moving a fibre box that's already been installed
Extra hardwiring, like running ethernet to other rooms
High impact build work, such as a long concrete driveway
If any of those apply, the fibre company quotes us, we bring you the number, and nothing goes ahead until you've said yes. You'll never get a bill from the fibre company directly, and never one from us for something you haven't already approved.
Power cuts, medical alarms and calling 111
Fibre needs mains power at your house to work. When the power goes out, your internet goes with it, and so does anything that depends on it.
That matters more than it sounds. If anyone at your address has a medical alarm, a monitored security system, or would need to call 111 in an emergency, that can't rely on your broadband alone.
There's a box to tick when you order. If someone in your household would need another way to call 111, or would be considered a vulnerable customer, tick it and we'll get in touch to sort out what we can put in place. It costs you nothing and it takes a moment.
If you've already ordered and didn't tick it, or your circumstances change later, just message us. It's never too late to tell us, and we'd much rather know.
What if something doesn't go to plan?
Message us. Installs involve a fibre company, a technician, sometimes a neighbour and occasionally a body corporate, and things do slip.
We'd much rather hear from you early than have you sit on it. Even when the delay is at the fibre company's end, we can find out what's actually happening and give you a straight answer.