Waiheke Island's broadband will no longer be hanging by a thread, once a new submarine fibre optic cable is laid by Chorus.
The network operator says it is spending $3.4m on a second cable linking the island to mainland Auckland.
All going well, it will be operational by August, Chorus says.
It will offer redundancy.
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Advertise with NZME.In April last year, a fault on Waiheke's sole cable left the island without broadband for half a day - and also hit its cellphone service, which relies on the landline back to the mainland.
And it will also substantially boost capacity.
Chorus' new Maraetai-Woodside Bay subsea cable will have 144 strands of fibre.
The current cable, operated by Vector, has just two strands, and was becoming strained at a time when some 56 per cent of the island's homes had connected to UFB fibre.
Chorus will use the new cable as its primary Auckland-Waiheke connection, but lease space on the old Vector cable as a backup.
Chorus is partnering with Visionstream and Wellington-based specialist marine vessel operator Seaworks on the new, 6km cable.
Work to lay the cable and bury it in on the ocean floor will take approximately ten days.
