Broadband really is a joke in both NZ and Aus, in some capital cities you can't get it and yet 3 hrs into the bush (1hr north of newcastle in a town of population 1161) my parent scould get 1.5 broadband 7kms out of town, havivg said that i just got bumped down from 1.5mb to 512k for the same price, since when can a company charge you more for less?????
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State Of New Zealand Broadband
- Thread starter Glenn Wolsey
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I'm about 10 miles away from England's arguable 2nd city and I'm stuck at 512kbps download and 256kbps upload. unlimited bandwidth mind. family of 5 active internet users and gamers sorta need that. There is no mention, no nothing at all of upgrading the speed to 1mb or *wishfully* 2mb.
I suppose if you've seen the film Brassed Off, or the start of the Parole Officer where Steve Coogan is looking into that TV shop, or Eleventh Hour with the heavy water episode and the flooding ice caps episode then you'll probably see how rural it is up here.
I suppose if you've seen the film Brassed Off, or the start of the Parole Officer where Steve Coogan is looking into that TV shop, or Eleventh Hour with the heavy water episode and the flooding ice caps episode then you'll probably see how rural it is up here.
I pay a fortune for a 512k line and 10GB bandwidth. I really am annoyed considering this company offers adsl2+ and 40GB bandwidth not including uploads which the other does and all for the same price. What stopping me from switching, my contract 
Oh yeah I'm with Telstra I hope the sellout will lead to better deals for the end consumer.
Oh yeah I'm with Telstra
I hope the sellout will lead to better deals for the end consumer.
Isn't part of the problem, as regards speed in predominately rural areas, to do with the distances to the exchange? As I understand it, ADSL SNR degrades substantially as the lines get longer. In rural areas, you're bound to be further from them. ADSL2+ as it rolls out should make things slightly better since it works at different frequencies and can get you some increase even if you'll never make the dizzy heights of 24MB
I know initially in the UK that BT had to create a trigger system for exchanges so that those served by it could register an interest. Once it got to that trigger point, BT would activate the exchange for ADSL. In very rural areas, various development bodies paid out cash for a limited service to be installed - fewer ISP options but at least a signal!
I do hate the caps though I can see why they have them to a certain extent - there's a difference between having a usable cap and those who do deliberately take advantage by using p2p or BT 24 hours a day and run up 500GB+ per month. I'd say a 50GB to 100GB should be fair enough for most people - and those who want more, should really pay something for it. 2GB though is a little too minimal!
I'm lucky since my exchange has just been unbundled so I have a new LLU ISP who give me ADSL2+ (synching at 18.1 MB) with unlimited cap for £20 a month. Here's to more unbundling - although that won't help those with rural/less used exchanges.
I know initially in the UK that BT had to create a trigger system for exchanges so that those served by it could register an interest. Once it got to that trigger point, BT would activate the exchange for ADSL. In very rural areas, various development bodies paid out cash for a limited service to be installed - fewer ISP options but at least a signal!
I do hate the caps though I can see why they have them to a certain extent - there's a difference between having a usable cap and those who do deliberately take advantage by using p2p or BT 24 hours a day and run up 500GB+ per month. I'd say a 50GB to 100GB should be fair enough for most people - and those who want more, should really pay something for it. 2GB though is a little too minimal!
I'm lucky since my exchange has just been unbundled so I have a new LLU ISP who give me ADSL2+ (synching at 18.1 MB) with unlimited cap for £20 a month. Here's to more unbundling - although that won't help those with rural/less used exchanges.
pknz said:
Sadly I couldn't make it to the game as i had no one to take me there. I'm going to try and get to a test match though.
You going to any matches?
I think the slow upload speeds are just pure business economics - they can avoid saturating their bandwidth by limiting it and "most" people won't care because they're only interested in downloads.
The caps are probably partly to do with the same issue - the infrastructure really just isn't there to handle a data free-for-all, at least not nationwide, and if they offered it in some places and not others it would be an embarrassment to their claims of 99% (or whatever it is) coverage.
There is also the issue that (like Oz i believe) we have an incumbent telco that was flogged off by the cash-strapped government during an ideological frenzy without much thought as to how that would work in the real world. We have competing telcos now, but the incumbent owns pretty much all of the infrastructure and gets to decide how much it will charge the others to use it.
And then there's the fact that we're at the other end of the earth from where most of the action is and the vast bulk of our data has to go through the expensive and not unlimited bandwidth of the South Pacific Cable
The caps are probably partly to do with the same issue - the infrastructure really just isn't there to handle a data free-for-all, at least not nationwide, and if they offered it in some places and not others it would be an embarrassment to their claims of 99% (or whatever it is) coverage.
There is also the issue that (like Oz i believe) we have an incumbent telco that was flogged off by the cash-strapped government during an ideological frenzy without much thought as to how that would work in the real world. We have competing telcos now, but the incumbent owns pretty much all of the infrastructure and gets to decide how much it will charge the others to use it.
And then there's the fact that we're at the other end of the earth from where most of the action is and the vast bulk of our data has to go through the expensive and not unlimited bandwidth of the South Pacific Cable
A bit of both. They're having a hard time of it exorcising their demons over the fact that they sold what is now our largest listed company for peanuts as part of a state assets fire sale in the '80s. At the same time as trying desperately to regain some credibility on the left (it was our "lefty" party that did this - boy are we still confused over that oneMacNut said:
) they are equally desperate not to alienate business and the right by "interfering" overly. They'd rather set up commissions, wait a few years for a report and then claim it was out of date or no longer applicable and set up a new commission...A bit like Blair's set up, the left have moved into the middle, the hard left are seen as the looney fringe hell-bent on denying us our hard won right to a selection of 80 different kinds of cheese and the right are still trying to work out what their point of difference is now.
OK, time for me to chime in.
Orcon is hopeless, one of my friends just switched away from it because BitTorrent went at a crawl, and gaming pings (eg. Counter Strike) were terrible.
I'm currently with Telstra, my connection is rated at 2048/192, and I do actually get those speeds. I "may" be slowed down to 64 when I reach 10 GB, but after 14 months that hasn't happened yet (apparently they need to do it manually, and they just don't bother because their network isn't saturated). Please note that they don't offer this plan anymore, the "replacement" is 2048/128 and *will* be throttled (it's automatic) once you hit 10 GB.
We have fibre at work, I don't know what speed it's rated at (an online speed tester just reported 256 Mb/s! ) and I have no idea what it costs.
Orcon is hopeless, one of my friends just switched away from it because BitTorrent went at a crawl, and gaming pings (eg. Counter Strike) were terrible.
I'm currently with Telstra, my connection is rated at 2048/192, and I do actually get those speeds. I "may" be slowed down to 64 when I reach 10 GB, but after 14 months that hasn't happened yet (apparently they need to do it manually, and they just don't bother because their network isn't saturated). Please note that they don't offer this plan anymore, the "replacement" is 2048/128 and *will* be throttled (it's automatic) once you hit 10 GB.
We have fibre at work, I don't know what speed it's rated at (an online speed tester just reported 256 Mb/s!
) and I have no idea what it costs.
Not compared to the rest of the English-speaking world. We're (mostly) way ahead of the UK and the aussies/kiwis.MacNut said:
A computer friend at school recommended QuickSilver, forgot what he quoted their connections as but I will go and have a look - after the Super 14 game.
Glenn: I might go to the one dayer.
EDIT: QuickSilver looks pretty much the same -10GB cap then throttled back.
Glenn: I might go to the one dayer.
EDIT: QuickSilver looks pretty much the same -10GB cap then throttled back.
News: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3577529a28,00.html
and http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3577531a28,00.html
Which means more pansying around and no action
and http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3577531a28,00.html
Which means more pansying around and no action
MacNut said:
Here's the reason: $$$$$
They can make money off us and are pretty much the only game in town. Others can make a fortune by "just" competing with the big telcos. Providing slightly faster speeds for slightly less money but not really pushing the envelope as they watch the cash just roll on in.
Did anyone see Theresa Gattung on Campbell Live yesterday? Apparently it was quite good, downloading now
pknz said:
So we can suffer more years of economic mismanagement by the morons in the National Party... no thanks.
Anyway, your point is irrelevant. The National Party basically can't win any more. And in any case, it's not likely that they would do anything either.
ihug has put up a page with some information about whats happening and also what we can do to 'help'. Link
After realising my broadband for the month of March has already been cut down to 64kbps (20GB cap), I felt the need to email it to as many members of parliament from as many parties I could find.
After realising my broadband for the month of March has already been cut down to 64kbps (20GB cap), I felt the need to email it to as many members of parliament from as many parties I could find.
So I signed up for 2MB/s down and 128KB/s up with ihug today for $49.95 and a 20GB cap as it cost the same as the 256KB/s connection and had the same cap.
Now, it will probably take about 3 weeks for them to connect that up.
Edit: Got connected up pretty fast, only a couple of days. Wow, 2mb is such a step up from 256kb. It means I can use up my limit faster too. ihug and Slingshot have rejected Telecoms offer (3.5Mb resale) and have gone to the commerce Commission in the hoe that the CC will force Telecom to give a better deal. Full articles here, and here.
Now, it will probably take about 3 weeks for them to connect that up.
Edit: Got connected up pretty fast, only a couple of days. Wow, 2mb is such a step up from 256kb. It means I can use up my limit faster too. ihug and Slingshot have rejected Telecoms offer (3.5Mb resale) and have gone to the commerce Commission in the hoe that the CC will force Telecom to give a better deal. Full articles here, and here.
Oh yeah!
Govt got off its @&*# and is going to unbundle the loop and what not...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3656403a10,00.html
Govt got off its @&*# and is going to unbundle the loop and what not...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3656403a10,00.html