Availability of Broadband

[KiwiHopeful]

That's interesting, especially in light of the US reaction to a similar report here a couple of months ago. US internet connection speeds are among the worst in the world, too.

U.S. Net access not all that speedy - USATODAY.com

CWA survey: average broadband speed in US is 1.9Mbps

[MotherBear]

Rural web users pay double in draft decision
Updated 1:46PM Tuesday July 31, 2007

Rural phone and internet customers will get the same services as urbanites for twice the price, if a Commerce Commission draft is upheld.

The Commission's draft decision on local copper loop unbundling was released today, outlining the monthly rental costs that other companies have to pay Telecom, in order to access their customers.

Unbundled Copper Local Loop (UCLL) has been a hot topic in the telecommunications world, and basically means Telecom is forced to allow other companies access to the copper wire that runs from exchanges to homes.

This means these companies - mainly internet service providers - will be able to install their own equipment directly into telephone exchanges.

More here .

[KiwiHopeful]

For future reference, here are the two bigguns in NZ:

Xtra Broadband plans : XTRA

ihug broadband - plan comparison

We went with ihug for both phone and internet because we need a fat pipe for uploading photos and such. I'll update here later as to how it all worked out.

[MotherBear]

TelstraClear delivers best broadband
The Dominion Post | Friday, 14 September 2007

TelstraClear has come out the clear winner in what Internet monitoring company Epitiro says is New Zealand's first definitive DSL broadband performance analysis.

Epitiro's survey, which included evaluating speed and reliability of Internet connections, downloads and uploads, ranked Slingshot second and Orcon third of the five ISPs reviewed.

Epitiro, a British company which opened an office in Auckland this year, declined to say where the other two ISPs, Telecom's Xtra and Vodafone's ihug, ranked.

It said it was against company policy to provide the index gradings for each company.

Managing director Michael Cranna said TelstraClear performed "ahead of the pack", and slightly above the British average, while little separated the other four ISPs.

One reason was that TelstraClear's network was relatively new, extended close to customers and far back into the global Internet, while the other ISPs used Telecom's older network to deliver services.

"The data shows that there are ongoing issues with Telecom's network, which is dragging down those ISPs piggy-backing on it," Mr Cranna said.

It would take some time for these ISPs to catch up to TelstraClear.

A contributing factor was some ISPs did not manage their Internet traffic efficiently or had not purchased sufficient international bandwidth to cope with peak demand.

From here

[MotherBear]

Telecom: 'Fast broadband for all in four years'
10:12AM Friday October 26, 2007

Telecom is undertaking to have fast broadband to every town in the country within four years, based on what the company calls a world-class next generation network.

New chief executive Paul Reynolds said today that during the next five years, Telecom anticipated total expenditure on its next generation network and fast broadband would be about $1.4 billion.

Telecom's undertaking comes on the day the public gets to see the company's draft separation plan, showing how Telecom proposes to split into wholesale, retail and network divisions as required by the Government.

Dr Reynolds said operational separation had given Telecom the opportunity to re-plan its broadband strategy and accelerate the upgrade of the existing network in ways that would support New Zealanders' aspirations for the digital age.

More here .

[MotherBear]

NZ set to stagnate in broadband rankings
By TOM PULLAR-STRECKER - The Dominion Post | Monday, 29 October 2007

New Zealand looks set to remain in 21st place when the OECD issues its broadband world rankings this week and, on current trends, its ranking is unlikely to change before next year's election.

Statistics supplied by Telecom and Portuguese telecommunications regulator Anacom show New Zealand had 15.7 broadband connections per hundred people at the end of June, one more than Portugal. But data compiled by European researcher Point Topic suggests it is a long way from overhauling either Italy or Spain.

A rare written question from National Party communications spokesman Maurice Williamson to Communications Minister David Cunliffe in May suggests National may use the lack of progress ascending the OECD table as ammunition in its election campaign.

This would be to counter any attempt by Labour to capitalise on its populist reforms of the industry.

Mr Williamson asked Mr Cunliffe how New Zealand's ranking compared with its position in 2000, soon after Labour came into power. It was unchanged, though New Zealand dipped to 22nd between 2003 and 2006.

The written question was one of only a handful levelled at Mr Cunliffe by Mr Williamson since he took back National's communications portfolio in August 2004. Since the last election he has made no media statements on IT or communications policy, maintaining a low profile that led Mr Cunliffe to dub him "the invisible man".

Telecom says the total number of fixed-line broadband connections sold by the company and its wholesale customers rose by about 100,000 to 604,175 in the six months to the end of June. It supplies nearly 90 per cent of the broadband connections counted by the OECD in its six-monthly statistics.

Telecom Wholesale spokeswoman Melanie Marshall says the telco added another 41,000 customers in the three months to September, indicating there has since been no significant change in pace.

OECD Paris-based statistician Taylor Reynolds, who is responsible for compiling the OECD's broadband statistics, says its official figures for the June half-year should be available on Thursday.

There will be no change to the way the figures are compiled, despite criticism the league table ignores subscriptions to 3G mobile broadband services.

Australian research firm Market Clarity said in May that it made more sense to measure the number of broadband connections per 100 households, rather than 100 people. Household sizes vary through the OECD and it would rarely be necessary for a household to have more than one fixed-line broadband service, it said.

Dr Reynolds says the OECD plans to issue more information about the cost and quality of broadband at the same time as publishing its June rankings.

"There have been some misunderstandings floating around concerning the amount of data we collect. Some have assumed that broadband subscriber penetration figures were all we did.

"We actually have an extensive list of broadband data including subscribers, household usage, business usage and prices".

From here .

[MotherBear]

Xtra voted worst internet provider
1:10PM Monday November 05, 2007

A Consumers' Institute survey of almost 10,000 internet users is bad news for Xtra and internet Service Providers (ISPs) in general.

The survey rates Xtra as the worst ISP for the third year running.

Less than half of the company's subscribers are happy with its service.

Consumers' Institute chief executive Suzanne Chetwin said Telecom's repeated promises of improved services for broadband users have not been translated into reality.

Inspire was rated the best of the 16 major ISPs in the country, with 94 per cent of its customers happy with its performance.

- NEWSTALK ZB

From here .

[MotherBear]

Five centres first to benefit from Telecom broadband plans
3:44PM Wednesday November 21, 2007
By Helen Twose

Telecom customers in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin will be among the first to benefit from a $1.4 billion plan to improve broadband speeds, the company said today.

Telcom said fibre to roadside cabinets would be installed in the five centres over the next three years - shortening the length of copper used to deliver broadband and voice services to customers.

Broadband services slow when delivered over more than three kilometers of copper line.

The phone giant will spend tomorrow talking about the specifics of the rollout of more fibre with its wholesale customers, including TelstraClear, ihug, Orcon and CallPlus.

Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds said the company was focussed on delivering a world class broadband footprint through the fast roll-out of its next generation network.

More here