[Lupin]

I was prepared for slow but my connection is terrible; slow to load (if it manages it at all...forever getting timed out and can't find server messages) and listening to The Archers is almost impossible. If I were to torrent anything (of course I don't :p ) it would take 2 weeks for 1 film.

Is this the experience for everyone else or is it worth me calling Telecom and seeing if there's a problem? Hopefully the latter because surely it must be possible to listen to the radio, watch utube clips and do a few other basic things :(

[Moorf]

Ours hasn't been great for about 5 or 6 days - if it carries on I'll be on the phone for another refund...... wonder if they're working on it or something....

[sarahw]

Glad its not just me - our service has been terrible too - I thought it was the computer - if I have 2 sessions open one of them invariably crashes & then I get many many server unavailable messages...

[suebeenz]

"broadband"

:laugh


NZ has a lonnnng ways to go on that front. But supposedly things are changing, but we're going to have to wait a few years. On the torrents, within minutes connecting to download one, my connection is essentially killed completely. Sounds like the ISP is doing something to limit peer to peer, but they claim not.

[stu70]

And here we are complaining about 6.0 Mbps download and 800 Kbps upload as so "yesterday"! They keep telling us Canada is way behind Japan but I think we aren't doing too bad looking at stuff thats going on in NZ!

[suebeenz]

And here we are complaining about 6.0 Mbps download and 800 Kbps upload as so "yesterday"! They keep telling us Canada is way behind Japan but I think we aren't doing too bad looking at stuff thats going on in NZ!

Stu, count your blessings is right :) Love it here, but yes the "broadband" bugs.

[stu70]

Stu, count your blessings is right :)

:D Thanks for pointing it out, I was getting too greedy I guess

[MarkS]

I've just run a test using www.speedtest.net, got results of 4519 kbps download and 1659 kbps upload. That's a little slower than normal, we normally see around 6000 kbps download and 1800 kbps upload.

Very contented TelstraClear cable customer!

[ellenmelon]

well, your first problem is that your with telecom! theyre useless. its easy to switch companies..im happy out with orcon..

[Milliemoo]

well, your first problem is that your with telecom! theyre useless.

Couldn't agree more :nice1

The horror stories I hear about Telecom just never stop.

We're with Inspire and download movies etc no problem. There's often two of us with laptops on at the same time (yes I know we should get out more :o) and we always have a great speed/connection.

Milliemoo

[Sam B]

The only way we have been able to get a decent broadband service is to pay an absolute fortune for their most expensive package (Telecom). Our Telecom bill is huge, $99 a month for broadband alone.

[nippa&pippa]

Funny my OH had been on phone to telecom this morning about the broadband, and they are now 'montior' it for three day!!
Can't have option of opt out now as moving into our new house in under 8weeks. Will look into other companies before we move.

[whiskythedog]

i use a company called www.woosh.co.nz for broadband
not bad and dont need a telecom provider as it uses a wireless modem
(which great as we could use the internet after only a few days in the country)

[whiskythedog]

just did speedtest - not at all fast 1149 download 49 upload so probably good in short term (ie for newby's but not in long term (presuambly much slower due to being wireless ?)

[katandbob]

Couldn't agree more :nice1

The horror stories I hear about Telecom just never stop.

We're with Inspire and download movies etc no problem. There's often two of us with laptops on at the same time (yes I know we should get out more :o) and we always have a great speed/connection.

Milliemoo

Thank your lucky stars that due to you being in Auckland you can have a choice of suppliers!

I have the grand choice of Telecom Dial up or Woosh!!! LOL:laugh

To ALL prospective NZ house buyers - if Broadband speeds are importants to you then take this in to account when looking at areas to live! Check yourself if Broadband is available - don't take the word of the vendor!

Kat

[Lupin]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/122059217.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I shall be on to Telecom in the morning; that's not what I've paid for :mad:

[Lupin]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/122062857.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

No better.

[willsken]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/122064214.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

That's with Telecom.

Poor you Lupin and I'm always complaining mines slow!

[willsken]

I don't download anything really but is there anywhere you can download TV shows from the UK. My boys were real Bill fans and it's the only program they miss really.

[Lupin]

Further investigation reveals it might be stupid Lupin, rather than poor Lupin :o

It seems I plumped for a cheap plan that reduces my speed to dial-up when I do too much on-line. I have used a month's worth of whats-it in 13 days :wah

Avalon would be ashamed of me because I didn't shop around or even read what I was signing up for because I find that sort of thing boring and thought that like the UK all I would need is fast broadband. Never occurred to me that there would be limits to my online playtime.

Tip: shop around for broadband :laugh

[Lupin]

Do you mean The Bill Nicola? I'm sure there must be torrents of it around.....

[jubjub]

Nicola, PM on its way......

[ellenmelon]

I don't download anything really but is there anywhere you can download TV shows from the UK. My boys were real Bill fans and it's the only program they miss really.

www.uknova.com :)

[suebeenz]

Bump

Has anybody heard anything more about ADSL2 rollout?

Btw, I just did http://www.speedtest.net to Auckland and got:
2712: down 501: up
Latency: 22ms

Then i tried http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ to LA and got:
1082: down 464: up

I'm using Orcon, and I pay more than $100 a month for Internet access.

[aggelon]

I don't download anything really but is there anywhere you can download TV shows from the UK. My boys were real Bill fans and it's the only program they miss really.

or you could get UKTV on Sky there always seems to be the Bill on

[marky]

I was prepared for slow but my connection is terrible; slow to load (if it manages it at all...forever getting timed out and can't find server messages) and listening to The Archers is almost impossible. If I were to torrent anything (of course I don't :p ) it would take 2 weeks for 1 film.

Is this the experience for everyone else or is it worth me calling Telecom and seeing if there's a problem? Hopefully the latter because surely it must be possible to listen to the radio, watch utube clips and do a few other basic things :(

please if you find a good supplier, let me know i'm dying to hear bbc radio. any advice on make of computer. all info appreciated

[willsken]

www.uknova.com :)

Thanks:nice1

At long last I have been allowed to sign up to this site. There is a limit on the number of members allowed and I wasn't able to join for ages. I have now downloaded the new "Wire in the Blood" and can't wait for the weekend to watch it.

[Lupin]

There was a line fault and it kept dropping out, not helped by our broadband monthly quota getting used up in less than a week and being put back on dial up speed! To be fair, Telecom fixed the fault within a couple of days after surveying the line a while and we upped our broadband plan and now it's quite tolerable.

I get to enjoy The Archers again :)

[GeordieLass]

I've signed up to Xnet.com and will be making use of their VoIP services to have a dedicated home office line as they are currently waiving the monthly fee for broadband customers. Base cost for their unconstrained download and max 128k upload is $33 then you pay around $1 per GB. Their customers services are excellent. I did a self install and they were great at dealing with my questions, phoning back when they said they would and giving me advice on what kit to buy.

[The Hodges]

I've signed up to Xnet.com and will be making use of their VoIP services to have a dedicated home office line as they are currently waiving the monthly fee for broadband customers. Base cost for their unconstrained download and max 128k upload is $33 then you pay around $1 per GB. Their customers services are excellent. I did a self install and they were great at dealing with my questions, phoning back when they said they would and giving me advice on what kit to buy.

Excellent. We've been with them for about three months now at home and I'm glad that you can get them in Christchurch. Even my work has gone with them and so far no problems - touch wood.

I'll do a speed test when I get home and post the results.

In the meantime, anyone who's interested to see there broadband packages, the link is http://www.xnet.co.nz/hsi

Good luck - although please all don't rush at once, as I like to keep the speed I have at the moment...;)

[crispyking]

... does it matter who your ISP is as they are all pretty likely to be using Telecom (monopoly) infrastructure anyway - in the same way that in the UK all cabling etc is BT owned ??

I read a survey somewhere that Telecom/Xtra were amongst the worst providers especially with customer service, Inspire were the top of the list.

On consumer.org.nz for ADSL, WorldXChange/Xnet River 1GB seem to be the cheapest monthly at $35, with unconstrained download speeds, 128Kbps upload, with ihug broadband a close second ...

[The Hodges]

I'll do a speed test when I get home and post the results.

Just did my test and the result is

http://www.speedtest.net/result/158819717.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I think that this is pretty close to what I should expect...

[suebeenz]

The NZ Herald is inviting readers to try out speedtests on speedtest.net to try and find out how bad (or not so bad?) broadband access is.

On the Speedtest homepage (http://www.speedtest.net), click the Auckland server and then make note of your upload and download speeds in kb/s; the ISP that your connection is through; and which plan you're on.

Then click on the link at the top of this page and tell us all about it.

(http://info.nzherald.co.nz/feedback/yourviews/?user=your%20views&objectid=10453318)


You'll find the article here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10453318

[uk_munros]

OK so the key to all this is that (as a couple of others have pointed out) both here and in the UK, the majority of broadband is delivered over copper cable (aka Telephone line). Now in NZ, just like in the UK, the copper cable is the great leveller. Sure some ISPs are spending more on what terminates the cable in the exchange so that they can get better bandwidth, but it is the challenge of the last hop from the exchange to your door which is the ultimate decider in the performance you will experience in broadband. So if the copper cable coming into your house is old or damaged then no matter who you sign up with, if they are delivering DSL over that cable, then you are pretty much stuffed.

This is before you start to worry about things like Contention ratios and distance factors.

So how do you overcome the problem of the copper cable? Well you can lay new cables. In NZ there is fibre - but not often delivered to the door. One of the best networks is actually the coromandel peninsula - it has a massive fibre cable going right around it so I was told. Hence the pretty good DSL speeds and reliability there (mind, you there probably isnt much contention either!).

Not many ISPs are prepared to put in new infrastructure to the door of each subscriber. The return on investment is just not there. Instead they concentrate on improving the equipment on the backbone (i.e. at the exchange and between exchanges). Even in the UK where the subscriber numbers are much higher it is not done, so it aint going to happen in NZ while costs are so high.

ISPs like copper cable (aka telephone lines) cos it is already there and almost everyone has it. To replace it you need to find something else which all households already have or which they can access simply. That leaves you with
1. Over the air - Wireless or Satellite
2. Over electricity cables
3. ?

Moral of the story, if you really want to escape TELECOM monopoly you need to move completely from Telephone cable to another source for the internet. Find yourself a wireless provider or an ISP with its own infrastructure to your door. Otherwise, not matter what technology is delivering your internet traffic, if it sits on your telephone line, you are always going to suffer.

When I was back in NZ in December 06 I was appalled to hear a stat on the TV which stated that NZ had one of the highest per capita ratios of connected households, but less than a thrid of them had broadband. The whole mentality of the pricing structures and the miserable performance which it delivers (on the whole) is a real indictment on those who run these services
My 2p worth

[Questor]

We've just had an email from Telstra saying we're going to be upgraded from 4Mb to 10Mb sometime between now and the 1st August.
This is on cable, and we've not had any probs with Telstra so far - in fact they've gone out of their way to help us when Telecom were rubbish when we were moving

[suebeenz]

By the way, the herald has posted a story about its unofficial broadband speed survey results:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10454227

[Jolie]

I've almost always had a great experience with iHug. Everytime there's an outage, it's because Telecom has bollixed up something (probably on purpose to make iHug customers mad enough to change to Xtra).

http://www.speedtest.net/result/160909009.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[uk_munros]

I hear that ADSL2+ is being rolled out to AKL, Hamilton, Wgtn and Chch. Lucky you!
Shame I am going to Nelson. What are ISPs like there? Has anyone got experience of broadband in Nelson

Gordon

[John Z]

Though great for now, but it seems from what I read in this thread this will be history when we get to NZ...:wah

http://www.speedtest.net/result/161263155.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[suebeenz]

By the way, I spotted this page on telecom's website, where you can sign up for email updates about adsl2 rollout.

http://www.telecom.co.nz/content/0,8748,205584-204418,00.html

[suebeenz]

Please disregard my last post about emailing telecom to get put on a mailing list of adsl2 notification. That's for ISPs (like iHug, Orcon etc), not end customers? :-)

The debate is still going on about slow internet speeds in New Zealand:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10454713

[uk_munros]

This link is a bit out of date, but it does quite clearly show that Contention Ratios (i.e. the number of connections sharing the same bandwidth) is a major problem in NZ. http://10layers.com/2006/04/contentious-contention-the-scam-revealed/

And here is some more info on the ADSL2+ rollout
http://10layers.com/2007/02/telecom-nz-adsl2-coming-in-march/

Happy Reading!

[suebeenz]

Man, broadband getting a lot of coverage in Herald these days.

This time, sounds like Telcom paid Herald off to publish a story about improving speeds.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10455434

I don't know where they are getting the kool-aid, but regardless, I ain't drinking it ...

[HelenandPhil]

Does anyone use Genesis energy broadband as part of their power supply?

thanks

[pinkpiggy]

Does anyone use Genesis energy broadband as part of their power supply?

thanks

Yes, we do.

Their broadband service is called 'INFOGEN' you can contact them on 0800 188 111 If you have Genesis supplying your electric you will qualify for a $10 discount on any of their broadband packages.

We find their broadband service excellent.

[HelenandPhil]

:laugh should have just phoned and asked you!

right off to look at 4x4s:D

Phil

[flatshoes]

I ws told by someone that Telecom unbundling problems are affecting all the ISPs. It is hard to figure out sometimes who's having the problem (Telecom or ISP) when the Net goes down.

[Gemini]

We use Iconz and its not too bad. Not wonderful but bearable. http://www.iconz.co.nz/ :)

[lockstock]

Broadband?Broadband? No chance here where I live in Mid-Wales. I think it's more likely to be a brand of sheep wormer.

[jubjub]

We were rumoured to be an adsl2 trial zone....

No news though, currently on dial up speed as we downloaded quite a bit

[flatshoes]

I have to use the Net for my work, and waiting for all the search returns to come in added hours to my worktime when I had dial-up. I have broadband now and it's nice to be be able to work with such quick search returns (on terminology)