[The Hodges]

I've just heard that Woosh are doing a deal at the moment, as they are offering broadband for $17.95 a month, with everyone who signs up in May also retaining the special rate as their ongoing monthly rate.

However, before you sign up for it, it only allows a 200MB download limit, thereafter going back to dial-up speed (which according to some of the threads on the forum would be an improvement :laugh). Woosh advise that this is good for 40,000 text-only emails, 40 three minute music files or 1600 web pages.

However, if you are an extremely light user and live in an urban area, check out www.woosh.co.nz

And no I don't work for them, just heard about from a guy at work... :laugh

[jdbob]

However, before you sign up for it, it only allows a 200MB download limit, thereafter going back to dial-up speed

Per month??!! That 6.667 MB per day. I had trouble sticking to 50MB per day. What a scam.

[anna_c]

Eeeep! I get through 1300-1600 pages a day, and that's not counting emails or downloaded files.

[barryp]

It's not a scam at all if you're a casual surfer and regular email user - like 90% of people in NZ who use the Internet. This is a cheap option for them.

If you're one of those people who does heavy downloading and/or filesharing, you're in a small minority of Internet users. Perhaps I should say 'we' are because I have yet to find a pipe that I cannot fill. ;) More expensive plans or other ISP's might be a better choice.

At least Whoosh does you the kindness of throttling your speed once you've exceeded your monthly quota. Some providers just charge you out the ying-yang... my Telecom 3G card would have cost $1,093 last month had I been on a low data plan. Ulp.

[britchik]

Talking of Broadband ........
We are currently on the Telecom $39.95 - monthly plan which allows 1 GB.
If we were to start downloading movies etc, would the 5 GB plan be worth our while, or would we have to upgrade to a higher allowance ?
For example how many hours of Downloads roughly would we get with 5 GB ??

[anna_c]

I don't think it's a scam, but I do question why someone with such light usage would want to pay for broadband. I have no problem with it - I just can't see that it would be a very popular option.

(And there's a hell of a lot of middle ground between exceptionally light users, and people who do a lot of file sharing and heavy downloads, and I'd guess that probably the majority of internet users would want something higher than this.)

[anna_c]

Britchik - it varies wildly (not least on how many movies you want to download), but I've heard ;) that very roughly about 700MB for a 40 minute TV program. Remember if you're using filesharing (eg bittorrent) you need to allow for upload as well.

Best bet is to look up the movies you'd want to download and see how big they are.

[britchik]

Thanx for that Anna :0)
Would you (or anyone) reckon bittorrent would be the best site to Download from ??
(I really should just ask my brother - The Computer freak / genius / geek !! lol)
but can't be bothered to ring him ! Heheh

[hcykana]

I downloaded tonight's episode of Doctor Who (called 42, and it was 42 minutes long). It was ~350 MB. A full length (90minute) movie will run around 700-800MB. Bittorrent is a type of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network, and not really a website. If you want to know more about it, feel free to PM me. Your ISP, as I found tonight, may have restrictions and policies regarding the use of their network for P2P, so I'd check with them to see if your connection speed will be throttled down.

[urban78]

I've just heard that Woosh are doing a deal at the moment, as they are offering broadband for $17.95 a month, with everyone who signs up in May also retaining the special rate as their ongoing monthly rate.

However, before you sign up for it, it only allows a 200MB download limit, thereafter going back to dial-up speed (which according to some of the threads on the forum would be an improvement :laugh). Woosh advise that this is good for 40,000 text-only emails, 40 three minute music files or 1600 web pages.

However, if you are an extremely light user and live in an urban area, check out www.woosh.co.nz

And no I don't work for them, just heard about from a guy at work... :laugh

We're with Woosh (been with them since our arrival in Dec '05) but on the $39.95 plan, which suits us great for what we do online. I think the plan is 5.5GB a month, we've hardly ever gone over as well. Neither OH or I have the need for a landline at home and we live in Central Auckland so great reception.

Jen :D

[swank]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_Internet_access_in_Oceania

[liamnrach]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_Internet_access_in_Oceania

Great link with a really good history of Broadband. From reading the article, it looks as if the provision of ISP and Broadband should get a bit more competitive (and maybe cheaper?:clap ) in the near future.

Lets hope so eh??

Liam n Rach:nice1

[speckythecky]

could always do with good competition to keep prices down. It certainly worked in UK, particularly when TalkTalk got involved (not that I would recommend talktalk unless you want the free overseas calls as well)