Broadband - Unlimited Slow vs Limited Fast

[denalipop]

Telecom has 2 packages for the same price ($60/mo):

1) Big Time = unlimited bandwidth, but slower during peak hours
2) Adventure = 20 GB, but fast

https://www.telecom.co.nz/broadband/...204473,00.html

How much slower is the unlimited plan than the uncapped one? Is streamed audio or video out of the question?

[Alan]

What are you looking to do with it in more detail? The Big Time plan has had some issues for sure but seems to have picked up in recent weeks after some network upgrades, you could always give it a go and swap out later if you find it problematic.

[Wooly_Cow]

Like has been said, depends on what you are trying to do - peer to peer (file sharing, Skype etc.) will be impacted at busy times, but normal browsing will only be contended as a normal DSL / Cable service

[denalipop]

Real-time needs:

1) Skype for work.

2) Streaming mp3s - I have a bunch of songs online and usually stream them (rather than playing them locally).

3) Streamed video - maybe a little, but not critical

Non-real-time:

1) upload songs, photos, video, and data to servers
2) download podcasts
3) upload and download lots of small files for work

[Wooly_Cow]

Originally Posted by denalipop

Real-time needs:

1) Skype for work.

2) Streaming mp3s - I have a bunch of songs online and usually stream them (rather than playing them locally).

3) Streamed video - maybe a little, but not critical

Non-real-time:

1) upload songs, photos, video, and data to servers
2) download podcasts
3) upload and download lots of small files for work

Hmmm rock and a hard place!

Given your usage you might find the Big Time service a bit on the slow side, then again 20Gbt's probably won't be enough for what you are suggesting either (we have 20 Gbt's and don't stream audio or video but still regaulry go above it)

[denalipop]

There's also a fast 40GB package for $80/mo. Do you go above 40?

[Wooly_Cow]

Originally Posted by denalipop

There's also a fast 40GB package for $80/mo. Do you go above 40?

No - there are some good bandwidth usage calculators out there so you should be able to estimate how much you are going to use. Remember Skype can use bandwidth even when you are not using it

[TJH]

We have the Telecom "Big Time" plan and it seems just as fast as any broadband we had in the states prior to moving. It has been hooked up about a week and I really does not slow down much at all during peak hours.

[James 1077]

We moved to Big Time after constantly hitting our download cap - it is nice not having to think about it again!

We have noticed the limited speed when downloading films and tv progs but only sometimes when the network is busy so they dial you down - it goes to unlimited between 2am and 6am so we just leave the computer running over night and everything we want is downloaded. Most of the time though it is unlimited - a couple of nights ago for example I downloaded four 30 min tv shows in about 30 mins (the first took 6 mins so we watched that as the others downloaded).

In terms of general browsing there is no difference in speed that I've noticed (same with email).

Skype seems to work fine on both voice and video so haven't noticed any difference there either.

With Big Time it isn't everything that is slowed down - they basically work out what you are up to and slow down the file sharing / online gaming aspects at peak hours but leave everything else running normally.

[Full disclosure - since about 2 weeks ago I work for Telecom - but nothing techie!]

[stefrobb]

Broadband is going to be a major bugbear for me, I can already sense it! I'd be looking for an unlimited plan (my last 3 months' throughput have been 58, 54, and 35 GB, all time best is 166GB) but with a big upload pipe, at least 0.5mbps.

I'm almost too scared to price a service that would provide this!

I'll watch this thread with interest.