Broadband speeds better in the suburbs, report

Photo / Janna Dixon

Broadband speeds continued to improve across New Zealand in the first half of the year, but were slower in the central city when compared with web browsing speeds in the suburbs.

The findings are contained in a report prepared by the Commerce Commission.

"In Auckland central where the site is relatively close to the exchange nearly all the ISPs were struggling to achieve a web browsing speed of 3Mbps at the end of the period while this speed was exceeded by
several ISPs in suburban test sites even as far south as Christchurch," the report said.

It was possible that the age of copper lines and/or interference with other data services in the copper plant had contributed to slower browsing speeds in the central city, the report said.

Meanwhile internet service providers with access to unbundled Telecom exchanges were able to offer substantially faster web-browsing speeds than ISPs through May and June, according to the report.

In the regulator's previous report, there was little difference between broadband services bought from Telecom Wholesale and those bought from Chorus via the unbundled local loop.

The report said broadband speeds had become more consistent through the course of the day and just one internet service provider (ISP) failed to meet the commission's benchmark for monthly internet availability during the six month reporting period to June 30 this year.

TelstraClear dropped below the Commission's monthly availablity benchmark of 99.9 per cent in February.

This year has been a battle for broadband, with Telecom under pressure to grab a share of the government's $1.35 billion roll-out of high-speed internet as part of a 2008 election promise.

The national telco is in the box seat for a large chunk of the fund after it was made a priority bidder last week, with Wellington and Auckland in its sights.

Mobile operator Vodafone showed a noticeable improvement in Auckland web-browsing speeds.

Vodafone offered the fastest speeds in Albany, central Auckland, and Mt Albert, using the unbundled service. TelstraClear DSL was the fastest ISP in Hamilton until June.

An unnamed ISP was the fastest provider in central Wellington by the end of the period, while TelstraClear cable was again fastest in the Wellington suburb of Newtown.

TelstraClear's unbundled local loop service in Christchurch city offered the quickest browsing, with its cable and DSL services the best in Linwood and Riccarton.

Dunedin's best ISP was unbundled TelstraClear in June, though Telecom was the fastest through the entire period.

As well as web-browsing speeds being slower in the central city, they were also generally slower the further a customer was from Auckland, the commission said.

- NZ HERALD ONLINE / BUSINESSDESK