Telecom trimming JetStream options

By PAUL BRISLEN

Telecom plans further consolidation of its JetStream line-up with the JetStream games realm next on the chopping block.

Last week, Telecom announced it will phase out its entry-level JetStream Starter 128kbps (kilobits per second) internet service by the end of the year.

The JetStream games realm allows users to play online games without incurring traffic charges. A typical online game generates traffic of around 20MB an hour.

To use the games realm, users are required to change the log-in names on their JetStream connections.

The awkwardness of this led Telecom's head of online marketing, Chris Thompson, to call for the service's demise.

"The user numbers have been declining for some time now and there are plenty of other online servers for the gamers. It's only a matter of time really."

The games realm isn't the only casualty - Telecom's first attempts at a 256kbps plan, JetStream Home, will also be phased out.

Introduced in September last year, the three plans were never popular with users and were almost immediately surpassed by the JetStream Surf plans, which were similarly priced but allowed users to send and receive more traffic.

The JetStream Surf plans have proven to be highly successful and have become the mainstay of Telecom's consumer broadband offerings. Telecom's full-speed JetStream plan, confusingly also called JetStream Home, will continue to operate.

Thompson said no date had been set yet for the removal of the games realm or the JetStream Home plans.

Telecom aims to have 250,000 residential broadband users by the end of next year. Currently it claims to have almost 100,000.