Telecom unveils broadband overcount compo package

Telecom overcounted broadband use for 35,000 of its customers. Photo / Greg Bowker

Telecom has released details of a compensation package for the 35,000 customers whose broadband use was over-counted for seven months.

Last month Telecom admitted that a system fault was over-counting the amount of data some customers were consuming, meaning many were hitting their data caps early, or being charged for data they did not use.

The Herald broke the story after receiving detailed internet usage logs from two Telecom customers - one in Dunedin and the other in New Plymouth - which show over-counting broadband downloads, in one period by as much as 139 per cent.

Data logs from Dunedin CueClub director Mark Peisker showed an average of 62 per cent over-counting during a three month period - the worst month being May when Telecom counted an extra 118.24 gigabytes (GB) of usage amounting to $203.97 in overcharging.

"There was massive variance between our data and that reported by the Telecom usage meter. I said to them: 'Your counting has very little to do with what comes down my line to me'."

Similarly Alister Lambert in New Plymouth first logged a fault with Telecom in January.

His monitoring of his router data over four months revealed over-counting of around 30 per cent each month.

"This means that I get to use about 40GB of my 60GB plan before they cut it back," he said.

Telecom said yesterday that the amount of compensation would depend on the customer's circumstances.

If speeds were slowed to dial-up after a data cap was exceeded, then compensation will given for the number of days the internet was slowed down for.

If a customer was charged for additional data, then the compensation will equal the charges billed to an account during the period of time the data was incorrectly calculated.

Telecom said affected customers should receive a letter by August 12, or a note with their next bill detailing the compensation.