Vodafone heads broadband pack - survey

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Vodafone has "stolen the lead" from other internet companies and turned around its poor web-browsing speeds, according to a broadband testing service.

In TrueNet's December test results, Vodafone outpaced its rivals in the ADSL market, loading a TrueNet test page in almost a quarter of a second.

ADSL - asymmetric digital subscriber line - is an internet service run over the copper phone network.

While Vodafone performed the better than its competitors in the ADSL field, TelstraClear's cable network still offered the fastest service, as it has done in numerous TrueNet tests.

TelstraClear's coaxial cable service is only available in Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch.

Vodafone's ascension to the top of the ADSL ranks comes four months after TrueNet found it to have the slowest web browsing speeds out of those tested.

Although Telecom was the leader in the November round of tests, it slipped back to fourth place in December, with Slingshot and Orcon taking the second and third spots.

TrueNet is an independent broadband testing company based in Wellington.

Its director, John Butt, is a former executive at Telecom and Callplus.