Telecom's broadband bungle

Telecom customers were reimbursed after network upgrades resulted in technical problems. Photo / Supplied

Telecom has reimbursed 150,000 customers whose broadband speed was slashed, as network upgrades for the much-vaunted new TiVo digital recorder service caused widespread technical problems.

The error caused broadband usage to be miscalculated through November and into December: customers were either overcharged or penalised with slow internet speeds after being wrongly identified as exceeding their data usage limit.

Sarah Broughton, from Herne Bay in Auckland, said she had been frustrated by the slow broadband, and had accused one of her flatmates of downloading too many movies.

"There are six people living in our house. We all suspected everyone else was downloading heaps," she said.

"We were blaming other people.

"I never suspected it was Telecom. You think when you give them money they are going to use it properly.

"It's just been so annoying."

On December 23, Telecom sent out letters to around 150,000 customers informing them of the error.

"Our reports show us that you will have experienced slowed internet speeds earlier than expected in your billing months," said the letter, signed by Telecom's general manager of broadband, Ralph Brayham.

Telecom spokeswoman Emma-Kate Greer said all customers who had been affected by over-charging or slowed internet speeds had been identified.

They had been refunded and credits had been given to "customers who may have been incorrectly slowed".

In addition, all "impacted" customers had been sent a letter informing them that the telco would double their data-limits through to January 15.

Greer said the error was caused when Telecom's engineering partner, Juniper, was upgrading the network in preparation for TiVo's November 6 launch in New Zealand.

However, she said: "The error relates to software upgrades in the network and has not impacted customers' experience with TiVo."

It is not yet known how much the error will cost Telecom.

Rebecca Blasina, head of corporate affairs at TiVo in Sydney, said she knew nothing of the problems.

"We are right behind Telecom and whatever they have to say on it," she said.