KEY POINTS:
She may be famous, worth $30 million and connected to Telecom's top brass but Jenny Gibbs was still unable to get broadband at home.The Auckland philanthropist lives on Paratai Drive in Orakei,one of the wealthiest streets in New Zealand. After our initial story Telecom rushed to get her broadband.
>> Read the update
Send us your views
>> Check out views on today's other hot topics
Here is the latest selection of your views:
David
Broadband fast? Not where we are. We are at the end of the Glenfield line and it isnt much faster than dial-up. After many complaints, a Telecom engineer re-routed us via a fibre optic cable in Wairau Road and speed increased dramatically - until 4 months ago when their main control box blew up. It took nearly a week to repair and to get it going again only to find it is the old slow way ! Suppose it's going to take another year to get the fibre optic back !
Darren Craze
I think its rather tabloid of the Herald to print such an article regarding the multi-millionare's lack of broadband. So this person is supremely wealthy? So what? There are hundreds, if not thousands of New Zealander's who can't get access to broadband. Why not write an article about them? Her views I do agree with though; Telecom is quite happy to spend loads of money advertising the unleashing of broadband, yet they arent prepared to spend the money to ensure New Zealanders are receiving the quality and speeds that the rest of the modern world gets as standard broadband. Canada and Australia, for example, have had a minimum download speed of 8mbps for sometime now, with the standard being close to 24mbps. New Zealand? We are lucky to get 2.5mbps. Pathetic.
Peter
How typical of Telecom going under damage control.How do you make large corporations care about providing expected services to clients? You make it too expensive for them not to. Props to Herald for doing that. NZ needs to move forward with technology and not have that determined by a single company. People need to know that Telecom still isnt doing enough to help NZ progress - the Government slap on the wrist for unbundling isn't happening fast enough either. Perhaps an article about that will have them do what this article did for Jenny.
Peter
What you expected? Isnt telecommunication supposed to be cheaper at least in most of the country?
Wally Muzak
Local Area Broadcast Telephone Exchanges missing in most local city districts of Auckland and the rest of NZ. This case of the Pt Chevalier resident who cannot get a Broadband connection from Telecom is bad network engineering planning. For more than fifty years many local districts have not had a full telephone exchange switch installed in their own local district. So the rest of the network infrastructure is stretched via copper cable many more km apart to reach main telephone exchanges.
Tom
Firstly, well done to Jenny Gibbs for speaking out. A person of lesser character would have used her connections 2 years ago to get Telecom moving. econdly, as a kiwi living in London where internet is miles faster and generally free (dependent on your phone, sky or cellphone subscription, but I dont know anyone who pays separately), stories like this just keep me overseas longer.
Jenny
Good on you Jenny for using your undoubted influence with Telecom to get your broadband finally connected. Could you do me a favour and ask the dear people at Telecom if they could be just as proactive and upgrade the connection facilities at Pukekohe to enable me,and dozens of others to also enjoy immediate access to broadband?
Richard Jones
I live in New Zealand when I am not working in China - I can't get broadband either - and never expect to until Telecom is split up and their network made available to all New Zealanders. I run online workshops for teachers around the world and soon expect to move into the online school market - a business I wpi;d d be more than happy to run from NZ and contribute to the local exchequer. Broadband here on the outskirts of Beijing is great - I have two local companies to choose from.
Peter Jones
Once again I am so glad I live in Wellington, and have the option of cable from TelstraClear (Saturn)Up to 10 megabit connection speed - currently I have 2mbs 2which is plenty fast enough for my needs but best of all that is the delivered speed, not the advertised up to speed. Telecom-free and so happy about that.
Nick
Cannot be connected because the exchange is full?! Where the hell is my over-inflated phone line pricing because I dont live in Wellington or Christchurch going?! On that note where is my broadband pricing going? From the sounds of it not back into the network to keep expanding it! In my view its pathetic. A woman who lets Telecom use her holiday home for a video conferencing advertisement, and she cant get their broadband service at her own home!
Richard Thomas
As soon as there is a viable alternative to Telecom that can provide voice and data services in our area we will be switching all our telecommunication services over to them. Currently our spend is around $300.00 per month for all services so Telecom will lose at least that much per month. I hope to help them lose more as I will be advising all my clients in the district to also make the switch.
Kim
I am hooked up to broadband and its only 3x faster than dial-up. Pathetic. The suggestions to me are that I buy a special dish as Im line of sight with Sky tower to speed up the service. My point is why should I – I am paying for the Go large plan, totally over it being still small. While some of the readers may envy Mrs Bond, I am delighted she has used her influence to highlight the appalling difference between what is advertised and what you get (or don't get as was her case). Telecom - dictionary meaning should read a company of thieves.
Sam Bearda
Poor little rich girl!!Nice to know though that she did have the power to get a headline story in the Herald. When will the Herald do a similar story on the average person not connectable to Telecom broadband - when pigs fly? I live on SH1 between Huntly and Ngaruawahia (the main commercial artery of the North Island and cannot get broadband. I have complained to Telecom, the Minister of Communications and my local MP, all to no avail!
KiwiCritic
I think she is stupid to wait for 2 years on dialup. She could have just called woosh.co.nz instead and you dont need to be a millionaire to afford woosh!
Rawiri Johnston
So let me get this straight. A very wealthy lady (who I am sure is very nice) living in an exclusive suburb, with more than enough purchasing power to choose any number of broadband options (wifi, 3g, satellite, etc) - complains to the media that Telecom can't deliver DSL to her house (and so far I havent seen one single article which actually details what the physical problem is - be it distance to the exchange, no available ports at the exchange, quality of the copper, etc). This story has been picked up by every major media outlet in NZ - not to mention responses to the editor and so on. I dont know which is more pathetic - the content of the story or the fact it made national headlines! How many murders since the new year are currently being investigated around NZ? How many road deaths have occurred in the same time frame? yet the inability of one person to get broadband from one company makes national news! This is silly. And as for the whingeing about Telecom – I am no fan of the company but to be honest if your internet connection is the biggest problem you have then geez, you've got a sweet life. As for the people of Auckland. When was the last time you got stuck in a traffic jam - or had a power cut? Now tell me whether or not you think the roads or power grid are less of a problem then whether or not you can surf the internet at 1 or 2 megs per second - and what are the chances that the roads or the grid are going to be fixed in your life time.
Steve UK
Living in the UK on my OE at the moment, I continue to be appalled at the inadequate level of broadband access and speed in New Zealand.
For a connection fee of £15 ($45) I was connected to 8MB broadband via my phone line within two days of making the request - and my account is not with the incumbent BT. My 8MB Broadband costs me a grand total of £16 ($48) a month and the slowest download speed I have experienced with this connection is 300KB.I could always upgrade to BE Broadband who offer an unlimited 24MB download and 1.3MB upload broadband service for £24 ($72) per month. How is New Zealand going to adequately compete and export ourselves globally in the IT and communications space - when we still cannot get a less than basic service delivered to all ? The sooner the government forces public or private investment into the network backbone the better.
Frederick Church
Is it not interesting that if you are a millionaire they fall over themselves trying to get your broadband business. Telecom are prepared to add more cabinets to the Remuera exchange to cater for 6 customers but the 130 (who have signed a petition)of us in Pukekawa, Franklin who have been told they will not do it for less than 60 of us, have been waiting for years to get even a modicum of service. I for one struggled for years on a 33k modem and when the banking sites started shutting us out because it was taking too long to send information from our computer we bit the bullet and are paying $150 a month for a satellite connection. Nice to see all the broadband commercials though!
Will
Ever heard of IPSTAR ? This is the largest satellite in space and services all NZ and Australia and a lot of Asia. Dozens and dozens of ISPs use this to deliver broadband via satellite dishs to customers at speads not available via copper wires. The best broadband available.Some good google searchs, (if you can get your dialup working) ICONZ, Baycity Farmside, Orcon. Inzonecopt wireless broadband.
Loki
Unfortunately some people believe the spin the marketers at Telecom put out. Why would't they? We have the Fair Trading Act preventing misleading or deceptive conduct in the course of trade. We have the Sale of Goods Act entitling people to a full refund if goods are not of merchantable quality, not fit for purpose or dont match the description. Surely private customers not receiving service levels or transfer speeds up to reasonable expectations can obtain refunds under the Consumer Guarantees Act? Telecom cant contract out of that. If Telecom arent prepared to refund for sub-standard service provision, that sounds like a dispute to me and the Disputes Tribunal might be interested in dealing with that for a very small fee with supporting evidence the speed isnt up to scratch. Often people dont believe anything a product or service provider says unless they can see it working, at no cost. There appears to be a lot of complaint about Telecom and I personally wouldnt believe what they say in advertising regarding broadband provision just because they say it. In my opinion they are not a customer friendly organisation. Ever been charged for multiple 1 minute and a few seconds calls within the same minute on your single residential phone line? Happy with being charged for 1 minute on the 5th ring when the phone is not answered at the other end? I am not.
S Mohanakrishnan
Mrs Gibbs should switch to Telstra clear for her homeline and upgrade to Broadband, which I am sure they will be able to provide very easily. We are with Telstra for home line and broadband and they are good in technology and service.
Kris
Just shows the more money you have the more people will bend backwards to help, I have been on slow speeds since unbundling, yet my complaints have been ignored, yet someone with 30Mil to there name cries she is on dial up and all of a sudden they are all running to help her, What about rural people that are still on dial up? I am surprised she is not complaining that they dont have fibre optic yet!
Valerie Bushell
Although I am not a multi-millionaire, I also cannot get broadband. I live in the rural sector, north east of Wellsford. I am connected to the Wellsford exchange but have been told I cannot get Broadband because I live too far from the exchange (8km). Apparently, Telecom need to lay new cable and I believe they could easily have done this in conjunction with the tarsealing of Waiteitei Road (which runs within 200m of my property) when all the earthmoving and trench digging was occurring recently. However, this does not appear to have been done. Telecom makes huge profits each year but none of it is ploughed back into upgrading existing services so that the whole country can benefit.
Leon Tan
The dreams Telecom are promoting as Jenny Gibbs rightly points out are irresponsible. Not only that, they rub New Zealanders faces in the fact that for years Telecom has held the countrys technological infrastructure and culture back, just because they could (with the lack of a real competitive climate in the telecommunications sector). East London is not trialling 1 gig broadband connections. I am sorry but broadband just is not broadband here. Keep dreaming NZ!
Steven
Tell her to look into wireless which Telecom also supplies, you have to pay for a dish but as you say - shes a millionaire. This service will definitely be available for her.
Reece Palmer
Surely she should have taken a cue from the ad her house was used in? There are still people in Piha that can not get broadband but it was advertised as being a remote location and serviced (the house). Telecom are fond of hiding behind the small print. They advertised credits for people who signed up online. I waited three months and had to call to have this honoured. As far as line speed goes, I had a managed 3.5Mbps plan before the supposed unleashing. I havent had anywhere near that since. So the service is not as fast as my line will allow.
Jesse
The frustrations that I read from the readers show's that Telecom has not learnt anything from there past mistakes, it is funny to think that Telecom has not realised what the consumers are asking for, faster speed, bigger download capabilities, making broadband available in rural areas and the list goes on and on and on, It is coming to the point where if Telecom is going to start losing their customers that they claim they listen too, not for their shonky products but rather for their lack of service and listening capabilities, maybe the big wigs sitting in the head office in Wellington should stop barking order's and get into the thick of it all and start listening to the consumers, Vodafone has released their broadband service and now are going to have home lines, there is only one solution Telecom, get your act together. Hence the reason why we moved everything over to another company and since that we have been al ot happier with our service, then we were with Telecom!!
Felix Lee
With her fortune, she can easily set up her own fibre optic network for herself and her street, giving everyone in the neighborhood lightning fast, Telecom-free broadband. We may not have choices in broadband, but she certainly has.
Richard Doig
After that Vodafone van finishes jumping to the call of those with enough money (and I hope ability) to seek alternatives, can it please come to Mangere Bridge to find out why I can no get any cell phone reception unless I stand at the eastern end of the house on one foot with my hand on a window frame? Maybe Vodafone needs to put effort into its legacy cellphone system before trumpeting about 3G services.
Jen H
After waiting over 4 months for Telecom to add exchanges to the Albany area, we are still waiting. We received a knock on our door one Saturday afternoon from a young lady wanting to sign people up to Telcom broadband. We jumped at the opportunity as we were planning to connect anyway. We were told we would receive a phonec all in the week from a Telecom employee to confirm our registration. After no telephone call, I decided to ring Telecom myself and ask what was happening. It turns out that there was no more room on the exchange in our area so it was basically just tough luck! We were told that a new exchange may be added in February but no guarantees would be made. So what was the point in sending someone round to sign people up for something that isn't even possible to being with? To me this is absolute rubbish, considering all the other broadband suppliers have to go through the Telecom exchange, which were full also, Ee had no other options. We have all seen those damn annoying ads on the television and the posters in the bus stops but why spend so much on advertising the product when it cant even reach everyone?!?! Albany is now a huge area and is getting bigger and bigger by the day - how about putting some money towards exchanges so that you keep your customers happy!!!
Louise
Poor little rich girl.Must be awful to have all that money and not get what you want.
Shoba
Poor her.but she will be fine, Why not wireless? Did the Herald not mention she is a millionaire??
Kristina Harrison
I am not surprised at the apathetic nature Telecom has shown to every Kiwi. Once they bought in their super fast speed broadband, I have had consistently slower speeds than before. Telecom are a giant vampire, sucking Kiwis dry of their money whilst sitting back and doing sweet all to upgrade their service. Not only that, but they have the cheek to increase line rental this year! I can not wait until we have some fair telecommunications competition in NZ. It seems as far as internet access goes, we are a 3rd world country.
Sonja
Boy oh boy - am I glad to see that famous people have the same problem as anyone else. Sorry about that Mrs Gibbs. We live in the Waikato and are equally unable to get Broadband. Under the Dial Up connection of our over 50 year old phone lines just bringing up the Telecom or Xtra website can take up to 10 minutes - if it happens to come up at all. I am also disgusted by the amount of money wasted on advertising when it could be better used to upgrade technology. We also have problems getting Cell phone coverage - and there they are talking about 3rd and 4th generation mobile phones - Yeah Right!
Andrew Hope
Your story is similar to what I have put up with.
I requested broadband & promised it would be connected when I moved into a house in Henderson (just off Lincoln Rd) after moving in, Telecom advised me that they couldnt supply the jetstream service, as the green cabinet on Lincoln rd & Woodford rd cnr wasnt broadband capable.I too, am disgusted at Telecoms lies and advertising.
Richard Doig
No broadband on Paratai Drive? My heart bleeds. Now if only the telecommunication companies could give me cellphone coverage in Mangere Bridge.
Blair Parkin
We applied for broadband online and were told that the area we lived in was able to access broadband. A connection pack was sent out from Telecom and we were told that it would be activated by Friday. Friday rolled around so we set up the modem but nothing happened. We called Telecom but they said that they had been very busy lately and it would hopefully be activated by tomorrow (Saturday). So we duly waited until the end of the day and tried again. Still nothing. Our call to Telecom then revealed that although broadband is available in our area, the exchange is full and they do not know when another exchange will be installed. Why did Telecom send out the modem etc if they knew the exchange was full? Well apparently they dont monitor the usage of the exchange but rely on their field staff to tell them whether an exchange can be used or not. Not a very efficient use of services. Telecom, bringing NZers together...not very likely!
John Murray
This is a classic case of is there competition in the Tele Services? Jenny should go to Slingshot, TelstraClear and the answer will be the same. Im afraid we ca not give you Braodband because Telecom have not got enough equipment to provide service for them. I mean in Auckland, Orakei surely if there is ever a case to showcase competition then these other companies should be able to provide Broadband to Jenny Gibbs in Paratai Drive. When I go to New World for something, they dont blame Fresh Choice, for or can't provide it to them, so are unable to provide it to me. With someone with so much money surely Jenny can get wireless broadband or is this another pick on Telecom. Competition in Auckland may be good but in rural areas the only company we will see investing in these areas is Telecom, and that will only be if the Government provides a subsidy to do it.
Kelly
My suggestion to her is to get satellite broadband as it uses a satellite and can work anywhere in New Zealand. There is absolutely no phone line needed. I would advise her to go here:
http://www.orcon.net.nz/satellite_broadband/ There are other options she could look into as well like Woosh wireless broadband or Vodafone 3g broadband, depending on whether they have coverage in her area.
Adrian
The conditioned response of the New Zealand public that telephones and now internet can only be provided by Telecom allows that company to continue with this sort of nonsense. There are other companies that offer broadband and unlike the popular misconception: you do not need a computer science degree to use them instead of Telecom. Vodafone have a broadband service called Vodem which is as simple to use as plugging it in to your computer with the single cable which is supplied with it. It installs and sets itself up automatically. Telecom need a wag of the finger for shoddy service but Vodafone and other broadband suppliers also deserve one for not sufficiently helping the NZ consumer realise they do not have to settle for Telecom.
Stuart Christie
Telecom are obviously poor at promoting their good services if Jenny Gibbs has not got mobile 3G broadband instead of a landline connection. I live 5 mins from the southern motorway at Karaka and like Jenny Gibbs suffer almost nil landline broadband from any provider. However, Telecom have good cost effective mobile 3G broadband coverage in the Auckland Region and much of NZ and surely they have the wit to offer it to any subscriber lacking access to exchange connections. All it needs is a new mobile modem. My long term ISP Ihug/Vodaphone on the other hand have strictly urban mobile 3G broadband coverage and have lost us as customers.
Marius Botha
Previously a broadband customer who enjoyed reasonably fast downloads in the Birkenhead area. Recently bought another house in Albany, close to Kristin School. Most homes in the street are 18-months old, and I dont have broadband even though the entire house is CAT-6 cabled. I spoke to Telecom, they were not interested - not even offered me another free home phone line, as I run a home business and require broadband - typical, I am so looking forward to take all my business away from these clowns!! Go unbundling, show us what real service is. I am sick of playing monopoly .In my 18-yrs in various global Telcos I have never seen this level of poor planning, design and service. I think a Tui advertisement is in the making for Telecom: Want full-speed broadband, where 97 per cent Kiwis live and work ... yeah right!!
Chris Pendleton
I agree with the Consumer Institute that Telecom is over-hyping the promotion of broadband. I switched to the much-hyped Go-large late last year and my download speeds are very poor. Over the Xmas/New Year period they tested out at around 2,200 Kbbs but once normal business resumed on Jan 9 they dropped to 250-690 Kbps. I should add that we are in the Newton and do not download large files. The 2,200 Kbps is hardly broadband compared the speeds available elswhere in much of Asia of >10,000 Kbps. The normal speed of 250-690 Kbps is disgraceful. I see little hope of much improvement unless real competition is introduced and, as a consequence, modern equipment installed.
John
Yes the story details Telecoms inherent problems and should slanted in that way but the title of the article is incorrect. As the biggest supplier and wholesaler too many other ADSL ISPs not being able to get ADSL to many may seem that its all over trying to get broadband. This is however is a misconstrued fact. ADSL is not the only option that residents have in this area. Wireless operators like Woosh, nzwireless and BCL all can offer broadband in that area and more to the point some of these companies offer superior services for the same price if not less. There are groups of residents in the Henderson Valley that approached one of these companies and now have broadband provided over wireless links (speed faster than actual ADSL if you were to measure like with like). So why is it that when we think of broadband we always think of Telecom and ADSL? Technology is changing, and its up to the customer to choose who they want to supply them if they decide to do with Telecom then its not that they cannot get it, its just they chose to go with the biggest and as a result there are/is a personal cost benefit.
Bay Jervis
I share Jenny Gibbs frustration with Telecom! I live in Te Atatu Peninsula and was lured by Telecoms advertising to change to broadband, and seen the connection speed of a friends computer in Remuera! For $39.95 per month the only advantage is I can talk on the phone while on line! It is painfully slower than dial up - I can make a cup of tea while waiting for a home page to appear. I have complained both in writing & by phone, with no reply to my letters, and by phone a promise that someone will contact me last October! - I am still waiting. Why was I not told when signing up that the faster connection does not always apply to everyone!
Derek
I can sympathise with Jenny Gibbs. We recently moved from Pakuranga to Dannemora and have had to drop our broadband service due to not enough ports available in the local exchange. We were with Slingshot and they kept delaying my connection. In frustration I rang Telecom to see if they could provide a service and they told me due to resource consents etc needed they could not provide a service until at least 6 months! I cannot understand how in an new subdivision like Dannemora the infrastructure cannot cope with simple demands like broadband! I have since moved to Woosh Wireless and whilst the connection is quite as fast as Broadband at least I am connected!
Jackie Smith
My parents bought a house in a relatively new subdivision in Christchurch Fairway Park, near Shirley golf club and they are unable to get broadband at all. One of their neighbours has a business from home and needed broadband and was told by a number of providers that he couldn't get it. He is contemplating moving because of this. You would think that a new subdivision would be able to get broadband!! How frustrating is it when all the advertising is about how good this new technology is and you're stuck with dial up!!
John
If Jenny Gibbs is a millionaire, why doesnt she just get wireless broadband instead of complaining about the fixed line broadband. Then another customer who lives in her area who is not so wealthy will take her place in the queue.
Grant
Jenny Gibbss answer is forget Telecom. I have done so. I like more remotely than Jenny Gibbs, yet I am connected via a high speed internet connection - using a satellite service. Give jenny the address www.inzonecorp.com and she will have a high speed connection installed and working before Telecom have mailed her the paperwork. This is an innovative and progressive company that knows what they are doing. Telecom are still stuck in the dark ages.
Errol
Good on Jenny Gibbs to choose not to pull strings at Telecom. She has done the right thing by exposing the claims of Telecoms broadband services and advertising. Based on media reports and information , New Zealand is still a third world in terms of broadband technology despite claims to the contrary by its various ISPs. We just do not have the requisite infrastructure in place to satisfactorily meet demand. Even when the service is connected the speeds are so slow as to make one wonder if the ISP has switched it back to narrowband. There should be a credit system in place to compensate for lack of service or speed .
Chris Wessels
I guess I can consider myself lucky: I have very erratic and very slow broadband in Okura, the northern-most suburb of North Shore City. After months and months of communications with Xtra and Telecom the outcome is this: Best you change your broadband plan to dial-up because the service is just going to get worse and we should never have sold you a broadband plan in the first place, and there are no plans to upgrade the infrastructure/quality of service in your area (yet they are happy to take my $49 every month).
Maurice Whitton
We to, are annoyed at all the advertising of broadband and still not getting it. We have been told we will never get it and we only live 10 ks from Wanganui.
