KEY POINTS:
Broadband is a big issue in this high-tech age, and when we asked readers to speedtest their connections, we did expect to see a wide variety of results.
There were numerous ISPs involved, respondents from all over New Zealand and it provided an eclectic sample that reflects the marketplace.
The results of the survey have sparked a massive reaction - and quite rightly.
It's very easy to shrug off poor line speed - ISPs have been doing it for years. But now we know for sure that there are tens of thousands of other New Zealanders in the same, leaky, broadband boat.
We expect to get what we pay for - and not many of us are happy with the results. Except Don Roberts, who as you will see in this compilation of your many comments is quite "happy with dial-up".
COMMENTS
Kiwi in India
Re the comments of respondents that NZ broadband is third world? Honestly - they wouldn't know what third world was even if it bit them on the ar*#!
What I wouldn't give for a 1 meg connection! And as for your expert saying that anything below 3megs download isn't real broadband - try coming here and saying that and more than likely he would get a well deserved clip around the ears!
I'm sitting here on an ADSL2 network (which should give me download speeds up to 24meg), and I'm 1.5 kms from the exchange. My average download is 243kbs. Only once in the past month have I hit 1meg.
Don't get me wrong - all things considered I'm grateful to have a DSL connection at all, and it only costs 20 bucks a month. If you don't like your connection - stop whining, loosen up your wallet, bypass the whole network, and get a satellite connection. They've only been available in NZ for about a decade (and Ihug would know this since the use to sell it under the Ultra banner - now sold by broadernet). Ihug stopped selling it because no one brought it. Seems most people preferred to get DSL and keep complaining when it wasn't fast enough (hasn't changed really).
Mac, Pakuranga
Very disappointing. I feel the connection speeds have been misrepresented. The "fair usage" policy is a contradiction in terms, fair for whom?
I could understand the pathetic available bandwidth capacity if I were living in a Central African Republic.
Peter from Wanganui
I am unable to get Broadband, yet only live a 10 minute drive to the centre of Wanganui. Telecom advise that we are unable to get Broadband due to a box between us and the centre of Wanganui not being able to support Broadband and they have no intention of upgrading it.
Numerous people in the neighbourhood are really brassed of with Telecom over this. As a result I only use Telecom for a telephone line connection and my tolls, cellphone and ISP are with other providers.
We even have to put up with poor unreliable and slow dial-up connections. I returned to NZ from the UK last year after spending 15 years there in the IT industry. I was even able to work satisfactorily from home over a dial-up connection in London. Telecommunications in New Zealand are definitely in the 3rd world category.
Ken, ChCh IT co.
I moved from Telecom to Telstra cable over a year ago. It was the best move I could have made. I am on a 80Gb/Month plan and my speeds are constantly around the 7-8Meg mark.
Internationally, my speeds are still crippled to around 500k to NY and London, but that is far better than my old Xtra connection.
I no longer recommend Xtra to my business clients - I used to believe that it was better the devil you know, but the speeds on the Xtra network have gone from bad to worse since the great uncapping fiasco.
The only way to fix the speeds is with fibre optic - once the infrastructure is in place - then the speed of light is the theoretical limit
John
I agree that New Zealand's Internet speed is slow, and it wouldn't surprise me if Broadband speed is as slow as dialup at times.
Greg Sosna
I missed the opportunity to comment on the broadband speeds. I thought I have something that you might want to use in any articles or report on the broadband speeds in NZ.
I run a 500kb file download on the 23rd minute of every hour - and measure and record the download speed. The file is located as close as virtually possible to my modem. Since I'm on Orcon, the file is on the Orcon website.
Since the modem is claiming that the connection between itself and the modem is 8000kbps (I'm approx. 1.1km from the exchange), I'm measuring the bandwidth between the exchange and the ISP.
I believe this is where our "rush-hour" botlenecks usually are... I actually consider myself lucky, as with my previous ISP (Ihug), I never had anything faster than 2mbps although they claimed that I'm on max plan.
Tony
Telecom has just stopped sponsoring the School Connection system - resulting in a loss of $10m per annum worth of technology available to schools. If Telecom is not prepared to support the future of NZ, what hope is there for faster broadband?
I live in a reasonably affluent area, but was initially told I could not receive broadband as the exchange was not new enough. After getting through to the right person (via work connections) I was assured that Bb was available.
I accepted then that 1mb speeds were unlikely. That was three years ago. Using Speedtest, I recorded a maximum download of 512 and upload of 134 - pathetic is the kindest descriptor. I do not believe that Telecom are entirely to blame - remember the "knowledge wave" promulgated by the government? They have hardly followed through. The backbone for a knowledge driven economy must perform at the top end of its competition - not the bottom.
Imagine British Rail with no rail tracks, but more and more carriages - plenty of capacity but no where to go. Come on NZ Govt - get real, forget Benson-Pope, forget Kiwisaver, and throw some resource at our future.
Wishing
I agree with your survey. I am on Woosh land line broadband, and I think it is often slower than the wireless I used to have. My speed check a minute ago was 660. I rarely get over 1000.
Andrew Blackler
Ok, so broadband is crap - but why invest when the government prevents business growing, try calling my mobile... oh wait, Telecom don't bother with coverage where I live for much the same reason. Wake up NZ, its time for change!
Hans, Tauranga
My work laptop works with the most updated aircard from Telecom. Download on Saturday night was 1336kps and upload 136kps. Probably acceptable but certainly not fast in this day and age with a very good connection.
Listening to people around me this is one of the reasons that I do not have private line broadband at this stage. Over the past 6 months my dialup has slowed down considerably in Matua Tauranga, which indicates to me that broadband probably does the same.
Just too many people now on line with the local Telecom network exchange obviously not coping with it. Such were also the comments of technicians who upgraded the network in the office not so long ago.
The trusty copper lines just no longer cope! And yes, Telecom staff did try to convince me that I could achieve faster speeds, but so far this has not happen yet. So in the meantime pay your monthly subscription, take a break and make yourself a cuppa while your site downloads!
Henry
At times have given up because of slow response times of our broadband connection. Not at all happy with this service. Get rid of the monopoly and free us from this disgusting situation.
Ken
I have lived in Orewa for the last 5 and I was getting between 2 3 Mbps, my ISP provider was Telstra Clear, (will never go with Telecom as they have the monopoly and we are so far behind the times in techo and pricing due to the monopoly they have).
I have since moved in to Auckland CBD, once again didnt want to support Telecom by having to get a land line when I didnt want one, I tried Woosh wireless, I manage to put up with them for about 4 months, but due to the lack of speed (less than 2Mbps) and for some reason couldnt watch any streaming movies, including Youtube, and the service dropping out on a continuous basis had to bite the bullet and get a land line.
Went back to Telstra Clear because of their pricing as I use P2P a bit. Have found the speed to be quite impressive compared to what I have been use to. The fasted I have seen it downloading was 7.2 Mbps. I downloaded a 728mb file the other night through Utorrent, took a impressive 36 minutes, fastest I noticed downloading was about 650kbps. I'm also using a laptop on a wireless connection. Thats my 2 cents worth.
Ian, Hamilton
It is clear that the ISP's have sold a sevice that they cannot support. They should have stopped taking any subscriptions when they knew that they could get nowhere near the sort of speeds that were suggested by their advertisements. We need the Commerce Commission to step in and carry out an investigation of this fraud and prosecute all of them with multi million dollar fines.
However it is somewhat complicated because the defence will be that the Commerce Commission itself is most to blame for the situation. Telecom knew that speeds of 256k-512k were all that could be supported with a wide adoption (say 80%) of broadband and were forced to allow higher speeds by Commerce Commission decisions which ignored the Telecom advice.
Also over the last three years the restrictions the Govt and the Commerce Commision has placed on Telecom reselling is a huge disincentive for them to invest as they will not be allowed to get a commercial return.
Telecom clearly see Australia as a better place to invest their funds and they are probably correct. Can you see any other players willing to invest here? No
Fed up, Manukau
We live in Manurewa - hardly the 'back of beyond', but we are unable to get space for broadband in our local cabinet, UNLESS we use Telecom as our ISP.
Over-priced and under-performing, we would prefer almost anyone else, but having applied through 4 different companies and been told we cannot get a connection and the wait is 2 - 5 years, with no intention to upgrade the capacity, in desperation we contacted Telecom.
No problem, they said! I am so angry - I wish there were some relief in sight from this monopolistic monster - but I simply don't believe there is.
Matt
I am on Telstra cable plan and happy with internal NZ speeds. The real issue is that once I start international surfing my download/upload rate drops significantly. As most kiwi surfing is international..the real issue is with the throttling of international bandwidth. This is the most unreported issue.
Steve from Mapua
5492 kps download from speedtest.net in Mapua between Nelson and Motueka using Tasman Solutions as ISP.
Sometimes small is best.
D Chandler
I'm usually satisfied with my raw speeds from Telecom, about 4M down, 600K up to Auckland, although occasionally much lower.
The real issues are:
International speeds. Connections to San Jose, CA (a high-tech Mecca) are less than 1Mbps. Same with NYC, financial Mecca.
Cost. Much higher than, for example, US.
Data Caps. This is my biggest complaint. The only plan with all-you-can-eat, Go Large, is discontinued, and never really delivered anyway.
We are at the BEGINNING of the video-over-internet era.
I just got my Joost sign-up last week, and there's lots more coming, e.g. BBC (for Brits only right now).
BUT...with our tiny little data caps (mine's 30GB) any significant amount of video will blow through the cap. I'll probably switch to TelstraClear PDQ soon, because their incremental cost for an extra 10GB is $11.95 while Xtra is charging $200.00 (!!) for an extra 10GB. Heaven help you if you leave Joost connected for a month at those prices.
It's tragic how NZ is locked into awful, non-competitive service, while many places in the US are starting to see 30Mbps speeds for LESS money with NO data caps from services like Verizon FIOS.
Peter, Whangaparoa
Normally my upload and download speeds have been about 130kbp/s download and 90kbp/s upload.
During the storm last week 20th to 23rd July I discovered by accident, due to my regular measurements of speeds to see how many users were on my 'spur', I found everything had suddenly shot up to over 3mbp/s down and 400kbp/s up, and also that the logging graph (to stay within allocated monthly allowance) had stopped logging.
I naturally revelled in my newfound freedom and promptly went crazy,sending stuff of large content to various friends.
Then it was back to the usual snailmail 24th July. A wonderful taste of what elsewhere in the world is completely normal. I got my revenge at last!
John
Broadband is one of those services that will never be fast enough especially with the demands of some of the services mentioned.
However the results of the survey dont really justify the story, it looks like over 85% of users are getting results of between 800kb/s and 5Mb/s, only around 7% of users are experiencing speeds under the OECD classification of broadband.
I think the picture the stats tell for the big ISPs such as Xtra, Telstra and Orcon look a lot better than most people would expect.
A wet Gloucestershire
Broadband! NZ joke.."Dialup" in the UK is just about as fast(slow) as my Xtra Xpensive service back home. Rip me off.
Gerard from Napier
The speed is my least worry. It would be nice if it at least was working all the time. Everyday the connection gets lost several times a day, apparently when it gets busy.
DNS servers can not cope anymore and even though there sometimes the connection is still open, the service is down and internet browsing or communicating through something like Skype becomes impossible.
Running a business that is dependent on a working Internet connection has been pretty tough ever since we went to "Unlimited speed and unlimited traffic volumes".
Lisa, Wellington
I took the speedtest and got 1977 kbps download and 130 kbps upload.
However, I don't think I'll ever complain about Telecom again after the terrible service we got when we foolishly switched to TelstraClear earlier this year.
The door-to-door salesman lied to us about what was on offer, misordered a plan and then TelstraClear refused to help. We had wireless that just didn't work.
I made four complaints, all of which were ignored until we had already switched back to Telecom. By the time I got the waffley "So sorry to hear about the service you've received" email, I was so anti-TCL that I refused to go back. Telecom may not be the best, but at least their customer service is decent. Plus their wireless actually works!
Robert Asplin
We are very disappointed in the broadband industry in New Zealand.
Previously we had an Ihug broadband account, which was 2MB/s download with 128kB/s upload. When this plan was outmoded we were switched to the 3.5MB/s download plan automatically. On this plan we generally had download speeds of 3.2MB/s as tested with speedtest.net.
Recently we changed to Slingshot on their Ultra plan which is supposed to be as fast as your line allows for download and 128kB/s upload.
Once we had the Slingshot account we were getting varying download speeds of anywhere between 276kB/s and 3.2MB/s depending upon the time of day tested.
Writing to Complex Technical Services took three weeks to get a reply saying that the speed issues had been resolved.
I am still having varying download speeds and never see speeds higher than 3.2MB/s.
It is about time that someone stood up and told the truth about why NZ broadband is slow and unstable.
Hopefully the implementation of ADSL2+ will resolve a lot of these speed issues.
Can someone please tell us what maximum line speed is at the moment?
Neil
I've had a huge number of issues with my broadband since November last year, when Xtra automatically 'upgraded' me to the Go Large plan (when they changed the plans). Speeds went down to less than dialup.
I'm a computer/network technician and I suspected they were throttling the speeds, to control loading. I did some speed tests with help from other people around Auckland, which seemed to confirm that.
In January I upgraded to the Pro plan and, with no hardware changes, things got a LOT better within a couple of hours.
Since then have had various downtime due to faulty exchange equipment, including around 14 days without broadband. I run a business, but luckily had a second broadband line, so could keep going.
According to that web site, my current download speed is over 7000kbs and upload is over 700kbs, so pretty good at the moment. I'm a few hundred yards from the exchange, so that probably helps.
Xtra broadband technical support is generally awful and it's only when I tell them I have two lines, two modems and technical knowledge that they seem to take problems seriously.
Mike, New Lynn
I did a test for my BB connection on Sat 28/7 at 6pm, and it was only 630 D/L and 118 Up/L.
Thanks very much to the US shareholders of Telecom who are paid bonusues to delay maintenance and investment on vital infrastructure. This is not 3rd world! It is worse! Iraq is 300 times faster apparently.
Jonah S
With regards to the "The truth about Kiwi broadband" article I feel Mr Diprose (iHug GM) may blame Telecom's investment in the network is the whole issue but is Ihug, along with other ISP's willing to invest dollars into the network with Telecom?
Hmmm. To be frank if the local loop does become unbundled, I dont think they (Wholesale ISP's) would have the money to provide a better/faster service - prove me wrong Mr Diprose.
TM from Cambridge
We live 1.79kms from State Highway 1, 10 mins south of Cambridge and cannot even get broadband much to the daily disgust of my teenagers and myself - I am trying to complete a masters degree at Waikato Uni via the web and it's a nightmare!
Have spoken with telecom who say they have no plans to cable to locate broadband down our road in the foreseeable future..fabulous - NOT! Now that's third world!
Hamfist, Auckland
Telecom have total control over the system. I left Telecom years ago and joined ihug but they are totally at the mercy of what "crumbs" Telecom will provide.
I suffer loss of internet because telecom is "upgrading the system" or other comment but the fact remains that the speed of broadband allowed by telecom is so low (mine logs at less than 200 on test) that I am likely at less speed than a Biafran kid in his mud hut!
In respect of broadband, we in New Zealand, are at a rating at the bottom of the list of third world countries - FACT.
Does anyone care? Hello..anyone?
BobChCh
Having experienced similar slow speeds with Broadband, I asked telecom what gives for what I'm paying.
Answers was "there are no guarantees on speed" in the contract.
Reason for query, I checked a BBC news site, which in turn checked my speed for a video news clip, and found it at 256k or less. Yet, the speed meter was showing 2.8m.
I think we are being totally ripped off for the cost of broadband, regardless of the "traffic" issue.
When you pay for a premium service, you should get it, not some watered down version.
Daron
I joined Orcon 2 years back on an upcapped 256kb plan.
After 6 months they capped my plan and upped the rate by $10.00/month. I moved house then re-joined to find the plans have changed again and the plan I was on would be around another $10.00/month.
How does that work when Internet access is supposed to be getting cheaper these days....?
Ed, Auckland
Yes broadband is very poor. Speed is low up and down.
This is affecting the productivity of people working remotely from home and when on the road.
A lot of people rely on connecting to work files and email through VPN and Internet Explorer connections but the speed of the Broadband is making this unusable for some people.
Even for me with Xtra as my ISP at work and at home VPN even for small file is unusable. If someone takes longer to download a video clip this is a small inconvenience, but when connecting to a work server is slow this costs companies large amounts in lost productivity.
Telecom should not be allowed to invest so much money in Aus when the sate of our ADSL in NZ needs so much urgent investment.
Keep up on this issue it is very important to NZ
User, Hamilton
I am on the Telecom physical network - I use a different reseller because they anwer the phone.
The big scandal is the international speeds. I get less than 600 kbps internationally. In case anyone hasn't noticed most of the internet resides outside New Zealand.
The ordinary scandal is the speed and reliability inside New Zealand. I regularly see complete drop-outs of service and never see anything above 1500 kbps.
It isn't just the speed. My ping time (how long it takes a message to get there as opposed to how much data is carried) is 168 ms to Auckland. This in theory is just about long enough to get to Los Angeles (just checked it is 186 ms to California)- they must be deliberately slowing things down along the way (there is a rumour that this is done to slow gamers down and make voice over IP work less well).
Glad to see that the Herald is getting some real numbers together about this. Please don't just focus on the bandwidth there are other aspects like the ping times that affect perceived performance.
Toldyaso, Tauranga
Those of us who opposed the privatisation-istas in the 1980's and 1990's, led by Douglas, Prebble and Basset, have been thoroughly vindicated. The bargain basement sell-off of Telecom, a strategic assest bought with several generations of Kiwi taxpayers' money, to mostly overseas interests has predicably been exposed as the economic treason it really was.
Every time we use our phone or broadband, we are enriching some Belgian dentist and the like, for an inefficient service crippled through underinvestment by its private, profit motivated owners. Free market? Free ride more like.
Mig
How many people responded to your survey?
Who were their ISP's?
What dates and times did they do their tests?
Without this information your article is meaningless.
Ulti
What New Zealanders need to realise is that we are, after all, living on an island, however large it maybe, all internet connection must go through the extremely expensive undersea cable, which we can not easily install more of.
With this in mind, I think we should go a little easier on the retail ISPs, international speed is going to be something that will always be an issue, unless New Zealanders would like to invest a few billion, which is a few grand for each Kiwi, to install some more cables from our island to North American, Asia, and Europe.
The only realistac solution is to invest more in kiwi local infrasture, increase local content, and regulate TradeMe so they stop buying out every Kiwi website, so we, kiwis, have more kiwi stuff to enjoy on the internet.
Edgar Smallwood
It has been obvious for so long. The Telco's have been feeding us Propaganda and " Market Speak " in the mad rush to tie Clients into their services.
Frankly the Telco's lack integrity and are simply not interested in what is best for their Clients. The emphasis is on Market Share and Profits.
My experience is with Ihug. Since the change of Ownership the level and quality of service has deteriorated markedly. Their response to a Service Inquiry is inevitably: It must be your Hardware, Modem or PC, etc. They never accept any degree of responsibility or accountability.
I believe that they are seriously in breach " of their contract with me as a client - safe in the knowledge that no-one is going to go to the trouble and enormous expense to take them to Court.
We are receiving a Third World Service while the Telco's line their pockets with their ill-gotten gains.
John Fergusson
Possibly more important about the NZ speed test results is that from Florida the server is Auckland is only 1350 Kbit...
A more depressing test would have to been to repeat the test against a server in San Francisco. It's no slower than local servers.
From past experience dial here is not much slower than NZ broadband for certain downloads.
Don Roberts
I am happy with Dial up.
Cheap and after viewing my son's broadband it is not that much quicker really, for what you pay.
They could make it quicker but Telecom prefers to spend money on advertising.
And you only have to look at the rest of the world to see where we stand there.
David Hills
What I understand from your stories and comments, we're pretty much stuck with our national speed until telecom gets everything unbundled and our providers get their equipment set up in our local exchanges. Right now the ISP we're with couldn't do anything about our connection, even if they wanted to! I'm in the Auckland CBD so my local exchange is in the Telecom building on Airedale street. This gives me great national speeds that I cannot complain about.
Where our ISPs do have control is their international pipes. It should be said that a good provider will have almost identical results from international servers, as it does the Auckland one.
I'm an ICONZ customer and right now (4:15pm) am getting a 4346kb/s download speed from the Sydney server.
Unfortunately I know this speed is rare for New Zealand and makes me very well off in the broadband stakes.
Nigel
From Paihia I consistently get 6600Kb down, 700Kb up to Auckland & 1800Kb down, 700Kb up to New York.
I'm with iHug 20Gb plan, I use the link to work remotely for a company in New Jersey and it's pretty consistent, weekends it can slow down, but I'm not working then :)
Richard Clark
I tried the "test", surely it's a joke as the speeds I recorded are not real world, real life speeds.
Where is the courage in Politicians to take back our infrastructure, build a true fibre network and open the delivery to open competition.
Let's kill off Telecom right here, right now. This should be bigger news in your rag than the Benson Pope BS. Get your priorities in order. We ARE being crippled.
Sandy Powis
Great to read your article regarding broadband. We have a house in the Queen Charlotte Sounds and live there 6 months of the year. We do not have a TV and love our internet BUT we cannot get broadband because of where we live.
We spend the other 6 months of our year in Vancouver Canada and we have a good choice of very fast broadband providers.
My husband and I cannot understand why New Zealand providers have dropped the ball with regard to the internet and providing good consistent service with speeds that are accepted world wide.
Keep up the pressure on the carriers for all of us who live in rural areas who at this stage do not have a chance of ever getting broadband.
