Life in fast lane a costly addiction

CHRIS BARTON discovers the pleasures to be had with Telecom's "fat pipe" hooked up to your dwelling.

The fat pipe arrived in the rain without much fanfare. The cable guy poked around under the house and then installed a new phone jack in the study. The fast modem with its flashing lights looked like something out of Star Trek. My computer already had a network card, so the installer just plugged in a cable to connect modem and phone jack. Fat pipe - voila!

I'm talking about fast internet access - Telecom's Jetstream. From the outside, "fat" is a bit of a misnomer. It's still the same wire on the telephone pole outside my house. But thanks to the miracles of telecommunications technology, they've made the thin copper strands very fat on the inside.

Information not only travels up and down the wire faster, but also in larger amounts - which makes it especially good for receiving "streaming" media like audio and video. It delivers web pages much faster and makes downloading software an almost instant process compared with a dial-up connection.

But by far the most brilliant thing about Jetstream is that I can use my phone again - even while I'm surfing the net at warp speed.

What's the second most brilliant thing - speed?

No, the convenience of "always-on" - no more dialling to get on the net. No more waiting for the modem to squawk and "boing, boing" while it connects. Just click on the browser or e-mail program and it's there - instant internet.

How fast is it?


Darned fast. A half-a-megabyte file downloaded at 1.8 megabits per second (Mbps). For some that means nothing. It also doesn't tell the full story. The file came from Telecom's computer server somewhere in Auckland and arrived on my computer in Devonport in the blink of an eye. But although some web pages or files download [get to your computer screen] before you can say Jack Robinson, others seem to take just about as long as when you're on a dial-up connection.

Why? Because the internet is a tangled mess of phone wires, routers and computers and for various complicated reasons, some sites - even when you're using the fast lane - are just plain slow.

But for most access, Jetstream is streets ahead of dial-up. Watching streaming video sites actually works. The picture is still small, but it doesn't have the jerky, stop-start annoyance that makes it impossible to watch on dial-up. Software downloads - like a new version of Real Player or an update to your browser - were about 10 times faster.

What's the catch?

The cost. Compared with a dial-up internet provider costing about $24 per month for unlimited access, Jetstream is hideously expensive. The plan I'm using costs $120 per month - $90 for the access and $30 a month for the rental of the modem. I could buy the modem outright for between $200 and $400. There are also installation charges of between $178 and $300 plus a network card (about $50).

But that's not the worst part. I'm restricted to 600Mb of internet traffic per month. Use more and I pay 20c per megabyte. Internet on a meter - horrible! Imagine trying to watch TV always worrying you might have exceeded your monthly limit of viewing hours.

Is it easy to go over 600Mb?

You betcha. Our family has had the fat pipe for just over two weeks and we're already over 500Mb. I admit we've all gone a bit crazy - surfing everywhere, staying online for much longer, downloading software and music, and watching too much streaming video. But that's the problem. Jetstream is so fast and convenient that it's addictive.

If our usage keeps going at this level, I think we're going to have to opt for the castrated version, Jetstart, which gives unlimited monthly access for $65, but at a much slower (128 kilobits per second) speed.

What about hackers?

Good question. With an always-on connection you're much more prone to online attack. I was surprised Telecom didn't offer any advice on this. But the first thing I did was download ZoneAlarm - a personal "firewall" which helps to keep out the nasties.

Can everyone use JetStream?

No, About 541,000 out of 1.3 million residential lines in New Zealand can't. That's because JetStream is not supplied to your area, the copper wire to your home isn't of good enough quality, or you are too far away from your local exchange. Find out at the Jetstream page of the Telecom site. If you're one of the lucky ones, you'll then need a Jetsream internet provider. A list is at Telecom's ISP page.

Are there alternatives?

For residential users, sadly there's not a lot of choice - only Ihug's Ultra service which provides high speed access via a small satellite dish. Or if you're in Wellington, TelstraSaturn's broadband service which uses a cable modem and Saturn's cable TV network.

The Government has decided to prevent free-for-all competition in this area - preferring instead to try to get Telecom to wholesale fast access to other internet providers. But don't hold your breath. Clear struck a deal with Telecom for wholesale Jetstream in October last year. Eight months later, nothing has happened.

So, is it worth it?

Absolutely. As our web columnist Peter Sinclair has so often said - this is how the internet was meant to be.

Links:

CNN Video Select

Big brother streaming video

Internet on a meter

Telecom Jetstart page

Zone Alarm

Telecom Jetstream page

Telecom ISP page

Ihug's Ultra

TelstraSaturn