Life in the fast lane gets faster as we speak

By PAUL BRISLEN

To some, broadband is nothing more than fast internet access. To those that have it, however, broadband is a lot more than simply getting email quicker or having web pages open faster than they do on dial-up.

Putting it in basic terms, broadband changes the way you can use the internet and does so in a way that means you would never go back to dial-up. This year has seen a number of alternatives launch on the broadband scene after several years with Telecom's JetStream the only option.

It seems that no two organisations agree on just how to define broadband. All use speed as the benchmark, measured in kilobits per second (kbps) or megabits per second (Mbps). In New Zealand, most broadband users are at the bottom end of the scale, using Telecom's JetStream family of products.

JetStream, or asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) makes use of the existing copper lines in Telecom's network to provide fast internet access to the home. While dial-up speeds have reached their limit at 56 kbps, broadband services start at 256 kbps.

Telecom's JetStream product, launched in 1999, has an average speed of 2 mbps for downloads and 512 kbps for upload. But most people use JetStream Surf at 256 kbps download and 128 kbps upload. It's an entry-level product, with some doubting that the 128 kbps part of the service even counts as broadband.

Telecom says it will offer faster connections in the next year - 512 kbps, 1 mbps and 2 mbps downloads. But all those will have an upload speed of only 128 kbps.

Telecom's main rival, TelstraClear, offers its own network, based on cable rather than copper, in parts of Wellington, the Kapiti Coast and Christchurch. Using the Paradise brand name, the service boasts the country's fastest residential broadband internet service, Paradise Lightspeed, which runs at 10 mbps downstream, 1024 kbps up. Slower services, each at least as fast as Telecom's full speed JetStream plan, are also available.

Users in central and south Auckland are also able to make use of Wired Country's wireless network. Set up by electricity lines company Counties Power, the fixed wireless service is offered off Wired Country's fibre loop in the Counties region and also off the Sky Tower in central Auckland. Hamiltonians living within line of sight of Waikato Hospital can also use the service. Wired Country operates a wholesale-only model so users need to look to other internet providers who make use of the service. Ihug, Iconz and several other providers are already offering service. Speeds typically run from 256 kbps up to 2 mbps.

There is one other national network besides Telecom.

Broadcast Communications, BCL, is the government-owned broadcasting company that sends TV and radio signals around New Zealand. The company has upgraded its network to allow it to offer fixed wireless data and voice services as well. BCL offers a wholesale-only model and is at present interested in only the rural and regional parts of New Zealand. Working in conjunction with its partners - to date Telecom, Ihug and Iconz - BCL's network can reach almost every home and business in the country.


There are some "hotspot" networks operating as well. Wi-fi hotspots, where devices like laptops equipped with a wireless card can connect, are relatively small in size but offer a range of speeds for short-term connections.

Traditionally, hotspots have been located in coffee shops, hotel lobbies and airport lounges but they're branching out to cover larger areas.

Reach Wireless in Auckland has just been endorsed by chip-maker Intel as part of its wi-fi awareness programme. Even Telecom is getting in on the act, signing a deal to provide wi-fi to a hotel chain.

While broadband allows users to get email quickly and surf the net, there's far more to it than that - video conferencing, voice calls over broadband lines to avoid toll charges, real-time games played online, large file transfers and downloads and even movies and television delivered over the internet. The capabilities of a broadband connection go far beyond the traditional World Wide Web.

Health workers can use broadband connections to send and receive the extremely large files that make up MRI scans, or to enable specialists to "take part" in remote surgery. Company staff can access entire databases from the road or from home.

The Government has identified broadband uptake as one of the major benchmarks by which it will measure progress in New Zealand. To date, New Zealand uptake of broadband has been at the low end of the international scale but this year that should change. Telecom is extending the reach of its fibre-optic network, bringing the immense capacity of fibre closer to the home and business user. This year, Telecom will trial "fibre to the home" which could deliver super-speeds to users in the years ahead.


The state of broadband

* Telecom aims to have 250,000 homes on broadband by the end of 2005

* Woosh, Wired Country and BCL all offer broadband services today

* New Zealand is at the bottom end of the OECD broadband table

* Most New Zealand broadband connections are only 256 kbps

* Telecom hopes to trial "fibre to the home" which would offer megabits per second to the home

* Commerce Commission will monitor uptake of broadband for the first time this year with a report

* due out in November