KEY POINTS:
As Helen Twose has reported in the Herald today, the final pricing on so-called "naked DSL" has been confirmed by the Commerce Commission allowing Telecom's competitors to plan with some certainty for services based on it to be delivered next year.
While it is disappointing that the prices
for the service has crept up $1 - $3 on the earlier guideline given by the commission, at least the pricing is now set in concrete. Some players, like WorldxChange, have decided to wear the cost of the increase, rather than bump up their planned retail rates.
So what exactly is naked DSL and what will it do? Here's a barebones Wiki article on the technology, but basically it is a copper-based digital subscriber line to a consumer that can be leased from Telecom by a competitor without them having to buy Telecom's voice calling service as well.
It means that rival players can then use their own technology and in particular, internet protocol technology, to provide their own voice services at lower rates and with more sophisticated messaging systems that can be managed via the internet.
Will it mean that Telecom's competitors begin to offer broadband packages over DSL without a voice service attached? Very unlikely. The economics of providing communications bundles only really works out for everyone when voice is paired with broadband and tolls. But there could definitely be some overall savings on offer.
At the moment I pay Telecom $49.95 for all-you-can-eat full-speed broadband (the old Go Large plan), and around $53.23 for my monthly voice account (Anytime $41.20, Call Minder $7, Caller Display $2.50, Wire Maintenance charge $2.53). That's a total spend of $103.18 before I make any toll calls.
WorldxChange tells me that it will release a service based on naked DSL offering full-speed broadband, it's VFX VoIP calling service, with caller-line ID, voicemail, voicemail to email and some other fancy features controlled through a web browser for $70 a month. You then pay for how much broadband you use at $1 a gigabyte. So for $80 you get full speed broadband with a 10GB cap, a VoIP service, mailbox and messaging, for $90 - all of the above but 20GB of data.
National calls and calls to numerous countries are charged at 5c per minute. I use less than 10GB most months, so I could save $23 a month by being with WorldxChange, before tolls come into the equation.
There will be some set-up costs - you'll need a DSL router from WorldxChange, which you can plug your regular phone into.
Thanks to number portability, you can take your phone number with you to a naked DSL player. I trialled VFX last year and was impressed with the call quality.
The fact the voice service depends on your broadband connection means if the connection goes down you won't have a voice line to use. I don't think it's an issue for people who have a reliable broadband connection (I can hear you sniggering already).
Mobile phones are so pervasive people can use them if there's a problem and most ADSL modems are always on - or they should be anyway.
Other players are also going to roll out naked DSL services, so there'll be some innovation in this space. VoIP may still be a bit scary to average phone users, but the fact you can plug a regular phone or cordless handset into the router is breaking down this barrier, something that could make naked DSL a viable alternative to the most financially risky local loop unbundling several of Telecom's competitors are pursuing.
UPDATE: Nelson-based internet provider Supra has got in touch to tell me about their naked DSL offering ( http://www.supra.net.nz/servicesnakeddsl.asp), which I was surprised to learn has been in the market since the middle of November.
There's more about the service here, but for $69.95 you can get a full-speed broadband connection with a 10GB data cap. For an extra $9.95 a month, you get Supra VoIP, where calling rates are 10c per minute to a New Zealand landline, 45c per minute to a mobile.
You don't need to have a phone account with Telecom according to Supra: "Naked DSL uses the phone network to deliver your broadband service so you still need a working phone connection into your premises but the phone service doesn't need to be connected with your phone provider." Worth looking into if you're gagging to get into naked DSL and dump your phone line rental.