Not-quite-so-fast for $60 a month

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Telecom will begin offering a new flat-rate DSL (digital subscriber line) internet service, branded JetStart, from next month. It is expected to cost around $60 a month.

Unlike Telecom's existing Jetstream DSL service, JetStart will have no set traffic limits but its speed will be considerably slower.

Telecom says the always-on connection will be at least two to three times faster than a dial-up modem.

This suggests a speed of 128 kbps or 192 kbps, compared with JetStream's target speed of 2 Mbps downstream and 256 kbps upstream. Telecom spokesman Glen Sowry said the exact target speed had not been decided but it would be symmetrical - that is data would be sent at the same speed it was received.

JetStart users will pay Telecom a network charge of $29.95 a month but will also be charged a monthly flat rate traffic charge to an internet service provider. Mr Sowry said yesterday that no ISPs had confirmed final ISP monthly charges.

But the chief executive of an internet service provider, who did not wish to be named, says Telecom-owned ISP Xtra has already set the benchmark for the ISP charge at $29.95.

This figure was quoted in a web page on the Xtra site that appeared this month and was then removed.

"It shows Xtra had decided on its pricing before Telecom had even told other ISPs about it," he complained.

But Mr Sowry claimed the page that had been published in error related to Xtra's trial of the service, which had included testing "online provisioning."

"Whether that's set the benchmark for other ISPs I am not sure. I do not know if that was the definitive pricing."

Ihug director Tim Wood said his company received detailed information from Telecom on Friday that agreed with the web page.

"It's the same," he confirmed. "They've set a $59.90 price point for JetStart." Mr Wood agreed JetStart would compete with ihug's Ultra Lite service launched last month, but JetStart was slower and more expensive.

Ultra Lite costs $49.95 a month and offers download speeds of 256 kbps, but uploads are at dial-up speeds (56 kbps). Telecom's existing Jetstream services range from $69 for 400Mb of traffic a month to $1019 for 10,000Mb a month. In the United States unlimited DSL access ranges from $US30 to $US70 (about $67 to $160) a month at download speeds of about 384 kbps.

Clear is also due to start selling its own brand of fast internet early next year, having secured agreement to buy wholesale access from Telecom.

Links:

xtrasite.co.nz