Random rants


Go Large Review

, posted: 27-Nov-2006 21:38

So I have Xtra's 'Go Large' plan for about 3 weeks now, and am supremely disappointed.

Now I'm no gamer, so I know nothing about pings, latency or that stuff, I'm just a hardcore downloader, plain and simple, and what I do know and can review is the speed of my connection and amount of data downloaded etc...

Before moving to the Go Large plan, I was on Xtra's 'Go' plan, 2MB download speed with 1GB quota per month. This plan never suited me but as I got it for free, had no reason to change, that was until these new plans were released and thought, now thats worth paying for...

Now on my old 'Go' plan, I was consistantly hitting the plans maximum speed of 2MB, achieving excellent speeds downloading from international sites such as Microsoft as well as P2P...an example being I downloaded the Vista OS in roughly 4 hours (3.5GB)...now thats pretty good!

So thats my old Xtra plan, now compare that with my new (read the entire post)...

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WiMax in Wellington

, posted: 6-Nov-2006 18:29

NZ Wireless has just announced the launch of a WiMax service in central Wellington and Lower Hutt. While the service is currently much slower than most much hyped WiMax services announced elsewhere, its a start and the service has the ability to have its speed increased at any time.

While targeting businesses, if within coverage, one could be tempted by there offerings...

Their are two plans at present:

2MB up/down (10GB limit) $80 + gst monthly
3MB up/down (10GB limit) $125 + gst monthly

Now the interesting part is in the additional information:

You can recieve unlimited traffic allowance for an extra $25 monthly + gst

So for $105 + gst, you can get unlimited WiMax broadband 2MB up and down....interesting indeed.

nzwireless (read the entire post)...

Permalink to WiMax in Wellington | Add a comment (3 comments) | Main Index


Bandwidth Being Throttled?

, posted: 24-Oct-2006 20:10

Think your being throttled? What about these poor souls...

It is reported that Malaysian ISP TM Net has decided to thottle p2p users by 90%, 24 hours of the day!

This is just after it was offically announced Australian ISP Exetel would throttle p2p users by up to 50% during the peak hours of noon to midnight.

Makes ya think we aint got it so bad after all eh?

Article: Zeropaid (read the entire post)...



The 'ISP Media Mogul'

, posted: 24-Oct-2006 16:01

Dear to dream?

The 'ISP Media Mogul'

WiMax
- Super fast downloads/uploads
- Portability, no land line required
Data
- Unlimited quotas (maybe on lesser speeds but sill fast enough for IPTV or VOIP)
- Extra large quotas (on full speed) around 60-80-100gb+
VOIP
- Super cheap phone calls, locally, nationally and internationally
- Use a comptiable WiFi mobile phone, using WiMax network
IPTV
- Offer local free-to-air channels free of charge, part of standard package
- Offer international free-to-air channels for small subscription (to cover cost of international bandwidth)
- Offer subscription channels/pay-per-view programs for a standard fee
iMedia
- An online 'One Stop Shop', with seamless intergration simular to iTunes/Ipod
- Available to download or stream
- Movies
- Music
- P (read the entire post)...



Downloading Without Using Your Quota

, posted: 22-Oct-2006 21:11

In the current enviroment, a p2p downloader can blow their quota in no time, so is there a workaround?

Some ISP's offer free national traffic, yet most p2p filesharing is done using international traffic, so the question is obvious...

Q1) Is there a p2p program that allows the user to configure it to download off local/NZ people only?
Q2) How do you find and connect to local/NZ people

I read an interesting article, quite dated, but exactly what I'm talking about...
An old website used to provide just such a service, www.p2p.net.nz which has since been shut down.

A paragraph from the article:
"Because p2p.net.nz was run as a New Zealand only model, traffic to and from the site was predominantly local. Traffic on Telecom's JetStream Starter service and TelstraClear's Paradise cable network do not charge full rates for national traffic, so users weren't paying for the downloads. On top of that, connectin (read the entire post)...



ISP's 'Fair Use' Policies Compared

, posted: 22-Oct-2006 20:50

Continuing on from comparing the different ISP plans available or about to be released, an interesting differnce between them is thier 'fair use policies'...

They may seem small and insignificant, but they will have quite an impact on downloading speeds for a stated length of time as shown below...


Woosh Wireless 'Reasonable Use Policy'
- Limited from 5pm to 12am
- If use more then 700mb during those hours:
- speed throttled to 56kb, then returned to full speed at 12am
- No mention of targeting p2p

Xtra 'Fair Use Policy'
- Limited from 4pm to 12am
- If use more than 700mb during those hours:
- will be put into 'fair use pool' for one whole week...
- fair use pool involves group of high downloaders put together with set limited bandwidth quota, so are effectively throttled
- p2p will be throttled during peak hours

Maxnet 'Managed'
- (read the entire post)...



ISP's 'Unlimited Quota' Plans

, posted: 22-Oct-2006 20:17

Plans available/announced to date:


Woosh Wireless
Plan: Orbit Flatrate
Type: adsl
Speed: 7.6mb down - 128kb up
Price: $50mo
Coverage: nationwide
Phoneline required?: yes, telecom phoneline $42.20mo?
Notes: Reasonable Use policy applys....(700mb max download between 5pm-12am)
Woosh Wireless Plans

Xtra
Plan: Go Large
Type: adsl
Speed: 7.6mb down - 128kb up
Price: $50mo
Coverage: nationwide
Phoneline required?: yes, telecom phoneline $42.20mo?
Notes: Fair use policy & traffic management applys...(700mb max download between 4pm-12am)
Xtra Plans

Maxnet
Plan: Dash WBS MX/128-Mega
Type: adsl
Speed: 7.6mb down - 128kb up
Price: $60mo
Coverage: nationwide
Phoneline required?: yes, telecom $42.20mo?
Notes: 'managed', simular restictions to xtra 'fair use policy' and traffic management
Maxnet Plans

Slingshot
read the entire post)...



euanandrews's profile

Euan Andrews
Lower Hutt
New Zealand


I'm a 32yo male, living and working in the Wellington region.

I currently work as a manager for Interislander, having worked in the Hospitality industry for about the last decade.



I have interests in computers, gadgets and information, and love to be 'in the know', hence I read vasts amount of information online, anything from tech news, gadgets to current events and history.

Being a movie buff and having an interest in computers, I setup a wiki about Home Theatre PC's, and have recently built my own HTPC.

I was also heavily involved with the setup and design of the NZ Connections Wiki, having been invited by Cokemaster to help, as a result of my extensive and ongoing interest in ISP's. 


NZ Connections Wiki
My profile (TheBartender)



Gadgets:
Desktop:
Compaq Pressirio 5000
HTPC:
Case: Silverstone LC16M, CPU: Intel Quad Q9400 2.5GHz, Motherboard: abit IP35 Pro, PSU: Corsair 520HX, Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S203D DVD Writer, Graphics card: Leadtek WinFast PX8500 GT TDH HDMI, Hard drive: 2 x Western Digital Caviar GP WD7500AACS Hard Disk Drive, 750GB, 5400rpm, Wireless: D-Link DWA-547 Rangebooster N 650 Desktop, TV tuner: Blackgold BGT3540, Keyboard: Microsoft Remote Keyboard for Windows Media Center
Mobile:
Nokia N900