Advice wanted on changing from Telecom Go Large: looking for other plans

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Mco

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Wannabe Geek

#17242 18-Nov-2007 22:15

Giday there,

I'm looking for a suitable upgrade from Telecom broadband. I'm on one of the older plans that they don't offer anymore, the one with no data cap, I forget the name. I use an old Alcatel ADSL connect modem if that helps.

Anyway I've grown tired of the slow rate at peak hour (around 8pm at night), which is when I use the net the most (gaming, music, videos etc). It can go pretty fast at off peak rates, like the morning and late at night, but I rarely use it then.

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction, I'm looking for about a 5gb cap per month, unfortuanitly telstra cable was unavailable in my area (Halswell, Christchurch). I'm looking to spend around $60 a month,

Any advice would be fantastic,

Cheers

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#95818 18-Nov-2007 22:40

'Go Large'

kfella2000

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#95823 18-Nov-2007 22:55

Check out xnet www.xnet.co.nz They have Full Line Speed up and down and you can select whatever data cap you want. In your case 5Gb each month would cost you $55.07. Also if you use less than your data cap they only charge you for what you use so if you use 4.2 Gb you only pay for 4.2Gb. Also you can alter your data cap yourself online either increase it or decrease it to suit your budget.

manhinli

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#95827 18-Nov-2007 23:03

Have you seen the other Telecom Broadband plans? (Not that I'm on Telecom, anymore)

Like Explorer? $50 for 6GB (Full/128)

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Mco

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#95899 19-Nov-2007 11:43

Thank you all for the reply's,

So basically i'm tossing up between the Xtra Broadband Explorer package,

and the Xnet "Flood" with a 6 GB cap which is a relatively same price anyway,

Is broad as the question is, any oppinions on what one is "better"? (exclulding price)

Thanks in advance

grant_k

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#95919 19-Nov-2007 13:35

Have a look at the specs for Xnet FLOOD here:

http://www.xnet.co.nz/hsi/

And notice that it's FS (Full Speed) in both directions.

Whereas Xtra Explorer is FS Download but only 128kbps Upload.

Full Speed Upload is very nice to have when you are sending large e-mail attachments e.g. Photos.

Given that Xnet Flood is only going to cost you $5 extra per month for 5GB (or less if you use less), AND you are still well within your $60 budget, it would seem a waste not to go for Xnet Flood with its Full Speed Upload capability.

I have a plan of this type and can post the Speedtest results if you are interested. Performance has always been great on this plan except for about an 8-week period when the International speeds were low at night. That has now been solved for me and I am getting 3Mbps to Los Angeles with a Ping around 150 - 165ms. That's not too shabby in my book

Mco

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#95940 19-Nov-2007 15:03

grant_k: Have a look at the specs for Xnet FLOOD here:

http://www.xnet.co.nz/hsi/

And notice that it's FS (Full Speed) in both directions.

Whereas Xtra Explorer is FS Download but only 128kbps Upload.

Full Speed Upload is very nice to have when you are sending large e-mail attachments e.g. Photos.

Given that Xnet Flood is only going to cost you $5 extra per month for 5GB (or less if you use less), AND you are still well within your $60 budget, it would seem a waste not to go for Xnet Flood with its Full Speed Upload capability.

I have a plan of this type and can post the Speedtest results if you are interested. Performance has always been great on this plan except for about an 8-week period when the International speeds were low at night. That has now been solved for me and I am getting 3Mbps to Los Angeles with a Ping around 150 - 165ms. That's not too shabby in my book

Thanks mate thats exactly the information I needed to know. I really didnt want to stick with Telecom as their customer service seems to be just as bad as their product.

Gave Xnet a call today, they were very helpful and their technician pointed out the pros and cons of switching to their company, even though the only negative was "you will still notice slower rates at peak hours, just a significantly less amount.

Thanks again!

P.S If you can be bothered the speedtest would be fantastic!

grant_k

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#95944 19-Nov-2007 15:13

Mco: P.S If you can be bothered the speedtest would be fantastic!

No worries, here are the test results, first LOCAL:

and now INTERNATIONAL:

Note that these were both taken at night during Peak Hours at 8:24pm and 7:37pm respectively (times above are GMT).

Cheers,
Grant.

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Mco

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#95987 19-Nov-2007 18:38

Wow, I tried the same test with my current broadband setup and got:

Wellington Server: 363 MS

95 kb/sec download and 131 kb/sec upload,

I should notice a bit of an improvement then!

cokemaster

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#95989 19-Nov-2007 18:43

Mco: Wow, I tried the same test with my current broadband setup and got:

Wellington Server: 363 MS

95 kb/sec download and 131 kb/sec upload,

I should notice a bit of an improvement then!

Remember that Citylink (the network that the speed test is run off) and Telecom do not peer together, thus you'll see a dramtic decrease in speed when using the Welliington server.

Auckland, Napier or NZDSL tends to give better results:

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bleetz

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#95995 19-Nov-2007 19:20

In most cases tho, going from go large/telecom to xnet will be a nice increase, about the only thing I find slower is the Xtra webmail :P when it works at all that is... *ahh hem*

cokemaster

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#95996 19-Nov-2007 19:25

I think it is fairly short sighted (or that word starting with t) to group the performance of traffic managed plans to the non managed plans, like apples and oranges (there was a bit of this with Woosh and their managed plan recently).

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Se7ensyns

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#95998 19-Nov-2007 19:30

I just changed from Telecom to xnet about 2 weeks ago. I have been with Telecom Xtra since the day they started. the reason Ichanged was the flexibility that xnet provided me aroudn my data caps. As I play xbox live quite a bit I needed the upload speed but for me to move from my 3GB FS/FS to the next data cap with FS/FS it was a ridiculous jump that I wasnt prepared to pay. So far I have been really happy with xnet. Even tonigh my connection speed on live are all green which is unheard of at this time of the night. They had me swapped over in 1 day when they said 5 days. Good first impression

bleetz

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#96129 20-Nov-2007 20:14

cokemaster: I think it is fairly short sighted (or that word starting with t) to group the performance of traffic managed plans to the non managed plans, like apples and oranges (there was a bit of this with Woosh and their managed plan recently).

Well, Lets put it another way... $50 a month.. you get close to nothing at a very slow speed - except maybe www.xtra.co.nz loading quickly - you'd struggle to do 15GB/month over pretty much any protocol... or.. $50 [xnet FS/128 managed cap, 15GB] and you get good speeds across all protocols and around 15GB capped.. IMO, its hardly apples/oranges...

I've yet to see a 'unlimited' plan that has worked and/or lasted without you being asked to 'upgrade' to a metered plan.. going all the way back to 'jetstart' days..

Anyways. :)

cokemaster

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#96131 20-Nov-2007 20:20

bleetz:

Well, Lets put it another way... $50 a month.. you get close to nothing at a very slow speed - except maybe www.xtra.co.nz loading quickly - you'd struggle to do 15GB/month over pretty much any protocol... or.. $50 [xnet FS/128 managed cap, 15GB] and you get good speeds across all protocols and around 15GB capped.. IMO, its hardly apples/oranges...

Oh really? Struggling to do 15GB... usage meters be damned (picture below)!

Face it, 'managed' plans have varied levels of performance due to shaping (hence all the ruckus about Go Large) however you certainly can pull down a lot of information on the cheap. However they are quite different beasts from plans that you actually pay for the data you use.

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tonyhughes

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#96132 20-Nov-2007 20:29

I have no trouble downloading large files and iso's. I am on Go Large, but my actual usage has dropped dramatically since I lessened my interest in Linux.

Given my current usage, I might go and investigate other plans - I havent looked at consumer BB plans for a long time, so dont know what the current offerings are!

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