TelstraClear is letting kiwis surf the web, watch video and email to their heart’s content all the first weekend in December. From 6pm on Friday 2 December until midnight on Sunday 4 December, data used by TelstraClear residential broadband customers will be free.

“We say we’re the home of broadband and we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” says Steve Jackson, TelstraClear’s head of consumer markets. “At 6pm on Friday we’re switching off the data counter, meaning that any data used over the weekend is free and won’t count against a customer’s monthly allocation. If you’ve been waiting to check out those YouTube videos or try your hand at online gaming, now’s your chance.

“We know that people want to get online and discover the world but sometimes worry about the amount of data that might be used. That’s why we already un-meter a range of popular sites, including TradeMe, the Mediaworks/TV3 family of sites, and our own unmetered Steam gaming server. Because people often have more time outside the working week, we’re helping Kiwis make the most of the Internet with our unmetered weekend.”

Steve Jackson says TelstraClear knows that this weekend will be very popular. "With lots of people online for longer, some customers could experience slower than normal connection speeds, but we think that being able to do much more online without using any of your data pack makes it worth doing .”