1TB Versus Unlimited ...

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#616345 27-Apr-2012 22:43

AndrewSchick: So for arguments sake (no promises) you would rather a 500Gb plan for (lets just say) $99 than an unlimited plan for $99 ... Even if there was no real world difference in speed??

Depends on the reputation of the ISP or plan.

I think with a data cap people tend to treat it as a target and try to use it all or they feel like they didn't use all the paid for.

Also I think that un-metered in the better more honest term than unlimited.

mattwnz

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#616366 27-Apr-2012 23:38

Ragnor:
AndrewSchick: So for arguments sake (no promises) you would rather a 500Gb plan for (lets just say) $99 than an unlimited plan for $99 ... Even if there was no real world difference in speed??

Depends on the reputation of the ISP or plan.

I think with a data cap people tend to treat it as a target and try to use it all or they feel like they didn't use all the paid for.

Also I think that un-metered in the better more honest term than unlimited.

Yes I think it is more honest too. Unlimited implies there are no limits whatsoever on the plan

khull

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#616414 28-Apr-2012 08:41

If history is any indication of future behaviour, unlimited plans never last for long. Telecom tried not once but three.

It began with 128kbps jetstart/jetstream which died about a year and a half into it, then came Go Large which was then reincarnated as big time - again both failed

Quite simply it is not worth it if you can afford a reasonably large plan.

Unfortunately I would say a 1TB a month is better and plenty for now unless you run a 10TB NAS and have flat mates that are only interested in downloading the internet.

Assuming you do not delete items you download for archiving purposes, that will be a lot of data each month coming in

jtbthatsme

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#616425 28-Apr-2012 09:05

I would have to agree with the consensus most would probably prefer a 1 terabyte cap as a alternative to unlimited simply as nearly all (possibly all) unlimited plans are shaped in one form or another.

I also agree that a lot of people see there cap like a target as they're getting charged for it so why not try to use it all.

Personally I think this is also some part of why a lot of the ISP's have been releasing larger data plans as like already stated when people were first on their unlimited plans they were using as much as they could at the start and then it just slowed down for most.

If more people are on the very large plans (not unlimited) it allows the ISP to purchase their blocks accordingly to try their best to actually provide each and every one of there customers the ability to actually use that amount but in all likelihood if they all did the service / experience would possibly be not as good as the customer had hoped for.

I believe the introductions of the huge data caps is a way to get people to spend more and not use it all but feel comfortable in knowing that they are not going to have billing surprises or be restricted once they reach their set caps.

I may be wrong here but I think statistically isn't the average usage in NZ under 10 gig a month??? Personally I think I would struggle on less than 50 or 60 gig and often use between 80 and 120 gig per month.

mercutio

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#616502 28-Apr-2012 12:00

i'd consider 200 gig to be more realistic than 500gb, and i'd be weary of 1tb or unmetered plans.

even if i required 60 gig i'd be a bit weary of an isp offering 500gb or more plans, in case they're in the same pool.

that said i have unmetered (not on maxnet, nor slingshot) and seem to be averaging 121.7kb/sec down, 23.1kb/sec up on monthly graph, and 322.1kb/sec on daily. (as in in the last day it's been higher than normal)

but even 121.7kb/sec average is like 1 megabit is around 320 gig.

it is nice not watching, but i'd never want the slingshot-like behaviour of not being able to do two things at once.

i have found that unmetered can mean usage varies more.

sbiddle

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#616512 28-Apr-2012 12:27

jtbthatsme:
I may be wrong here but I think statistically isn't the average usage in NZ under 10 gig a month??? Personally I think I would struggle on less than 50 or 60 gig and often use between 80 and 120 gig per month.

While there is no definitive value, it's accepted the average is now around 15GB per month. This is mean figure, not a median figure.

To put this into context - it's still pretty much accepted that globally (based on Cisco VNI stats) that around 10% of internet users consume approximately 60% of the data. This means that if you want to look at a median figure it's going to be well under that 15GB figure because of the significant numbers of users who are skewing this mean because of their high usage, and the significant number of people who still can't get close to using a 5GB cap.

mercutio

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#616538 28-Apr-2012 13:40

sbiddle:
jtbthatsme:
I may be wrong here but I think statistically isn't the average usage in NZ under 10 gig a month??? Personally I think I would struggle on less than 50 or 60 gig and often use between 80 and 120 gig per month.

While there is no definitive value, it's accepted the average is now around 15GB per month. This is mean figure, not a median figure.

To put this into context - it's still pretty much accepted that globally (based on Cisco VNI stats) that around 10% of internet users consume approximately 60% of the data. This means that if you want to look at a median figure it's going to be well under that 15GB figure because of the significant numbers of users who are skewing this mean because of their high usage, and the significant number of people who still can't get close to using a 5GB cap.

there's also things like is that per user or per connection? i seem to remember reading that the US was a few years ahead of us in average usage because of things like netflix.

my own home usage down is probably around 10x higher than it was 10 years ago, but my connection 40x higher down, 5x higher up. back then there wasn't youtube - there was 128, 192kbit internet radio, but connection and gig limits meant that I mostly listened at work. transferring files over the internet was difficult because of limited upload speeds for home users (still the case). I'm remembering as being on 256kbit/128kbit cable with 5 gig cap, but 1/10th charging for national traffic, which I used to do a lot of..

even on 256kbit it was pretty easy to do more than 5gig though.

but if my connection was faster (especially upload), i think my usage could maybe double once more videos on youtube are higher than 480p, and i could share files over internet. i mean on the current upload speeds of adsl even sending a 300k file is sluggish, let alone a 10 meg file, let alone gigs of data. but on high speed servers overseas etc i'll backup from one to the other doing 20 to 80 megabit/sec.

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Lurch

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#617871 1-May-2012 12:22

250GB plan is the sweet spot for us. Would be weary of someone offering 500GB+ Of course that depends on the cost too.

As for the uncapped plans after big time etc I tend to avoid.

Other than the cap itself the upload speed is my only gripe. Try running a Counter-strike server and uploading new maps to people even when you compress them ;-)

mercutio

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#617874 1-May-2012 12:31

Lurch: 250GB plan is the sweet spot for us. Would be weary of someone offering 500GB+ Of course that depends on the cost too.

As for the uncapped plans after big time etc I tend to avoid.

Other than the cap itself the upload speed is my only gripe. Try running a Counter-strike server and uploading new maps to people even when you compress them ;-)

can't you host cs maps on a http server?

Ragnor

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#617877 1-May-2012 12:38

If Maxnet is looking to increase residential sales they should consider offering phone, either voip or POTS packages... lots of people still want phone + dsl.

PANiCnz

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#619017 3-May-2012 18:52

Andrew, is there a fair use figure associated with your current Unlimited offering?

e.g. at what point do you contact a customer and ask them to cut it out?

AndrewSchick

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#619101 3-May-2012 22:16

Here is what happens in practise. Every month we take a look at the top 1-2% of our traffic users and see if what they are doing is really impacting our service to a point that other peoples service is negatively impacted. In most cases, this would be trying to do huge amount of downloads during business hours.

If we find this, we email the customer and have a converstation about how they could change their usage patters to best fit the service and the community using it.

So since launching the plan, we've emailed two people. One to congratulate them on being the biggest data user and for doing it at the right times - I believe (off the top of my head) his usage was around 750GB for the month.

The other user was around 400-500GB, but the fast majority of it was during business hours - that is the bandwidth that is more restricted. His usage was making everyone elses internet go slower. We suggested finding different times to do his huge downloads ... he did, and we are all happy.

If you're looking for the hard and fast rule - if you're in the top 5% of our users for the month we reserve the right to shape your service. In extreme cases, we reserve the right to discontinue your service. But, really? really?!?!

PANiCnz

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#619187 4-May-2012 07:22

That all sounds pretty reasonable.

astrial

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#619352 4-May-2012 10:30

Any word on when we may expect updated plans? I'm the user who tweeted the question a few days ago. I have another month or so on my 3 month trial period to evaluate any possible change; so at the moment I'm personally more motivated to go than stay!

AndrewSchick

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#619360 4-May-2012 10:37

You'll be hearing a pretty interesting announcement next week ... you'll love it. I promise. maythefourthbewithyou ;)

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