Does the average household need more than 100/20 broadband?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Does the average household need more than 100/20 broadband?

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Tinkerisk

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#3431789 6-Nov-2025 21:27

Since the term ‘average household’ is imprecise, there is no ‘universally valid, definitive answer’ to this question. The number of family members alone, as well as the requirements of each person, the technologies used and their intensity, vary too widely for that. The calculation of the actual bandwidth required (i.e. not just speed) differs for each application in the worst case scenario.

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Aucklandjafa

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#3431835 7-Nov-2025 08:06

snj:

I've got a uncle who barely uses 20GB/mo (iirc from the stats I saw when I logged into his account the other week) that was put on Spark's Unplan (now 500/whatever). Problem I was facing was trying to explain to him that he should be on the 100Mbps plan and save the $20-ish because he never will need that speed. His view is that "it works so why change it". Coincidentially that would also be Spark's view, they're clipping the ticket and it's not costing them much to support him.

When you've got those two attitudes happening, it just leaves people paying more than they need to, especially when they don't understand that they only need the basics and what they're on isn't the basics.

Of course, now he's just been moved to respite care away from home, so he's paying even more for a connection that isn't used at all (except by us when we're visiting the house).

I suspect part of the problem in my uncle's case is that I seem to recall that Spark didn't initially offer the lower speed (30 then 50 down) plans in Northpower areas (I seem to recall checking his address once upon a time and it not showing). Of course if my memory is correct, it's then compounded by the fact that as I've said, it's not exactly in the ISP's interest to identify customers that are barely using their connection and checking if people are on the right plan.

Get your uncle to change to One or 2d and he’ll be saving even more on the 100/20 plan!

cddt

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#3431909 7-Nov-2025 10:32

snj:

I've got a uncle who barely uses 20GB/mo (iirc from the stats I saw when I logged into his account the other week) that was put on Spark's Unplan (now 500/whatever). Problem I was facing was trying to explain to him that he should be on the 100Mbps plan and save the $20-ish because he never will need that speed. His view is that "it works so why change it". Coincidentially that would also be Spark's view, they're clipping the ticket and it's not costing them much to support him.

Sounds like my parents. They don't even stream video or use social media. Just email and local news websites. Yet my father insisted "just get the best plan".

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alasta

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#3431911 7-Nov-2025 10:45

cddt:

snj:

I've got a uncle who barely uses 20GB/mo (iirc from the stats I saw when I logged into his account the other week) that was put on Spark's Unplan (now 500/whatever). Problem I was facing was trying to explain to him that he should be on the 100Mbps plan and save the $20-ish because he never will need that speed. His view is that "it works so why change it". Coincidentially that would also be Spark's view, they're clipping the ticket and it's not costing them much to support him.

Sounds like my parents. They don't even stream video or use social media. Just email and local news websites. Yet my father insisted "just get the best plan".

My parents have the same use case - basically email and web browsing. My father has a hobby computer but doesn't seem to know how to use it, so I doubt he's downloading any large files to it.

It's obvious they should be on 100/20, but if I were to suggest it then my father would resist the change because it "sounds complicated". I suspect the telcos are making a lot of money out of people like that.

richms

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#3431913 7-Nov-2025 11:26

These are also the people that will just stick with spark because it used to be the post office and are stubborn so just let them pay more than they need to and find other battles to take on.

Richard rich.ms

snj

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#3431918 7-Nov-2025 11:46

cddt:

snj:

I've got a uncle who barely uses 20GB/mo (iirc from the stats I saw when I logged into his account the other week) that was put on Spark's Unplan (now 500/whatever). Problem I was facing was trying to explain to him that he should be on the 100Mbps plan and save the $20-ish because he never will need that speed. His view is that "it works so why change it". Coincidentially that would also be Spark's view, they're clipping the ticket and it's not costing them much to support him.

Sounds like my parents. They don't even stream video or use social media. Just email and local news websites. Yet my father insisted "just get the best plan".

Yep, that's the exact issue. No amount of talking about it helped, he's fiercy independent/etc and would say stuff like "It works I'm not changing anything", has to be his idea to do something (i.e. "The letter says I need to switch to Fibre, I'll just ask the Spark shop in town to sort it for me"). Actually as I was typing this, spoke to someone else that described how he treated things as "It's my way or the highway".

The plan was that during the next normal trip up to visit him, we'd do it slightly slyly. But yeah, as I said that is now complicated by him falling sick and all the trips up in the last two weeks have been anything but normal (major medical diagnosis, move to hospice type care). Having to pick battles and help him on things far more serious than paying Spark more money than he should be.

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SpartanVXL

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#3431921 7-Nov-2025 12:15

If you’re taking care of him then you can try to get authority on his account, not just so you can adjust the speed but to also take care of billing etc. if he isn’t able to.

As mentioned before it wasn’t long ago before fibre where you did actually have to pay a decent amount to not get clobbered by data caps or slow connection. They won’t understand that things have changed in the last 6-8 years and will distrust disruption to status quo even if it beneficial.

deadlyllama

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#3432053 8-Nov-2025 08:34

I've just taken over my in-law's broadband bill. My father in law switched from paying by cheque to paying at a bank branch.

As a result they're now on Quic 100/20 and a Hero SIP account for phone. After some SIP issues we swapped the HG659 for an old Fritzbox and they're happy as Larry. Telecommunications costs have dropped by over 50%.

We live around the block from them (with a tree in the way to block WiFi, alas) and I was already doing tech support when they were with Spark. Now I don't have to deal with a call centre when things go wrong.

DECA

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#3433071 10-Nov-2025 23:31

snj:

I've got a uncle who barely uses 20GB/mo (iirc from the stats I saw when I logged into his account the other week) that was put on Spark's Unplan (now 500/whatever). Problem I was facing was trying to explain to him that he should be on the 100Mbps plan and save the $20-ish because he never will need that speed. His view is that "it works so why change it". Coincidentially that would also be Spark's view, they're clipping the ticket and it's not costing them much to support him.

When you've got those two attitudes happening, it just leaves people paying more than they need to, especially when they don't understand that they only need the basics and what they're on isn't the basics.

Of course, now he's just been moved to respite care away from home, so he's paying even more for a connection that isn't used at all (except by us when we're visiting the house).

I suspect part of the problem in my uncle's case is that I seem to recall that Spark didn't initially offer the lower speed (30 then 50 down) plans in Northpower areas (I seem to recall checking his address once upon a time and it not showing). Of course if my memory is correct, it's then compounded by the fact that as I've said, it's not exactly in the ISP's interest to identify customers that are barely using their connection and checking if people are on the right plan.

This scenario is absolutely normal and is exactly why I think we need to do some information sharing about a) what those 00/000 numbers mean and b) how easy it is to change your plan. Especially true about our elder folk who will actively advocate for lower rates, petrol or power because they understand the context but this is out of their comfort zone. Some similar things are happening with the 3G shutdown too.

Thanks for sharing your experience with your Uncle.

DECA

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#3433072 10-Nov-2025 23:36

deadlyllama:

I've just taken over my in-law's broadband bill. My father in law switched from paying by cheque to paying at a bank branch.

As a result they're now on Quic 100/20 and a Hero SIP account for phone. After some SIP issues we swapped the HG659 for an old Fritzbox and they're happy as Larry. Telecommunications costs have dropped by over 50%.

We live around the block from them (with a tree in the way to block WiFi, alas) and I was already doing tech support when they were with Spark. Now I don't have to deal with a call centre when things go wrong.

Saving 50% is WILD. How good. Was the same plan more expensive or have they lowered their speed?

DECA

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#3433073 10-Nov-2025 23:44

... Sounds like my parents. They don't even stream video or use social media. Just email and local news websites. Yet my father insisted "just get the best plan".

... My parents have the same use case - basically email and web browsing. My father has a hobby computer but doesn't seem to know how to use it, so I doubt he's downloading any large files to it.

... It's obvious they should be on 100/20, but if I were to suggest it then my father would resist the change because it "sounds complicated". I suspect the telcos are making a lot of money out of people like that.

They sure are! As that article I shared stated, over 50% of our elder folk are on plans they don't need. There's 850,000(ish) people aged 65 or older in NZ.

Where do you all think the messaging needs to come from? The newspaper? TV news? Stuff? Who do your elder whānau trust?

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deadlyllama

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#3433405 11-Nov-2025 15:41

DECA:
Saving 50% is WILD. How good. Was the same plan more expensive or have they lowered their speed?

Landline to mobile calls were the killer. 39c/minute. Magnanimously capped at $5/call by benevolent Spark. Many of their friends have gotten rid of their landlines. Hero's $10+GST plan covers their usage nicely.

Also put the mother in law (who has a mobile phone) on the cheapest Kogan plan, as that has unlimited calling included. Suggested they use it to make calls when possible.

KrazyKid

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#3451481 10-Jan-2026 11:44

Just some feedback after a month on the lite 100/20 package.

This seems to be fine for us. Streaming TV is fine and while steam downloads take a little longer they still are fast at 100 down and I can survive.

Teenages have not complained.

Your needs may be different than mine but I'm happy to save 30 a month and stick with the lit package.

jonb

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#3451484 10-Jan-2026 12:25

Seems like it is often more difficult to order 100/20 than the 300 plans. e.g. Mercury don't do any offers on that one and need to ask especially when I recommended it to a family member recently. Also rarely seem to be advertised

OldGeek

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#3451502 10-Jan-2026 13:34

I downgraded to 100/20 from 500/100. Did not notice the difference myself with tv streaming (Sky Sports Now on a 2018 Samsung TV) and general internet use. The live-in gamer grandson (desktop PC with 62GB RAM, i9 RTX4090) eventually mentioned impaired gaming performance so reverted to 500/100 after about 8 weeks.

With Quic, the downgrade was next-day (6am), the upgrade back was next-hour (10am). Neither required a reboot of anything but I did anyway (ONT and Router).

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