An unleashed analogy

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AndyT

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#10145 6-Nov-2006 23:07

If I buy a Porsche and drive it in the city rush hour, I accept that I have no right of recourse against Porsche if my average speed is 50kph.

But do I not have a right of recourse if the Porsche only does 50kph on the open road, notwithstanding any express or implied contract terms in the small print about headwinds, winding roads, optimised tyre pressures and the many other things which in practice effect vehicle performance? I would suggest that I would do as its a sports car and I can reasonably expect it to perform as such.

"Unleashed", "unlimited" etc etc are all terms which raise performance expectations in the public mind - which performance is not being delivered.

cokemaster

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#51377 6-Nov-2006 23:56

Except that open road is full of people in 4 lane wide hummers trying to do the same thing... thus reducing the ability to speed along that motorway.

And don't forget those speed cameras...

When talking about country roads... when coming back to the real world example - emtpy or lightly loaded networks... good luck finding one of those nearby.

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Bung

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#51401 7-Nov-2006 07:23

Motorway or country roads imply shared conduits, the current advertising for our Porsche suggests that the speed is only limited by your own driveway. I think the marketing people ran out of ways to hype Jetstream after 6 years so used a campaign prepared for ADSL2+ before some of the choke points have been widened.

tonyhughes

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#51403 7-Nov-2006 07:41

unlimited does not refer to speed, just an amount (or lack of a set amount)

unleashed does not refer to speed, just an ability to not be restrained (I unleashed my dog, and he walked off)

Just because my dog is unleashed, doesnt mean he will suddenly bolt away and run at top speed. The term unleash has never meant that that I am aware.

exportgoldman

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#51480 7-Nov-2006 18:29

Best to go to the source From Xtra's Unleashed FAQ http://xtra.co.nz/help/0,,4150-6532752,00.html

Broadband is supposed to be unleashed - nothing seems to have changed for me, what's going on?
If you're just emailing or web browsing, the higher speeds won't make much difference to you. But if you download a lot of big files or do interactive things like video sharing, you're likely to see a bigger difference.

So, Unleashed implys that my connection will now be faster than before when it was leashed to 3.5MBits.

It seems from my experiences, and the experiences of people on these forums, most people are getting slower downloads.

I would equate Unleased in this context, to a network with no artifical limits, able to perform to the maxiumum physical connection of my modem.

Remember back how we all debated this when dialup first came out, and there were the Telecom apologists which insisted during peek periods, it was OK not to get the download speed to international sites that your modem was connected to.

Well, wind forward 10 years, and look how used to all this we have become, that we are accepting of not getting our broadband modem connection speeds to a LOCAL speed testing site (JetStreamgames/speed)

The more things change the more they stay the same.

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#51483 7-Nov-2006 18:46

Yet again, points raised up earlier about definitions and how this wasn't false advertising just get missed...

Perhaps if its said enough times it might come true!

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jesseycy

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#51533 7-Nov-2006 22:51

If you guys really want to have a good argument for saying that Telecom was misleading consumers.....

Why not consider the 1st ad???

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1158/xtraadqg5.jpg

IMO, that's the most misleading representation it has made!

"From 26th Oct, 2006, we're opening up...get lightening fast broadband..... right up to 7.6Mbs which is pretty impressive and....... *loads of analogies about being super fast"...............

So all in all??? There is no denying, that starting from their first ad, Telecom is emphasising that "hey guys, be prepared to get really fast broadband".... And yes, while they have carefully included really small print to escape any legal liability.... to consumers, reasonably, hey, you would get all excited and think your connection is definitely going to be faster..... Maybe worst case scenario, same speed... But definitely not slower!

freitasm

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#51537 7-Nov-2006 23:07

There's a * after 7.6 Mbps, and at the bottom of the image you linked, which you conveniently forgot to mention:

Maximum theoretical download speed for land lines. Connection speeds will be as fast as your line allows and may not reach the maximum.

Happy now? Since the first ad they were upfront.

The ad is also available here.

I am locking this thread because there's no sense in continuing with this.