It's 15 months since Chorus ran fibre past my house, so I thought it time for an update.  Lee Harper at PC Media is the guy the local news media go to for UFB updates, so I dropped Lee an email this morning.  Lee told me that Chorus are having issues, but that Inspire and Pacific are working well in central Blenheim.  PC Media were the test customer for Inspire, and has been working well for the last three months.   Their pricing looks good as well.

I am 8k out of town in the main wine district off Rapaura Road (SH63).  I emailed Inspire after hearing from Lee, and they got straight back to me.  The fibre that was laid up Hammerichs road was just for the school 500 metres north of me, and that the RBI (Rural Broadband Initiative) for my area will need cabinet upgrades that will take place between July 2014 and June 2015.  So still a while to wait if you live in a Blenheim RD.

Our broadband speed averages out at 2.5Mb/s, and 500kb/s and tops out at 4Mb/s for downloads (same upload speed).