Slow internet compared to UK/US and Canada

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portege

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#28015 14-Nov-2008 12:13

Just spent the last 2 years in the UK, US and Canada and today is my first day back in NZ

Came back home and ran a speedtest to find a whopping 256kbps - the internet market really hasnt improved over the last 24 months! Maybe it's the dirt cheap plan that my dad subscribes to but you can not even get a 256kbps plan in the UK/US and Canada

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#177958 14-Nov-2008 12:28

You can't judge boadband in the country by the experience with one account. As you say your dad got a 256 Kbps plan - his option. Most providers will happily arrange for a full speed up/down plan - TCL offers 25 Mbps plans on cable, and some DSL providers you will be able to get up to 24 Mbps.

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FredDag

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#177963 14-Nov-2008 12:42

Welcome back to NZ, I suggest you remind yourself of how lucky you are (see sig)

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NonprayingMantis

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#177977 14-Nov-2008 13:29

So you have taken one speed test from one person’s connection ( a person who chooses to pay less for a reduced speed) and assumed that this speed must therefore apply tot the entire country of some 700,000 broadband connections.

Wow. Just Wow.

I’m not sure which logical fallacy this is (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasty_generalization maybe) but it is one, and you have fallen for it in the worst way.

johnr

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#177978 14-Nov-2008 13:33

portege: Just spent the last 2 years in the UK, US and Canada and today is my first day back in NZ

Came back home and ran a speedtest to find a whopping 256kbps - the internet market really hasnt improved over the last 24 months! Maybe it's the dirt cheap plan that my dad subscribes to but you can not even get a 256kbps plan in the UK/US and Canada

I get average over 2 mbps D/L and 350k uplink using my phone as modem in a rural area

FredDag

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#177979 14-Nov-2008 13:34

Maybe... they are from Canterbury?

Fred

portege

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#177982 14-Nov-2008 13:38

I guess what I'm trying to say is that 256kbps as a minimum here; whereas overseas 1mbps+ is considered the minimum. The last time I checked - 256kbps is the bare minimum that OECD classifies as broadband

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cyril7

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#177989 14-Nov-2008 14:03

To be quite honest except for some sat and wireless based services I did not think you could still get 256k options. I suggest you look around, my guess is 90-95% of connection are DSL where you can choose either FS/128 or FS/FS and I suspect 70% of those FS download connections would achieve better than 4Mb/s. You appear to have taken a very negative viiew.

Cyril

manhinli

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#177994 14-Nov-2008 14:29

Why not just check out ADSL broadband services available here? (Table is going to update tonight 9pm)

If you sort the table, you'll see that most of the plans here are at least Max download.

It's not a total surprise that 256kbps is still available - but I think it's time for Telecom Wholesale to bring 512kbps or even 2mbps back.

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#178010 14-Nov-2008 16:45

portege: Maybe it's the dirt cheap plan that my dad subscribes to

You might be onto something there.

It all depends on your location and what provider you choose to use, as well as plan.

Heres a sample of what my connection manages:

cyril7

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#178013 14-Nov-2008 16:52

Or on a sad bit of 3.5km Telecom copper connected to an old ADSL1 DSLAM

Its friday, I need a beer! Naah it will have to be a cabinet, been fixing fibre connectors onto fibres all week to get others out of the cr@p.

Cyril

eXDee

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#178015 14-Nov-2008 16:54

To be honest cyril for all your expertise i think you deserve a cabinet, or perhaps a bit of fibre?

Might want to fix up that embed code.

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#178017 14-Nov-2008 16:55

however one does have to wonder why those plans even exist! a rip off! i guess if you only do emails and nothing else and you can't bear paying another 10 bucks to mr tel e'com then that's what you'd do!

kobiak

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#178026 14-Nov-2008 17:24

speeds are OK in NZ and could be compared to above coutries, but DATA CAP is something from 20th centure :)

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NzKaizer

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#178133 15-Nov-2008 13:14

kobiak: speeds are OK in NZ and could be compared to above coutries, but DATA CAP is something from 20th centure :)

I've tried looking for data caps in the U.S for broadband, I can't find any. I even went as far as to get a a phone numer, post code and address in the middle of New York, used that to get broadband plans from verizon's website and no where in the process of picking a plan or looking at what it offers does it mention the word data cap, or mention the word GB or any figure there of, I managed to get very far into the singup process, I can only assume this is becuse there is no data cap.

Ragnor

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#178147 15-Nov-2008 16:56

Most of the content on the internet is hosted in the US meaning for US users/isp's - no international transit of data is involved hence the lack of data caps.

In the age of Bit Torrent and p2p it is not economically viable for ISP's in NZ or AU to provide unlimited data at full adsl line speed due to international transit costs.

PIPE Networks (AU) and Kordia (Orcon) have been planning to build a competeing submarine fiber optic cable from NZ > AU > US to compete with the Southern Cross cable which proviodes pretty much all our our current international capacity. Competition will be good for prices but I believe the project is struggling to get financed given the econmonic crisis.

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