I'm with Vodafone for my ISP (got moved to them when they bought Clear years ago) and I received a letter from them a week or so ago telling me that they were "switching you to one of our current broadband plans - but don't worry the monthly plan price your paying stays the same. Within the next 5-6 weeks we'll be moving you to an Unlimited - Fibre 100 broadband plan". My last invoice from them says that I'm on their "Unlimited Fibre 30" plan.

So does this move by Chorus mean that I'll actually end up getting 300/100?

openmedia:

 

I know some people who want a cheaper offering not a faster offering. Do you think there is a chance for a  lower price fibre offering appearing in the future?

 

I can think of some people who have no interest in speed and would appreciate a cheaper plan.  Think of all the retirees who only have an iPad to check email, banking and in the last couple of years have been forced into some form of video calling by their grandkids.  A 30/10 plan like I started with way back when would be perfect.

Otherwise if the upgrade to 300/100 is at no extra charge to the consumer then fantastic!

Groucho:

 

openmedia:

 

I know some people who want a cheaper offering not a faster offering. Do you think there is a chance for a  lower price fibre offering appearing in the future?

 

 

I can think of some people who have no interest in speed and would appreciate a cheaper plan.  Think of all the retirees who only have an iPad to check email, banking and in the last couple of years have been forced into some form of video calling by their grandkids.  A 30/10 plan like I started with way back when would be perfect.

 

Otherwise if the upgrade to 300/100 is at no extra charge to the consumer then fantastic!

 

I suspect the cost of the plans don't depend much on the connection speed, or the amount of data used. Providing a fibre cable to the premises and the cost of managing the infrastructure would be the lions share of the cost. Simply strangling the connection speed probably makes little real difference to the cost of providing the service.

One of the reasons Spark/Vodafone have been pushing 4G data/internet is because they don't have to use the Chorus network and can probably make a bit more money offering this sort of solution.

The cheaper plan you mention above is probably this: https://www.skinny.co.nz/jump/home/

wratterus:

 

Wow this is great news! Will definitely change to this plan from Gigabit once my contract expires. Good on Chorus. 

 

Edit - could someone explain what this means in more basic terms? I get 2.5Mbps is CIR, but what is the difference between Low Class & High Class, and isn't low class CIR already 2.5Mbps?

 

 

I'm no expert on this topic, but from my understanding the low traffic class is the 'advertised speed' - which can be slowed down / delayed when traffic shaping occurs - causing the potential for some packet loss.

High class traffic has priority when traffic shaping occurs, allowing time sensitive traffic - such as VoIP - to be delivered without delay, and therefore no packet loss.

As I understand it, the CIR (high class) bandwidth is all that you are guaranteed to get.  Whenever the traffic is more than the actual available bandwidth (from you and anyone else using the same path), packets will be dropped until the traffic meets the actual available bandwidth.  This happens in the transmit queue - when a packet arrives at the ONT's transmit queue, it will either be queued, or dropped.  The decision to drop a packet can potentially be quite a complex decision, but I doubt that is what your ONT will be doing as there is usually not much to be gained from using complex algorithms unless the available bandwidth is small (eg ADSL).

What most likely happens is that the DSCP bits on the packet are examined to see if they match one of the classes that gets to use the CIR bandwidth.  VOIP packets are normally marked with DSCP that will get them to use the CIR bandwidth, but if you have a good router (such as my EdgeRouter 4), you can tell the router what packets to map to use CIR bandwidth.  I have all packets with high DSCP priority mapped to use CIR.  If a packet that uses CIR arrives at the transmit buffer and there is no room for it, but there are non-CIR packets in the transmit buffer, one of the non-CIR packets will be dropped, most likely the non-CIR packet most recently queued.  If a packet that uses CIR arrives at the transmit buffer and there is no room for it and all the packets in the transmit buffer are CIR ones, it will be dropped.  If a packet that does not use CIR arrives at the transmit buffer and there is no room for it, it will be dropped.  This description is, of course, a bit simplified, but it covers the basics.

The TCP/IP protocol is sensitive to dropped packets and will adjust its transmit rate to stop packets being dropped.

fe31nz:

 

As I understand it, the CIR (high class) bandwidth is all that you are guaranteed to get.  Whenever the traffic is more than the actual available bandwidth (from you and anyone else using the same path), packets will be dropped until the traffic meets the actual available bandwidth.  This happens in the transmit queue - when a packet arrives at the ONT's transmit queue, it will either be queued, or dropped.  The decision to drop a packet can potentially be quite a complex decision, but I doubt that is what your ONT will be doing as there is usually not much to be gained from using complex algorithms unless the available bandwidth is small (eg ADSL).

 

What most likely happens is that the DSCP bits on the packet are examined to see if they match one of the classes that gets to use the CIR bandwidth.  VOIP packets are normally marked with DSCP that will get them to use the CIR bandwidth, but if you have a good router (such as my EdgeRouter 4), you can tell the router what packets to map to use CIR bandwidth.  I have all packets with high DSCP priority mapped to use CIR.  If a packet that uses CIR arrives at the transmit buffer and there is no room for it, but there are non-CIR packets in the transmit buffer, one of the non-CIR packets will be dropped, most likely the non-CIR packet most recently queued.  If a packet that uses CIR arrives at the transmit buffer and there is no room for it and all the packets in the transmit buffer are CIR ones, it will be dropped.  If a packet that does not use CIR arrives at the transmit buffer and there is no room for it, it will be dropped.  This description is, of course, a bit simplified, but it covers the basics.

 

The TCP/IP protocol is sensitive to dropped packets and will adjust its transmit rate to stop packets being dropped.

 

Just for clarification UFB in NZ (Chorus + LFCs) uses 802.1p tagging for the high priority CIR, not DSCP. 802.1p is layer 2 tagging, DSCP is layer 3.

This is programed in my location.  If it goes ahead and I benefit from it. Is there a need for hardware upgrades in my house. Wi Fi is a choke point now and I will need to fix that myself but I assume that the existing O N T is capable and constrained by 2 degrees to my paid for speed.

Where might outside plant be changed to boost the speeds or is it all software with Chorus just promising to meet the increased loading?

Hi, so it will be within Chorus ISAM, not sure if there is a policier component in the ONT also, but there is nothing for you to do at your end. Your RSP may also need to adjust their policier (ie increase it from 100 to 300 etc).

The ONT is fully capable, its no different as if you were to move to a full 950/450 plan, its all done in Chorus's and your RSPs gear.

As to how various RSPs handle the change from an account perspective, time will tell

Cyril

cyril7: And to add, chorus and other fibre providers are only in the L2 game, any priority is limited to that and as such only have tag priority to work with.

Cyril

Agreed. They don’t use the Drop Eligible Indicator (DEI) from outside their networks which is used to indicate CIR versus EIR traffic in a layer 2 network. This is because they operate congestion free networks so the PCP and DEI marking are effectively redundant and wouldn’t make any difference if you did set them.

One of the concerns for large RSP's must surely be a loss of revenue if people drop back from Gigabit plans - we know that average throughput of a Gigabit user is not really any different to somebody on a slower plan and many people are simply paying extra for Gigabit without actually having any real world use or seeing any real world benefits.With the increased upload speeds of this plan some smart people may se it as an opportunity to save money.

If people drop their plan RSP's won't see any change in bandwidth requirements, but they will be seeing reduced revenue from customers.

If they make it the same price as my current 100/20 plan, I'll be very happy. Even a slight increase would be okay - as long as it's not too much.

wired:

cyril7: And to add, chorus and other fibre providers are only in the L2 game, any priority is limited to that and as such only have tag priority to work with.

Cyril

Agreed. They don’t use the Drop Eligible Indicator (DEI) from outside their networks which is used to indicate CIR versus EIR traffic in a layer 2 network. This is because they operate congestion free networks so the PCP and DEI marking are effectively redundant and wouldn’t make any difference if you did set them.

I have already dropped back from 1Gb to 100mb and noticed no difference. I guess al lot of people are over subscribed. It seems to depend on household size.