NZ Institute Broadband Challenge Answered

The New Zealand Institute’s recent report into broadband development claims that only the incumbent is willing to invest in New Zealand’s critical infrastructure.

Vodafone would beg to differ. The company has begun rolling out its own equipment in all of Telecom’s exchanges that it can access and will launch unbundled (LLU) services by mid year, says Vodafone’s GM of Technology for fixed line, David Diprose.

“We are currently installing ‘super IP DSLAMs’ from Huawei into the first 15 exchanges to be unbundled. We’ve already completed the first five of these,” says Diprose.

“These DSLAMs are ‘super’ because in the one cabinet they  translate the plain old telephone call into IP,  deliver ADSL2+ broadband  and deliver VDSL2 broadband.  This truly is a next generation network.“

VDSL2 technology allows far greater speeds on the existing copper than ADSL, which forms the majority of today’s broadband lines in New Zealand.

 “All of our DSLAMs come standard with VDSL2 ports so we will offer VDSL2 speeds to 20% of the market at launch”. 

Customers that connect to these ports will get speeds in the region of 50Mbit/s download and 20Mbit/s up  as long as they are within 1 km from the exchange,

The remaining 80% of broadband ports are ADSL2+, This will deliver a maximum of 24Mbit/s down and 1Mbit/s up within 3 km from the exchange. That means on average customers will see 10Mbit/s down depending on the length of the copper and the fibre backhaul.

Vodafone recently announced its cornerstone contract with Vector Communications for fibre backhaul to provision its LLU programme.

“By the end of the year Vodafone will have all 42 exchanges in Auckland unbundled and a further 20 exchanges in other centres as we’re allowed to, giving us the biggest unbundled network in the country.”

dan: As a current orcon customer, im really not impressed they have removed all the old customiseable broadband plans, and the pricing, unflexability of their new plans is leaves alot to be desired.

Overall i think its a step back for those not in the LLU areas.

andysh: Thanks for that Paul.

What about smaller ISPs? Will they buy wholesale from companies who have put in new equipment?

alasta: From their web site:
So, for anyone outside of Auckland this is not newsworthy. At least not yet.

We have asked for those exchanges where we have the most existing customers to be unbundled first, and will continue to do so. Currently the exchanges with the most Orcon customers are predominantly in Auckland, with some in Wellington and Christchurch, and then the odd exchange in the other centers. So in fact if you are keen for us to get to your area sooner the best thing you can do is convince 10 of your friends to make the switch now.

willnz:

Apparently there are also data blocks, this doesn't appear to be on the site yet, and I don't know if this is instead of the $1 per GB or if you can pick and choose... but the pricing is apparently:

$20 for additional 25GB
$40 for additional 50GB
$60 for additional 100GB.

Ok it seems to only be on the signup page - you can choose to add the above data blocks to your plan each month, or keep it at the basic plan (10GB or 25GB). You get charged $1 per GB over your allowance/

willnz: From Orcon's new website:
Plans:

Purple+ - 10GB data, no homeline, $79.95 per month
Gold+ - 10GB data, with homeline (unlimited national calling - calls up to 1 hour in length), $99.95 per month
Platinum+ - 25GB data, with homeline (same as above), including rent of "Orcon Homehub", $119.95 per month

Additional data is just $1 per GB - a nice change from the $10 per 5GB on their standard DSL plans.

duncanblair: Currently the exchanges with the most Orcon customers are predominantly in Auckland, with some in Wellington and Christchurch, and then the odd exchange in the other centers. So in fact if you are keen for us to get to your area sooner the best thing you can do is convince 10 of your friends to make the switch now.

We anticipate getting to Wellington before the end of the year, and Christchurch early next year, with other centers also in 2009.

willnz:

paradoxsm: I wonder if the provided line is POTS or VoIP?

I understand it's presented to the customer as just a standard POTS line, but is delivered over the copper directly from their FXS gear at the exchange, which in turn is connected to their softswitch over VoIP.

manhinli: Another thing, the plans don't state the speeds.

I'm guessing that the LLU ones are ADSL2+ Full/Full, but what about the general ones?

duncanblair:

manhinli: Another thing, the plans don't state the speeds.

I'm guessing that the LLU ones are ADSL2+ Full/Full, but what about the general ones?

Correct. LLU plans are all full/full (up to 24/1Mbps). Outside of LLU the plans are Full/128kbps by default, you can choose to upgrade to a full/full line speed for $10 per month.

Cheers,
Duncan Blair
Group Product Manager
Orcon