Broadband

[camera doctor 25]

Hi Guys,

I have finally finished the 12 month contract that I was duped into with Telstra Clear, and are now looking to get out from them, mainly because of the way they bill - they sell 10Gb 'blocks' so if you go over by 1kb on the last day of the billing month, they charge you for another 10Gb !!

I used to be with Xnet, but did get a LOT of dropouts, and my Mum and Bro-in-law who are still with them are currently complaining of the same issues.

So, what suggestions do you guys have - most months I use between 20 and 30 Gb.

TIA

Greg

[Wom 0]

What Telstra plan is that?

I have 10gig monthly allowance and if I go over then I get charged for each additional 1gig block.

[camera doctor 25]

What Telstra plan is that?

I have 10gig monthly allowance and if I go over then I get charged for each additional 1gig block.

Problem with that is that 10 1GB blocks is more expensive than 1 10Gb block.

I would rather they either put me back to dialup speed, or let me control it via a web interface like Xnet do !!

I talked to them about it, but they said no, in fact the guy on the phone said HE would rather a system like that, but the bosses say NO

[Braeden320 0]

Im with Vodafone, Would recomend.

[Jamez 2147483647]

no problems with xnet here

[pjay 8]

http://telecom.co.nz/totalhome

$119 with unlimited traffic managed data

$119 with 20 gig

$139 with 40 gig

Includes homeline and unlimited national calls, also calls to Telecom mobiles at a max of $2 for 2 hours.

[briancol 3]

I'm with Orcon and it seems a pretty good service as far as I'm concerned.

[Wom 0]

Problem with that is that 10 1GB blocks is more expensive than 1 10Gb block.

I would rather they either put me back to dialup speed, or let me control it via a web interface like Xnet do !!

I talked to them about it, but they said no, in fact the guy on the phone said HE would rather a system like that, but the bosses say NO

ah ok, yea I only sometimes go over my cap and usually not by much, so $2.95 per 1gig extra isn't too bad for me

I'm one of those people who prefer to have full speed and pay for additional usage rather than being throttled back on speed (mainly because of xbox gaming), but that's not for everyone ... it would be nice if companies recognised that everyone's needs are different and offer the choice of having your speed throttled back or to keep full speed and pay for it

[DRTDVL 0]

we have the orcon sliver phone service with a extra 20gb so it's 30gb net use, phone, call waiting, caller id, wire and maintainance for $110

[Silver Fox 43]

Also with Orcon, pretty happy, pay $180 for full phone, unlimited national calls, and 110 gig of internet. Have 5 comps and adults using.

[pjay 8]

Penry is bang nail on the head.

Also everyone will have had different service experiences from different companies so your best bet is to try and see how it goes.

Now I appreciate you may get locked into another 12 month contract, but we can only recommend an ISP based on our own experiences, which will differ depending on the factors of where you are and the service you've experienced.

[sp8s 1]

Been with Xnet for a while but lately have started to have a few problems with drop outs and speed so am looking myself.

[pjay 8]

Have you fellas contacted XNet and tried to have the problems resolved before just simply switching ISP's?

For all you know it could be an internal wiring/ your own equipment issue, so changing ISP's may not resolve anything.

[greenday-rulz21 6]

I've been with Slingshot for over a year. A+ pretty much. Not one outage. Think we're on the $40 or $50 internet plan gives us a 6gb base. Then I buy blocks on top. $5 for 3gb, $10 for 10gb, $25 for 30gb, or $40 for 50gb.

The best thing about slingshot adn I don't think any other provide does this is if you don't use all of your extra (bought) data then it transfers to the next month so you don't loose what you don't use.

Don't use that much data really so its good for what I want.

[antil33t 90]

Slingshot.

If you buy a 50gb block, it saves the left over for next month, pretty damn good.

[elmarco 56]

We are with Vodafone and it seems to be pretty good.

Having said this, you also need to think about TiVO etc. If Tivo appeals (or is likely to in the future) you should go with Telecom. I also see Vodafone are now in bed with Sky so that may be something else to keep in mind.

[Driftit 2078]

Strange. I just ditched Telecom due to the bullshit way they bill you. Was on the 40gb Pro plan as I was forced off the Go-Large Unlimited plan. Once you go over your 40gb you get charged at .2c per MB. Thats $20 per GB. Which is a total rip off. I tried going back onto their Big Time plan. Which is so heavily "managed" that i dubed it the '1999 Internet Speed Emulator Plan'. It is a shockingly slow connection that eliminates its own purpose of being unlimited bandwidth.

After around 30 years of Telecom over two numbers we moved to Telstra Clear. Which is working out great.

[joshnz 2]

Vodafone is super quick, coming from Slingshot, at the same house house we used to get a max 250k/sec down. With Vodafone we get 450k/sec+, anytime of the day.

Of course this will vary, just my experience.

Edited November 19, 2009 by joshnz

[Driftit 2078]

Sorry Penry. My experience with Big Time is an extremely bad one. The night it was swapped over my latency shot up through the roof. I was not able to play any games within NZ or Aussie with less than 250 ping. The 7 hours of which they give you to download in their off peak hours my speed never even got to half the speed it use to on Go Large. Around 350kb/s which is a joke.

Youtube would not stream anymore

Online Games were unplayable

Their Torrents shaping also includes HTTP downloads of their choice.

Expect no faster than 200kb/s during the day on ADSL1

I would have rather paid a little more for the plan if it gave us a little more freedom. If you go to a forum like GPforums there is a 30 odd page thread of people complaining about Big Time.

If you want to experience late 90's internet then sign up for this plan.

[pjay 8]

Big Time doesn't work for everyone, unfortunately you're one of the people it doesn't work for. If you never raised these things to the broadband helpdesk at least, you have no place to gripe.

[Driftit 2078]

I did. I spent ages with them trying to sort it out. So have a ton of other guys. The plan would have suited my family really well if it did not have all the problems listed. They never did explain to me why the latency was so bad.

[Yasthil 0]

I did. I spent ages with them trying to sort it out. So have a ton of other guys. The plan would have suited my family really well if it did not have all the problems listed. They never did explain to me why the latency was so bad.

Hey Dan ,

I'd be happy to look into this for you.

Send me an email with details. I'm at the Telecom Botany store Thursday late night if you want to come in.

Could be various issues, but I can talk to staff with expertise.

include that you are the bimmersport member, I have the memory of a fish.

[e] email removed, if you want to contact Yasthil send a PM.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Penry

[Driftit 2078]

Hey Dan ,

I'd be happy to look into this for you.

Send me an email with details. I'm at the Telecom Botany store Thursday late night if you want to come in.

Could be various issues, but I can talk to staff with expertise.

[email protected]

include that you are the bimmersport member, I have the memory of a fish.

Sorry mate I ditched Telecom. Am with Telstra now.

[jimbo01 0]

or

Surely thats no contest ! If you dont want the managed data (and Ive had no trouble with it at all) go for Adventure or Pro instead.

Ive just moved from TCL's triple pack to Telecom Totalhome with Bigtime plus MySkyHDi. With all the freebies for moving Im paying less than I did to TCL. A small drop in data speed, but I get adsl2+ in Jan and the cabinet will be across the road from me when its installed

To answer your question though, its all going to come down to where you are. Its all very well people saying they have good or bad service, but when it could come down to something as simple as the wiring in your house even your neighbours may not have the same experience you get, assumning your not on cable that is. So I really dont think asking on here is going to solve your problem.

On the money.

I work for Telecom. I was on Go Large but they have ended that and now I'm on the 10GB explorer plan. I am going to upgrade to the 20GB adventurer plan for next month.

A lot of Broadband is provided using DSL provided by Telecom Wholesale to other service providers.

A number of Service Providers / ISP's use Telecom Wholesale provided DSL in some cases, and in other cases they may have their own DSL equipment and buy copper from Chorus.

Shortly Telecom retail will have to use the same Telecom Wholesale service as a base for it's DSL. Wholesale has to buy the copper form Chorus on the exact same terms as any other service provider who wants access. Wholesale gets no advantage from Chorus, and Teleocm Retail get no advantage from Wholesale. If they beach this there are serriously hugh fines, oh and they have had to change their computer systems to ensure this, and the Chorus people can't even be in the same building. Lots of changes to make sure everyone gets better broadband. Effectively all the service provides can access the Telecoms stuff they need, but can't afford to install themselves (and we don't need two copper networks in the ground). Ironically for Fibre Optic cable NZ seems hell bent of duplicating the exisitng 30,000km of fibre - we must be really rich or something.

Anyway as a result sometimes your broadband may be provided over get DSL2+ or just DSL, irrspective of who you have bought your broadband from. Some may not offer service everywhere as they don't want to use Telecom Wholsale as a base for their service, and don't have their own capability in that area yet, or theyb only want to offer DSL2+ services. Other such as Telstra Clear have their own access network using the old Saturn cable TV network infrastructure. This provides blistering speed as it doesn't use the copper.

Anyway as Penry says; if you have a green Chorus cabinet somewhere close, chances are you will be able to buy a DSL2 service off Telecom or another service provider that use the cabinet electronics. With DSL the length of the copper is a key factor in speed. With DSL2+ the high speeds are only reached on shorter copper lengths. Those close to exchanges usually enjoy higher speeds, without the need for a green cabinet. What is cool for the future of braodband based on DSL technologies is that Chorus has installed fibre optic cable to those cabinets, and there will be over 3000 by the time they finish.

Of course where the service providers / ISP's really vary is once the IP reaches the backhaul, and how much traffic they have, and how much capacity they have, and if they cache any off shore content to reduce load on the international links - oh and how much they charge, how many GB you get and what happend if you exceed your limit.

Edited November 24, 2009 by jimbo

[pjay 8]

Yasthil bro, I wouldn't list your work email on a public site.

If anyone wants to check when they will have a cabinet installed with ADSL2+ in there area check:

http://telecom.co.nz/adsltwoplus and http://chorus.co.nz