CityBeat - Te Waha Nui Online

All aboard for the broadband revolution

all-aboard-for-the-broadband-revolution

by Amy Williams

Kiwis tired of sluggish broadband speeds are speaking out against their Internet Service Providers.

And despite an outry by disgruntled internet users that their ‘broadband’ connections simply aren’t up to speed, the Government is still predicting a “telecommunications revolution” to come.

Last week the Herald online surveyed readers about broadband speeds, asking them to run a speed test on their internet connections. The results speak for themselves: a high proportion of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) simply aren’t delivering on their “high speed” promises.

Many users’ tests produced download speeds of less than 1Mbps - which is far below what you’d expect from a broadband connection.

The Herald’s site was flooded with comments from angry users tired of suffering slower-than-advertised download speeds, and calling New Zealand’s broadband speeds “third-world” in nature.

Communications Minister David Cunliffe told the Herald that Labour is making changes that should put New Zealand’s internet speeds within the top 15 countries in the OECD by 2010.

It’ll be interesting to hear the official take from the ISPs on these tests. Will they retreat behind wishy-washy corporate speak and blustering, or front up with some concrete promises to consumers?

At least we can be secure in the knowledge that even if we’re lagging behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to broadband speeds, we’ll be among the first to play the new Halo 3 game when it’s released here on September 25.

That’s of little consolation to the thousands of ‘broadband’ users out there with internet connections slower than a snail in tar, but, frankly, we’ll take whatever we can at this rate!

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