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Thread ID: 66978	2006-03-13 08:46:00	NZ broadband: Paying more for less, says report	legod (4626)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
437792	2006-03-13 08:46:00	Another good article from the National Business Review (NBR) to follow up on the one I posted the other day (pressf1.pcworld.co.nz) Article here: www.nbr.co.nz This links to a pdf file containing a "Comparison of United Kingdom and New Zealand Domestic Broadband Markets" img.scoop.co.nz .pdf NZ broadband: Paying more for less, says report 'Draconian' data caps, upload speeds, contention ratios faulted New research from ICT consultancy firm Wairua Consulting says in a direct comparison with UK consumer broadband, New Zealand comes out the loser by a wide margin on a number of fronts. In its report, the company notes the difficulty of comparing such complex items as broadband offers across very different economies and uses the well-known Big Mac Index to level-peg prices. The report compares 268 UK xDSL packages (provided by 73 companies) to 21 packages from six national ISPs during the last week of February 2006 and deals only with what was actually on offer, ex VAT and GST. After looking at such variables as speed, price, contention ratio and data caps, the report finds that New Zealand clearly lags behind the UK, both in terms of uptake and in terms of what is available. "On the surface New Zealand appears price competitive but it is clear from the data that customers lack choice and receive relatively poor levels of network service. "The existence of a network monopoly limits variety in the market so price becomes a significant discriminating factor. "New Zealand’s slow upload speeds and high contention ratios are a concern. They suggest a higher likelihood of poor network performance and New Zealand customers lack true high speed options. "The data suggests that New Zealand could gain benefits from greater competition at an infrastructure level and that greater transparency of network standards and service levels is required," the report says, noting that alternatives to the current data capping practices should be explored. The report notes that New Zealand has good broadband coverage but poor uptake compared to both the OECD and the UK. It notes the UK has 8.9 million broadband customers -- or 50.7 per cent of all internet users -- while New Zealand's uptake is still well below the OECD average of 22 per cent, and suggests that some of that may be down to the impact of local loop unbundling in the UK, where several major service providers implement their own technology solutions end-to-end over common copper. But, it notes, LLU is not a panacea. LLU "does not appear to have necessarily increased the role [sic] out of xDSL enabled exchanges and it is still too early to tell if current operational reform to BT will achieve this any faster." NB: BT today announced it would ramp up speeds for its wholesale DSL product to 8Mbps. Slower broadband in NZ Taking a base definition of broadband from the ITU (which says it must be faster than ISDN, at 1.5 or 2.0 Megabits per second to qualify, the report says plans in the two countries are comparable. "Forty eight per cent of the New Zealand broadband packages surveyed meet this requirement, as do 47 per cent of the UK packages," the report says. But "68 per cent of UK packages were 1Mb or higher whereas this was the case for 62 per cent in New Zealand. "At the bottom end, only one UK package was available offering 256Kbps, whereas 38 per cent of New Zealand packages offered this speed. The highest download speed available in New Zealand was 2Mb, whereas more than 8 per cent of UK packages were over this speed, with speeds of 8Mb becoming quite common (7.8 per cent)," the report says. On upload speeds, long a point of contention here, the report found the only upload speeds available in New Zealand were 128Kbps, whereas 98 per cent of UK offerings were at least double this. Price and contention ratios Using the Big Mag tool the report found, somewhat surprisingly, that the two countries had near parity, at least superficially. But, it said, when contention ratios -- the number of users assigned to a single provision point -- were taken into account, the UK had substantially greater value for money since the user experience in the UK was likely to be far better than in New Zealand. Data caps The majority of UK packages have no data cap at all (63 per cent), compared with 100 per cent of New Zealand packages, the report said. Even "uncapped" packages here use a 'throttling back' mechanism that transforms a broadband speed connection into the equivalent of dialup when a certain data cap is reached. In the capped UK plans, speed is not reduced, the report said, but per MB data transfer charges apply -- something also common to many New Zealand plans. "One third of the New Zealand caps are set at 1 Gb, which would seem is ample for most users, however, 29 per cent of packages have a 1Gb limit, which seems untenable for all but very basic internet use," the report said. Many "entry level" packages in New Zealand have data caps considerably below 1Gb, however, and most of those impose per-MB data transfer charges once the cap is reached. Conclusions "The New Zealand broadband market appears on the surface to be competitive in terms of price. "However, it is under performing in terms of connection speeds, is restricted in terms of upload speed and places unreasonable constraints on use through draconian capping policies. "The single network means that one company is able to control performance and this is particularly clear in terms of contention ratio. "Overall, the data available leads to the conclusion that the New Zealand market is reasonably well served in terms of price but poorly served in terms of performance," the report concludes. 6-Mar-2006 And a snippet from the pdf: This brief paper uses broadband pricing and performance data from the UK and New Zealand to compare broadband options between the two countries. The paper is not intended to be an indepth review of broadband practices simply an attempt to contribute to the current debate on broadband pricing, performance and regulation. It will briefly compare and discuss speed, price, contention ratios and data caps.	legod (4626)
437793	2006-03-13 09:17:00	That's good, I didn't think we had enough threads on this already. I guess you got the permission of the copyright owner to completely reproduce their article?	ninja (1671)
437794	2006-03-13 09:27:00	That's good, I didn't think we had enough threads on this already. I guess you got the permission of the copyright owner to completely reproduce their article? If you don't like it, don't read it. You don't own these forums and there are plenty of people who appreciate reading this sort of stuff.	legod (4626)
437795	2006-03-13 09:48:00	Really? Can we have a show of hands?	Metla (12)
437796	2006-03-13 09:55:00	*Raises Hand* Wait . . . this is agreeing with ninja, right? :p	roddy_boy (4115)
437797	2006-03-13 10:01:00	Wait... this is agreeing with ninja, right? :p I'll say you are supporting the thread starter, and the next poster will say you are supporting Ninja. I just hope Metla doesn't decide to clarify his post & ruin this great ambiguity :p	Greven (91)
437798	2006-03-13 10:19:00	I agree with beetle	Rob99 (151)
437799	2006-03-13 10:36:00	That's good, I didn't think we had enough threads on this already. I guess you got the permission of the copyright owner to completely reproduce their article? Honestly ninja, if you or someone else objects to the original post then please report it to the moderators and I'm sure they will edit it accordingly. As for "having enough threads on this topic" - well it is a topic in the news a hell of alot at the moment and evolving daily. I just found the article and thought it was interesting. Given the recent discussions on various threads in these forums I naturally assume others would appreciate reading it. I'm only bringing attention to the article, not expressing an opinion on it necessarily. Maybe the newspapers should stop reporting it and we should just put up with the status quo?	legod (4626)
437800	2006-03-13 17:49:00	Good on you Legod ! Ninja probably works for Telecom or is 80 year sold and uses the net to check his email once a week. These reports can cost up to $ 600 US (Paul Budde's do) so the avarage person will never see them ! We do need to keep this topic to the fore as it is clear we are being held back by Telecom. But somehow we have to keep the pressure on Helen Clark and David Cunnliffe. I notice that the Herald has been running approx an article a week on NZ's poor broadband uptake and service. Yet computer magazines here in NZ do not seem to mention it ! ? Regards Digby Tauranga	Digby (677)
437801	2006-03-13 19:48:00	Geoff Palmer tells it as it is in the PC World. Like the rest of us,I am sure he feels he beating his head against a brick wall.	Cicero (40)
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