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Thread ID: 66870	2006-03-09 10:35:00	"Sunday" TV to look at broadband this week	Laura (43)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
437367	2006-03-12 08:33:00	Interestingly not one commentator came up with a use for fast broadband which was business orientated. VOIP, streaming video, and games were the repeated uses. Again that is fine but lets call it what it is - entertainment consumption. Not production. Yeah, if I remember correctly they stated that if 50% of NZ got onto broadband it would benefit our economy by about 5 billion dollars. A lot of the uses of high speed connection are for entertainment, and I guess that included in that figure will be more people shopping online and spending money on downloading music, and video that wouldn't otherwise do so, however, there are other uses as well for high speed data transfer. For example, the movie studios that need to communicate their work with fellow studios abroad will be able to increase their productivity. Hypertension, caused by infuriatingly slow connection speeds also reduces ones productivity... No doubt there are many more economic benefits. I just got back from a year in Japan and even 14 months ago when I looked around at internet options, dial up was not even a consideration due to the low price of broadband. "sigh"... Yahoo BB how I miss you:( When I left 1000Mbps had just come onto the scene there :waughh: Now if only we had 120 million people living here to provide a large enough market for such technology... :illogical :p .	Johnnz (7246)
437368	2006-03-12 08:35:00	Boo! Lets be realistic: If any internet user - be it business or personal - in this country was offered a 24Mb service for cheaper than they are paying for their sad "2Mb" UBS service they would take it. End of story - unless they were to cheap to fork out for a ADSL2+ modem/router :)	HadO (796)
437369	2006-03-12 09:43:00	You hit the nail on the head Winston, in fact virtually all the gripes and groans on this forum are from those who want to play games better/faster, or downlod more illegal music faster, or download entertainment videos. It leaves me unimpressed. Edit: I am quite happy with the speed available to download streaming 78rpm records at 24kbps mono audio :) The reason why the gripes are of that nature is because the type of people visiting these forums are exactly the type of people that play games and download entertainment videos. No surprise really. If you're unimpressed as to why NZ really needs better broadband based on arguments presented here, have a read of the NBR article ("Telecom's handbrake is stalling the nation") I linked to a couple of days ago in another thread: pressf1.pcworld.co.nz	legod (4626)
437370	2006-03-12 10:00:00	Interestingly not one commentator came up with a use for fast broadband which was business orientated . VOIP, streaming video, and games were the repeated uses . Again that is fine but lets call it what it is - entertainment consumption . Not production . Well I for one strongly disagree with you Winston . I am a teleworker, I'm employed by a company in Wellington and I work from home in Auckland . I'm one of a nationwide team who work this way . There are many times when our work is severely constrained by 1 . ) slow upload speeds, 2 . ) data caps (f***ing data caps) and 3 . ) the astronomical cost of 2 meg ADSL that costs my employer thousands of dollars a month, especially when we blow our data caps . Sure Telecom is lowering the business broadband charges, massively in fact, but IMHO that just shows how much they've been ripping us off 'till now . Now Telecom expects us to go orgasmic over an increase in speed that's only a fraction of what they're capable of delivering . I agree with those who say it's too little, too late . There are a lot of business uses for faster, cheaper broadband (sorry if that sounds like a Telecom commercial), just because a typically shallow TVNZ report didn't highlight them doesn't mean they don't exist . The sooner unbundling occurs and real competition is introduced the better .	Mackin_NZ (6958)
437371	2006-03-12 10:12:00	The law makers and power players don't care about entertainment, the only motivation they have is the thought of making money . Therefore the only way change is going to happen to broadband in NZ is to dangle the carrot of 500 million profit, (or whatever) regardless of the actual reality of the situation . I sure as heck can't see how such money can be generated from broadband, but I don't care, if thats what motivates them for change then give them the numbers . Such mirages have been used in the past to get action why not again? I am suprised that they didn't talk to saturn and their cable as to costs and benefits of bypassing the telephone lines all together . I found Gatting to be a smooth talking slick media presenter without any inch of sincerity or concern outside of making profits for her own company any way she can . Telescum still rules . . .	netchicken (4843)
437372	2006-03-12 10:14:00	Show was just the same rehashed drivel over and over again, except without the charm of John Campbell. Wouldn't this be more effective if you sent it to parliament, rather than here?You started the thread, did you not expct people would comment about the situation in it? Good to see the iHug boss make an appearance - sounds like he would roll out ADSL2+ tomorrow given the chance! 24Mb for $30 a month sounds good to me!!I work in the industry, I despise Telecom as much as anyone does, but Theresa Gattung made a pretty solid point regarding other providers rolling out gear around the country. Hell even with dialup, most ISP's only have their own gear in a few main centres and rely on Telecom/Telstra to cover the rest - the cost of investment is a lot bigger for ADSL/ADSL2, and the return/margins are a lot less than on dialup. None of the ISP's in New Zealand, I don't even think TelstraClear would or could blanket the country with ADSL if there was to be LLU. They'd service the high denstiy populated middle-upper class exchanges, and then slowly move out as the equipment eventually returned on investment. But I highly doubt they'd be putting DSLAMs in Ruatoria or $other_small_town for a long time yet - look at Telstra Cable in Wellington - they haven't even managed to cover the whole city and they are nowhere near recouping the cost, not even the wireless providers can do it and the infrastructure cost there is exponentially lower. There's a lot of bravado about this issue from vocal ISPs, but I highly doubt any ISP having the cash or inclination to stitch up a network that has even 80% coverage of NZ. A lot of the marketers touting LLU LLU!! and even more so the consumer level people (think posters from here) who just voice that LLU is the only way to go and it'll invoke huge competition don't understand all the issues - it's not going to be a bread price war again. It also pays to think about the capacity of the Southern Cross Cable - if that entire fibre loom was lit, it's only 480Gbps - that's 245,000 2Mb connections, or if iHug had their way with ASDL2+ 20,400 24Mb ADSL 2+ connections (of course all running full speed) before the SCC is maxed out. Worth considering the value of domestic content as more and more NZ websites are hosted in the US, and fewer ISP's engage in domestic peering. The more we keep here, the less we have to go internationally for.	ninja (1671)
437373	2006-03-12 10:16:00	Interestingly not one commentator came up with a use for fast broadband which was business orientated. VOIP, streaming video, and games were the repeated uses. Again that is fine but lets call it what it is - entertainment consumption. Not production. The one big use for fast broadband usage that the industry regally quotes in the media, is for entertainment production such as movies. They regally state that we are losing work in the film industry from overseas film companies, because New Zealand broadband isn't good enough and is too expensive. Filmmakers want to be able to send a piece of film to the other side of the word instantly for instant feedback, and this is something that is currently very expensive to do, due to business broadband costs. Apart from film makers, I am sure that if faster and cheaper internet access was available to New Zealand businesses, they would certainly find a new and an innovative use for it, that would benefit the economy. One thing is for certain, broadband costs will come down and speeds will increase, however it is going to take time. One thing that I have heard very little about in the media, is the small data caps that are on some of the plans. For instance Xtras new budget broadband plan, will only provide 200MB of bandwidth a month.	rogerp (6864)
437374	2006-03-12 10:29:00	Filmmakers want to be able to send a piece of film to the other side of the word instantly for instant feedback, and this is something that is currently very expensive to do, due to business broadband costs . Filmmakers are generally made of money, and there are plenty of broadband alternatives for those that have the cash . I doubt any movie studio would be using ADSL . Separate the issues out, New Zealand has "broadband" there are a number of ways of getting fast business grade internet if you're willing to pay . Cheap, highly accessible, consumer grade broadband in the form of ADSL is more restricted . One thing that I have heard very little about in the media, is the small data caps that are on some of the plans . For instance Xtras new budget broadband plan, will only provide 200MB of bandwidth a month . For a lot of people this doesn't really matter . My parents have saturn cable - they get about 20-25 "FW:FW:FW: This is so funny" e-mails a day and do a bit of web-surfing . Rarely do they hit 150MB . Your average ma and pa user doesn't demand much from a broadband connection aside from not having to wait while their e-letters download from the internets . Just like the dial-up users by the hordes who pay for "all you can eat" connections and barely scrape 20 hours in a month . This forum isn't exactly a representative demographic .	ninja (1671)
437375	2006-03-12 11:23:00	Your average ma and pa user doesn't demand much from a broadband connection aside from not having to wait while their e-letters download from the internets. Well my ma and pa, as dial up users, they would probably use up to 20-30 hours per month. The main reason they don't use more is because dialup is so slow and tedious. However when they move to broadband, they will use it a lot more due to things loadin and downloading a lot faster, and they will also use it for VOIP phone calling overseas. 200MB will take no time to get through, and I would expect them to go through at least a couple of GB per month with very little useage. Once you have broadband, you are far more likely to visit websites, download music/video traliers etc, as it is so much faster. Also your average Ma and Pa user like to have certainty with their billing, this is why they go for flat rate plans, when they probably don't really need it. The same would apply to broadband, they wouldn't want to get stung with additional costs by going over a datacap.	rogerp (6864)
437376	2006-03-12 19:01:00	The reason why the gripes are of that nature is because the type of people visiting these forums are exactly the type of people that play games and download entertainment videos. No surprise really. If you're unimpressed as to why NZ really needs better broadband based on arguments presented here, have a read of the NBR article ("Telecom's handbrake is stalling the nation") I linked to a couple of days ago in another thread: pressf1.pcworld.co.nz I am unimpressed with all the teenagers' gripes on this forum about wanting faster internet just for entertainment purpose, and remember their foolish parents are paying for it too :), not unimpressed necessarily with NZ needing better broadband. As for the repeated claim that the country's economy would benefit to the tune of 5 billion dollars, ok lets see the breakdown and the analysis. It may well do, and I'm not against faster speeds, lower caps etc, but there is a lot of bull**** being sprayed around. Lets see the figures. That's a good article because you agree with it :) Ninja's posts make eminent sense. A big upheaval in the tectonic plates, and bye-bye at least half the cable, if not the lot if both ends rupture near San Francisco.	Terry Porritt (14)
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