NZ broadband getting faster

The average New Zealand broadband connection is getting faster, the Commerce Commission’s July-December 2010 Report on NZ Broadband Quality found.

The report, released today, said the maximum DSL broadband speed increased from 5.5Mbit/s in July to 6.5Mbit/s in December.

Major fibre to the node/roadside cabinet upgrade

Telecom’s Chorus division is close to completing a major fibre to the node/roadside cabinet upgrade, which has brought fibre closer to homes, and reduced the amount of distance covered by slower copper wires. The roll-out’s aim is to bring 10Mbit/s or faster DSL connections to 80% of the country. All indications are that that’s the case – meanwhile on a technical level. Not everybody is willing to shell out for the most expensive broadband plans. Congestion at peak times is another problem.

School's out = slow internet Another familiar theme: our easily-overloaded copper networks get slow when school breaks for the day, and keep getting slower, with traffic reaching its most congested around 9pm.

VoiP, video testing on the way The Commerce Commission is required to monitor broadband quality on a regular basis pursuant to this agreement section 9A of the Telecommunications Act.

The commission as well announced today that it will expand its 2011 reporting with measures to test VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) capability and video streaming