There are several reasons for slow broadband in New Zealand these range from ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) over selling their connections to how old and how long your copper phone lines are all the way to your PC being infected with Spyware and Viruses.
The most popular form of broadband in New Zealand at the moment is DSL (digital subscriber line). DSL is a neat technology as it runs over the same copper cables as what your voice calling does, which is the same reason why it is the most popular form of broadband around, because there is no need to run additional cables.
To maximise profits, ISP’s purchase a fixed amount of traffic from the Southern Cross cable (the connections that allows you and me communicate with the rest of the world via the internet) and then unfortunately tend to over subscribe that line and generally neglect to increase that traffic as the lines fill up with customers. The end result of that is when 3:30pm hits and all the school children get home and begin updating their Bebo and playing their favourite Youtube videos the internet slows down. This is the major reason why ISP’s start out being so good but as their popularity increase their broadband speed decreases.
The problem is that even though only a fraction of the Southern Cross cable is being utilised the cost to ISP’s is still rather expensive therefore that cost has to be passed onto the consumer, moteliers and business owners like yourself. To cover this cost ISP’s generally tend to have a fixed amount of broadband that you purchase say 5, 10, 20 gigabytes or more and if you go over this amount you get stung with excess usage fees. All it takes is for someone to use your broadband to download some music or videos on a peer2peer sharing site and you will quickly get an expensive bill at the end of the month.
With all businesses you attempt to fix your costs as much as possible so being stung with excess usage fees or even the possibility of getting a large bill is certainly a risk that most businesses would want to avoid.
There are ISP’s which are currently rolling out the next generation of DSL which is ADSL2+ and VDSL (Very High Bitrate DSL) which promises faster speeds but they still have the same two issues being the further away you get from the exchange the slower it goes and that you get excess usage fees when you go over your allotted amount.
When choosing a broadband plan make sure you chose one which has reasonable excess usage fees and or notifies you when you get close to your limits or even better get an unlimited data plan.
Dan Ballard is a Technology consultant with Horizon Pacific which is an ISP as well as a Technology Solution provider that supplies unlimited broadband data plans.
Microsoft's new (and confusing) ad
Well. Microsoft sure have left me in a confused state of mind (along with many others). Do I need to say more?
#tenz8 Notes from the Field at NZ Tech-Ed 08 day 2
| Time | Where | Comments |
| 02-09-2008 8:30 | Breakfast | great conversations |
| 02-09-2008 9:00 | BIN309 | changed my mind, from ARC to SQL |
| 02-09-2008 9:10 | BIN309 | is it just me, or does Pat Martin remind anybody else of Malcolm McDowell? |
| 02-09-2008 9:20 | BIN309 | this class is full |
| 02-09-2008 9:30 | BIN309 | merge statement is very verbose |
| 02-09-2008 9:45 | BIN309 | death by PowerPoint |
| 02-09-2008 10:00 | BIN309 | super dump! should I shout skull ? |
| 02-09-2008 10:45 | WEB304 | web future starting. @kiwitwitter is in it |
| 02-09-2008 10:50 | WEB304 | each country thinks broadband speed is better elsewhere |
| 02-09-2008 11:00 | WEB304 | contrary to all appearances Scottha is not really a Budhist |
| 02-09-2008 11:15 | WEB304 | reach out and Touch some device |
| 02-09-2008 11:30 | WEB304 | finally Chris Auld has found his niche: he's a hopeless panelist but a great convenor |
| 02-09-2008 11:45 | WEB304 | "Silverlight gets us around the limitations of HTML, is the future of the web" |
| 02-09-2008 12:00 | WEB304 | just realised: unlike 2005, have no time for labs, too many good sessions |
| 02-09-2008 12:10 | DEV260 | TFS version control starting |
| 02-09-2008 12:30 | DEV260 | @kiwitwitter it was fun thanks |
| 02-09-2008 13:00 | DEV260 | death by PowerPoint |
| 02-09-2008 13:25 | DEV260 | multiple forward integration for each reverse integration |
| 02-09-2008 13:40 | Lunch | listening to Trika talk about certification |
| 02-09-2008 15:00 | LAB | doing labs |
| 02-09-2008 15:30 | LAB | trika was lovely and gracious |
| 02-09-2008 16:00 | LAB | missed 2 sessions 2 do 1 MVC lab. glad i did but MVC not 4 me |
| 02-09-2008 16:30 | LAB | im loving sub sonic too much to MVC |
| 02-09-2008 17:00 | LAB | just did another lab: Test Management |
| 02-09-2008 17:10 | WEB317 | ASP.NET AJAX SP1 starting |
| 02-09-2008 18:20 | WEB317 | ScriptManager EnableHistory=true |
| 02-09-2008 18:25 | WEB317 | @blackmael MVC seems 2 be 3-tier on the presentation layer. y bother? |
| 02-09-2008 20:15 | Tech-Fest | idea 4 next year: have a dinner on Tuesday for those not inclined to booze |
| 02-09-2008 20:20 | Tech-Fest | great idea Intergen: earplugs in survival kit |
| 02-09-2008 20:25 | Tech-Fest | takeaways 4 dinner, heading back to hotel |
| 02-09-2008 20:30 | Tech-Fest | latte anyone? |
| 02-09-2008 23:00 | Hotel | Completed compiling Tweats into Blog Post |
TV shows in NZ? Another iTunes post!
ok... I am NOT the itunes guy, but I thought this was pretty interesting.
Shop a Wide Selection
Browse the iTunes Store for television shows from Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Nine Network, MTV, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and many more. Watch 30-second previews, then buy the episodes you want for just $3.59 inc GST.
Seen here at Apple (scroll down under renting), and the macrumours forum
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