The performance of New Zealand's broadband services is continuing to improve according to a report released by the Commerce Commission today.
The performance of New Zealand's broadband services is continuing to improve according to a report released by the Commerce Commission today.
The report is part of a continuing series measuring broadband performance in New Zealand. Covering the period from July - December 2010, the report provides a summary of the performance of internet service providers (ISPs) in delivering broadband services in New Zealand's major cities.
"The report shows that increased competition from unbundled copper local loop services has improved broadband performance," said Telecommunications Commissioner Dr Ross Patterson.
Key findings of the report include:
Minimum, average and maximum web browsing speeds achievable on Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) have all increased, with maximum speed increasing from 5.5Mbps to 6.5Mbps.
TelstraClear's cable service provided the best browsing performance (in the areas where it is available), but was closely followed by service providers using unbundled copper local loop lines.
Average web browsing speed diminishes with increasing distance from infrastructure in Auckland.
Use of local storage (caching) for international content continues to provide a significant international browsing performance boost. Average international web browsing speed to the Commission's test site falls from around 2Mbps to 0.5Mbps when the test site content is not locally cached.
There was a marked reduction in network availability over the six month period, with all tested ISPs falling below the Commission's benchmark at times.
The full report is available on the Commission's website at:
This report is part of a continuing series measuring broadband performance in New Zealand, and is made available under section 9A of the Telecommunications Act 2001.
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a data communications technology that allows broadband to be delivered over a copper line. ADSL1is an early standard, with theoretical download speeds of up to 8Mbps and typical rates below 5Mbps. ADSL2+ is a newer and faster standard that can deliver a theoretical download speed of up to 24Mbps, with users typically experiencing between 8Mbps and 15Mbps. DSL performance is highly dependent on how far the signal has to travel over the copper connection to the home - the greater the distance to the local telephone exchange, the slower the speed. Other factors can also affect the user's experience, including the broadband plan, the modem, the quality of the computer and home wiring.
Unbundled copper local loop (UCLL) is a service that allows telecommunications companies to supply voice and broadband services to retail customers without the need to replicate Telecom's local copper loop.
Caching stores international (and sometimes national) website content locally. Caching enables users of that content to download it at national speeds which are generally much faster than international speeds.
