Aardvark Daily

Please visit the sponsor!

Broadband - are we being gouged?

Just by chance, last night I caught an ad on the SBS channel which was promoting a DSL2 package offered across the ditch by Aussie ISP TPG.

I couldn't believe my eyes or ears when I heard the deal they were touting...

An ADSL2 connection with a 500GB data-cap for just $59.99 a month.

When I look at my phone bill each month I see that I'm spending $79 a month for a crusty old ADSL connection and a data-cap of a mere 40GB.

Why are Kiwis being gouged so badly compared to their Aussie cousins?

Okay, I admit that there is apparently some traffic-shaping going on with the TPG account but this is clearly stated on their pricing page.

Never the less, these prices really show the effect of a lack of competition in the NZ marketplace and we as consumers are suffering the fallout.

With my broadband, monthly "freedom" fees and the like, my phone bill very rarely comes in at under $200, and that's ridiculously high for someone who makes very few toll calls (yipee for Skype) and doesn't even touch P2P services.

Yes, I could change ISPs and find one that provided some measure of savings on my monthly internet charges, but I'm still going to fall way-short of that deal offered across the ditch. What's more, I bet there are better deals than that to be had over in Oz if one were to search hard enough.

The disparity gets even worse when you factor in the difference in average incomes between here and Oz!

Let's hope the Pacific fibre does something to redress this imbalance -- however, I won't be holding my breath because, until an independent, regulated NBN is created, Telecom still have the power to demand whatever they want for the use of their DSL network.

I'd love to hear from Telecom, exactly why we're being charged so much for so little with their broadband services.

I'm sure it's all about low population densities and the like -- but just try getting DSL in a geographically remote area and you'll know that they often don't even service those rural locations so what the hell difference does that really make anyway?

My big fear with the creation of an NBN, even with Pacific Fibre in place to deliver a big fat pipe to the rest of the world, is that successive governments will see ownership and regulation of such a network to be a cash-cow, in much the same way they have with electricity generators and transmission networks.

Could it be that in promoting an NBN, what our governments are really doing is simply promoting another avenue for indirect taxation?

If a state-owned NBN usurps Telecom's privately owned network, will we be out of the frying pan and into the fire?

Australia's not a country I choose to live in for a number of reasons however, they do at least seem to give a bloke a fairer deal on his broadband.

Please visit the sponsor!

Have your say on this...

PERMALINK to this column

Oh, and don't forget today's sci/tech news headlines

Rank This Aardvark Page

Change Font