Speed and Usage

Understanding the different aspects of broadband can be confusing especially if you are investigating your options for the first time.

The two main components of broadband use are speed and usage and are explained in depth here to help your understanding.

See also the Getting Connected and FAQ sections for useful information.

Speed

Broadband speed is measured in kbps (kilobits per second) and Mbps (megabits per second). 1000 kilobits equal 1 megabit.
Whilst broadband has a theoretical maximum speed, the actual speed you experience at an individual address is affected by a number of things. These include:

• The speed of the plan you have chosen
• The distance your home is from your telephone exchange
• The time of day
• The number of other broadband users connected at that point in time
• The quality of your phone line and/or your internal house wiring
• Where the information your are receiving is coming from
• The processing speed of your computer

Broadband Delivery Types:

ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line)
The majority of broadband in NZ is delivered over this standard. The documented theoretical Maximum Speed download of this service at the exchange is 7.6Mbps.
Launch broadband delivered on ADSL operates at 256kbps download.

ADSL2+
A number of exchanges in NZ have now been upgraded to the faster service of ADSL2+. The documented theoretical Maximum Speed download of this service at the exchange is 24Mbps.
Launch broadband delivered on ADSL2+ still operates at 256kbps download.

Usage

Broadband usage measures all the information you are downloading and uploading from your account. Usage is measured in MB (megabytes) and GB (gigabytes). 1024 megabytes is equal to 1 gigabyte.

As part of your broadband service, you pre-purchase an allowance of usage. You can then view/download pages, files, photos, videos etc up to this allowance amount each month without any additional charges.

The following table is a guide to how internet activity relates to usage:

Usage	Hours of Gaming*	Hours of TV / Video Downloads of Approx 400MB each	No. of digital pics of approx 1MB each	No. of MP3 files of approx 4MB each
500MB	50	1.25	500	125
1GB	100	2.5	1,000	250
3GB	300	7.5	3,000	750
10GB	1000	25	10,000	2,500
25GB	2,500	62.5	25,000	6,250

* Gaming - Quantities are estimated on an hour basis. Examples of gaming hours are representative of console gaming such as the Sony PS3™ or XBOX™ services.