Knowing what the different types of broadband that are available to you are and understanding what they mean is essential to making sure you get the best broadband deal possible for your household or business. We have all hear the common internet related terms such as “copper line”, “ADSL”, “VDSL” and “Fibre Optic Cables”. But what does all that mean and how can it help you make an informed decision when you are getting broadband. Deciding whats best for you can be very tricky, here’s some info from around the web that could help. But please don’t let your research end here, be as well informed as possible before making a decision.
What’s ADSL and is it right for me?
The Skinny: ADSL is a great copper line option for those that cannot yet get fibre at their home, it’s cheap and affordable.
ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. This has been the primary method of delivering broadband services over copper to New Zealand customers. ADSL uses a standard copper phone line to transmit data between the computers and devices in your home and the Internet. This is still 200 time quicker than dial-up speed and is quick enough for downloading and streaming TV and videos. It has been the standard in NZ for a long time and, depending on the quality of your lines, gives download speeds of up to 24Mbps and upload speeds of 1Mbps. The national average is about 1Mbps upload and 10Mbps download. It’s easy to install, it’s suited for most businesses in New Zealand and is perfect for your general everyday uses. ADSL is available across most of the country and while distance from local telephone exchange is a factor, coverage is widespread around NZ.
What’s VDSL and is it right for me?
VDSL stands for Very high bit rate Digital Subscriber Line. VDSL is the newer form of broadband internet that runs over your homes existing copper phone lines. VDSL allows users to access the internet at faster speeds than ADSL. VDSL gives UFB a run for its money. It is not as quick nor does it have the stability of UFB, but at the comparatively reduced cost, it is still a great option for business and home connections. It uses the same copper phone line as ADSL broadband but provides faster speeds and greater capacity than ADSL. Depending on your line quality, you could get download speeds of up to 70Mbps and upload speeds up to 10Mbps. VDSL broadband is available to approximately 60% of existing Broadband users around NZ. The defining factor is whether your local telephone cabinet has been upgraded to enable VDSL. Even if your local cabinet is VDSL capable, distance is still a factor.
What’s UFB and is it right for me?
Ultra Fast Broadband is the name of the Government-led initiative aimed at improving nationwide broadband speeds and therefore advancing commerce and efficiency within NZ. This involves deploying fibre to the premise (FTTP) to 75% of homes and businesses around the country via four Local Fibre Companies (LFCs). Data is transmitted through the fibre optic cables at a much higher speed than copper phone lines. Therefore, data travels at a higher speed making the use of online programs much easier and quicker. Speeds generally start at 3 times faster than ADSL and have a range of speeds up to 200Mbps download and 20Mbps upload. UFB is currently not available everywhere just yet but it is fast becoming accessible to the majority of New Zealanders.
Today fibre broadband plans from New Zealand’s broadband providers generally come in all shapes and sizes but typically you get the following download speed options. Fibre 30mbps is a plan that is slowly dying out as it is too slow and not even as fast as VDSL. If you see this plan around it will generally be the cheapest option but you can normally get a faster plan for the same price or for an insignificant increase. Fibre 100mbps is the most common plan available and is a great starting point for households. It is faster than both ADSL and VDSL and is typically at a great price point. From then on speeds can increase all the way up to a Gigabit of speed, that 1,000 mbps but prices generally follow up. Upload speeds are generally less the corresponding download speed on the plan and can vary slightly but our advice is to focus on the downloads speeds, unless you know you need a good upload speed for some specific reason.