Internet options in ChCh?

[Canadian Cat]

Hello!

I have been reading some older threads that touch base on the different internet service providers and the plans they offer and peoples experience with them, and I am getting a little bit concerned.

Where we currently live we pay 70$ a month for 180 GB of usage. If we go over that we get charged another 30$ and get unlimited for the rest of the month. I'm not going to lie, we go over at least once every three months, and our average usage sits around 150 GB.

All of the plans I've looked at from the major NZ ISP's won't even come close to what we need. The only one that looked like it might be okay was the All You Can Eat plan from Slingshot, but it's only available to the first 10,000 customers. Since we won't be there till the end of the year I'm sure they will have met their availability limit.

Does anyone have any advice on what other options there might be, other then cutting down on our usage? Price isn't an issue, I will pay a premium if I have to. And we are 95% set on ChCh so it would have to be available there.

Also does anyone have experience with renting a place that includes internet in the rental price? Most of the places we have been looking at in our price range list it as included. Is it unheard of to get your own internet connection if the provided one is not up to snuff? (I'm assuming most "internet included" would probably be a shared connection or the cheapest one possible)

Thanks!

[Duncan74]

Cut down on data is genuinely the first option! Seriously, perhaps your lifestyle will change, and you'll be down the beach more than sat at home streaming video.

But if that's not an option, then consider commercial leased lines. Problem may be the lease period compared to your tenancy period (ie 12 month min for leased line, 6 month for renting, but that may still be Ok if you're prepared to pay the eary termination fees.

[GrumpyGoat]

I am currently with Orcon on the platinum plan (that includes free calling to the US) but I don't use the calling much (email!) and I NEVER use the 30 GB so basically I am just paying a high rate for the mobile calling and I have no features on my phone (caller ID or voicemail)

But I keep saying I am going to change over the Xnet-- VOIP with features and a flexible amt of data--you pay for what you use--and calling mobiles is only $0.28/min. (I think Orcon charges me $0.48/min)

[GrumpyGoat]

Oh--and those rentals don't come with internet---they are just letting you know you can get internet there. Some places can't get broadband so be warned.

[Cherry]

Hi!

I am also very concerned about this issue! We were in New Zealand for 4 months on a year long travelling trip and we had friends in Timaru, we were constantly using their internet to research the rest of our trip and keeping in touch with people back home! My husband and i are both quite heavy internet users and quite often took our friends over the data limit (we paid our fair share of course) but we found that once over the limit it was almost un-usable as it was soooo slow! Does Skype use up lots of data?

This is a good post - one of my many many questions to ask before we move across to Chch in 6 months time! x

[Duncan74]

Re skype - About 100mb for a 20 minute conversation as I discovered in a hotel early in January. Does depend on what video resolution you use though.

[Super_BQ]

Where we currently live we pay 70$ a month for 180 GB of usage. If we go over that we get charged another 30$ and get unlimited for the rest of the month. I'm not going to lie, we go over at least once every three months, and our average usage sits around 150 GB.

Don't bother comparing. The reason is that NZ is a small country and being small, it has limited resources - including internet. Latest talks about NZ's prime minister fully embraces more fiber optic development in NZ, yet none of them ever address the data limits. The problem is all the speed in the world won't make a difference if the data caps aren't comparable to the usage other countries have (ie. US/Canada, S. Korea, Japan, etc.)

I left BC around 1998 to NZ and at the time, dial up was incredibly expensive in Christchurch. The truth is, internet access will always be expensive in NZ compared to what is available in Canada. As all the others are saying here, you're best to just cut your usage to like 60GB / month and spend more time outside. As for myself, I couldn't care less about going outside with NZ's super strong UV rays. All the photos you see about NZ mean nothing if get sun burned too easily.

This reminds me, as a Canadian, you may often get joked at for inside the house too much. I heard a conversation from some kiwis about their neighbour and why they never see them outside their house, etc. Then they realized it was because they're from Canada.

[Canadian Cat]

Thanks for the responses! Now here's more questions!

But if that's not an option, then consider commercial leased lines.

Is this the kind of thing you were talking about?
http://www.cyberxpress.co.nz/
It's the only thing that comes up when I google "New Zealand Commercial Leased Lines." Does anyone have experience with commercial leased lines or with this cyberxpress? This is a whole new concept to me, but very interesting, we use as much data as a small business anyways!

Another question: Does NZ (more specifically ChCh) have public WiFi hotspots? Sometimes if our internet goes down or if we are out somewhere we often head to the local college, the public library or to Starbucks and use their internet for free. Oh and if they do have free wifi hotspots there, what is the speed like? I'm going to assume it may be capped speed or limited usage or something that will prevent us from using it?

But I keep saying I am going to change over the Xnet-- VOIP with features and a flexible amt of data--you pay for what you use--and calling mobiles is only $0.28/min. (I think Orcon charges me $0.48/min)

I am glad you posted this. I just spent a good long while on Xnet's website and I think this will be what we go with if we don't find a better option before we arrive. We don't mind paying for what we use, we know we use a lot, we always do and always have. Being able to keep bumping up our cap to prevent throttled speeds is perfect for us.

Thanks!

[sophiedb]

Another question: Does NZ (more specifically ChCh) have public WiFi hotspots? Sometimes if our internet goes down or if we are out somewhere we often head to the local college, the public library or to Starbucks and use their internet for free. Oh and if they do have free wifi hotspots there, what is the speed like? I'm going to assume it may be capped speed or limited usage or something that will prevent us from using it?

Not many at the moment, but getting there

http://totalhotspots.com/directory/n...i-christchurch

The (3?) biggest libraries have public wifi, and the Art Gallery is planning to soon, but other than that it's the odd cafe and McDonalds (under fire because their definition of "family-friendly" censorship is very conservative..).

[Wooly_Cow]

Hi there

Firstly 160 gbt per month??????? what the heck are you doing? Downloading HD films perhaps. We are a family of 6 with three teenagers. We are on the Internet , Skype, etc constantly and the kids especially use You-Tube and Internet TV channels and we never come close to a quarter of that figure.

Anyway depending on where the soruce of what you are downloading (I'm assuming you aren't uploading) the speeds will be low due to the number of hops and distance, so your downloads will take longer.

However I do have good news for you. ISP's like Slingshot zero rate (against the data limit) a lot of TV content like i-Sky and offer zero rated periods of the night for downloading content like films. All you have to do is set your PC up to download your stuff between 1am and 7am and you're sorted.

As for WiFi. There are many cafes in Wellington at elats that offer either free wifi with an excellent coffee or you can buy Cafenet service. Other places with free wifi include the airport and the airport bus (you can even pick this up if you drive behind it ) There are proposlas for wifi hotspots along the waterfront in Wellington, and I guess that during the rugby world cup there will be many more starting. Otehrwsie wifi is available from Vodafone or Telecom.

All in all it's no where near as bad as people make out.

BTW I moved from Telecom to Slingshot in December. Not only are the speeds faster (full 10mbt down, 1 mbt up) but somehow our data useage has drop hugely. It could be the numebr of zero rated sites but it isn't the overnight free allowance becuase they give you a measure of that and it's only about 3% of our overall usage.