By Dan Satherley
Telecom's broadband helpdesk has been inundated with calls from customers who've wrongly had their internet cut back to dial-up speeds.
A fault in the company's broadband usage meter means customers' recorded data usage is spiking above their monthly allowance, resulting in connection speeds rarely seen since the 1990s, or in some cases, higher bills.
Massey University student Matt Palmer told 3 News his internet is "really, really slow" after Telecom recorded a whopping 12GB of usage on his connection overnight.
"I got an email this morning saying, 'you've used all your data'," says Mr Palmer.
"Now we're on a 20GB plan, it's just me and my brother in this flat, and I was like, what? He just moved in, so I said, 'What have you done?' And he said, 'I haven’t done anything, I haven't even used the internet.'"
He called Telecom this morning, who told him they'd received several calls from others with the same problem.
"She said it was used at 3am, within the hour - so we downloaded 12GB within one hour, which isn't technically possible."
Mr Palmer says he'd use around 10GB-15GB in a month, and 12GB overnight is "crazy".
On some Telecom plans, broadband is cut back to dial-up speed when customers exceed their monthly allowance. On other plans however, excess usage is charged at $2 a GB.
A Telecom helpdesk operator confirmed to 3 News there is an issue, and they are looking into it. She could not confirm when the problem would be fixed or if there would be any compensation for affected customers.
Mr Palmer is now 4GB over his monthly allowance, but despite acknowledging the fault with their usage meter, Telecom still crippled his connection.
"I'd hope they wouldn't cut the speed, but it seems to have been cut… it's going so slow."
Mr Palmer says his home network is secure and their computers are free of any malicious viruses which could be causing the issue.
"Everything's clean here."
Telecom customers can check their usage at http://www.telecom.co.nz/broadband/usage. If it doesn't look right, Telecom's broadband helpdesk can be reached on 0800 225 598.
3 News