Stephen Fry rubbishes 'pathetic' NZ broadband

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Stephen Fry rubbishes 'pathetic' NZ broadband

3News NZ

Stephen Fry - wants better internet (Reuters)

Stephen Fry - wants better internet (Reuters)

By 3 News online staff / NZN

British actor Stephen Fry has taken to Twitter to complain about New Zealand's "pathetic" broadband internet.

Fry, who is in Wellington for the filming of Sir Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, tweeted early on Monday morning that New Zealand's broadband is "probably the worst. Broadband I've ever encountered (sic)".

He labelled the service "pathetic" and called on Kiwis to rise up and demand better.

Telecom replied to the tweet, offering Fry a mobile broadband stick, to which he responded "kind of you to express an interest".

Fry concluded following the outburst that "I'm sure another couple of flat whites will cheer me up".

A few hours later, he was told he'd exceeded his download limit.

"Well, seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest," he tweeted to his almost 4 million followers.

"It seems I exceeded a [download] limit and had my BB throttled to a crawl. @TelecomNZ have put this right. Very quick and polite. But I wonder if everyone who complains gets this attention? I think Comcast style throttling… for the economy it's disastrous, for visitors for everyone. It won't stop illegal bit torrentinf [sic]. Makes as much sense as closing a lane of traffic because there's congestion."

Comcast, an ISP in the US, introduced data caps in 2008 of around 250gb, causing outrage amongst its customers. In 2006 it began throttling bittorrent downloads.

Fry says New Zealanders need to pressure Telecom into upping their game.

"Yes, kiwi land is remote, but if Avatar can be made here and MZ wants to keep its rep for being the loveable, easy-going, outdoorsy yet tech savvy place it is, then pressure @telecomNZ into offering better packages."

"Kiwis travel. A lot. They know 20MB is routine in Europe ( nothrottling) UK rolling out ultra fast fibreoptic. S Korea miles ahead Come on New Zealand. You're world champions at rugby & filmmaking. Pressure the providers to stop it being a digital embarrassment."

He says he got a "swift response", despite being "no one special".

"Your local customers should be special," says Fry. "They need choice, service, understanding and respect.

"Phew! That probably enough on that xx."

OECD figures put New Zealand in the middle of the pack for advertised broadband download speeds, but the cost of accessing broadband is higher in New Zealand than in most other OECD countries.

This is despite the number of broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants growing faster in New Zealand than in other OECD countries.

3 News / NZN

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Comments

20/05/2013 8:32:22 p.m.

carpentaro wrote:

The speed is not so bad, it's the data caps that are the killer [which is what happened, cap hit, data down to dialup for S.F.]. I bought an iPad for my wife for Mother's Day. Within two days, we'd maxed our 60gb data plan. Guess Apple hadn't thought that the tight fisted telcos would ever cap data. Apple had not encountered the tight buisnesses in NZ. The idea of data caps probably never crossed their minds. Guess you can't use an iPad the way it was meant to be used [in New Zealand]. NZ broadband is a joke.

28/02/2012 10:33:41 p.m.

James wrote:

Mr Fry should pause for a moment to remember how shockingly inept the internet providers are in the UK. I moved to the UK in March 2011 and it took me 12 weeks to get connected - apparently this is "standard" with BT. The internet is slow here compared to the experience I had at home in February. My one gripe about in the internet in NZ is the prohibitive cost. That is the only issue I have - the service is far superior to anything I, and those I know, have experienced in the UK.

25/02/2012 2:15:53 a.m.

Chris wrote:

Yeah about time, the broadband speeds in NZ truly backward and abysmal and telecom! I had a 2gb cap and exceeded it by 20gb at 2 bucks per meg so I had a bill of around 2k from them, nice company! hey if the outside world can get to vodafone.co.nz and telecom.co.nz check out NZ mobile phone rates, you'll cringe, I hope Stephen Fry can shed some light on how expensive it is...except for a big mac. (can't fail that big mac test) $5 for a loaf of vogals, $400-$600 for a pair of Diesel Jeans, $3 small for a bottle of water, 36 days of sunshine a year, green ..... sure it rains alot, environmentally green jesus christ no.

22/02/2012 6:20:52 p.m.

CanadaMan wrote:

I pay $30 a month for 300GB cap. I don't know what the speed is but it's fast enough for me not to care. Telecom and NZ providers need to get with the program.

21/02/2012 10:01:08 p.m.

@ Katrina wrote:

"go and dig a well in a third world country."

I dug a latrine in Christchurch....does that count?

21/02/2012 9:58:50 p.m.

Chris wrote:

While these guys are making an absolute killing, the country is going broke. Do you really think the govt is going to do anything to reign these companies in, given that any move to regulate them would reduce its tax take?

21/02/2012 2:15:45 p.m.

bOb wrote:

@katrina "Who cares! You get used to what you have, some people will never be content with what they have and will always want more" Yes thats how capitalism works, funny how some right wingers think its ok for business's to follow that model but then complain when customers and workers demand a better deal. then again maybe if we all stop demanding a better deal business's out of the kindness of their hearts would be more proactive about giving us more value for our money. Yeah right.

21/02/2012 11:20:21 a.m.

AC wrote:

One wonders why the intellectually deficient are so readily accepted into the ranks of management at Telecom.

20/02/2012 7:03:28 p.m.

Ruz wrote:

The Telecom spokesman looked smug when they boldly announced that the broadband slowness was caused by a data cap which was part of Fry's plan. The mere fact that Telecom has a data cap in the first place simply reinforces the claim that broadband in NZ is shocking. Slow, data restrictive and bloody expensive is how I would describe it.

20/02/2012 6:40:56 p.m.

Mark wrote:

Funny thing is that while watching the video, it paused halfway through ebcause the internet was too slow to buffer. Best bit was that it was halfway through the guy claiming he was too far from the exchange... I am 100m from it. Is that too far?