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New Zealand is one of a handful of countries stuck with pervasive Internet Overcharging schemes that limit usage or throttle broadband speeds because of international connectivity limitations. But as international underseas fiber cables ease traffic congestion, Internet Service Providers are increasingly relaxing usage caps and reducing the level of speed throttling during prime time usage hours.
Now one ISP, Slingshot, has gone all-out, reintroducing an unlimited, flat rate broadband option for New Zealanders who don’t want to worry about how much usage they’ve racked up over the past month.
For roughly $32.50US for the first six months, $65 after that, customers don’t have to watch a usage meter or “gas gauge” or face a wholesale heavy speed throttle when deemed to be using “too much” Internet service.
Slingshot’s “All You Can Eat” broadband plan thumbs its nose at providers who want to end an unlimited broadband buffet.
The promotion is limited to the first 5,000 new customers who sign-up before Sept. 30, and customers must bring their own modem and maintain a Slingshot landline to qualify.
Slingshot general manager Scott Page said the plan has proved attractive to customers who value knowing they will pay the same flat rate month after month, regardless of usage. For these customers, having unlimited download capacity is more important than achieving the fastest possible broadband speeds. But Page noted they have customers who manage to download more than a terabyte a month on their unlimited plan.
Like many providers in the South Pacific, Slingshot uses “network management” to prioritize traffic under this scheme, in order of highest priority to least:
VOIP > Gaming > Browsing > Streaming > Local traffic > File sharing, including Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
Slingshot has received mixed reviews from customers in different parts of the country. Some areas achieve faster speeds than others, primarily because the company relies on Telecom-provided landlines for its DSL service. When the network is especially busy, those using peer-to-peer software may find that service considerably slowed.
New Zealand is moving incrementally away from usage limits. Vodafone recently increased data allowances by 50 percent for their landline broadband customers and Telecom is doubling broadband allowances for many of their customers as well.
