Investment boosts Auckland broadband

Tests run on home computers around the country have shown double-digit improvements in broadband speeds, albeit off some low bases.

Data gathered by international broadband monitoring company Epitiro have shown Auckland internet users have the fastest speeds in the country, but Canterbury, Wellington, Taranaki and Marlborough/Tasman are not far behind.

The figures for January show on average Auckland internet users experience speeds of 3.8 megabits per second, up 10 per cent on last October.

Epitiro's New Zealand head, Mike Cranna, said the results reflected the millions being invested by the network owners.

Cranna said the two underlying factors in the improvements were Telecom's roll-out of fibre into the network and the upgrade of its exchange technology, plus the local loop unbundling undertaken by Vodafone and Orcon.

"A lot of it is down to Telecom and their fibre-to-the-node and ADSL2+. There is no question that has made a difference," said Cranna.

"You've got to hand it to them. They have spent a shedload of cash and got the results.

"Where you will see the local loop unbundling effect is on the North Shore and Auckland City."

More than 5000 tests on internet connection performance were run using software "agents" downloaded on to home PCs.

Users can compare their results with other local broadband users connected to rival internet service providers.