KEY POINTS:
TelstraClear has launched a VDSL2 service to business customers, making it the first local internet service provider to offer broadband using the super-fast variant of standard DSL technology.
The telecommunications company says its VDSL2 service will offer download speeds of up to 30 megabits per second, several times
faster than other DSL-based broadband services.
There are some catches, however. VDSL2 is currently only available in parts of Auckland City and in the central business district of seven other centres. It also comes with a high price tag.
The 30Mbps service costs $400 a month, plus data charges, and TelstraClear is also selling a 15Mbps service for $200 a month and a 10Mbps service for $50 a month.
Telecom's cheapest ADSL broadband plan, which gives most users speed of between 1.5 and 4Mbps, costs $30 a month.
Outside of Auckland City, TelstraClear's VDSL2 service is available in the CBDs of Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Lower Hutt and Wellington.
TelstraClear says the service will be available on the North Shore, in Waitakere, Manukau, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Dunedin before Christmas.
TelstraClear's head of business, Brenda Stonestreet, said the telco was able to offer the fast broadband service because it had installed VDSL2 technology in 140 of its own "cabinets" that are part of its nationwide telecommunication network.
She said the service was targeted at small or medium-sized businesses that needed greater broadband bandwidth, reliability and higher speeds.
While the top-end product is being promoted as offering a download speed of 30Mbps and an upload rate of 7Mbps, during testing of the service speeds of up to 80Mbps for downloads and 25Mbps for uploads had been reached.
Stonestreet said TelstraClear planned to launch a VDSL2 service for the consumer market in the first quarter of next year and its network would allow it to leapfrog ADSL2+, a slower variation of the technology which Telecom is in the process of making available across the country.
Telecom says it has so far upgraded more than 400,000 homes and businesses from the original ADSL technology to faster ADSL2+ connections under a programme it started in March last year. This month Telecom cut the cost of some retail consumer broadband plans and increased data caps, saying the changes reflected the move to ADSL2+.
Telecom says ADSL2+ can offer theoretical download speeds of up to 24Mbps, although the actual speeds consumers experience are likely to fall well short of that and are dependent on factors including the distance between their home and the nearest exchange or roadside cabinet.
At least two other internet providers plan to launch VDSL2 services. Vodafone and Orcon both said in July they were trialling the technology.
SPEEDING OVER THE PHONE LINES
* ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, the technology traditionally used to deliver broadband over copper phone lines. Typically delivers speeds of up to 4Mbps.
* ADSL2+ - A faster version of ADSL now available to more than 400,000 users over Telecom's network. Theoretical top speed of about 24Mbps, although factors such as the distance between a subscriber's home and Telecom's exchange reduce actual speeds considerably.
* VDSL2 - The top-end DSL technology, offering theoretical download speeds of 100Mbps or faster under ideal conditions, but again real-world performance may be much slower.