Better broadband for Te Pohue and Te Haroto locals after upgrade

More users at Te Pohue will now be able to experience the benefits of increased connectivity. Photo / Duncan Brown.

Chorus has finished work upgrading two rural cabinets in Te Pohue and Te Haroto, meaning more local residents can now benefit from better broadband.

This latest work means Chorus has now upgraded 40 cabinets in Hastings District under both the Government's Rural Broadband Initiative and Chorus' own separate cabinet upgrade programme.

A further 36 premises in Te Pohue and Te Haroto will now be able to experience the benefits of increased connectivity.

Chorus Network strategy manager Kurt Rodgers said he was looking forward to residents and businesses receiving better broadband performance as a result of the upgrades.

"Unreliability in particular, and slow internet speeds have been a source of concern and frustration for businesses and residents in these areas."

Before the cabinet upgrades, residents and businesses in these areas could generally only access broadband speeds of 5Mbps or less.

Following the upgrade, residents and businesses should now be able to experience speeds of up to 25Mpbs on ADSL2. About 80 per cent of customers are able to upgrade to VDSL broadband for even faster internet. Average speeds on VDSL connections is 45.5Mbps.

"More importantly, the upgraded cabinets are fibre fed which means people are connected to a congestion free network with no data caps.

"Peak time on broadband is around 9pm but with a fixed connection from Chorus' network speeds remain constant throughout the day, any time of day. This is in contrast to wireless broadband which shares capacity with neighbours meaning deteriorating performance at busy hour.

"Consistent and reliable broadband speeds at any time of day over fixed line will provide quicker upload and download speeds of all types of digital multimedia.

"There's absolutely no doubting the benefits of reliable connectivity to the lives of rural New Zealanders.

"Practically speaking rural businesses, such as farms, are afforded better connection to services like livestock improvement records and markets overseas. Business operators can be confident in their broadband reliability and in turn, in improving the day to day running of operations. Technology plays a big part in rural industries and now residents in these more remote areas can reap the benefits that their urban counterparts are already experiencing."

Mr Rodgers emphasises that households and businesses have an important part to play in realising the potential of the upgraded broadband capability.

"A broadband service is affected by factors including your internet connection plan, modem, and the wifi in the home or business.

"We encourage residents and businesses to talk directly with their internet service provider to find out how they can make the most of our upgraded network. The Chorus website features a broadband checker which is easy to use and informs people or businesses of what speeds they are able to get."