Faster broadband after upgrade

Fast broadband is available for more households in the Bay of Plenty region as part of a $5 million upgrade across rural New Zealand. Photo/File

Fast broadband is available for more households in the Bay of Plenty region as part of a $5 million upgrade across rural New Zealand.

Chorus has completed work on the project to upgrade broadband cabinets in Lynmore and Okareka in Rotorua and Edgecumbe, Galatea, and Opotiki in the Whakatane district.

In total Chorus has upgraded 97 broadband cabinets nationwide with new VDSL broadband electronics and connected back to the local exchange by fibre optic cable.

"Slow internet speeds have been a concern for businesses and residents in these parts of the region for a while, so it's pleasing to be able to provide substantially improved infrastructure," said Chorus' General Manager of Infrastructure, Ed Beattie.

"There's no question that access to better broadband makes a significant difference to the lives of New Zealanders, and this programme of work shows how passionate we are about improving rural connectivity."

Following the upgrade residents living within about 1.2km of the upgraded cabinets should be able to access fibre-enabled, VDSL broadband with consistent speeds up to 70Mbps.

Residents and businesses based further from the cabinet will still likely experience much improved speeds depending on the distance to the broadband cabinet.

During peak times when lots of people are streaming online video, broadband speeds will remain consistent. This differs considerably from wireless services over mobile broadband which share capacity with other users.

To find out what broadband speed your household could be getting or if broadband in your area has been upgraded, visit www.chorus.co.nz. In addition, residents can take advantage of thirdparty, independent sites such as www.glimp.co.nz and www.broadbandcompare.co.nz to find the best fit broadband plan for their online needs.