KEY POINTS:
The broadband landscape has changed drastically over the last 12 months, with local loop unbundling meaning increased competition and, in theory, faster internet for all of us.
Last year, an nzherald.co.nz survey found that we weren't getting the speed and performance that many ISPs were
promising us, prompting a flood of comments to Your Views on the subject.
That survey used an online speed test, but this year we're trying something a bit different. Broadband benchmarker Epitiro's iSposure software will allow us to get extremely accurate results about broadband quality all over New Zealand, and show which is the best ISP for each area.
To take part in the survey, simply download the small free application from the link above and run it. There are already nearly 10,000 of these software agents running here, and more will help to gather even more information.
Also, Epitiro is inviting readers to confidentially rate their ISP's on service and performance - which will put you in the draw to win one of three iPhones.
First time users of the iSposure agent just need to download and register the agent, run a speed test and then vote in the 'Rate Your ISP' tab.
The results of the survey will be published online and in next Saturday's Weekend Herald.
Where is broadband at?
A comprehensive picture is finally emerging of New Zealand's broadband performance. With the introduction of eleven lab test sites in our five largest cities and almost 10,000 software agents running on consumers' PCs all over the country, the first ever picture of broadband performance for New Zealand is emerging. With the release of the government's digital strategy earlier this year, this data will provide an excellent means of tracking the country's progress towards those targets.
Let's just remind ourselves of what those targets are;
- at least 20mB/sec to 80% of the New Zealand population by 2012;
- at least 10mB/sec to 90% of the population by 2012.
So what are our chances of meeting these targets? To illustrate New Zealand's current broadband status, we've used data from Epitiro's network of around 9800 desktop agents. These were downloaded from our website by anyone interested in finding out how good their connection was, and comparing it to other users' experience in their area. We got good representation across most regions in the country; a special thanks to the few souls down on the West Coast - New Zealand's least populous region - who are running agents on their PCs. However, we were particularly light in Tasman; anybody down there, please help out!
Figure 1 in the attached gallery demonstrates relative download speeds by region. The type of test run is called a TCP test, and is considered to be the most accurate line speed test indicator. However, it is also worth noting that the line speed will be determined by the plan purchased; cheap plans tend to be slower.
Aggregated together, this provides us with a view of the relative efficiency of the Internet infrastructure supporting the population in each region. Three key characteristics of the population are important here; how many people there are living in a particular region, how geographically dispersed they are and their socioeconomic status.
The greater the number of people, the more infrastructure required. A dispersed population also requires more infrastructure in order to provide coverage to a larger area, but at a higher unit cost. Consequently, the infrastructure is likely to be less than adequate. And the lower the socioeconomic level, the more likely users are to buy cheaper, and therefore slower, plans.
As a result, the reasons for the position of each region in the ranking will at least partly be determined by combinations of these three factors. Auckland is fourth, despite having probably the most comprehensive network in the country.
This is likely to be as a result of the relatively large number of people competing to get fast access out of an ageing, copper-based network , coupled with large numbers of communities low on the socioeconomic scale. Southland is last probably because, while there are fewer people than in Auckland, there is less infrastructure, and again, large parts of the region feature low down on the socioeconomic scale.
Generally speaking, a larger city "should" have better performance, on account of greater competition, the greater likelihood of local peering, and greater residential density leading to lower infrastructure costs per subscriber.
Regions that exhibit a positive combination of these factors are likely to be those ranked above Auckland; Nelson, Wellington and Canterbury. Wellington has residential cable and fibre, which are represented in our desktop agent community. It also has a relatively wealthy population, which is more likely to buy faster plans.
Having said all that, the plans announced by most of the ISPs to invest in the cities and particularly Auckland will almost certainly see the City of Sails improve its ranking over the next 12-24 months. Nelson's top ranking stems directly from Telecom's higher value customers getting an above average performance out of their connection.
If we take a closer look at Auckland (Figure 2), we can see there is some variation between the main areas, with those out West and further up North doing worse than those nearer the CBD. So which factors are at play here?
If we drill further into Auckland's sub-regions, which generally map to suburbs, we can see the representation of the western suburbs and those from Albany north on the right hand end of the sandy-coloured bar at the bottom of the graph, which represents speed by suburb (in mb/sec). The mountain range in the background represents scores from the Ministry of Health's cheerfully titled Deprivation Map. The higher the mountain, the higher the deprivation score (out of 10).
The statistical correlation between increasing deprivation and decreasing speeds is quite strong (see trend line), so we could assume there is some relationship there. There are also instances of low deprivation and low speeds in the Western and Northern suburbs. These low speeds are more likely to be network related; a function of their remoteness and low population density.
The bottom line is, the 10mb/sec Digital Strategy target at the top of the scale looks a long way away from everywhere.
Contribute to the nzherald.co.nz iSposure broadband survey
If you're keen to become involved in helping build a picture of New Zealand's broadband progress, anyone can download a free agent at www.isposure.co.nz. This agent will test your connection on a regular basis, and gives you the opportunity to rate your ISP on their service performance and customer service. It will also allow you to compare your ISP's performance with other ISPs in your suburb, or local area, for price, performance and customer satisfaction.
