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aardvark (ard'-vark) a controversial animal with
a long probing nose used for sniffing out the facts and stimulating thought
and discussion.
NZ's leading source of Net-Industry news and commentary since 1995 |
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New JetStream Offerings An Insult?
22 August 2003 Home internet users hoping for some relief from the high prices and low data caps associated with Telecom's JetStream ADSL service are in for a disappointment, some might even feel that their intelligence has been insulted. In a media statement released today, Telecom outlined three new JetStream plans aimed at "encouraging more New Zealand households to experience a range of broadband services." Despite much hope to the contrary, the plans are all capped with heavy over-cap traffic charges. Providing connection speeds of up to 256Kbps (symmetrical), the new plans offer monthly caps of 500MB ($39.95), 1GB ($49.95) and 2GB ($59.95) with over-cap traffic running at a whopping $0.20 per MB. The plans will be named Jetstream Home 500/1000/2000 respectively. The plans currently known as "JetStream Home" offerings will be renamed "JetStream Home 500 Full Speed" and "JetStream Home 1000 Full Speed". I hope that's nice and clear??? Showing an almost total lack of understanding, Telecom's Head of Consumer Marketing Sandra Geange said "The 1000MB plan will be suited to those people who download more significant amounts including occasionally listening to music, watching video clips or sending and receiving large documents and files". For the rest of us, the JetStream Starter plan, with its sloth-like 128Kbps data rate and higher cap, remains unchanged in price or performance. Somehow I don't think this will create the stampede of new broadband customers Telecom seems to think it will. What do you think?
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