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According to ISPANZ (the Internet Service Providers Association), Telecom has been turning up the speed between users' modems and the DSLAM in accordance with the new 3.5mbps plans but not increasing the bandwidth allocation per user.

Telecom rather disingenuously threw the ball back by claiming that it was making the faster speeds available to ISPs and it was up to them to decide whether they were passed on to customers. So, according to Telecom, it's all the ISPs' fault.

Telecom also claims that it's had very positive feedback from its own Xtra users (are we surprised?), further hinting that they blame the ISPs.

But is Telecom telling the whole story?

Well, while there was once a guarantee of 24kbps per user (yes *just* 24kbps), now Telecom is unwilling to offer any such guarantee and I've heard some actual figures as low as 8kbps being quoted as now being in effect.

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On radio yesterday, a Telecom spokesperson said that bandwidth has always been provided on a "best effort" basis, meaning there were pretty much no guarantees at all!

Now where else, but in a monopoly-owned market, could anyone provide an expensive service without guarantees and on a "best effort" basis?

Indeed if, as we're told, broadband is critical to this nation's future competitiveness in the global knowledge economy, is "best effort" really good enough?

Sure, there are all manner of things that might serve to affect Telecom's (or any provider's) ability to deliver the promised service -- but failing to offer any minimum standards against which the performance of the contract can be judged must be something that only a monopoly provider can dictate.

Let's hope that when the government looks at the whole broadband issue they also realise the need for a minimum service level provision -- otherwise it's all just a joke.

Personally, I feel that if Telecom is offering 3.5mbps then that speed should be available for at least half the time and that the minimum service level (providing the actual bitrate between the DSLAM and the customer's modem supports it) must be no less than 1.25mbps.

Let's also see some guarantees for latency too.

Telecom has been very clever in gradually ensuring that the latency of their DSL network can be hiked so as to scuttle VOIP services as/when they become a threat to toll revenues.

You can bet that if the government regulates so as to allow consumers to buy a DSL connection without dial-tone, we're going to see even the 3.5mbps service suddenly develop a level of latency that totally kills VOIP -- what a coincidence eh?

Without these minimum service level guarantees for broadband we'll probably end up with a system that's really no better (perhaps even worse) than dial-up at peak times and which totally screws our OECD broadband ranking even further.

I mean, even the previous level of 24kbps is ridiculous -- just half that which can be obtained with a dial-up modem!

In fact, with only a 24kbps commitment, the good old dial-up modem (even with a dedicated second phone line) could, in rare cases, actually offer cheaper, faster internet than Telecom's broadband offerings -- and all without any data caps!

Work it out... A dial-up connection (providing a 40kbps connection) will let you download almost 350MB per day. Multiply that by 30 days and you get 10.5GB per month.

So, despite all the god-awful TV advertising and hype, are we *really* any better off with these new plans?

Is Telecom really fooling anyone (except our dim-witted politicians)?

A "full" sponsorship package
As most people realise, my ugly face appears on TV from time to time and will again grace your living rooms in a few episodes of the TV2 series "Let's Get Inventin" that screens on Sundays at 5pm.

I'm also expecting a significant amount of local and international media exposure towards the end of this year so I'm looking at sweetening the sponsorship deal on offer.

I'm thinking that if I were to wear a tee-shirt and/or cap with the sponsor's logo or name for the next 12 months, that could be worth a lot of extra value - a shirtload in fact.

If anyone's interested in having their URL, logo, branding, name or whatever plastered all over the country's and the world's TV screens from time to time then drop me a line and we'll do a deal :-)

It could be the cheapest bit of high-impact promotion you've ever been offered.

Did you notice
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Those who have already made enquiries about sponsoring Aardvark should hear back from me this week - and anyone else who might like to do so should drop me a line ASAP.

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