Fibre beats the pack in NZ broadband tests.
A Commerce Commission study has found most New Zealanders are able to reliably stream high definition video most of the time.
Just a day after Chorus pumped fibre over both copper and fixed wireless in its own announcement and in a series or television advertisements, the commission’s second report has something for everybody, with fixed wireless being included for the first time.
“Fibre plans perform the best, being able to deliver 4k video streaming from Netflix over 99 per cent of the time,” telecommunications commissioner Dr Stephen Gale said.
“We are pleased that all technologies are delivering a good video streaming experience – even ADSL, the slowest technology, is capable of delivering HD video around 75 per cent of the time.
"However, for households with multiple people streaming, downloading files, or gaming at the same time, fibre plans will give the best results.”
Credit: Commerce Commission The Measuring Broadband New Zealand Autumn Report, from testing partner SamKnows, includes speed and performance comparisons across copper (ADSL and VDSL), fibre (Fibre 100 and Fibre Max) and fixed wireless technologies (see chart).
"Fixed wireless is more sensitive to interference and congestion on mobile networks and this is demonstrated by significantly higher latency than other technologies," the report said.
"For a user who prioritise gaming or other responsive applications, fixed wireless products may cause noticeable issues."
The Commission said it is is continuing to look for more volunteers on specific plans to enable it to publish more detailed information on a range of topics, including broadband performance in different regions in New Zealand and comparisons between providers.
“The aim of our Measuring Broadband New Zealand programme is that Kiwis use the information in our reports to choose the right technology and provider for what they want to do online,” Gale said.
The next report is due out around September this year
