Ultrafast Broadband Initiative quick to confuse New Zealanders

The network set to deliver the best internet speeds in the country has confused more than two in five respondents to our recent survey, who do not understand the difference between Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) and the connection they use at home.

More women than men (51% versus 37%) struggled to understand the differences between their current connection and the optic fibre technology used by the UFB to deliver internet speeds of up to 100 Megabytes per second to New Zealand homes.

Despite the confusion, it is likely New Zealanders will need this type of connection to keep up with their growing data usage. A significant 58% of respondents were downloading or uploading more data than they were 12 months ago.

ADSL broadband technology has really peaked in the last few years, and some internet service providers (ISPs) have proven popular due to competitive broadband plans, faster internet speeds and superior customer service.

In our recent survey of New Zealand broadband users, Orcon were awarded our broadband most satisfied customers award for 2013. They also received five star ratings in six of the seven rated criteria – including value for money, speed, tech support, reliability and billing.

Other broadband providers rated were Slingshot, Vodafone NZ, Telecom and TelstraClear. In other results:

• Slingshot received five star ratings for value for money, reliability, billing and download quota value for money; and,
• Telecom achieved a five star rating for its reliability.

The results also showed 27% of New Zealand respondents felt guilty about the amount of time they spent online. However, this reportedly did not compel them to change their habits and cut down their internet time.

Generation Y respondents were particularly tied to their online world, and nearly half (44%) felt guilty about how long they spent ‘plugged in’. By comparison, only 28% of Generation X and 21% of Baby Boomer respondents felt the same.

Canstar Blue commissions Your Source to regularly survey 2,500 New Zealand consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction. The outcomes reported are the results from those within the survey group who have an ADSL/Naked ADSL broadband account in their name and pay the bills – in this case, 1,005 people. Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included.

Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands that received three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10.

Overall customer satisfaction

Achieving five stars in the area of overall customer satisfaction was Orcon – outflanking four star recipient Slingshot and three star recipients Vodafone NZ, Telecom and TelstraClear.

Value for money

Which providers were number one for ADSL value for money? This year, two ISP’s took out top honours in this area: Orcon and Slingshot. Vodafone NZ came next with four stars, followed by Telecom and TelstraClear with three.

Technical support – after sale service

Not everyone can be knowledgeable about routers, network bridges and the intricacies of ADSL and ADSL2 setups…which is why help from your ISP is always appreciated in a pinch. Orcon was first and foremost for their technical support, winning the brand five stars. Slingshot, Vodafone NZ and Telecom all received four star ratings, and TelstraClear achieved three.

Speed of internet connection

Internet speed has become a real selling point for many New Zealanders who need instant access to everything the World Wide Web has to offer, and customers of Orcon were most satisfied with the speed from their provider. Following our five star recipient was Slingshot and Vodafone NZ with four stars each, then Telecom and TelstraClear with three.

Reliability of service

Three different ISP’s scored five star ratings for the reliability of their ADSL service: Orcon, Slingshot and Telecom. Both Vodafone NZ and TelstraClear weren’t far behind though, each earning four stars for their own reliability.

Billing

Both Slingshot and Orcon received five stars for the billing services provided to customers. Next were Vodafone NZ and Telecom with four stars each, then TelstraClear with three.

Download quota value for money

Customers of ISP Slingshot were most satisfied with the amount of data they could download per month, and how much they paid for this. Slingshot received five stars here, Orcon and Vodafone NZ achieved four, and Telecom and TelstraClear finished up with three.