Stephen Fry puts focus on data limits

TOM PULLAR-STRECKER - DomPost -  21/02/2012

NOT AMUSED: British author/comedian/actor Stephen Fry.

Photo by Justin McManus

British actor Stephen Fry will not be the only one up in arms if internet providers don't improve miserly broadband data caps, the Telecommunications Users Association says.

Fry labelled New Zealand broadband a "digital embarrassment" in tweets yesterday after finding he could only upload videos over the internet at a snail's pace while working from a house in Wellington.
He is in the capital for the filming of The Hobbit.
It transpired that the connection he was using had been intentionally "throttled" down to a slow speed by Telecom because he had exceeded the data cap on the broadband plan – the amount of data that can be downloaded and uploaded for a fixed monthly charge.
Fry said restrictive data caps were "a disaster" for the economy.
But Telecom spokeswoman Kath Murphy said he had been using a plan that "clearly wasn't suited to his needs".
Comedian Raybon Kan consoled Fry, telling him: "Don't think of it as the worst broadband in the world, think of it as the best dial-up".
Telecommunications Users Association chief executive Paul Brislen said that while most Kiwi broadband plans provided tens of gigabytes of data each month, internet providers overseas typically offered a terabyte (1000 gigabytes) or even unlimited data for a similar price.
It was not clear whether internet providers were to blame or if it was because there was only one high-speed submarine communications cable linking New Zealand to the rest of the world, he said.
"But there has got to be a better answer than `throttling' customers."
Fry's comments prompted online debate just as a Commerce Commission conference kicked off in Auckland on how to stimulate consumer demand for the $3.5 billion ultrafast broadband (UFB) network, which should increase the speeds on offer to three-quarters of households by about 10 times by 2020.
"If we have these sorts of data caps with the sorts of speeds you can get on UFB, then customers will revolt and we will get a lot more people than just Stephen Fry getting angry about it," Mr Brislen said.
InternetNZ chief executive Vikram Kumar said New Zealand internet download speeds were "in the middle of the pack" internationally, but consumers who didn't want their connections throttled had to pay high rates if they blew their data caps.
The society had offered Fry the use of its Wellington office to upload big files or suggested he use the free wi-fi on the waterfront, but it appeared he now had it all sorted, Mr Kumar said.
Netflix's Christchurch-born vice-president, Brent Ayrey, said in November that meagre data caps were one factor preventing the popular United States online movie and television service launching in New Zealand.The average customer in the US consumed a terabyte each month.
- © Fairfax NZ News