Telecom Wholesale is installing superfast VDSL2 gear in exchanges and roadside cabinets nationwide – but only a lucky few will be in range of the blazingly fast broadband, and it will likely inflate your monthly ISP bill.

VDSL2 can deliver a download speeds up to a head-spinning 100Mbit/s, topping the copper cable broadband foodchain ahead of DSL2 and DSL, and is seriously competitive with fibre.

Location, location, location
However, there’s catch: you have to live practically on the doorstep of your local phone exchange or cabinet to get the VDSL2 full effect. Beyond even 100m, speed falls away dramatically. Beyond 1km, you’ll notice no difference over DSL2 (the spec offered by Telecom Broadband, and Actrix, TelstraClear, Vodafone and Orcon in unbundled exchanges), which has a 6km range. Fibre optic cable, by contrast, maintains its signal strength over any distance.

Extra charges
And ... there’s another catch: cost. TelstraClear has, separately, installed VDSL2 gear in limited areas (see "TelstraClear turbocharges DSL"), but plans are for business customers only, and run to a nosebleed $399 (for a VDSL2 service offering up to 30Mbit/s download) or $199 (for a throttled service).

While Telecom Wholesales's mass roll-out won't see that kind of premium, division head Matt Crocket conceeds there will be a "small charge" for retail ISP customers who adopt the premium, video-friendly service.

Telecom Wholesale says its VDSL2 gear will be available to its retail customers (including Orcon and Vodafone, as well as the organisationally separated Telecom Broadband, formerly Xtra) during the second quarter in some Auckland suburbs (see list end of story).

While Vodafone and Orcon both have run limited VDSL2 trials in Auckland, installing their own VDSL2 gear into unbundled Telecom exchanges, neither has come close to a commercial launch.

Now, they’ll join a list of potential Telecom Wholsale customers as the Telecom division unveils a country-wide plan which, tastily for broadband plans, includes the 3600 cabinets being roll-out by Telecom’s network infrastructure division, Chorus.

Tuanz: fibre must remain ultimate goal
Consumer-advocate the Telecommunications Users Association (Tuanz) immediately welcomed Telecom's anouncement, including the scale of the roll-out, and VDSL2's availability to all ISPs.

But chief executive Ernie Newman still sees the turbocharged copper as a temporary fix "The aspiration for New Zealand must remain as fibre all the way to every customer’s premises."

Telecom Wholesale’s VDSL2 roll-out schedule:

Q2 2009
- Browns Bay
- Ponsonby
- Glenfield
- Remuera
- Mt Eden
- Auckland Central

Q3 2009 onwards
- Ashburton
- Auckland
- Beachlands
- Blenheim
- Brighton
- Cambridge
- Christchurch
- Diamond Harbour
- Dunedin
- Fielding
- Gisborne
- Gore
- Governors Bay
- Greymouth
- Hamilton
- Hastings
- Hawera
- Hibiscus Coast
- Invercargill
- Kaiapoi
- Kumeu
- Levin
- Lincoln
- Lyttelton
- Masterton
- Napier
- Nelson
- New Plymouth
- Oamaru
- Paekakariki
- Palmerston North
- Paraparaumu
- Prebbleton
- Pukekohe
- Pukerua Bay
- Queenstown
- Rangiora
- Raumati
- Red Beach
- Richmond
- Rotorua
- Runciman
- Taupo
- Tauranga
- Te Awamutu
- Templeton
- Timaru
- Titirangi
- Tokoroa
- Waiheke
- Waikanae
- Wanganui
- Wellington
- Whakatane
- Whangarei