TelstraClear cable wins Tuanz-TrueNet speed test

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TelstraClear's hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) cable internet service offers the fastest webpage downloads in the country, according to September results released today by the Telecommunicaitons Users Association (Tuanz) and TrueNet.

The result is the first since Tuanz came onboard as a supporter of TrueNet's monthly testing. Tuanz chief executive Paul Brislen told NBR his association would be advising on areas that needed to be assessed, and in promoting results.

TelstraClear's cable service is only available in areas around Wellington and Christchurch.

It was recently upgraded to support 100Mbit/s connections. A group of customers trialled the faster service, and remain connected, but TelstraClear said demand (at least at its proposed pricing) was not sufficient to warrant commercial launch. The company recently told NBR it was reassessing the situation, and a launch was possible before Christmas.

TelstraClear DSL AWOL
In other areas, most TelstraClear residential customers are on DSL (copper) connections.

TrueNet principal John Butt said not enough of his company's "army of volunteers" were on TelstraClear DSL for that service to be included in the rankings.

DSL connections are measrued for other providers in the chart above. 

WorldxChange has previously challenged the focus on its DSL service, saying it also offers fibre. TrueNet responded it did not have enough volunteers to record the service's speed.

TelstraClear retains the fastest webpage download in the country during September despite some dramatic changes by its competitors, Tuanz and TrueNet said in a statement.

Users on TelstraClear’s cable network saw a test page load in less than quarter of a second, even faster than last month’s result. That far outstrips the next nearest rival, Telecom Broadband (Telecom's retail ISP, formerly known as Xtra), which slipped slightly this month, down from 0.20 second to 0.15 second in September.

Mr Butt said the ISPs have clearly taken last month’s results and worked hard to improve their load times.

“Both WorldxChange and Vodafone saw marked improvements over their August results but still have a long way to go to catch up to TelstraClear’s cable results.“

TrueNet recently ran into controversy after Telecom quoted TrueNet tests in support of an ad, aired during August, that rated XT the fastest mobile network around central Auckland and central Wellington (TrueNet said its tests were not commissioned by Telecom, and totally independent).

This week, Vodafone hit back with its own testing, carried out by TrueNet rival Epitiro, which showed its 3G service was the fastest for uploads and downloads, though lagged behind Telecom and 2degrees in latency (lag) and web page download speed tests.