TrueNet rates TelstraClear cable the fastest broadband option

According to independent testing out fit TrueNet, TelstraClear's cable service (available in parts of Wellington and Christchurch) is the nation's fastest internet option.

Xtra - aka Telecom Broadband - was second.

TrueNet analysed 25,000 web page downloads by volunteers around the country during August to formulate its rankings.

The webpage was located on servers at TradeMe, a site that TrueNet says "ought to be well serviced by all ISPs."

A number of ISPs were not rated - including Actrix, Maxnet, Vibe, Linktel and FX Networks - because TrueNet had fewer than five volunteers or "probes." (The testing company says it has enough volunteers in Auckland and Wellington, but is looking for recruits in other areas.).

The company said TelstraClear's DSL service achieved similar results to its hybrid cable offering, but was not included due to a low sample size.

Vodafone responds
Wooden spooner Vodafone was quick to rebutt TrueNet's landline tests. 

"Epitiro, the official network monitoring used for the Commerce Commission reports, currently (that is August to date) rates Vodafone third in the industry for both LLU* performance and performance over Telecom Wholesale's network," external communications manager Matthew East said.

"Vodafone has consistently been one of the top performers for overall Network performance according to this rating. Epitiro has sites across New Zealand which check performance every 15 minutes which we believe is a better method of testing internet speed in New Zealand."

In Telecom's pocket?
Criticism of TrueNet is nothing new. After TrueNet's mobile broadband testing in Auckland and Wellington - which helped inspire a new XT ad campaign - social media chatter accused TrueNet (owned by Wellington IT services company Catalyst) of a pro-Telecom bias. For its part, Vodafone disputed TrueNet's results.

Someone with Vodafone ties was quick to tell NBR that TrueNet principal John Butt was once Telecom's director of networks. That's true, but it was between 1990 and 1994 (followed by a two-year sales stint with Telecom's network partner Alcatel Lucent). He's had five jobs since; most recently as general manager of networks for CallPlus, as running his own consultancy.

Mr Butt told NBR company used the same analysis techniques as UK regulator Ofcom to neutralise the possible effect of various one-off factors.

The first he new of Telecom's ad head-to-head XT vs Vodafone 3G ad campaign was when he read about it on NBR's Twitter feed.

This week he added, "I am a Vodafone customer and have been since they bought Bellsouth."

* LLU = local loop unbundling, a regulatory change that lets ISPs, including Vodafone, Orcon, CallPlus/Slingshot and TelstraClear, place their own broadband switching gear inside Telecom exchanges.