Telecom offers unlimited downloads

Telecom will begin selling a broadband plan on Tuesday that will offer unlimited downloads for $69.95 a month.

The catch is that Telecom will ration network capacity, so videos, music and software patches might download slowly, particularly during peak hours on the internet, between 3pm and 11pm.

Home services director Ralph Brayham expected the plan, Big Time, might appeal to about 15 per cent of broadband users.

They included customers who were afraid of being stung by extra charges for breaching traffic caps and people such as flatters who shared a connection and might find it hard to apportion data charges.

"A big chunk of our customers are saying they want `certainty'. They need the internet, but for some families the level of uncertainty around plans with monthly data allowances makes those very problematic and hard to manage."

The plan would be $10 cheaper if customers had all their phone and internet business with Telecom.

Consumer New Zealand chief executive Sue Chetwin said Big Time sounded more reasonable than Go Large, an "unlimited" broadband plan that was withdrawn by Telecom in 2007 following complaints about crippling speed restrictions.

"At least they are being up front about the fact they are reserving the right to slow down traffic." The important thing was people knew what they were paying for, she said.

TelstraClear, New Zealand's second-largest internet provider, preferred to put its customers in control of their usage, spokesman Chris Mirams said.

"We deliver broadband they can rely on not being slowed down," he said.

Mr Brayham said Telecom would "unashamedly" manage internet traffic to ensure Big Time customers did not erode the performance provided to other customers on metered plans.

But it was not possible to say exactly what effect that would have.

Email and "basic" web surfing would not be subject to speed restrictions, even during peak times, but Telecom made no guarantees that policy would not change.

YouTube videos and software patches might download slowly on Big Time if customers were the first to view or download them.

However, they need not be subject to "traffic shaping" if they had been downloaded thousands of times before and were cached on Telecom's servers in New Zealand.

Mr Brayham said that if customers were tempted by the service, but concerned they did not know what they would be paying for, they could try it  out or see how others customers fared.

"Our intention is always to give the best possible experience at all times of the day."

Telecom had invested heavily over the past year in caching overseas web content on its servers in New Zealand, he said

- © Fairfax NZ News