Might be of interest to some of you.
Chorus article
We are pleased to announce that between mid-November and early December 2021 we will boost/upgrade the speeds of the following offers:
Chorus is not proposing any price increases as part of the upgrade proposals.
Story found on Geekzone
Does this mean that the boost plan also gets an upgrade as well? I'm on boost and don't think I've seen this email yet…
This one was only for 100/20 speed upgrade. Not for the boost one.
The speed update is now in place - With Spark, getting ~290 mbps down, ~80 mbps up.
Damn should of stuck to my 100/20 Plan, as Wifi only gets up to around 300Mbps Anyways.
I feel the same. Just upgraded 2 weeks back.
Can’t you just change back?
Locked in for 12 months
Can you get ufb direct from Chorus? I thought they just had the ufb monopoly on providing to ISPs who provided the service to consumers?
Chorus is only allowed to sell wholesale to ISP's. You can only order fibre from an ISP who then buys it wholesale from Chorus. ISP's will likely up the price for the new 300/100 plan as Chorus is raising the wholesale price anyway by something like $2 and with the new speeds I doubt ISP's will eat that cost.
Well Chorus is proposing no price change, that doesn't mean ISP's wont increase the price by just saying they are upgrading the speed and get in $5-$10 increase overall.
All ISP's are sneaky to get more whenever they get a chance.
According to above Chorus are increase the price anyway, but separately it's not like the Chorus wholesale price is the only cost to ISPs. If average speeds at peak times increase as a result of this change, this change would likely mean they need to increase bandwidth throughout their networks including the international link i.e. pay more. So increasing the charge seems fair enough although $10 seems a little high and they should be transparent about why they are increasing prices. I think some ISPs already signalled an increase for the Chorus wholesale price rise anyway.
Although I may stay on gigabit, for me the biggest benefit for this change is the increase in upload speed. In the past, plans with a decent upload speed were hard to come by and expensive. Then they made the 1000/500 which basically killed all consumer decent upload plans IMO like 100/50, 100/100, 200/200 etc as they were barely any cheaper. So it was really either 100/20 or 1000/500 and it was a massive difference. Now with 300/100 it's not so bad.
Thanks for sharing. Spark offer no information around this change from chorus. They did try to upsell my fibre plan, mobile phone and mobile plan though.
This explains why spark is charging me $1 extra on my plan, "to cover costs"
Nah, that raise in cost is passed on from chorus. Orcon did 0.82c, so 18c perhaps?
Still waiting for speed increase notice
"ISPs will get both the 100/20 and 300/100 wholesale products from Chorus for $47.87" "The regulated 100/20 will still be available" "While the 300/100 wont have Crown's protection against price increases"
"keeping the price tied to the 100/20 plan for three years would avoid further price regulation further down the track." Hence why "Chorus is not proposing any price increases"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/wheels-within-wheels-why…
Email states "Most of New Zealand’s Fibre companies have increased the cost for us to connect to the Fibre network. So we’re increasing the price of your plan by $1 a month, mostly to cover the extra cost of the connection." This would be because of inflation but no news about this 300mbs option.
Received this email today:
Hi,
As you might know, we provide your broadband services over a fibre connection we rent from Chorus. Chorus is increasing the amount they charge us for your connection type.
From your [date] October 2021 bill, the monthly cost of your broadband plan will increase by $0.82.
Sorry—we hate price increases too, but to continue providing you with the same great service you expect from Orcon and driving innovation so New Zealanders have access to the best possible broadband, we need to pass this cost on.
Thanks,
Orcon
Extra $9.84 a year. That's alright.
If chorus is increasing their dividends, they should not be allowed to raise prices.
If not, the increases are just being passed on to shareholders.
Isn't the issue here more the monopoly that they have over the fibre network, and not that they are paying dividends to shareholders, to whom they have to act in the best interests of?
Awesome news!
Hi,
To help you get even more out of your Stuff Fibre connection, we've dialed up your fibre broadband speeds – for free!
Your Stuff Fibre connection is now capable of average speeds* of 318Mbps download and 103Mbps upload. That’s enough speed for the whole house to smash through Netflix, game up a storm, or keep those work-from-home Zoom calls running smooth as. Pretty sweet, eh?
If you're in the process of getting connected, you'll automatically get the new speeds when your new connection goes live. Nice.
What's the catch?
Zip, nada! The upgrade won’t cost you a cent or expire. Just note that not all devices (especially if they’re a bit older or you’re using Wi-Fi) can achieve the upgraded average speed.
That’s it – enjoy your faster speeds!
Cheers,
The Stuff Fibre team