@StephenFry – loves the coffee, hates the internet.

February 20, 2012 by
Filed under: Life in New Zealand 

Mr Fry has joined the cast of The Hobbit. Last week he was extolling the virtues of our supremely excellent coffee.

Top Bloke.

Today – he is bemoaning the speed (or lack thereof) of our pathetic internet connections. ( For those not used to reading twitter – you have to read from the bottom up!)

At which point it got to the Dom post, and TelecomNZ quick smart sorted Mr Fry out with some actual connectivity. But as he points out – not all of us are celebrities – and we – TelecomNZ’s everyday customers who pay them month in month out get right royally screwed:

 

EDITED: Here is the feed in “normal” – Non-Twitter – style.

New Zealand so fine. It they have probably the worst. Broadband I’ve ever encountered. Turns itself off slows to a crawl. Pathetic.

Rise up, Kiwis and demand better? You wouldn’t allow crap roads with pot holes and single file. Hats what youve got BBwise a smart guy could make  a fortune and a fool of the complacent Telecomm and their contemptuous attitude to customers. Phew! Rant over.”

I know, it’s feeble to moan. I’m on set now. It’s 6:15 and the wifi here is good. But I have So many videos and sound files to upload.I’m sure another couple of flat whites will cheer me up…

 Well, seem to have stirred up a hornet’s nest. It seems I exceeded a d’load limit and had my BB throttled to a crawl: @TelecomNZ have put this right. Very quick and polite. But I wonder if everyone who complains gets this attention? I think Comcast style throttling for the economy it’s disastrous, for visitors for everyone. It won’t stop illegal bit torrenting.  Makes as much sense as closing a lane of traffic because there’s congestion. Yes, kiwi land is remote, but if Avatar can be made here and NZ wants to keep its rep for being the loveable, easy-going, outdoorsy yet tech savvy place it is, then pressure @telecomNZ into offering better packages.

Kiwis travel. A lot. They know 20MB is routine in Europe (no throttling) UK rolling out ultra fast fibreoptic. S Korea miles ahead. Come on New Zealand. You’re world champions at rugby & filmmaking. Pressure the providers to stop it being a digital embarrassment

 I was offered mobile 3G SIMS in a stock as a replacement for the down home service. I could tether a PAYH local Vodafone phone if I wanted that kind of compromise. In all swift response, but understandably. There was instant press interest. I’m no one special- Your local customers should be special. They need choice, service, understanding and respect. Phew! That probably enough on that xx

 

 

No matter who the provider is – in New Zealand internet connection is woefully pathetic. When our Capital City has internet speeds that make doing anything with the internet painful – you know we have a problem. And that’s on the rare occasion we can get a signal at all.

We are still having to reset our Router several times a day – and pretty much have no internet access between 5-11pm at all (except when we pay for a movie on iSky – then, as if by magic, it works like a dream).

It feels like living in Outer Mongolia (or rural Herefordshire 10 years ago when all we had was Dial-Up Hell) rather than Wellington Central Business District on wireless broadband.

Good on ya Mr Fry! And Welcome to New Zealand!

Related posts:

  1. Wow! The internet works
  2. Crap internet in the city – again.
  3. Chainsaw chews internet cable :(
«
»

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Comments

5 Comments on @StephenFry – loves the coffee, hates the internet.

  1. Deborah on Mon, 20th Feb 2012 4:50 pm

    2. Not used to reading Twitter sorry :( and couldn’t make any sense of that. Have they upgraded him or something?

  2. Avalon on Mon, 20th Feb 2012 6:09 pm

    3. Lol – I hear ya! I have to ne honest that while I have a twitter feed, I don’t really use it that much. So just for you – I have altered the blog and edited everything in word so it makes more sense :)

    Blogging – so much easier than trying to say everything in 140 characters :)

    Hxxx

  3. Deborah on Mon, 20th Feb 2012 10:02 pm

    4. Thanks! Makes sense now, before was like reading a foreign language.

    D X

  4. carpentaro on Tue, 21st Feb 2012 9:51 pm

    5. “Kumar said at the rate the country’s broadband is going, in 2015 New Zealand will be two years behind where the US is now.”

    So, in three years, we’ll be 5 years behind. In developing tech, those should be “light” years.
    BB is unstable, drops out, slows down [without hitting limit], and is very expensive. When have we gotten used to paying alot for average service?

  5. Avalon on Tue, 21st Feb 2012 10:08 pm

    6. When have we gotten used to paying alot for average service?

    Lol – Kiwis pay way to much for average (or way below average) service / goods all the time. I seem to spend a huge amount of my time blogging about it. Mostly anyone who complains about it gets right royally rounded on (and if its an ex-pat like me told to bugger off where we came from). I guess Mr Fry managed to punch through that and find a topic everyone can agree on :)

Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!