Chorus has today announced that it will extend its one gigabit (1Gbps) residential and SME business fibre broadband service across its entire Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) footprint from 1 October 2016. The move follows Chorus leading the introduction of gigabit services to New Zealand - proving both the demand and the technical viability - after the launch of its gig services in Dunedin in February, 2015. The company has long had national gigabit broadband services on its product roadmap and from October will make them available on any UFB connection. This follows the rollout from the other local fibre companies in New Zealand - Ultrafast Fibre in Hamilton, Enable in Christchurch and Northpower Fibre in Whangarei.
"We are delighted that other fibre providers have joined Chorus in championing gigabit residential and business services," said Mark Ratcliffe, Chorus CEO.
"Making New Zealand a true 'Gignation', beyond the 5000-plus connections we have in Dunedin, should see us catapulted up the league tables of broadband speed rankings and reinforce the high quality of the broadband infrastructure we're rolling out."
Currently, the average download speed across Chorus' networks is 30.5 megabits per second (Mbps). Gigabit broadband offers real world download speeds approaching 1000Mbps and uploads of up to 500Mbps. This is the equivalent to uploading 25 high resolution images to Facebook in under five seconds; downloading 25 MP3 songs in a second or streaming ultra-HD movies to 40 different devices simultaneously. Chorus' Gigabit broadband service will run at the maximum speed the network electronics allows today. In practice this means customers will see download speeds of between 900Mbps and 970Mbps and upload speeds of up to 500Mbps.
Chorus’ residential wholesale gigabit broadband service will be available to broadband retailers at an introductory price of $60 per month until 30 June 2017 after which it increases to $65 per month. The business service will be priced at $75 per month from launch. Existing fibre customers looking to upgrade to a gigabit plan will not require a Chorus technician to visit their home which is obviously great news!
Chorus is working closely with Crown Fibre Holdings for their approval of the gigabit service pricing, however if approval is not obtained by the end of September the services will launch on a trial basis.
Here at Broadband Compare we'll be listing all the Gigabit plans on the Broadband Compare website as soon as they are available from the various ISP's and we'll be running regular reports to find who is the best fibre broadband provider in New Zealand for speed. With all the major ISP's in NZ likely to offer Gigabit fibre broadband plans the point of difference for broadband providers is becoming harder to pick and that is where Broadband Compare will be able to help. Compare current plans now... if you are looking to switch right now then consider a great no contract ADSL / VDSL provider like Flip Broadband first and then wait for these latest plans that arrive in October and see if you need to change... likewise if you're waiting for fibre to hit your street and it is coming soon there are options with companies like MyRepublic who can sign you up now on their discounted 24 month broadband plans and then upgrade you free of charge as soon as fibre broadband is installed in your home, meaning you get a great price and a great speed as soon as it is available!
