Lucky punters in Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch who are on TelstraClear's InHome network are about to have their download speeds bumped up free of charge.
Downstream speed on the 5 GB plan will increase from up to 2 Mbps to up to 4 Mbps, and the 20 GB plan from up to 4 Mbps to up to 10 Mbps.
TelstraClear Head of Consumer, Steve Jackson, says customers on the 5 GB and 20 GB plans will be automatically upgraded to the new speeds.
”This is great for our customers and they don’t need to do anything. They’ll notice everything gets a lot faster. On our 5 GB plan alone, more than 12,000 customers will reap the benefits of an increase in speed.
Mr Jackson says the company was noticing a change in customer behaviour, with customers wanting to optimise their broadband experience for things such as streaming video.
”We’re staying ahead of the game, offering customers plans to suit their needs. An increase in speed makes surfing the internet, downloading music and videos and playing online games easier than ever before.„
Mr Jackson is obviously enamoured of his company's generosity but another point of view could be that local providers are finally realising what broadband actually means and are taking some steps to supply it to their long-suffering customers.
The new speeds will be in effect by August 1.