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Comment by wmboy | Hacker News Reader

Bandwidth caps? I pay $130/mo for unlimited data on a fibre connection through Orcon. Even if fibre isn't available yet in your area you can still get a standard broadband connection for $100/mo with unlimited data.

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And they think it is expensive here in the UK! That works out to £66.39 here. That's insane.

As a Kiwi expat, prices for internet, and mobile services are amazingly cheaper here in the UK than back in NZ.

There's much more competition here, I'm amazed that I can get unlimited internet on my phone for £12 per month (giffgaff).

Back in NZ my monthly home internet cost the equivalent of £25 with no phoneline (cable - which is rare in NZ), and was capped at 10GB per month. Compared to other services, this was really cheap!

Situation here in India is comparatively good. I use a 100 Gb broadband plan(a decent 50 MBps) for as low as $25. Also above 100 Gb it's unlimited for a lower speed(6 MBps, Unlimited!). Piracy is a lot easier here since services like Netflix are not available and internet is super cheap and fast.

Same in Romania the 1Gbps[1] internet for about £12 and very few legit services like Netflix, Spotify and such.

So guess what's going to happen when you have such an amazing connection.

[1] http://www.rcs-rds.ro/internet-digi-net/fiberlink?t=internet...

Also mention that it is an unlimited data plan, with no caps or additional costs. Yes, that is a 1Gbps connection.

What provider are you using?

Have been trying to avoid piracy for the past few years. Started by buying and then renting dvds from a local dvd rental library. Currently renting movies from youtube seems like an option. Tried Bigflix, a netflix like service but a subscription service doesn't work with a very outdated collection. Youtube seems to get movies after they are approved by cbfc (the hollywood ones,I can see free nigerian movies without a cbfc rating. cbfc is India's movie certification body). This limits the content that is available. No TV content is available. So even with all the Internet bandwidth and some money, I still cannot watch shows which someone in the US can. Things are improving. Many US/UK based series get same week broadcast on TV. But more can be done for the subscription or rental market.

Wonder what causes it? Are they pushing technical costs onto the consumers? Or do they just see a captivate market and most providers are owned outside the country?

If you take a look at this map: http://imgur.com/xLxUs it looks like to buy a connection into/out of NZ there aren't many options - and the cables all look very long, i.e. very expensive.

And a government who supports the main telecom and lines company. There has even been talk of putting some cash their way to compensate for the money they would lose (the dividend they have been paying to date has been good too - but that couldn't be cut of course). This crap from our PM. After screwing us for decades, the commerce commission makes a decision that required a backbone and the PM sides with the corporation rather than the taxpayer. http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9169753/Chorus-must...

Here's a better link http://www.submarinecablemap.com/

Limited bandwidth coming in, limited bandwidth for the end user.

That's crazy. My entire telecoms bill here in the UK for an unlimited ADSL line, land line and three mobile phones is only £47!

My Verizon bill alone for two phones is $230US

I'm paying $170/mo for 500gb on Telecom fibre. I never seem to go over 300gb even when I try so it suits me. I always see people complaining about international speeds on Orcon unlimited. I can max out 11mb/s with torrents on a Sunday night no problem.

I have Netflix setup as well, super convenient but you never seem to get HD.

With those speeds you might want to try forcing bandwidth, if you haven't already.

ctrl-alt-shift-S brings up a bandwidth selection in the Netflix player.

100 megabits = 12.5 megabytes. Close enough.

I don't solely have fibre just for netflix. I was assuming using a 3rd party dns server to unblock Netflix they are actually proxy'ing some of the content, so it's really their server that limits the download speed (I mostly watch on my Apple TV so not many options there).

I might try that on the desktop version even though I don't use it much.

11mb/s is roughly 100mbits, you don't need $170 fibre for that.

I have the same Telescum account - except it's ADSL not fibre. I get the same D/L speeds :o)

In central ish Auckland, and the fastest I can get is 5Mb. No fibre available. Tried their "unlimited" and it's throttled to hell. Worthless. For about $100 I now have throttled but capped. But on the bright side, fibre may be available in 2019 according to our joke of a minister, Amy, when she emailed me.

Guessing you live in a apartment? Not really much you can do, it's up to the landlord to sort out wiring which probably won't happen unless your building was built with fibre initially.

I live in Ponsonby and we have had fibre available here for over a year now. I thought the plan was to have most of it done by the end of 2015?

House in Onehunga. I've had the data side of things rewired and the cable from the pole on the street is new too. Something is rotten in the street though.

I get twice the speed in Dunedin over ADSL :-{

I feel your pain, bro!

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