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Speaker: How's that three strikes thing working out, anyway?

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  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Pete,

    As one who destroyed his telly aeons ago I don’t pretend to be morally superior – rather I found it difficult to ignore when on and there was this new internet thingy that could give me the news when I wanted without being yelled at by a Briscoes sale or condescended to by a vacuous newsreader.

    Bruce Springsteen would have to agree. Although today it's more like 257 channels and nothing on.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH, in reply to Peter Graham,

    Would you be happier paying the same price and not getting channels you don't want to watch?

    If the cable co says HBO is $20/month then I'd like them to sell it to me for $20/month. Not then turn around and say, "but you can only have it if you also buy this other stuff you don't want for $40/month". If they really mean HBO is $60/month and the other channels are free extras then yes, I'd rather they were upfront about that.

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Matthew Poole,

    I don’t think they’ve dropped dramatically, either. International capacity is still quite expensive, and margins are very tight. The less capacity that’s required, the better. A competition over contention ratios would only be good for the very biggest ISPs with the most commercial negotiating power, and I just don’t see them willingly going there.

    That’s not really how it is or has ever been though. Right from 1995, when Ihug introduced flat-rate internet while the big guys were still trying to charge not just by the byte but by the hour, it’s been smaller ISPs that have driven market offerings in NZ.

    This week, Orcon introduced new monthly caps for its Genius service, including 200GB for $99. Then Snap Internet just turned my 100GB/month deal into 550GB – same price! That’s nicely timed for my upgrade to VDSL, which Chorus is enabling but Telecom shows no sign of offering. And my deal with Snap for unlimited YouTube for $2 a month extra still holds. It’s kinda crazy.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz, in reply to Russell Brown,

    the big guys were still trying to charge not just by the byte but by the hour

    NZ was rather different to the UK back then, I guess.

    What happened in UK was that BT introduced a service where a provider got a percentage of the call toll for using an 0845 (?) number. This meant you could economically run an ISP without doing any billing, and that was the model until broadband came in. You could even start a virtual ISP at negligible outlay - just fill in some forms, get a number and try and persuade people to use it.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Russell, I know the competition on offerings has been from the bottom, but they're still not competing by being open about their contention ratios. The biggest ISPs are the biggest because of marketing power and customer intertia (especially Xtra) rather than because they offer the best deals. They could refuse to announce their contention ratios and still be the biggest and everyone else in the game knows it, so why bother potentially losing a commercial edge?
    Also, an ISP that got their announced contention ratio wrong would face action under the FTA, so why take on that risk? Easier just to let customer word-of-mouth get the word around on ISPs who have shit contention ratios.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming,

    And meanwhile, in Australia, Hollywood loses final appeal in piracy case

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • Rachel Prosser,

    In the meantime I'd be happy paying the licence fee

    Me too! In the meantime I enjoy Radio 4 podcasts - get your Andrew Marr fix with Start the Week - it's always excellent.

    In our Time with Melvin Bragg is as well, and I still have a soft spot for Desert Island Discs.

    Which reminds me, I wonder what's happening on The Archers?

    Christchurch • Since Mar 2008 • 228 posts Report Reply

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