Oh Look, New Zealand Has 4Gbps Internet Now

Japan offering 10Gbps plans was bad enough. But to rub salt into the wound of Australian internet further, New Zealand has started offering 2Gbps and 4Gbps plans, with capacity for 8Gbps speeds in the future.

The services are being made available through Kiwi provider Chorus, which recently launched their Hyperfibre broadband product this month. It’ll be available initially in Cromwell, Queenstown, Wanaka and Wakatipu, according to IT Brief, with the first plans being 2000 Mbps and 4000 Mbps (that’s 2Gbps/4Gbps).

Just reading the description for the Hyperfibre product page will make Australians weep.

Customers connecting to Hyperfibre will need to be connected directly to the fibre network at the local exchange, and a technician will come out and replace the dwelling’s network terminal with a new one capable of supporting the faster plans. It’s not just a new network terminal though: providers are warning consumers that you’ll need Cat 6 ethernet cabling in your house and a laptop or PC with a 10GE network card.

It’s worth noting that Chorus aren’t the ones selling the plans directly to customers, as they’re simply the wholesaler. Orcon are the first providers in New Zealand to sell Hyperfibre, with a 4Gbps plan available for $NZ199.95/month ($191) on a 12-month contract.

Given the hardware requirements, the 4Gbps plan really isn’t for most people, particularly given each port out of most routers would only be capable of pushing 1Gbps at a time anyway. But that’s OK, because New Zealanders can still get casual 950/500Mbps fibre plans starting from about $NZ85 a month.

And to think Aussies wouldn’t take 1Gbps plans even if they were free.