The Star: October 08, 2020
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Thursday <strong>October</strong> 8 <strong>2020</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong><br />
IT’S TIME for Greater<br />
Christchurch to come<br />
together again to focus on<br />
the future.<br />
Greater Christchurch,<br />
which includes the urban<br />
settlements in our neighbouring<br />
districts, is the<br />
fastest growing region<br />
outside of Auckland.<br />
We are the second largest<br />
urban centre in New<br />
Zealand and a strong<br />
economic, logistics, service<br />
and knowledge hub for<br />
Canterbury and the South<br />
Island.<br />
Through post-quake investment<br />
by the public and<br />
private sector, we have new<br />
infrastructure, new buildings<br />
and amenities, as well<br />
as beautiful public spaces<br />
and an amazing natural<br />
environment.<br />
When we look at Auckland,<br />
we can see challenges<br />
that high housing costs<br />
and congestion caused by<br />
sprawl bring about, and we<br />
can avoid these.<br />
We are well placed to<br />
build on our strengths and<br />
avoid these pitfalls.<br />
At the same time, there<br />
are new challenges to face<br />
as we look to the future.<br />
<strong>The</strong> need for us to<br />
respond and adapt to<br />
climate change, the impact<br />
Playground.<br />
of technologies on our<br />
economy and our lives,<br />
the role other global and<br />
national changes have on<br />
the competitiveness of our<br />
businesses and the attractiveness<br />
of city and region<br />
as a place to live, study, do<br />
business and invest.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se offer enormous<br />
opportunities as well.<br />
Greater Christchurch<br />
2050 is a project that has<br />
been designed to help us<br />
grapple with these questions<br />
on a collaborative<br />
OPINION 25<br />
Focus on the future<br />
Mayor<br />
Lianne Dalziel<br />
AMENITIES: Christchurch has some beautiful<br />
public spaces such as the Margaret Mahy<br />
PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN<br />
basis with our neighbours.<br />
It’s easy to have your<br />
say – there is a short survey<br />
available online atwww.<br />
greaterchristchurch.org.<br />
nz, or you can start a<br />
discussion with your own<br />
community using the “host<br />
your own conversation”<br />
toolkit, also on the website.<br />
Help us as we look to<br />
the future and make sure<br />
Greater Christchurch<br />
is truly a great place<br />
for our children and<br />
grandchildren.<br />
THE <strong>2020</strong> GENERAL ELECTION<br />
AND REFERENDUMS<br />
Vote now in the<br />
General Election<br />
and referendums.<br />
Find your nearest<br />
voting place at<br />
vote.nz or call<br />
<strong>08</strong>00 36 76 56<br />
PROMOTED CONTENT<br />
Why kiwis should make sure they<br />
are on fibre broadband<br />
New Zealanders are<br />
spoilt for choice when it<br />
comes to the broadband<br />
technology available – thanks<br />
to world-class fibre broadband<br />
availability to 80 per cent of<br />
households.<br />
Despite fibre’s availability,<br />
choosing the right broadband<br />
can be a real headache<br />
managing all the technologies,<br />
deals and services from internet<br />
providers. As well as fibre,<br />
there’s other technologies<br />
around like cellular-based<br />
services sold as broadband<br />
(called fixed wireless) and<br />
some homes are still on old<br />
copper broadband (called ADSL<br />
and VDSL).<br />
<strong>The</strong> differences between<br />
these broadband technologies<br />
turn up as speed, service<br />
reliability and how much<br />
performance drops when<br />
lots of people are using their<br />
broadband service the same<br />
time – like during peak times<br />
in the evening. Sometimes bad<br />
weather can be a factor for<br />
some technology.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se factors can have a<br />
significant impact on the<br />
internet experience you have<br />
at home and can even stop you<br />
doing the things you want to -<br />
<strong>The</strong> right broadband technology may eliminate or reduce stop-start streaming and buffering, or<br />
low-quality video when watching movies or video conferencing.<br />
streaming movies, connecting<br />
with family over video or<br />
gaming. <strong>The</strong> right broadband<br />
technology may eliminate or<br />
reduce stop-start streaming and<br />
buffering, or low-quality video<br />
when watching movies or video<br />
conferencing.<br />
Why you should not let your<br />
internet provider choose your<br />
broadband<br />
<strong>The</strong> simple answer is that<br />
only you can make the best<br />
decision for your family or<br />
household and you have a right<br />
to know what you are buying.<br />
Most people would not let<br />
someone else choose their new<br />
TV or car. It might seem like<br />
an odd comparison, but your<br />
broadband is likely to cost you<br />
up to $1000 per year, maybe<br />
more, and you could be tied in<br />
for two years. Broadband<br />
is a big purchase.<br />
Make sure you ask<br />
your internet provider<br />
exactly what technology<br />
they are offering<br />
you, what speed you<br />
can expect from that<br />
technology and to<br />
explain how it will meet<br />
your needs.<br />
How to choose the right<br />
broadband and compare<br />
different technologies<br />
<strong>The</strong> good news is the<br />
Commerce Commission<br />
publishes a quarterly<br />
broadband comparison<br />
report to help consumers<br />
make informed decisions.<br />
<strong>The</strong> latest report<br />
highlights the differences<br />
in performance in average<br />
download speeds on<br />
different technologies. On<br />
a 100Mbps (megabits per<br />
second - speed) fibre plan,<br />
you get an average speed<br />
of 99Mbps – so what you<br />
would expect and pay for.<br />
On a top end fibre plan<br />
the average speed jumps<br />
to over 7<strong>08</strong>Mbps. Other<br />
technologies are much<br />
slower – ADSL (9Mbps),<br />
fixed wireless (26Mbps) and<br />
VDSL (43Mbps).<br />
Speed is the key to good<br />
broadband performance and<br />
the report highlights this.<br />
With fibre you can successfully<br />
stream ultra-high definition<br />
video nearly all the time (99<br />
per cent). On VDSL this drops<br />
by about 10 per cent, on fixed<br />
wireless this will only work<br />
two-thirds of the time and one<br />
tenth of the time on ADSL.<br />
<strong>The</strong> report also highlights<br />
the difference in technology<br />
performance during the<br />
Covid-19 lockdown when so<br />
many people were dependent<br />
on the quality of their home<br />
broadband – with 100Mbps<br />
fibre service speeds unaffected<br />
and fixed wireless speeds<br />
reducing by 20 per cent to 25<br />
per cent.<br />
Broadbandcompare.co.nz<br />
compares different deals<br />
available from internet<br />
providers. You can see what<br />
broadband technology is<br />
available, how much data<br />
is included and what the<br />
contract term is.<br />
Visit enable.net.nz to find<br />
out if fibre is available at<br />
your place.