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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 />

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technology available – thanks<br />

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availability to 80 per cent of<br />

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Despite fibre’s availability,<br />

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managing all the technologies,<br />

deals and services from internet<br />

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services sold as broadband<br />

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<strong>The</strong> differences between<br />

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reliability and how much<br />

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<strong>The</strong> right broadband technology may eliminate or reduce stop-start streaming and buffering, or<br />

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Why you should not let your<br />

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broadband<br />

<strong>The</strong> simple answer is that<br />

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Most people would not let<br />

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Make sure you ask<br />

your internet provider<br />

exactly what technology<br />

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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 />

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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.

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