How much data do you need on your broadband plan? Kiwi’s are now consuming an average of 120GB… so we’d say at least that!
Earlier this week saw the release of the latest network usage data from Chorus, New Zealand’s largest broadband network provider who provide broadband services on both Fibre and the traditional Copper network… and unsurprisingly we’ve seen yet another jump in the data being consumed by Kiwi households.
Only four months after first passing the 100GB mark, households and small businesses on the Chorus network consumed an average of 120GB in October 2016. Which means, that, in short, New Zealanders are chewing through broadband data faster than the last sausage at a barbie!
Our thirst for data is growing exponentially. The OECD rates New Zealand as ninth out of 34 countries for broadband growth and New Zealand now has the highest growth in fibre uptake in the world.
Chorus have predicted that the average usage of broadband data by New Zealand households on the Chorus broadband network will be 170GB by June next year, and a whopping 680GB by 2020. That seems like a lot, but when you think about the fact more than two-thirds of NZers still haven’t signed up for streaming TV services such as Netflix and Lightbox, there’s a lot of growing still to do. Not to mention the growth in home automation. Imagine arriving home to a light home conditioned to the perfect temperature with the oven pre-heated and ready to go with the push of a few buttons on your smartwatch… you won’t have to imagine for long… that’s coming sooner than you think.
The growing data appetite of New Zealand is all seeing a change in the sort of plans we’re buying. Statistics New Zealand reported that at the end of June almost half of all broadband connections in New Zealand had unlimited data plans and why wouldn’t you? Who wants to worry whether you’ll have enough data left to make it to the season finale of Narcos. A total of 64% of OECD countries have no data caps. In fact if you ask those living in France, Japan, Sweden and the Netherlands they probably won’t even know what a data cap is.
Not only are we doing more data downloading… we’re also doing it faster too – a whopping 60 percent faster than last year. The average connection speed on the Chorus broadband network was 34.3Mbps in October, compared with 21.3Mbps in October 2015. That leaves time for at least one extra Orange is the New Black episode every week
But here’s the really big thing. A huge two thirds of customers on the Chorus broadband network are still not taking advantage of the best broadband available at their address.
Over 80% of New Zealanders have access to VDSL or fibre broadband RIGHT NOW. To find out what is available at your address just put your address in our broadband checker on the Broadband Compare website and you’ll be shown the types of connection available at your property. Once you know the best connection type available you can then use the simple filters to find the best broadband plan for your needs with every option available shown to you on the site.
So in summary, while predicting what we’ll be using our broadband for next year is as hard as predicting what the weather will be on Christmas Day, a few things are certain. Firstly, we will certainly be using more data, so ensure you consider unlimited data broadband plans for your needs and also, we’ll be wanting to do things faster and our need for speed will continue for a long time to come… so future proof yourself now with some of these awesome gigabit fibre broadband deals. What are you waiting for? Compare and save right now!