Telecom NZ ADSL Petition

We, The Undersigned, request that you (Telecom New Zealand) provide New Zealanders with a more substantial and competitive service in the 'fast' (a.k.a. Broadband) internet connection market.

Current offerings by you (Telecom NZ) include:
JetStream Starter (128kbps symmetrical) - $29.95/month (plus ISP charges, equates to around $65.00 per month)
JetStream Home 500 (full speed - dependant on connection) - $49.95/month (plus ISP charges, equates to around $70.00 per month)
JetStream Home 1000 (full speed - dependant on connection) - $69.95/month (plus ISP charges, equates to around $90.00 per month)

Your recently proposed offerings:
JetStream Home 500 (256kbps symmetrical) - $39.95/month (plus ISP charges, equates to around $60.00 per month)
JetStream Home 1000 (256kbps symmetrical) - $49.95/month (plus ISP charges, equates to around $70.00 per month)
JetStream Home 2000 (256kbps symmetrical) - $59.95/month (plus ISP charges, equates to around $80.00 per month)

We, The Undersigned, believe that these newly proposed plans for high speed internet (which is not even classified as broadband by international standards because it does not meet the required "over 256kbps downstream") are an insult to New Zealand's home users and industry.

We strongly urge you to undertake serious thought in terms of how you are to best help this country (which has extremely high internet usage per head of population) grow in terms of a competitive broadband industry, desirably by the following suggested methods:

1. Increase monthly transfer limits to compete globally and with rival company, TelstraClear.
2. Differentiate between international and national transfer (we understand that international transfer is the only REAL cause of expensive bandwidth in the Asia/Pacific region, and that our national grid should be able to handle much higher limits than it currently does).
3. Increase the downstream speed of these connections to internationally accepted "Broadband" - i.e. 384kbit/s downstream
4. Lower the price of your services to a more internationally acceptable standard, which the majority of New Zealanders can afford reasonably without having to be totally out of pocket.

We sincerely hope that Telecom New Zealand will take this petition into serious consideration, and understand that by releasing these new plans, it is an effective step backwards for New Zealand as a country.