What is the fastest internet in New Zealand?

In today’s digital world, fast and reliable internet is essential. From streaming 4K movies to running an online business, slow internet can bring productivity crashing to a halt.

Fortunately for Kiwis, New Zealand is well on its way to becoming a global leader in high-speed broadband.

While dial-up and basic ADSL were once the norm many years ago, those days are rapidly fading into the past.

Across the country, internet providers are now offering blistering fast internet plans that can deliver speeds once thought impossible for residential service. Let’s dive into the cutting-edge broadband technologies providing the fastest internet in New Zealand.

Fibre: The Gold Standard of Speed

At the top of the speeds ranks when it comes to home broadband is fibre optic internet. This technology uses flexible glass fibres to transmit data encoded in pulses of light. It represents a revolutionary leap over the copper phone lines once used for ADSL.

Fibre optic cables have an incredible data transmission capacity. The fastest residential fibre plans in New Zealand can provide download speeds getting close to an incredible 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) or 1000 Megabits per second (Mbps). To put that in perspective, downloading a 4K ultra-HD movie at 1 Gbps takes just 50 seconds.

Such blistering speeds absolutely demolish the old traditional broadband technologies. They allow an entire household to stream HD video, play online games, make video calls, and browse the web simultaneously without any slowdowns or lag.

However, fibre optic networks require new cables to be installed, which takes significant time and money. But New Zealand’s Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) initiative is rapidly bringing fibre lines to cities and towns across the country.

If you’re in a UFB area, you can sign up for some of the fastest internet in the world right to your home.

The Best of the Bunch: HyperFibre

Even among fibre optic technology, there are different tiers of speed. The latest and greatest is HyperFibre - symmetrical 8 Gbps fibre broadband that is quite literally 8 times faster than “standard” 1 Gbps fibre plans.

With download and upload speeds of 8000 Mbps, HyperFibre makes 4K movie downloads nearly instantaneous and allows you to back up tens of gigabytes of data to the cloud in a matter of minutes. It is the undisputed performance king for residential internet service.

HyperFibre is still very new and availability is limited to select urban areas, but it hints at the incredible internet capabilities on the horizon thanks to fibre optic cables. HyperFibre areas will only grow as providers continue fibre rollouts.

It’s important to note that while HyperFibre is eyewateringly fast, making the most of all of that speed is quite dependent on your own computer and home networking equipment (and the services you are connecting to) being capable of such speeds. Even still, it’s a cool technology!

Fast Alternatives to fibre

Of course, fibre represents a major infrastructure investment by providers. In a few areas where new fibre optic lines have yet to be run, internet companies have upgraded their existing networks to provide high-speed alternatives using different technologies:

Cable Broadband

Many providers offer broadband over existing hybrid fibre-coax (HFC) cable networks originally built for television services. The latest DOCSIS 3.1 standard allows cable broadband plans with download speeds up to 1 Gbps in some areas. That’s on par with fibre internet.

Upload speeds on cable broadband can be asymmetrical - typically lower at around 50 Mbps for a 1 Gig down plan. But the download capability is ideal for data-intensive activities like 4K streaming and online gaming.

The cable broadband only areas are now few and far between around New Zealand, as the UFB network has been completed and around 90% of the country have fibre at their property boundary, if not already installed in their home or business.

VDSL

For providers running broadband over legacy phone lines, VDSL (very-high-bitrate digital subscriber line) has been a game-changer. This upgraded DSL technology far exceeds the speeds of old ADSL, with many VDSL plans offering downloads between 50-100 Mbps.

VDSL upload speeds are usually in the 10-20 Mbps range, slower than fibre uploads. But the hyper-fast download ability and plug-and-play nature of VDSL make it an attractive high-speed option, especially in areas outside current fibre and cable footprints.

VDSL and cable won’t match the out-and-out speed of a symmetrical gigabit fibre plan. But they provide a major boost over old-school broadband and are great stopgap high-speed internet solutions until fibre is installed.

Wireless: The Future is Fast

While most of the buzz around super-fast internet centers on fibre and its wired cousins, wireless technology is gradually catching up. New wireless standards like WiFi 6 are enabling blazing wireless speeds throughout the home. Many internet providers provide the latest WiFi 6 routers on broadband plans.

And on the wider wireless front, 5G and its successors hold massive potential for fast wireless internet service directly to homes and businesses. While 5G rollouts are still in progress, some areas can already get 5G wireless home broadband with speeds around 500-800 Mbps.

The primary benefit of wireless is convenience - whether it’s the mobility of cellular data, the elimination of ugly cables with WiFi, or the increased installation flexibility of fixed wireless like 5G home internet.

The Need for Speed Across New Zealand

Ranging from 8 Gbps HyperFibre to multi-gigabit cable connections to 5G wireless, ultra high-speed internet is rapidly going mainstream across New Zealand. Just a few short years ago, these sorts of blinding fast residential speeds were unimaginable.

Thanks to widespread UFB fibre rollouts and new advancements across wired and wireless technologies, internet providers now have an array of cutting-edge broadband options to meet our skyrocketing bandwidth demands. Streaming, gaming, working remotely - no matter your online needs, you can find fast internet with the speeds to power it all.

Speed-hungry households and businesses have more high-performance internet choices than ever before. While fibre remains the gold standard, cable and DSL are providing great stopgap solutions until fibre lines are installed everywhere. And wireless is coming on strong.

The bottom line is New Zealanders no longer have to settle for sluggish, outdated internet service. The fastest internet is increasingly available nationwide from several different providers and delivery methods. So don’t get left in the digital slow lane - start exploring the blazing fast internet options in your area today.