5700 people made comments in our survey. Here’s a small selection reflecting concerns about ISPs or the internet in general:

• The measured download speeds are often little better than dial-up. To charge broadband rates for this service verges on the fraudulent. I have complained, but received no reply. If anything, the service has deteriorated. I am contemplating a shift.
• I intensely dislike speaking to a foreign call centre when I have a problem.
• We were misled by the salesman as to service cost and speed. The price and internet service received were not what was signed up for. The speed is pathetic and customer services are unhelpful.
• I am disappointed my ISP, along with all the others, seems to count disloyalty above loyalty. I can gain the best deals and promotions if I change providers regularly. If I stick with one provider I miss out on reduced rates, free wireless routers, those sorts of deals. I think it’s time ISPs rewarded existing customers with similar deals to stay connected.
• Download and upload speeds have declined considerably recently. Using the Consumer broadband speed test yesterday gave me a download speed of 1.9 Mbps whereas a year ago it was averaging 3-3.5 Mbps. A similar drop off in upload speeds is apparent as well.
• I told a Telecom salesman that if Telecom was the only telco I would do without a phone and I told Vodafone that they seemed to be trying hard to perform at least as badly as Telecom.
• I have been with Telecom/Xtra for several years and cannot understand why it has had poor reviews over this time. I find it very satisfactory in all respects.
• It is impossible to speak to anyone with any authority on the phone [at Vodafone]. This is phenomenally annoying.  The connection speeds and drop-outs have been very disappointing.   The website 'help' area is beyond useless. For a start, you have to sign up to use it. Why can't you just sign in with your username and password the same as you do in the rest of the website? And then, once you have signed up, it seems to 'forget' your ID. The next time you try to sign in you have to register again. If I could bear the effort of changing my email address after 10 years, I'd change ISPs with pleasure. Sadly, it doesn't seem any of the others are any better!
• The speed of cable is awesome, I love it.
• The response times on the Telstra-Clear help lines are so long that they are practically not contactable.
• Still slow and expensive compared to most other countries.
• I would love a little more speed, but who in NZ wouldn't?

Report by Marc Wendelborn and Bev Frederikson.