Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett has laid down the gauntlet for New Zealand's other ISPs, announcing today that Orcon will charge the same amount for fibre internet plans as it currently charges for plans using the current copper network.
That means plans will start at $75 per month for a plan with 30MBps download speed, 10MBps upload speed, and a data cap of 30GB.
Bartlett also announced plans for users who want higher data caps, with an $89 package for 60GB, a $99 package for 100GB, and a $199 package for 1TB, or 1000GB.
If consumers want more speed, they can also pay for a 100MB down/30MB up connection, starting at $110 for 30GB per month.
For businesses, plans will start at $169+GST for 30MBps up and 10MBps down, or $199+GST for 100MBps up and 50MBps down. Both packages include 30GB of data per month and two built-in VoIP phone lines.
Bartlett says after so much time in planning and negotiation, it's good to be at the point where fibre can be rolled out to customers.
"Up until now it's all sounded like something that could be exciting," Bartlett says.
"This network doesn't bring along the legacy problems of copper," Bartlett says, citing examples like speed going down if many people in a neighbourhood are accessing the internet, and connections dropping completely after heavy rain.
"Fibre is a much more solid, robust and secure technology."
Customers who are due to be connected to fibre in the next few weeks can place their orders right now, by going to the Orcon website. People can also use the site to search their address and see when they are scheduled to be connected.
