Technology revolution goes slow in NZ

It's sad news that Sky are set to put its Sky Online service on hold - but not because I used it.

This decision is yet another indication the technology revolution turns incredibly slow in Aotearoa.

My primary reason for not subscribing to Sky Online is the same reason it's being put on hold - the broadband data caps in New Zealand.

The comparatively small size of the caps means people are using too much of their data watching videos - forcing some into the technological hell of dial-up speeds at the end of the month.

Thankfully my ISP - Orcon - doesn't slow me down when I reach my cap. I can pay $2 per GB or pay for an extra block of data - but I don't think Orcon is necessarily the norm when it comes to ISPs here.

And, to be honest, I would grudge paying more for a service I was already paying for.

The problem has only been exacerbated by the use of peer-to-peer technology like BitTorrent. BitTorrent has many legitimate uses as well as its commonly known 'illegal' uses.

Many big software firms now use the protocol to distribute large files - it has the potential to save them a huge amount of money in online costs.

But BitTorrent has a 'good practise' rule which states you should upload just as much as you download - meaning you effectively 'pay' twice for the same download.

For example, I download linux operating systems at the drop of a hat.

Some of these are distributed as DVDs - meaning a download comes in at around 4.7GB. If I'm a good netizen then I leave my BitTorrent client open for other people to get the software from me too - meaning another 4.7GB of data gets used - 9.4GB for one linux distribution that may or may not install on my laptop.

I listen to a lot of podcasts in my spare time - and most of the technology ones are based in the US. And they covered a story a little while ago that made me realise just how poorly off we are in New Zealand.

When one of the US ISPs was concerned its heavy users were impacting the internet speed for normal users it threatened to set a data cap. And there was an uproar.

That data cap was going to be 250GB. Per month. More than double what most Kiwis would have as their data cap for an entire year.

And the problem is only going to get worse if New Zealand ISPs don't start to giving consumers decent data caps because we're only going to become more dependant on the internet in the future.

We're going to rent movies, make video calls, play games, watch television, stream music and much much more in the future and we're pretty ill-prepared for that.

Contrast Sky's decision with the news that French TV station Canal+ is being added to the XBox 360 meaning people there can watch up to 3,000 movies, television and live football matches online.

Yep, Europe is increasing its offerings while we're seeing a cut back.

Just about says it all, doesn't it?