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A fast internet connection is often one of the first things prospective home buyers ask about when looking at a property.
With the government-funded ultra-fast broadband initiative over a decade old, and around 87 per cent of the country now having access to fibre, it is almost expected. That initiative will end at the end of this year.
Chorus external communications head Steve Pettigrew says developers in the north with large new developments in the pipeline are expected to provide the infrastructure to support fibre in the same way they provide connections to water.
The onus is on the developer to arrange with Chorus to put in the ducts the fibre runs through, ready for when the new owners want to get connected through their service provider, should they choose.
This is important for developers to sort out right at the start, as most local councils require a letter from Chorus to confirm phone and internet services are available at the property as part of their resource consent conditions, with the letter advising the date from which the Chorus network will be in place.
Fibre is the only cable option for new builds now as copper, the original telephone network which became the first broadband network, is no longer being installed.
Not all future developments planned for Warkworth are in areas where broadband is currently available.
Pettigrew says this won’t cause problems for big developments as Chorus will subsidise the installation costs for the developer, with no expectation of that cost being recuperated in the future.
It gets trickier for smaller developments that could be outside the area where broadband is currently available.
This is likely to occur more with new medium density residential standards coming into play from August 20, with smaller building sites cropping up around the area.
Pettigrew advises people to go onto the Chorus website and look at the rules surrounding smaller sites, as installation costs may be prohibitive and mean they will have to look at alternatives.
These alternatives include rural broadband providers such as Rodney Broadband, which operates in the area, or the satellite broadband provider Starlink.
Each option has drawbacks. The Starlink option has fast speeds but subscribers need to set it up themselves, and it needs clear spaces around the house without a lot of trees. The initial equipment setup costs around $1000 with monthly payments of more than $100. The rural broadband option can see speeds slow down in peak user times and users say it can be affected by bad weather.
