Hook Me Up – Getting Connected To The Internet

So you want to get an internet connection. What is the next step?

Well the first decision is, broadband or fibre? Now it is kind of unfortunate that for someone who may not be confident with technology, the first decision is a technical one. Let me break it down for you.

The simplest way to answer this question is, fibre is the future while broadband is the past. Broadband comes through the phone lines which is a 100 year old technology while fibre has it own dedicated cable. You may be thinking that I’m just starting so why do I need a cable dedicated to the internet? Before you dismiss fibre all together, you should know installing it into your house is a cost of $3000 – $5000  which currently is fully funded by the government. This funding finishes at the end of 2019. This is the technology of the future and will take over broadband eventually: would you rather it on the government tab or your own?

So after that you are probably expecting me to recommend fibre. Well I’m not. I believe the path of least resistance is best for beginners, so talking to contractors about a technology you don’t understand or have a use for could put you off all together.

So broadband, you have a few options because if you remember broadband comes through the phone lines: all phone companies provide broadband. I’m going to keep it simple. I would recommend going with your phone company unless you hate them (which is pretty common these days). Then you could go with Flip NZ (0800 60 72 53) and ask for a plan that doesn’t have a contract because this will make transitioning to fibre, and taking advantage of the government subsidy, far easier, once you have some confidence using the internet.

Final step. I know, it’s a process. Setting up the modem. Nowadays, most modems come pre-configured to connect to the ISP (Internet Service Provider).  You can follow the instructions and generally you can get up and running on the internet but if you have any issues, we can do it for a small fee.

Once you have your modem talking to your computer, you are done! You are ready to explore the internet!