Broadband speed testing service TrueNet is closing.

Broadband speed testing service TrueNet is closing. The company failed to win the Commerce Commission testing contract, there are few other revenue opportunities for the business in New Zealand.

TrueNet is two-thirds owned by Catalyst IT, the remainder is owned by Jonette Consulting which is turn owned by John Butt and Annette Begg.

For the last six years TrueNet monitored end-user internet speeds using probes installed in homes and offices. Independent testing was sometimes controversial with telecommunications companies, in part because it helped hold them to account. On occasions the testing revealed engineering flaws.

TrueNet says its testing will end on January 31.

Vocus wins TaaS panel spot

The Department of Internal Affairs has added Vocus Communications to the Telecommunications-as-a-Service). This means Vocus can supply networking, internet, fixed voice, personal connectivity and managed security services to New Zealand government agencies.

Vocus Communications General Manager Susie Stone says her company is working in a partnership with Datacom to handle TaaS sales. Vocus brings Wan, cloud connectivity and secure access to the party while Datacom provides the Lan, WiFi and service desk.

She says: “We have a large number of joint customers with Datacom and work together every day to deliver complex solutions”.

Stone says transition risks are a key concern for our existing government customers.

“In response, we have developed a low-risk transition solution, called Vocus Gateway, which aims to allow government agencies to stay operational during the migration to TaaS. Customers will stay connected to their legacy network throughout the migration, and also have secure access to the internet, hybrid cloud services, VPN, and SIP services we offer", she says.

Meanwhile, Australian-owned Conference Call International has been named as a government approved TaaS provider of audio, web and operator-assisted conferencing services to New Zealand government agencies.

Black mark for Vodafone in Consumer survey

Consumer says when it comes to customer satisfaction Vodafone rates bottom in both mobile and broadband. It was also last year's poorest performer.

Consumer's annual telecommunications customer satisfaction survey found Vodafone was the only company rating below-average on all performance measures.

The organisation says: "About three-quarters of Vodafone's broadband customers reported spending a long time on the phone waiting to speak to a rep. Nearly half said the service was poor once they finally got through."

Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin says: “Vodafone needs to spend less on flashy advertising and more on sorting out its service."

Things are better at Spark, but far from perfect. The company's mobile customers gave it a below-average mark for overall satisfaction.

Between them, the two biggest telcos dragged down average overall satisfaction scores. Mobile providers were rated at 54 percent while internet service providers scored 49 percent.

While the smaller companies did better, Consumer singled out Spark's Skinny subsidiary for praise saying it has a satisfaction score of 75 percent. Skinny has a low-touch support model, so it's not clear if customers prefer not dealing with call centre staff or if they have different expectations.

2degrees was also above average with a 61 percent satisfaction rating. Spark managed 49 percent, while Vodafone was on 48 percent overall.

Copper services-only Flip was top of the ISP rankings with a 70 percent rating.

The top-rated ISP was Flip, with an overall satisfaction score of 70%. However, it doesn’t offer fibre. Among ISPs that do, Skinny customers reported fewer problems than others.

Chetwin says one in three fibre customers encountered issues during installation. While 20 percent said agreed installation times weren’t met. About one-in-eight or 12 percent of the sample their property had been damaged or not restored properly during installation.

Consumer quizzed 1561 New Zealanders aged 18 or over for the survey which took place in December 2017.

New mobile handsets from Oppo, Samsung

On Thursday Chinese handset maker Oppo launched the R11s and R11s Plus phones in Australia and New Zealand. They have huge screens: 6-inches on the R11s and 6.4 on the Plus model. On the same day Samsung announced two new models in the Galaxy A range.

In both cases the phone makers wanted to talk more about their cameras and the bokeh effect than the telephony features. Indeed telephony is barely mentioned during glitzy launches these days. That’s strange given the arrival of 4.5G and other network upgrades that only deliver their full power when handsets are ready for the technology.