NZ Internet - Definitely NOT Up To Speed

We're used to easy access to free or nearly free Internet in Canada and the USA. At home, we have always-on, 24/7, "high speed" virtually unlimited access for about $1 a day and a few pennies. Since telecom companies can charge that and still make money, I'm assuming that providing Internet access like that must cost a lot less, given the way telecom companies operate.

Almost all libraries in Canada and the USA offer free Internet. Most hotels and motels just offer free access (including WiFi) as part of the collection of amenities available. Kind of like hot water, TV, a bed...... Safeway food stores in some parts of Canada (ie: Nelson, BC), at least the ones with Starbucks or whatever coffee purveyor they have, offer free WiFi. I can stand outside most Staples, Office Depot and Best Buy stores and pick up a signal. We live in a small town of about 1000 people and there are, by a rough count, at least 4 places where a person with a laptop can pick up a signal. That includes the local bar/hotel where you can catch up on your e-mail, book a hotel, check ferry connections or do your social networking, all while having a pint of a local brew.

In NZ, there is almost nothing, by comparison. Very few libraries offer free Internet access and even fewer have WiFi access. The main city library in Auckland did have free wireless, but it was, like the library in Devonport, just across the harbour from Auckland, slow to the pont of unusability. You "can" buy access, but being spoiled the way I am, I've been resisting this option. Frankly, I'm not prepared to pay up to $10/hour for access, no matter whose currency that amount is in. Further south, in Greytown, an organization called the APN (Aotearoa People's Network) is working to get free Internet access to libraries. They are making progress, but apparently they have a long way to go. I was able to use the same network at the library in Westport, out on the West Coast.

I need to find out from a local what home Internet costs; perhaps telecommunications costs significantly more here than in North America. We have seen fewer people with cell phones, so perhaps that's the reason. It's difficult to see how people would use the Internet to do business, communicate and do research if it costs so much. Is this caused by a lack of competition in the ISP field or has the wireless "craze" just not hit here yet? I have to say I've seen few if any of the small computers similar to what I'm carrying on this trip.