I ditched Xtra and went with Telstra. Prior to unleashing I have always had a good connection, 3.5mbps, with around 80 ping to NZ gaming servers.
After being "Go Larged" (apparently full download and 128k upload) instead of 3.5 mbps download speed I only got 1.5 if I was lucky, and gaming pings were up to 150 - 300.
I then tried their Pro plan (full up and down). My d/l speed was back up around 6.0 mbps, upload about 600kbps. Pings to gaming servers were back to 80ish. This was good news but I wasn't happy with (aka allowed) to spend $80 per month for internet.
Knowing what my line was capable of I saw Telstra were offering full up and down for less than I was paying with my old Telecom Adventure plan ($56 p/m), AND they will turn off interleaving if you ask (interleaving is like error correction, but it increases latency for data consistency = higher pings = issues when playing FPS games, even IL2).
I am now with Telstra PDQ. I am getting 5-6mbps download and 600kps upload. My ping to gaming servers is now 30 - 60 (!!!)
Now I hear Telecom are being looked into under the Fair Trading Act provisions.
If anyone's interested there are a few threads on the
NZ PC World Forum and the
NZ Battlefield ForumIt does look as if Telecom are sorting things out, but their attitude convinced me to change.