Brett Hayward, an IT consultant and self-described ''techy'', was connected to Orcon's gigabit ultra-fast internet as a test-case a week before the 1Gbps broadband was switched on for everyone else at the end of February.
The biggest difference he had noticed was being able to do more things at once.
At present he had eight devices which could be connected to the internet in his home and the new service meant he could run them simultaneously without a reduction in speed.
''We no longer experience buffering or interruptions, even if we are using more than one computer at a time.
''I also upload lots of videos to YouTube and can't believe how fast they upload.''
Being able to download high-quality movies in a minute was also a plus.
Gigabit internet was not for everyone, but the increase in speed was worth it for families and people living in flats where several people were accessing the internet at once, he said.
The difference would not be so noticeable for a home with a single computer.
