Chorus Speed Test: How to Test Your Fibre Speed and Read the Results

Chorus runs the fibre network that most New Zealand homes connect through, and its speed test is the one your provider will ask about when you ring to complain. This guide covers how to run it so the result actually means something, what each fibre plan should score, and what to do when the number comes in low.

What the Chorus speed test measures

The test at chorus.co.nz measures four things: download speed, upload speed, ping (the round-trip time to the test server) and jitter (how much that time wobbles between packets). Download and upload are what your plan is sold on. Ping and jitter are what decide whether video calls and online games feel smooth.

The tool above runs the same kind of measurement against Cloudflare’s Auckland edge, so you can compare the two. If both agree, the result is real. If they disagree wildly, something between your device and the fibre box is interfering, and the section on reading results below explains what.

How to run it properly

1. Plug in. Connect a laptop to the modem with an Ethernet cable. Wi-Fi is the single biggest reason a fibre connection tests slow, and Chorus itself asks for a wired test.
2. Stop everything else. Pause downloads, cloud backups and streaming on other devices. One person watching 4K takes 25 Mbps off the result.
3. Test twice. Once mid-morning and once between 7pm and 11pm, which is when the network is busiest. The evening number is the one that matters.
4. Restart before you re-test. If the first result is poor, power-cycle the fibre box and the modem and run it again before assuming a fault.

What your plan should score

The Commerce Commission measures real New Zealand connections every month through its Measuring Broadband New Zealand programme. Report 28, published in July 2026, gives these averages for tests run in April 2026.

Two things stand out. Fibre barely slows down at peak time, while fixed wireless drops by roughly a fifth. And fibre plans generally test slightly above their headline speed, so a Fibre 100 connection scoring 106 Mbps is normal, not lucky.

The Big Fibre Boost changed the baseline

In June 2025 Chorus upgraded its two most common wholesale plans at no extra charge: the basic 50/10 plan became 100/20, and the popular 300/100 plan became 500/100. Around 700,000 households moved up. If your speed test still shows about 300 Mbps on a plan you bought years ago, your provider may not have applied the upgrade, or your modem may be the limit — either is worth a phone call.

Chorus’s own figures at 30 June 2026 show 1,147,000 fibre connections, 86 per cent of them on 500 Mbps or faster, with the average household using 731 GB a month. If you are on Fibre 100, you are now in the minority, and the price gap to Fibre 500 is usually small.

Reading a low result

A fibre connection that keeps dropping rather than merely testing slow is a different problem. Our guide to connections that keep dropping out works through it in order, from cables to the network fault map.

When the fault is on the Chorus side

Chorus does not deal with households directly. If the fibre box shows a red LOS light or the outage map lists your area, your provider logs the fault with Chorus and passes updates back to you. If a slow or unreliable connection is not fixed after you have complained to the provider, the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service is free, handles complaints from households after six weeks, and can award up to $15,000. Our guide to New Zealand internet providers explains who is responsible for what.

Other tests worth comparing

No single test is authoritative. The Chorus test measures to a Chorus server; ours measures to Cloudflare in Auckland; Google’s built-in test uses Measurement Lab servers. Results within about ten per cent of each other are normal. If one is far lower, the problem is that test’s route rather than your connection. Our main speed test guide compares the tools side by side, and the speed-up guide covers what to change once you know the number.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Chorus speed test accurate?

Yes, when it is run over a cable with nothing else using the connection. Run over Wi-Fi it measures your Wi-Fi rather than your fibre, which is why results are often lower than the plan.

What speed should Fibre 100 get on the Chorus test?

Around 100 to 110 Mbps down and 20 to 25 Mbps up. The Commerce Commission’s April 2026 measurements averaged 106 Mbps down and 25 Mbps up.

Why is my fibre only testing at 300 Mbps?

Either the June 2025 Big Fibre Boost has not been applied to your plan, or your modem or its WAN port cannot pass more than that. Check the plan speed in your provider’s app first.

What is a good ping on fibre in New Zealand?

Five to ten milliseconds to a local server. Above 20 ms on a wired fibre connection usually means a VPN, a Wi-Fi hop, or a device problem.

Can I complain to Chorus about slow speeds?

Not directly. Your provider is the contract holder and logs faults with Chorus. If the provider does not resolve it, the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service is free for households.

Does the time of day matter?

Yes. Evenings between 7pm and 11pm are the busiest, and that is the result providers are measured on. Fibre changes very little at peak; fixed wireless and copper drop noticeably.