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1. Data gathering
a. The minimum set of operators chosen for comparison are: the incumbent telecommunications operator, the largest cable provider (if there is cable coverage) and at least one alternative provider, if available, over DSL, cable or fibre.
b. Offers must be advertised clearly on the operator's website
c. All DSL, cable and fiber offers are recorded, but not used in calculations if speeds are lower than 256 kbits. Only 4 offers fell into this category.
d. Offers are for month to month service
e. Offers should be available in the country's largest city – or in the largest regional city for firms with only regional coverage.
2. Speeds
a. Speeds are those advertised by operators and likely do not correspond to typical throughput.
b. Some maximum speeds have been imputed when not explicitly stated based on technogical limits of the installed technologies (e.g. New Zealand ADSL speeds).
3. Prices
a. PSTN rental: Prices do not include PSTN line rental charges when they can be separated out, even though subscribers may be required to have a PSTN line to subscribe to DSL. Some offers do include phone service which could not be disaggregated.
b. Modem rental: Prices do not include modem rental (when priced separately)
c. Term commitments: Prices do not include discounts for longer-term commitments. In some countries, operators offer significant discounts to subscribers who commit for a longer period. These longer-term subscribers can often comprise a large majority of all broadband subscribers in a country (e.g. Korea's 95% of subscribers on discounted longer-term plans).
d. Free calling: Some plans offer a number of included phone calls as part of the broadband plan. If simple Internet access prices cannot be disaggregated then the calls are included in the price (e.g. Casema [NL], Free [FR], Telefonica [ES])]
e. Preselection requirements: Prices do not include discounts for also choosing certain calling plans or preselection (e.g. Telecom [NZ]).
f. If plan requires a certain amount of phone use (charges) per month then these are added into the basic Internet access price [e.g. TelstraClear (NZ)]
4. Bit caps
a. Bit caps are given in megabytes per month
b. Bit caps are for all domestic and international traffic. However, in cases where national and international traffic are capped differently the bit caps are for international traffic (e.g. Siminn [IS], Portugal Telecom [PT], TV Cabo [PT]).
c. Costs for additional traffic are given in price per additional megabyte.
d. When operators offer additional monthly traffic in different bundles the price reflects the lowest price per MB across offers (e.g. Woosh [NZ]).
e. Some operators have maximum excess charges per month which limits the total possible monthly cost of the connection (e.g. Rogers [CA], Stofa [DK], OTE [GR], Snerpa [IS], Telefonica [ES]).
f. When prices per additional megabyte are on a graduated scale the average of all prices is used.
g. Prices and bit cap measures do not take into account bandwidth offered during "happy hours" (e.g. Cabovisao [PT])
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