Back in March, Telstra said they’d be launching 100Mbps cable in Melbourne. Today, the Big T announced that they’d be flicking the switch on December 1, as well as confirming details on the T-Box. Not to be confused with the T-Hub, this one’s a DVR! For TV.
The T-Box is a twin-tuner DVR with a 200GB HDD and a 7-day EPG. On top of that, it will plug into the new 100Mbps fibre network to offer unmetered access to BigPond Movies and BigPond TV channels through the device, which sees it competing directly with the TiVo and Foxtel iQ. Of course, Telstra reckons that the T-Hub is a complementary offering to Foxtel (considering they own half of it), but the simple truth is that there’s no reason for anyone to own both.
The T-Box is going to be trialled by selected Melbourne customers over the coming months.
Telstra unveils Australia’s fastest cable broadband and new digital set top box
19 November 2009 – Melbourne will become home to Australia’s fastest cable broadband network after Telstra today announced the completion of an upgrade of the hybrid fibre coaxial broadband network offering an ultra fast, multi-user experience.
From 1 December nearly one million Melbourne homes will benefit from the upgrade to the cable network. The network download capacity increases to up to 100Mbps and the upload capacity to up to 2Mbps, offering an increase in bandwidth to share across multiple users and devices within the household.
Telstra also revealed a new television set top box incorporating two digital television tuners. To be known as T-Box™, the set top box features the ability to view and record free to air television programs up to seven days in advance, the ability to pause and rewind live television and seamlessly integrates access to BigPond internet content such as BigPond TV channels and the BigPond Movies download rental service.
Telstra Group Managing Director of Product Management, Ms Holly Kramer, said as the family home now connects multiple computers and devices like the new T-Box™ to the internet, increased bandwidth allows members of the family to receive a better internet experience when they are all online at the same time.
“The completion of this cable upgrade means multiple family members can surf the internet, play games online or download movies at the same time,” Ms Kramer said.
Ms Kramer said the new T-Box™, which will be trialled by Melbourne customers over the coming months, takes advantage of the increase in bandwidth to bring high quality internet television and movies downloaded straight to the home television.
“The Telstra T-Box will enhance the free-to-air digital TV experience by allowing customers to pause and rewind live television, access a seven day program guide to record upcoming programs and rent and download movies from BigPond® Movies.
“T-Box also gives users unmetered access to the seven BigPond® TV internet channels including live news, sport and online music all streamed directly to the television set,” Ms Kramer said.
Telstra also announced that its Velocity fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network has been upgraded to offer a network download capacity of up to 100Mbps into the home for sharing across multiple users within the household.
The upgrades to the cable and Velocity services will mean that the download capacity they offer is so fast that they exceed the capabilities of many internet sites and computers. This means the actual download speeds an individual customer will receive on the services will depend on factors including customer equipment, server limitations, Wi-Fi reception/capacity, and so will be less than the total capacity into the home.
Normandy
November 19, 2009 at 1:58 PM
so thats a big lot of spin from Telstra to say, sucks to be 99% of Australia stuck on a rim at 3MBs if you are lucky enough to even have a ADSL 1 only port! No reduction in Telstra’s outrageous prices for the country, NO upgrades for those of us waiting 6 years for port just to get ADLS 1, No upgrades to all those RIMS with ADSL 1 only, just a big lot of spin on an internet service available to 1% of Australians. BIG DEAL! This is from a company that just yesterday said, Australia doesn’t need faster internet with the NBN. What a bunch of jerks!
Report PermalinkThomas Hambleton
November 19, 2009 at 6:42 PM
Outrageous prices for the country? Don’t you live in the middle of bloody nowhere?
If you want big city ammeneties, live in the big city.
Report PermalinkStevoTheDevo
November 20, 2009 at 12:09 PM
I thought I had given I live 10 minutes from the CBD! But Perhaps Telstra have taken a leaf out of John Howard’s book and I’m now living in an area excised from the urban zone?
Guess what internet I can get Thomas?
ADSL1 or 3G only.
And it’s not due to no Foxtel in my council area, it just doesn’t go down my street for some reason (probably because there is a recreation park on the other side).
As a result I pay 25% extra to get 16% of the speed I used to get at my previous house, same ISP, but at one place I was on their DSLAM, now I’m on a Telstra throttled RIM paying for 8mbps and getting 3mbps if I’m lucky!
I’d be angry enough if I actually got 8mbps, but to get only 3 and pay so much more is a joke!
Bring on FTTH and screw Telstra.. (I write this as a holder of a small tranche of T1 shares..)
Report PermalinkNormandy
November 23, 2009 at 8:10 AM
Point cook is no where?
Report Permalinkmatt
November 19, 2009 at 2:33 PM
now we’re talking,
Report Permalinkthats enough to stream 2 blurays at once!
any chance of bd quality streaming?
Frosty
November 19, 2009 at 6:35 PM
lol nice thought but at the cost of the plans on Telstra and the download limit they give you it will still be cheaper to buy the BD Movie
Report PermalinkReijin64
November 20, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Telstra has acknowledged the prices on Bigpond in general – I wouldn’t be suprised to see some major changes over the next few months.
Report PermalinkChris
November 20, 2009 at 8:59 AM
The BigPond content available on the box is unmetered. Your download limit is irrelevant! If you wanna bash Telstra, at least do it intelligently.
Report PermalinkNormandy
November 20, 2009 at 9:11 AM
live in the city Thomas? you mean like the western suburbs of Melbourne that has NO ADSL ! get your facts right! most of the cities in Australia have rim port hell!
Report PermalinkStevoTheDevo
November 20, 2009 at 11:52 AM
Complimentary =/ Complementary…
Complimentary = Free or the giving of a compliment
Complementary = add-on service..
if it were complimentary to Foxtel, you’d get it for free..
Report PermalinkSince this is Telstra we’re talking about, I highly doubt it’s actually complimentary!
DC
November 25, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Ah, but if it’s “complimentary TO Foxtel”, then that means Foxtel gets it for free…
Report Permalinkthe customers still have to pay ;)
Jeff
April 15, 2010 at 12:50 PM
Having just completed a market research test of this product for Telstra (used it daily at home in Melbourne for 4 months) I would have to warn anyone that paying anything for this product is too much. Like pretty much everything else Telstra does, they set out to make their own unique system without actually studying what works well from existing systems, and in doing so failed terribly. Unless they make drastic changes to the hardware and system before mass release, customers who spend money on this will find themselves VERY disapointed.
Report Permalink