Melbourne residents have been able to get Telstra’s 100Mbps Ultimate cable internet service since March this year, and now the rest of the cable-connected nation is finally following suit. The service will be available in Perth from November 30, and in Sydney, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Adelaide from December 12.
Picture from Wikimedia Commons
Telstra’s press announcement reminds us that you can’t get the service unless there’s already an HFC (pay TV) cable network in your area (which means only capital cities). Because of the peculiarities of Telstra’s billing system, you also can’t get it unless your existing Telstra account number has 13 digits.
As we noted at the Melbourne launch, the plans aren’t cheap and contention means the speeds are unpredictable, but it’s good to see them more widely available.
spanner
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 2:55 PMTelstra Ultimate Cable Now Available Across Something Like A Quarter Of Households In Australia <– fixed.
Our two HFC networks almost completely overlap and together service just 28% of households. They're the best argument in existence for the NBN.
Chris
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 3:01 PMDefinitely not widely available. Unless you live in Capital cities then you may as well forget about it.
Most people are still struggling to get ADSL2+ !!
Zac
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 6:47 PMWell I’m stuck with mobile broadband or dial-up! Can’t even get ADSL D:
Kisharn
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 8:30 PMhave a look at http://exchange.telstra.com.au/2011/10/25/telstra-will-start-rolling-out-top-hats-in-november/comment-page-1/ to see if you are in a Top Hat roll out area. This may assist in getting ADSL.
Zac
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 10:28 PMNah mate I’m not in a roll out area unfortunately. There are ports free on my nearest exchange, but that’s just a tiny bit over 5kms away. I’m on the boundary of getting ADSL but the Telstra ESQ tool says no D:
RealtimeX
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 3:45 PMThe standalone prices are pretty expensive, but it’s cheaper if you get it as part of a 24 month bundle – same price as Elite Cable and ADSL.
aj
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 4:57 PMFAP!
brent3000
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 5:26 PMThats all i read too :/ lol
Luke
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 5:45 PMGood… i am not the only one to see that.
Paul
Friday, November 25, 2011 at 3:12 AMThat’s the first thing I saw too lol.
Andy
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 5:47 PMI guess Tasmania isn’t part of Australia anymore.
Thanks. :/
chris
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 10:52 PMyou complain like this but you’s were the first to get NBN rollout…
Ruen
Friday, November 25, 2011 at 9:18 AMWhich was honestly nothing more than a publicity stunt. . .
poedgirl
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 7:05 PMI live close to the Perth CBD and I can’t get it. Pathetic Telstra.
Bob Dole Doesnt Like This
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 3:31 PMTelstra cable isn’t in the CBD unless you would be Enterprise/Government enity on dedicated lines. Telstra cable is predominately northern suburbs, Beldon, Ocean Reef, Craigie, etc. anywhere north of Morely Drive
Nathan
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 9:47 PMBigpond Ultimate would be so much better if they supplied the single port Motorola SB6120 or SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modems.
They are so much better than the crappy Netgear or Cisco modem/routers that are supplied.
PARKER
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 10:43 PMAHAHA, I love where I live. so I’m eligible for this, AND have full LTE bars, 40mb/s Wireless.
Gotta love city living!
themodule
Friday, November 25, 2011 at 7:34 AMGood to see that it has a FAP module for downloading pron at lightning speed