[Telstra Exchange via APC Mag]

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.

It seems that a few versions of the phone will be available: a 900/2100MHz version for the EU, and 800/1900MHz version for the US and an 850/2100MHz version for Telstra. It’s the only carrier specifically named on the site.

Considering how chummy the Big T is with HTC in regards to Winmo phones, this wouldn’t be a big surprise. Also, even though it’s pureley coincidental, when HTC showed me the handset a few months ago it had a Telstra SIM card in it.

The good news is that even if the Hero is a Telstra-exclusive in Australia, the fact there are different versions for different markets means you can probably get an OS model for different networks here in Australia, as the EU version matches the networks used by Optus and Vodafone.

Of course, this is all purely speculation until HTC drops the official word, but it’s looking pretty convincing…

[HTC Canada via Whirlpool – Thanks Michael!]

The show transferred a 700MB file using all three methods from Tarana in rural NSW to Prospect in western Sydney, a distance of 130 odd kilometres. It took the pigeon about an hour, the car about two and ADSL… well, let’s just say that Telstra didn’t quite finish the race, although when the process started it was apparently going to take somewhere between four and nine hours.

So while we wait for the NBN, maybe we should invest a bit in pigeon training?

[ABC via ITNews]

The T-Hub is a device that connects your Telstra home phone and your Telstra Broadband wirelessly, and features a 7-inch LCD touchscreen that allows you to jump on board a whole heap of Sensis based services.

From the Telstra staff Intranet description:

Customers will be able to make calls easily scrolling through their contact list and pressing “Call”. Or if a plumber is needed, click to search Yellow Pages online and select the number to call. Enjoy the added convenience of sending SMS to mobile numbers on the Telstra network and to most Australian fixed numbers, or checking the weather forecast, or scheduling family events and appointments on the electronic calendar.

The memo also describes the T-Hub as a potential photo frame or internet radio player.

The device is supposed to be available in the “coming months”. But from reading through that description, there doesn’t seem to be any killer feature that my mobile phone or laptop can’t do just as easily. Although maybe if Telstra do follow through on their promise to drop pricing, it might come part of a bundle option? Would that sway opinions?

The Telco has also promised to spend a little bit more time focusing on improving customer service.

There’s no word on how soon we can expect to see these price cuts, or whether they’ll track over to the wholesale internet side of things, but any price cut’s going to be welcome for Telstra customers…

[SMH]

Apparently the iPhone version will include enhanced video streaming to take advantage of the bigger screen. It’ll set you back $4 for a day pack or $18 for a monthly subscription — which is particularly expensive considering Foxtel’s new download service is free for subscribers. But at least it’s no longer a disadvantage to own an iPhone on NextG…

[Lifehacker – Thanks Jeb!]

They put four iPhones to work testing the big four: Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Three, running 150 individual speed tests in locations from Manly to Homebush, Annandale to North Sydney, and points in between.

The outcome?

Telstra blows away the competition with speeds almost double the next best network, while the best value data network Three delivered the slowest results. Indeed, Three’s best single result was slower than Telstra’s average.

Whether you’re just curious or need to confirm what you may already know about your chosen carrier, you can read the full report and download an Excel spreadsheet detailing the speedtest results here: The ByteBlog.

If you’ve conducted your own testing and it confirms or conflicts with those obtained by Seamus and his team, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Here’s Telstra’s response to Conroy’s ultimatum for separation:

Telstra remains committed to working with Federal Government
September 15 2009 – Telstra Chief Executive Officer David Thodey today responded to the Federal Government’s proposed regulatory reform package.

“While we are disappointed the government has felt it necessary to introduce this legislation, Telstra remains committed to working with the government to find a solution that is in the best interests of the industry, the nation, Telstra and our shareholders,” Mr Thodey said.

“It is Telstra’s view that many aspects of this package are unnecessary and need never be implemented if a mutually acceptable outcome can be reached on the National Broadband Network.

“Telstra supports the Government’s NBN vision. We are willing to discuss options around separation.”

Telstra will carefully examine the package over the coming days, he said.

“At all times, our approach to regulatory reform and the NBN will continue to be driven first and foremost by the need to protect the interests of our shareholders,” Mr Thodey said.

The NBN has been given the strongest possible board and management focus, including the establishment of a dedicated Board sub-committee, chaired by the Chairman of the Board, Ms Catherine Livingstone, and an NBN engagement team, led by Group Managing Director Mr Geoff Booth.

Telstra has done a large amount of work to ensure we have the best possible understanding of the complex and challenging issues around separation and NBN.

“We are actively and constructively engaged with Government.” Mr Thodey said. “Much remains uncertain, but we will continue to provide updates whenever it is appropriate to do so.”

Naturally, Optus weighed in on the discussion:

Optus welcomes landmark decision on regulatory reform
Optus today welcomed the landmark decision by the Federal Government to reform the regulatory environment governing the Australian telecommunications sector.

“The Federal Government today made an important step in reforming the telecommunications sector with its proposed changes to the regulatory regime. It is a landmark decision that has the potential to change the entire telecommunications landscape forever, resulting in considerable benefits for all Australians,” Paul O’Sullivan, Optus Chief Executive said.

The Government’s draft legislation closely mirrors the model Optus put forward in its submission to the Government’s regulatory reform discussion paper on 3 June 2009. Optus has long advocated for a regulatory framework built around four key pillars including: structural separation; open access principles; cost-based pricing; and ACCC oversight.

Maha Krishnapillai, Optus Director Government and Corporate Affairs said, “We are encouraged by today’s announcement and believe that the proposed reforms will address many of the issues which have adversely impacted competition in the Australian telecommunications industry over the last 12 years. We look forward to examining the draft legislation in further detail over the coming weeks.”

“The Government has made its intentions clear. It is now up to the parliament, Telstra and the rest of the industry to ensure this long overdue reform becomes a reality,” Mr. O’Sullivan said.

As did iiNet:

iiNet Welcomes Telecommunications Regulatory Reform

15 September 2009 – iiNet, Australia’s third largest Internet Service Provider (ISP), has welcomed the Federal Government’s planned reforms to telecommunications regulations saying it will encourage competition and benefit customers.

While still examining the full detail of the reforms, iiNet’s Managing Director, Michael Malone, said requiring Telstra to separate and streamlining the competition regime were critical to the future of Australia’s telecommunications industry.

“The big winner from these reforms is the Australian consumer who will be able to gain access to fast, affordable and competitive broadband services,” Mr Malone said.

“It should provide greater certainty for the telecommunications industry and encourage investment, innovation and jobs.

“iiNet is well placed to continue our strong growth under the new world that will be created by the National Broadband Network and these regulatory reforms.

“We are a market leader in product innovation, customer service, content provision, backed by a strong brand, and will be able to compete on a truly open high speed network.”

So the question now is whether anybody cares? We probably won’t actually see any pricing reforms for a while yet, and while it’s always nice to see Telstra slapped around a bit (especially after the arrogant way Trujillo ran the company), what we really want to see is cheaper broadband (and ADSL2+ at my local exchange for ISPs that aren’t Telstra)…

[Conroy vs Telstra on Giz]

Apparently the government and Telstra have been talking about this for awhile, so it shouldn’t have come as a big surprise to the company. Of course, that doesn’t mean they won’t fight it. Considering how much friction there has been between the company and the government over the past few years, you’d expect a confrontation.

Here are some of the restrictions Conroy announced this morning:

If Telstra don’t play along and do thins voluntarily, the Government will change the Telecommunications Act 1997 so that:

* Telstra conduct its network operations and wholesale functions at arm’s length from the rest of Telstra;
* Telstra provides equivalent price and non-price terms to its retail business and non-Telstra wholesale customers; and
* this equivalence of treatment is made transparent to the regulator and competitors via strong internal governance structures.

Furthermore, the Government will prohibit the company from gaining any additional spectrum for advanced wireless broadband while:

* remains vertically integrated; and
* owns a hybrid fibre coaxial cable network; and
* maintains its interest in Foxtel.

Discussions will need to be completed by December at the latest, with the Bill set to be voted on in October or November. Which gives us a couple of months of entertainment at least. Let’s just hope the consumer – who Conroy claims will benefit most from this – actually does see the benefit.

[DBCDE]